HCM City People’s Council convenes 12th session hinh anh 1Secretary of the municipal Party Committee Nguyen Thien Nhan addresses the session (Photo: VNA)

HCM City (VNA) – The People’s Council of Ho Chi Minh City convened its 12th session on December 4 with the attendance of Secretary of the municipal Party Committee Nguyen Thien Nhan.

Opening the session, Chairwoman of the municipal People’s Council Nguyen Thi Quyet Tam said that despite many difficulties and challenges, the city has completed all targets set by the council.

Its economic growth so far is higher than that in the same period last year, while the economic structure has been reformed towards higher ratio of the service sector, the business environment has been improved and administrative reforms have been sped up, she noted.

However, Tam also pointed out a number of problems facing the city, including flooding, environmental pollution, traffic congestion, and slow settlement of complaints.

She said that during the session, the municipal People’s Council will question the Chairman and Vice Chairpersons of the municipal People’s Committee and heads of departments, sectors and agencies about their performances in realising their promises.

The People’s Council will discuss many important issues of the city, including the implementation of socio-economic tasks in 2018 and missions, solutions for 2019, budget collection and spending in 2018 and allocation plan for 2019, as well as proposals of the People’s Committee.

Members of the People’s Council will caste their confidence votes on officials holding positions elected by the council, while debating a report on the outcomes of the supervision over the settlement of complaints of locals related to land use and house ownership.

In his speech, Secretary of the municipal Party Committee Nguyen Thien Nhan said that the city has maintained its role as a driving force of the country with economic growth of 8.3 percent, state budget collection hitting over 369.62 trillion VND (15.93 billion USD) and revenues from the economic sector rising 15.02 percent year on year.

Meanwhile, total social investment has made up 35 percent of the gross regional domestic product (GRDP) and the flow of foreign investment has hit 7.07 billion USD, he said.

Regarding issues related to Thu Thiem new urban area project, which have raised concerns among the public, Nhan cited the conclusion of the Government Inspectorate pointing out that 4.3 hectares of the reclaimed land area are not included in the project’s planning, from which 321 households have been removed. He proposed that the removed households will reside in resettlement areas while waiting for the city’s solutions rather than coming back to their former lands.

He noted that the city authorities have held three meetings with former leaders of the municipal People’s Committee in the previous tenures to clarify issues related to the project, which was approved by the Prime Minister in 1996. Nhan pledged that the city will fix all wrongdoings and define responsibilities of relevant parties.

The 12th session of the HCM City People’s Council is scheduled to last until December 7.-VNA
VNA