Localities take action to shore up economy

Many localities around Vietnam are readying plans to reactivate production, business and export activities (Photo: Da Nang Port)

Hanoi (VNA) - Aside from speeding up transport infrastructure projects, many localities around Vietnam are also readying plans to reactivate production, business and export activities amid and also after the COVID-19 pandemic.

The HCM City management board for the investment and construction of transport infrastructure projects said it will implement seven groups of projects this year.

They comprise those on easing traffic congestion near Tan Son Nhat International Airport and Cat Lai Port; building belt roads and inter-regional expressways; expanding the city’s gateways and roads linking it with other regions; completing transport infrastructure in inner areas; dredging waterways and building embankments; collecting and treating wastewater on certain canals; and developing the public passenger transport network.

The board also noted that this year it will begin working on 27 projects of this kind to ease traffic congestion at multiple sites around the city.

The acceleration of those projects is hoped to help speed up public investment disbursement, which Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc described as the most important measure to make up for losses the COVID-19 epidemic has had on economic growth.

In the central city of Da Nang, authorities have readied plans to resume production and business activities when social distancing measures are eased.

The city’s Statistics Office said most local enterprises have been heavily affected by COVID-19, with some having to curb production, cut staff, or suspend operation.

It noted that manufacturing industries like textiles and garments, leather and footwear, and electronics are facing huge pressure since the majority of input materials and equipment were previously imported from China but have now been restricted under anti-pandemic measures.

Da Nang’s trade turnover in the first quarter of 2020 fell 10.2 percent year-on-year to 589.6 million USD.

Municipal Statistics Office Director Tran Van Vu said it is reviewing all data to prepare scenarios and propose revisions to the city’s economic targets for this year.

Meanwhile, the northern province of Bac Giang is stepping up preparations for exporting lychee as the harvest of the famous specialty is approaching. The country's largest producer of the fruit expects its this year’s output to reach 160,000 tonnes.

Director of the provincial Department of Industry and Trade Tran Quang Tan said it has created different selling plans for the scenarios of COVID-19 being under control or becoming worse.

The domestic and Chinese markets are still the province’s main targets. If the pandemic remains complex, which may lower prices and consumption, Bac Giang will boost preservation by drying and extracting juice and will carry out online promotions.

Meanwhile, to prepare for lychee exports to Japan, the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development has coordinated with authorities in Luc Ngan and Tan Yen districts and the agriculture ministry’s Plant Protection Department to provide codes to production areas.

Many businesses have also been invited to engage in chains for exporting lychee to Japan, with three having conducted surveys to enter into contracts./.