Hai Phong (VNA) – The business community in Hai Phong has madegreat contributions to the northern port city’s development, said Chairman ofthe municipal People’s Committee Nguyen Van Tung.
At a meeting withbusinesses and foreign guests ahead of the Lunar New Year (Tet) on January 23,Tung said corporate tax collection stood at 11.4 trillion VND (492.56 million USD),or 46 percent of the city’s total earnings.
Specifically, state-owned firms contributed 3.2 trillion VND (138.27 millionUSD) to the state budget, while nearly 4 trillion VND (172.8 million USD) andnearly 4.2 trillion VND (181.48 million USD) came from foreign directinvestment businesses and non-state enterprises, respectively.
Large tax payers in the city include automaker Vinfast (51.85 million USD),gasoline region 3 company (over 21.6 million USD) and Hai Linh oil and gascompany (more than 21.6 million USD), among others.
Besides, the business community has engaged in social welfare activities likebuilding houses for the needy and supporting families who had served the nation.
Tung said the development still fell short of the city’s expectation, as HaiPhong only contributed 3.24 percent to the country’s GDP compared to 13.1percent by Hanoi. In addition, the expansion of Cat Bi International Airportand the opening of flights to Japan, China and the Republic Korea were stillslow.
Currently, the city is home to some 31,500 businesses, but only two thirds ofthem fulfill their tax payment responsibilities, he added.
To handle the issues, the city plans to create favourable conditions for bothdomestic and foreign investors to expand business in the city. Strictpunishments and fines will be meted out to any organisation or individual thatstands in the way of investors’ business development.
Further, attention will be paid to constructing transport infrastructure, urbaninfrastructure as well as power and water facilities, he said.
Hai Phong is envisioned to contribute 6.38 percent to the country’s GDP by 2025and the figure is raised to 8.2 percent by 2030.
Meanwhile, thecity’s earnings are expected to reach 35 trillion VND (1.51 billion USD) by2020, 55-60 trillion VND (2.38-2.59 billion USD) by 2025, and 90-95 trillionVND (3.89-4.1 billion USD) by 2030.-VNA