Removing 'bottlenecks' to enter a new era

Despite the National Assembly’s Resolution 98 on specific mechanisms and policies for the development of Ho Chi Minh City, the country’s economic “locomotive” city is still struggling to maintain growth, especially since the “post” Covid-19 period until now. To escape this situation, many experts have advised Ho Chi Minh City to boldly remove “bottlenecks” and limitations to make a breakthrough.

Dr. Truong Minh Huy Vu said that Ho Chi Minh City needs to soon develop synchronous traffic infrastructure to connect regions and make breakthroughs.

This is the content that many delegates discussed and contributed solutions to at the discussion, with the theme "What should Ho Chi Minh City do to enter the era of national growth", taking place on November 27, in Ho Chi Minh City.

Removing many "bottlenecks"

Regarding the current limitations and shortcomings of Ho Chi Minh City, Mr. Pham Chanh Truc - former Deputy Secretary of the City Party Committee, former Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Council pointed out 3 basic "bottlenecks", including: traffic infrastructure, with the situation of "traffic jams, flooding"; inadequacies in waste treatment and weaknesses in housing solutions for people, especially low-income people. Regarding the "bottlenecks" of traffic infrastructure, experts pointed out: "A special urban area with more than 13 million people cannot have the current urban traffic network. Instead, we need to move towards public transport, limit private vehicles... If there are still congestion here, it will be cumbersome and slow".

Regarding housing for the people, Mr. Truc said that this is an issue that needs special attention. The high price of real estate, including apartments, makes it difficult for the poor, workers, and laborers to access housing. We must make social security policies aimed at these groups, we cannot let low-income people live in poverty and without housing.

Dr. Truong Minh Huy Vu - Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Research Institute commented that it is time for the city government to review and clearly identify which development index is important and needs to be prioritized in the coming time, in order to focus development resources. This expert cited the traffic infrastructure index. In particular, before 2022, Ho Chi Minh City's traffic lacks many ring roads. Even Ring Road 2 is still lacking more than ten kilometers. And it is expected that by the end of this term, the city will have Ring Road 3, currently the city is preparing to submit Ring Road 4.

Mr. Vu expects that in the next 5 years, Ho Chi Minh City will have a relatively complete belt road system and be able to operate vital routes that will significantly connect this region in the next 10 years. Along with the belt roads, Ho Chi Minh City will soon begin implementing Metro lines, first of all Metro Line 1, Ben Thanh - Suoi Tien route. The city is also determined to operate Metro Line 2 from now until 2030, in parallel with the plan to eliminate 46,000 households on canals within the next 5 and 10 years. That shows the city's determination to step into a new era.

From a macro perspective, Dr. Tran Du Lich - Member of the National Monetary Policy Advisory Council, Chairman of the Advisory Council for the Implementation of Resolution 98 of the National Assembly, said that Ho Chi Minh City has now opened up many spaces in terms of specific mechanisms and policies for development. However, in the next phase, the city still needs a revolution to reform the state apparatus and build a true model of urban government. Specifically, the city needs to quickly shape the urban government model and further develop a Special Urban Law. Therefore, the city needs to quickly position the State's functions in relation to the market and its relations with citizens. From there, there will be a basis for a streamlined, effective and efficient apparatus. From this model, it is proposed that the National Assembly develop a Special Urban Law that is specific to the city.

Need a strong breakthrough

Emphasizing the particularly important role of Ho Chi Minh City as an economic “locomotive” in the upcoming period of strong “transformation”, Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Tan Phat - Member of the City Party Committee, Secretary of the Party Committee, Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Academy of Officials said: Ho Chi Minh City is a special urban area, a large center of the country in terms of economy and society. In recent years, the development of the city has always made important contributions to the overall development of the country. Many models, leadership and management methods of the Party Committee, the city government and models of organizing socio-economic development and urban development have been replicated nationwide.

According to Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Tan Phat, in each turning point development stage (the early period of national renewal, smart cities, digital transformation, etc.) or difficult situation (economic recession, Covid-19 pandemic, etc.), the city has new models and methods that are innovative and creative, becoming a source of inspiration for innovation for other localities.

In the current period, we can mention the models and solutions that Ho Chi Minh City is implementing before the whole country and for the whole country such as: urban government model; implementation of special mechanisms and policies, high-tech zones... To maintain its "locomotive" role, the city needs to develop rapidly in many areas, to demonstrate the strong aspiration to rise and the constant initiative, dynamism and creativity of the Party Committee, government and people of the city. In particular, the Ho Chi Minh City government needs to continue to take advantage of the special mechanism from Resolution 98 to quickly remove "bottlenecks", thereby breaking through and entering the era of national development.

Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Tat Vien - former Standing Member of the Central Steering Committee for Judicial Reform also agreed that the Ho Chi Minh City government must quickly remove "bottlenecks", especially human resource shortcomings (resource planning, internal strength). This expert also supports the proposal for the National Assembly to develop a Special Urban Law and believes that this Law should have been developed a long time ago. Because the Special Urban Law will fundamentally solve institutional "bottlenecks", helping Ho Chi Minh City change its "tight shirt" and open up a large space to grow.

At the seminar, experts and scientists also gave advice and suggestions on 9 tasks that Ho Chi Minh City needs to do to enter the era of national development. Opinions were also highly unanimous on the awareness of the era of national development of Vietnam, including opportunities and chances for Ho Chi Minh City to realize its aspiration for breakthrough development, promote its true stature, perfect the urban government model to meet the requirements of streamlining, effectiveness and efficiency; focusing on removing difficulties in traffic infrastructure, housing and effectively promoting the advantages of high-quality human resources.

Source: https://daidoanket.vn/thao-diem-nghen-de-buoc-vao-ky-nguyen-moi-10295418.html