Phan Van Mai, chairman of the municipal People’s Committee, speaks at a meeting to review the city’s socio-economic development in the first eight months. (Photo courtesy of the HCM City Press Centre) Speaking at a meeting on August 30, Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee Phan Van Mai said the country’s largest economic hub would focus on speeding up disbursement of public investment in the remaining months of the year.
Public spending remains too slow, causing major public projects to be postponed for years, according to Mai, who attributed the delays to complicated administrative procedures, among other hurdles.
Total public investment disbursement reached more than 9 trillion VND (386.9 million USD) as of August 26, accounting for 23.8% of the year’s target of 38 trillion VND. In August, it disbursed less than 600 billion VND.
The city is seeking Government allocation of an additional 120 trillion VND (5.13 billion USD) for implementation of major public projects.
It would need 672 trillion VND of public investment over the next three years but only 142 trillion VND was approved, or only 21% of what is needed, Mai noted.
In 2021, the city disbursed less than 30 trillion VND, accounting for only 61.3% of the year’s target.
Mai has proposed the Government remove obstacles to ensure the allocation of investment capital for the implementation of major projects.
The projects include the metro routes, Ring Roads 3 and 4, the HCM City – Moc Bai expressway, and others.
It will also need to mobilise private investment to invest more in public facilities such as schools, hospitals and cultural and sports centres.
Steering committee
The city has established a steering committee to speed up the disbursement of public investment and resolve other issues facing the city, according to Mai.
“The most important is to improve administrative reform and the business climate.”
It will also speed up the disbursement of aid packages to support businesses and packages to support housing rentals for employees, he said.
It will continue to fight against COVID-19 and other diseases such as dengue fever; hand, foot and mouth disease; and monkeypox, he added.
The city will speed up vaccination against COVID-19, especially for children, as it has a low rate of vaccination for children aged between five and 12, he said.
Le Thi Huynh Mai, director of the Department of Planning and Investment, said the city’s total budget revenue reached 312 trillion VND in the first eight months, or nearly 80.7% of the year’s target and up 21.34% year-on-year.
Exports reached 31.75 billion USD, up 9.02% year-on-year.
Its Index of Industrial Production rose by 14.8% over the same period last year.
Retail sales of goods and services were up 6.2% year-on-year.
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) was 2.1% compared to 2.58% for the whole country.
Total tourism revenue increased by 2.6% year-on-year.
While the country’s attraction of foreign direct investment (FDI) dropped 12.3% year-on-year in the first eight months, the city attracted 2.71 billion USD worth of FDI (up 24% year-on-year), the highest in the past five years./.
VNA
