Deputy Truong Trong Nghia from Ho Chi Minh City

Deputy Truong Trong Nghia from Ho Chi Minh City emphasised that the next five years plays a decisive role in the nation’s roadmap to escape the middle-income trap.

He said to reach development targets, a series of growth problems must be solved, focusing on budget and finance, sovereignty and security safeguarding, building a rule of law state, ensuring human rights and action plans to build feasible projects.

It is impossible to build goals in the old ways, Nghia stressed, adding that the mechanism and implementation methods must be also changed.

He underlined the importance to promote rapid, sustainable and self-reliant development, saying that Vietnam needs to learn from other countries' experience and apply them in accordance with the reality in the country.

If tourism does not recover, aviation and a series of other economic sectors are also at risk of collapse, the legislator said.

Vietnam cannot set export growth targets in the old way, because purchasing power and consumption patterns of major markets have changed, policies must be in place to effectively exploit the domestic market of 100 million people, he went on.

Regarding budget and finance, Nghia said that the core of the budget issue is revenue generation, revenue and expenditure control, efficient use of loans and ensuring ability to repay debts.

He also underlined the urgency of ensuring social security over the next five years, saying that the development plan could go bankrupt if there is a security crisis, while asking the Government to outline specific solutions to the problem.

The role of controlling power through the NA is very important, Nghia said, stressing that attention should be also given to ensuring people-centered policy, further upholding achievements in judicial reform and persistently implementing advanced regulations in the 2013 Constitution.

Regarding defence and security, Nghia said it is necessary to promote the application of advanced technologies to gradually build an elite and modern armed force./.

NA deputy urges end to delays of metro projects

National Assembly deputy Nguyễn Phi Thường from Hà Nội has urged transport authorities to learn from experience and not to delay major metro projects any longer.

Speaking at the 10th meeting of the assembly on Tuesday, Thường said as Hà Nội and HCM City were becoming megacities with a population of more than 10 million people each, building metro lines was a crucial solution for their overloaded traffic networks.

However, these projects had been postponed for a long time, and the authorities must take their part of the responsibility, he said.

“These are all very big projects with large investments poured in, but their progress is very slow which raise concerns from people,” he said, citing the metro routes of Cát Linh-Hà Đông and Nhổn-Hà Nội Rail Station, and Bến Thành-Suối Tiên, Bến Thành-Tham Lương in HCM City.

“Concerned authorities must review their work and see what they can learn from these projects, and not to repeat their mistakes for the next ones.”

Eight metro routes are being built in Hà Nội and HCM City, with a total length of 538km and worth US$55 billion.

Thường also said the metro routes needed to be built in sync with the cities’ urban space and lifestyle.

“Houses facing the streets, the ‘pavement economy’ and using motorbikes are the distinctive features of Viet Nam’s urban areas. Motorbikes are still the most common means of transportation and will become a major competitor to the metro,” he said.

Restructuring urban spaces and creating incentives for people to use the metro also need to be taken into consideration, he added.

Vietnamese transport experts should also soon master the technologies needed to build urban rail lines instead of relying on different technology companies, he said.

Thường also urged the National Assembly and the Government to launch the Cát Linh-Hà Đông metro route by the end of this year after it has been postponed eight times since the second quarter of 2019. 

Lawmakers continue discussions on socio-economic issues

Legislators will continue discussing the country’s socio-economic situation, State budget and economic restructuring on the second plenary session of the 14th National Assembly’s 10th sitting on November 4.

The lawmakers will also debate issues regarding public investment, national finance, national target programmes, forest use conversion for the implementation of the Than River reservoir project in Ninh Thuan and Ban Mong reservoir in Nghe An.

On the first day, most of the NA deputies agreed with reports delivered by the government and the NA’s Committees for Economic Affairs, and Finance-Budget which outline last year’s achievements and challenges as well as propose solutions and policies for economic recovery.

Many legislators held that 2020 is a challenging year with the outbreak of COVID-19 and devastating impacts caused by drought and saltwater intrusion in the Mekong Delta and storms and floods in central Vietnam. Despite such difficulties, Vietnam is among few countries around the world registering postive economic growth this year.

The legislators spoke highly of the government’s efforts to fulfill the dual goals of fighting the COVID-19 pandemic and boosting socio-economic development, resulting in the stable macroeconomic situation, low-level inflation, and improved growth quality.

They asked the government to produce a full assessment of agricultural and infrastructure damage caused by storms and flooding for the accurate evaluation of this year’s economic indicators.

The deputies later commented on issueas relating to economic structure; State budget revenue and expenditure; disbursement of public investment; transportation, capital construction and land clearance projects; delay in the urban railway project; the development of transport networks in the Mekong Delta; agricultural production; forest protection and development policies; State management to FDI firms; restructuring of State-owned enterprises; and revision of textbooks.

They also discussed preventive health and online health services; “black credit”; water security and safety of reservoirs, dams, irrigation works and small- and medium-sized hydropower projects; inspection of operation of hydropower plants and irrigation works; natural disaster response and energy security-intergrated water security.

Forest protection on agenda at National Assembly's sitting

Speaking at the NA working session, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Xuan Cuong said Vietnam now has 14.6 million ha of forest, of which natural forests total 10.3 ha. (Photo: VGP)

Legislators raised issues regarding hydropower and forest preservation and development during the 10th sitting of the 14th National Assembly in Hanoi on November 3.

They greatly appreciated the management policies adopted by the Government as well as the efforts and resolve of the entire political system in the fight against COVID-19 and the response to recent natural disasters.

They suggested the Government chart different scenarios, including a worst-case, given the possibility of the pandemic continuing to develop in a complex manner and climate change remaining unpredictable.

Some pointed to inconsistencies in the socio-economic development strategy and forestry development, with a number of forestation targets yet to be completed.

Trieu Thi Thu Phuong, a deputy from the northern mountainous province of Bac Kan, proposed the Government adjust budget allocations in the 2021-2025 mid-term public investment plan for provinces with high forest coverage rates.

The Government should also adopt policies helping residents in areas prone to natural disasters stabilise their lives, and invest more in forestry infrastructure and forestry product development, she said.

Speaking at the working session, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Xuan Cuong said Vietnam now has 14.6 million ha of forest, of which natural forests total 10.3 ha.

He highlighted the major efforts of the political system and the people to raise the forest coverage rate from 27 percent in 1990 to 42 percent now, compared to the global average of 29 percent.

Some 4,600 businesses are operating in the forestry industry, with forestry export revenue expected to reach 13 billion USD this year, according to the minister.

He stressed the need to pour additional investments into forest protection in order to improve the quality of the task.

Vietnam’s commitments to sustainable forest development have been acknowledged internationally, he added./.

Pham Phu Quoc relieved from position as 14th-tenure NA deputy

The National Assembly (NA) on November 3 adopted a resolution relieving Pham Phu Quoc from his position as deputy of Ho Chi Minh City’s NA delegation due to his dishonesty in declaring his profile.

Delivering the draft resolution, NA Secretary General and Chairman of the NA Office Nguyen Hanh Phuc said that Quoc’s dishonesty violates NA deputy standards, and he is no longer worthy of the trust of voters and people.

His violation is serious, thus causing bad impact among public opinion and reducing his prestige.

Quoc, a native of the central province of Quang Tri, admitted on August 25 that he had acquired Cypriot citizenship in 2018, but it was due to his family's petition, not him 'buying' the nationality as reported by Qatar’s Al Jazeera.

Al Jazeera had reported that Cyprus's passport scheme allows people who have invested at least 2.5 million USD in the country to possess its passport, making individuals eligible to become EU citizens and travel and work freely in EU nations, as well as enter 174 countries without a visa. Quoc's name was mentioned among the list of foreigners who possess a Cypriot passport.

After the case was uncovered, Quoc sent a letter to the HCM City administration, resigning from the position of a National Assembly deputy of the city as well as the General Director of the state-owned Tan Thuan Industrial Promotion Company (IPC)./.VNA

Vietnamese lawmaker resigns after dual nationality scandal

Lawmaker Pham Phu Quoc had been dishonest in declaring his profile, the People’s Committee of Ho Chi Minh affirmed on September 1 at a press briefing on his holding dual nationality.