Concluding the meeting, the Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City highly appreciated the efforts of the entire city in continuing the positive economic recovery momentum in the first 8 months of the year. The index of industrial production (IIP) of the whole industry is estimated to increase by 2.2% compared to the previous month and by 8.5% compared to the same period last year.

Total retail sales of goods and consumer services revenue is estimated at VND105,800 billion, up 12% over the same period. Total state budget revenue is estimated to increase by more than 15% over the same period and reach 71% of the yearly estimate.

However, Ho Chi Minh City leaders expressed concern that there are still major limitations that hinder the city's growth.

Specifically, the first concern - according to Mr. Phan Van Mai - is that public investment disbursement is still a major limitation. Up to now, Ho Chi Minh City has only disbursed 18.1%. Mr. Mai said that Ho Chi Minh City has set a very careful monthly disbursement target and has commitments from each investor.

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Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City Phan Van Mai speaks at the meeting. Photo: TTBC

The city leaders specifically named four major city project boards whose disbursement did not meet previous commitments.

Specifically, in August, the Management Board of Traffic Construction Investment Projects committed to disbursing 590 billion VND, but by the end of the month, only 86 billion was disbursed; the Management Board of Urban Infrastructure Construction Investment Projects committed to disbursing 111 billion, but only 31.4 billion was disbursed; the Management Board of Civil and Industrial Construction Investment Projects committed to disbursing 153 billion, but only 60 billion was disbursed; and the Management Board of Ho Chi Minh City Urban Railways committed to disbursing 119 billion, but only 32 billion was disbursed.

Accordingly, the city leaders requested the above 4 departments to review and update their monthly, quarterly and project plans to achieve a disbursement rate of 95% by the end of the year as per the set target. Any department facing difficulties must achieve a disbursement rate of 90% or higher.

The second limitation that Mr. Phan Van Mai mentioned is that the situation of businesses withdrawing from the market is still high and the city's capital absorption is still low.

Third, the market purchasing power has not reached the city's potential. Fourth, the city is facing a measles epidemic.

With these limitations, the Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City requested relevant units to specifically review the problems and propose solutions to remove them.

In particular, he requested members of the City People's Committee, departments, branches and localities to focus highly on operations according to goals and tasks each month and each quarter.

Each district chairman and each department director reviews each outstanding task. If any task hinders the common work, they should make a plan to remove the obstacle.

"Many department directors, when asked about the task, said they didn't know. In the end, it was because the task was assigned to the deputy director, or the permanent deputy director handled the work but the director didn't know. That's not allowed..." - Chairman Phan Van Mai said.

To overcome this situation, the Chairman of the People's Committee of Ho Chi Minh City will supervise the work of the Vice Chairmen and Department Directors. In case of delays in the tasks, the Department Directors and heads of agencies must take responsibility and the Chairman of the People's Committee of Ho Chi Minh City is responsible to the collective of the People's Committee of Ho Chi Minh City, the Standing Committee of the City Party Committee, the Party Executive Committee and the City People's Council.

The head of the city government also requested that the entire system focus on reviewing long-standing backlogs to find solutions. Problems at which level should be resolved at that level. Particularly, large projects such as Ring Road 4, the International Financial Center, the city's master plans... need to be pursued and completed in order to submit to the Government and the National Assembly in the meeting at the end of this year.

Overview of the socio-economic situation in the first 8 months of Ho Chi Minh City:

Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City: With Resolution 98, working in 1 year is more effective than in an entire term . Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee Phan Van Mai affirmed that after nearly 1 year of implementing Resolution 98 of the National Assembly, the results achieved are more than in an entire term (5 years) compared to the previous special Resolution 54.
Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City: Making good use of Resolution 98 to attract strategic investors Chairman Phan Van Mai said that it is necessary to make good use of Resolution 98 to attract strategic investors, welcoming a strong wave of investment back to Ho Chi Minh City.