HCM City urged to hasten public capital disbursement hinh anh 1Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc speaks at the meeting (Photo: VNA)

HCM City (VNA) – Under the chair of Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, permanent Government members held a working session with key leaders of Ho Chi Minh City on July 20 to review public investment capital disbursement and tackle difficulties for several key projects in the city.

Speaking at the event, PM Phuc asked the municipal authorities to prepare for the Party Congresses at all levels towards the 13th National Party Congress, build the socio-economic development plan for the 2021-2025 period, the mid-term investment plan, and roadmap for digital transformation.

Ministries and agencies were also assigned to help the city speed up disbursement for large-scale projects and build a new industrial park to lure more investment.

Commenting on the local socio-economic performance, the leader hailed the city for successfully curbing COVID-19 and having high determination in public capital disbursement.

He also lauded the municipal authorities for setting the goal of disbursing 100 percent of public investment capital this year, as well as ensuring social welfare support and gradually embarking on a roadmap for digitalisation.

The city’s departments and agencies were urged to exert the best effort to deal with difficulties, especially in site clearance – a weak point in the capital disbursement.

As Ho Chi Minh City is a major contributor to the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP), he proposed that the city continue promoting private investment and attracting more foreign investment, strongly develop entrepreneurs to reduce unemployment and prevent disruptions to the production and supply chain.

About development orientations between now and the year’s end, the PM highlighted a need to stimulate demand and boost services, thus contributing to the common growth of the nation.

He suggested developing night-time economy as well as paying more attention to tge digital economy and e-commerce that accounts for 2 percent of the city’s GDP.

About public and private investment, the leader noted that the city should increase credit quota to address existing difficulties.

As of July 15, the city disbursed over 18.8 trillion VND (817 million USD) worth of public investment capital, or over 45 percent of the plan, higher than the same period last year.

On the occasion of the 73rd anniversary of Day of Invalids and Martyrs (July 27), the PM also visited a Vietnamese heroic mother, a war invalid and a martyr's widow./.

Ho Chi Minh City is the largest city in Vietnam and the economic hub of the southern region. Accounting for 0.6 percent of Vietnam’s total land area and about 9 percent of the country’s population, it is part of the southern key economic zone, which also comprises Dong Nai, Ba Ria - Vung Tau, Binh Duong, Long An, Tay Ninh and Binh Phuoc provinces. In the southern economic hub, over 3,000 projects across all sectors are supported by foreign capital, while the number of registered enterprises has exceeded 100,000.

In 2019, the city attracted 8.3 billion USD worth of foreign investment, with its labour productivity being nearly three times that of the whole country (299.8 million VND per person, an increase of 6.8 percent over 2018).

Meanwhile, the total number of international visitors to the city reached 8.5 million, a year-on-year increase of 14 percent with revenues up by 14.5 percent over 2018

The local gross regional domestic product (GRDP) reached more than 1.34 quadrillion VND, an 8.32 percent increase year-on-year.

Before the outbreak of COVID-19, the city set a target of achieving a growth rate of 8.5 percent for GRDP in 2020, with total private investment accounting for 35 percent of GRDP.

This year, HCM City also aims to have 44,000 new businesses, creating 135,000 new jobs./. 
VNA