“Facing more than 10 storms every year, building dikes cannot be just sandbags”

Requiring a complete resolution of pressing issues that have lasted for many terms is one of the important tasks proposed by General Secretary To Lam when giving a directive speech at the 1st Government Party Congress, term 2025-2030, on the morning of October 13.

The Party and Government have demonstrated courage, creativity and determination in their management.

Looking back at the 2020-2025 term, the General Secretary assessed that we have had to face many difficult, sudden, unexpected, and unprecedented challenges such as the Covid-19 pandemic, natural disasters, armed conflicts, strategic competition between major countries, and changes in trade policies of some major partners...

“But under the leadership of the Party, with the support of the entire political system, the Government Party Committee, now the Government Party Committee, has demonstrated its mettle, solidarity, creativity, and determination in its direction and administration, made breakthroughs in its actions, organized implementation with a focus on key points, close to reality, and achieved many important and quite comprehensive results, with many outstanding highlights,” the General Secretary assessed.

In particular, in the strategic breakthroughs, the General Secretary emphasized that institutions and infrastructure are deployed resolutely and synchronously to remove difficulties and obstacles for people and businesses, creating more openness in administrative procedures and socio-economic development.

By the end of 2025, the General Secretary affirmed that the whole country will complete over 3,200km of highways and more than 1,700km of coastal roads, far exceeding the target set by the 13th Party Congress; basically completing the first phase of Long Thanh International Airport, creating a new look for national infrastructure.

“Facing more than 10 storms every year, building dikes cannot be just sandbags” - 1

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh welcomed General Secretary To Lam to attend the first Government Party Congress (Photo: VNA).

Along with that is the acceleration of handling long-standing problems, strengthening the trust of the people and the business community (handling 5 weak banks, 12 loss-making and slow-progressing projects).

The General Secretary also said that the Government is reviewing and removing obstacles for nearly 3,000 projects with a total capital of nearly 6 million billion VND.

The Party leaders' assessment also noted outstanding results when the administrative apparatus was streamlined and the two-level local government model initially operated more effectively.

Praising these results, the General Secretary said that this is the foundation and new driving force for the Party Committee to enter the next term.

Completely resolve flooding and traffic congestion

The General Secretary also highly appreciated the spirit of openness and frankness in "looking straight at the truth, correctly assessing the truth, and clearly stating the truth" regarding the shortcomings and limitations as stated in the report of the Government Party Committee.

Among those problems, in addition to the potential risks of the macro-economy and the many problems in the legal system, the Government's report mentioned that the lives of a part of the people are still difficult, and many pressing social issues such as flooding, traffic jams, traffic safety, environment, etc. have not been fundamentally resolved.

“Facing more than 10 storms every year, building dikes cannot be just sandbags” - 2

General Secretary To Lam gives a speech at the Government Party Congress (Photo: Doan Bac).

Regarding the issues that have lasted for many years and many terms, such as flooding and traffic jams, especially in big cities, the General Secretary requested that Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi must focus during this term on "solving" pressing issues, including traffic jams, environmental pollution, and flooding.

“These problems have existed for many years and many terms and we are determined to solve them in this term. The Government and localities must be determined,” the General Secretary emphasized.

Sharing more, the General Secretary said that every time there is a rain or rainy season, people are very worried and concerned because this not only affects their lives but also affects the general socio-economic development of the region, urban area, and city.

Stating that the country has to face dozens of increasingly complex storms every year, like last year when it had to respond to more than 10 storms, the General Secretary asked agencies to evaluate how effective the prevention and control work is and what needs to be innovated.

“Storms are unavoidable, but we must be proactive. Bridges, river and sea dykes must be built every year, but they cannot be just sandbags, because one storm means we have to start all over again,” the General Secretary emphasized the need for calculations on scale and solidity, especially in areas where storms and floods occur every year. The General Secretary noted that the Government should direct the implementation of this task.

“Facing more than 10 storms every year, building dikes cannot be just sandbags” - 3

General Secretary To Lam and leaders and former leaders of the Party and State visit the exhibition welcoming the 1st Government Party Congress (Photo: Doan Bac).

In the coming time, the General Secretary assessed that the world situation will continue to evolve rapidly and complicatedly, with many epochal changes; opportunities and challenges will intertwine, but challenges will be greater.

Our country is in a historic transition period with the operation of a two-level local government model; development space is being re-planned; many policies, strategic orientations, and breakthrough solutions are being implemented.

“This is the time for us to seize the opportunity, take shortcuts using Vietnamese intelligence combined with the advanced knowledge of humanity, quickly establish a state of “strategic autonomy”, make every effort to achieve and maintain a high and sustainable growth rate, and successfully implement the two 100-year strategic goals,” the General Secretary emphasized.

Break out of the rut, strive for double-digit growth

Considering that the responsibility placed on the Party and Government is extremely heavy, the General Secretary requested that the Party and Government unify their awareness and clearly define the goal of bringing the country steadily into an era of strong, prosperous, civilized, and happy development.

The second requirement is greater effort, stronger aspiration; improving forecasting, leadership and direction capacity; innovation in State management.

“Facing more than 10 storms every year, building dikes cannot be just sandbags” - 4

“Get out of the rut and old thinking, propose directions, tasks and practical solutions. All for the economic, cultural and social development of the country with the ultimate goal of improving the material and spiritual life and happiness of the people,” the General Secretary emphasized.

The third requirement mentioned by the General Secretary is to build a team of cadres and civil servants who are "talented, visionary, and dedicated"; have strong political will, pure ethics, high responsibility, dare to think, dare to do, dare to take responsibility, and dare to face difficulties and challenges.

Along with that, the General Secretary directed the shift from administrative thinking to service thinking; from "doing all responsibilities" to "doing things thoroughly".

“There needs to be mechanisms and policies to motivate and protect cadres who dare to innovate for the common good, not allowing state agencies and the government to become safe havens for the weak and those who are afraid of conflict,” the General Secretary added.

Regarding key tasks, the General Secretary emphasized the spirit of determination to prevent and combat corruption, waste, and negativity with the motto "no dark areas, gray areas", "gaps, obscure points", "no forbidden zones, no exceptions".

Besides, it is necessary to focus on economic development, maintain macroeconomic stability, control inflation, and ensure major balances.

The goal for the 2026-2030 period, according to the General Secretary, is to strive for double-digit growth.

Implement flexible and effective monetary and fiscal policies; remove bottlenecks and difficulties for production and business; focus on effectively handling backlog projects and weak banks, ensuring the health and sustainability of the economic and financial system.

Investing in completing strategic infrastructure (transportation, seaports, high-speed railways, urban railways) is also a task that the General Secretary noted.

“Facing more than 10 storms every year, building dikes cannot be just sandbags” - 5

General Secretary To Lam, President Luong Cuong, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, National Assembly Chairman Tran Thanh Man and other Party and State leaders and former leaders attend the Government Party Congress (Photo: Doan Bac).

The General Secretary proposed researching and implementing programs to effectively exploit outer space, sea space and underground space to open up new economic development opportunities.

Along with developing culture in harmony with the socio-economy and taking care of people's lives, the General Secretary raised requirements for ensuring national defense and security, improving the effectiveness of foreign affairs and international integration.

The General Secretary believes that with steadfast political will, solidarity, high determination, intelligence and aspiration to rise up, the Party and Government will excellently fulfill all assigned tasks, contributing to bringing the country into a new era of development.

In his response, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh asked to accept General Secretary To Lam's direction on pressing issues related to environmental pollution, natural disasters, storms and floods, traffic congestion, etc.

“These are issues that people are very concerned about. We accept responsibility and will work with ministries, branches and localities to find breakthrough solutions,” the Prime Minister said, adding that in fact, plans and projects have been developed, resources have been mobilized and allocated and will continue to be implemented in the coming time to solve these issues.

The Head of Government pledged to organize the implementation of tasks in a practical and effective manner, without embellishment or formality.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/thoi-su/moi-nam-doi-mat-hon-10-con-bao-dap-de-khong-the-chi-la-nhung-bao-cat-20251013105508300.htm