A road project from Van Yen Commune’s resettlement area to eastern Cai Bau island park in Quang Ninh Province’s Van Don economic zone. (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – Unceasing efforts have helped Quang Ninh continue to rise in the ranking of provincial competitiveness index (PCI), from the fifth place in 2014 to the third position in 2015 and the second place in 2016.
The northern coastal province particularly recorded remarkable improvements in the sub-indices of entry costs for business startup, informal charge, transparent business environment, proactive and creative provincial leadership, and business support services.
Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Nguyen Duc Long affirmed that the province has made uninterrupted efforts over the past four years to improve its PCI ranking. Quang Ninh’s position among the top five localities reflected the active involvement of the entire political system in the province.
According to the chairman, Quang Ninh has developed its own Department and District Competition Index (DDCI), which contributed to enhancing the competition capacity of local agencies and authorities and was applauded by the business community.
Chairman of Texhong group Hong Tianzhu said the group chose Quang Ninh for its investment as it received attention and timely support of the local authority, as seen through the rapid land clearance and technical infrastructure building. The group was also satisfied with the short duration of dealing with administrative procedures.
In 2017, Quang Ninh attracted a series of tourism projects from major economic groups such as Sun Group, Vingroup and FLC, with total investment capital amounting to 100 trillion VND.
The province is accelerating the pace of several transport plans to create stronger momentum for economic activities, such as a highway connecting to the Hanoi-Hai Phong highway, the Van Don international airport and the Van Don special administrative-economic zone.
Quang Ninh has emerged as a cradle of daring ideas and reform models, said Vu Tien Loc, Chairman of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI). He cited as examples the building of a public administrative centre to improve public services and the establishment of an independent investment promotion agency. The province has also been able to get the community and businesses involved in reform efforts by giving them the power to assess the performance of management agencies and authorities through the DDCI.
As early as 2015, Quang Ninh deployed the model “Business cafe” which sought to connect State management agencies and enterprises and provide a venue for interaction and open talks between authorities and business community. The model proved to be a success in bringing authorities and businesses closer and promote dialogue between the sides.
The provincial authorities have also been holding quarterly discussions with the business community, while assigning People’s Committees at lower levels to hold regular meetings with local enterprises in order to timely address their problems.
Chairman of the Quang Ninh Business Association Pham Van The said the meetings at local level give more firms the opportunities to come face-to-face with relevant agencies and have their difficulties heard.
In order to maintain its high ranking in the national PCI, Quang Ninh is aware that there is more it has to do. The province can be considered a model of success thanks to its strong shift in the way of thinking, from managing to serving the business community and considering businesses as long-term cooperative partners in local economic development.
Quang Ninh drew in more than 47 million USD in foreign direct investment (FDI) in the first six months of 2017.
The sum came from two new and six existing projects, raising the number of valid FDI projects in the province to 58, with total registered capital worth over 2.3 billion USD.
The gross regional domestic product (GRDP) of the province expanded by 9.6 percent in the first half of this year as compared with 9.2 percent in the same period last year.
In the first quarter, the province’s GRDP grew 8.3 percent while the figure recorded in the second quarter was 10.7 percent, the fastest pace since 2012.
With the performance, Quang Ninh has been listed as one of the leading cities and provinces in the northern key economic region and nationwide as well.
In order to reach the target of a 10 percent growth rate, the province will focus on drastically instructing the implementation of socio-economic development tasks and solutions set for 2017.-VNA
