VietNamNet Bridge – The Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) has forced HCM City authorities to stop running its business registration system via Internet to use the system developed by MPI. As a result, the number of the businesses making business registration via network in HCM City has plunged to zero.

HCM City Vice Mayor Le Manh Ha voiced his violent criticism against the ministry at the workshop on e-government on August 28, 2013, held in Hanoi.

HCM City is the first locality in Vietnam which builds up and runs the business registration system via Internet, applied to the local businesses since 2001. A report showed that 60 percent of businesses in HCM City have made their business registration via the network which has been running smoothly since then.

However, the network built and developed by HCM City is in the danger of “being put in mothballs,” as MPI has decided that a common business registration system must be used throughout the country.

“As a result, no more investor dares to make business registration via Internet any more. I believe that this is a kind of sabotage,” Ha said.

According to Ha, MPI has done a good thing of building up a system for the common use nationwide, but it should have considered the local existing systems when doing this, so as to ensure the continued smooth operation of the systems and the enterprises’ benefits.

“The MPI has collapsed the HCM City’s business registration system, thus making the city’s efforts over the last 10 years profitless,” Ha said.

Ha declined to give an exact figure about the damage caused by the MPI’s decision. However, he said the city’s planning and investment department nowadays has to receive the representatives from hundreds or thousands of businesses coming to make business registration, thus causing the overloading to the agency.

Ha has stated that HCM City plans to resume its old registration system to better serve people. “The system run by MPI still cannot grant business registration certificates via Internet to businesses, and it’s not clear if it will be able to do that in the future,” he explained.

MPI has been the “aiming point” of the heavy criticism not only from HCM City, but also from other localities as well, which have also suffered from the ministry’s instructions.

Pham Kim Son, Director of the Da Nang Department of Information and Communication, said the city once met the same problem. The city began using the software to manage the business registration via Internet in 2003. However, the city had to give up the system in 2012, when MPI put its system into operation.

Ha has stressed that competent agencies and local authorities should learn a lesson from this, suggesting that the ministries should consult with the Ministry of Information and Communication on the utilization of information technology systems in order to avoid the overlapping and the waste of resources.

“You should not demolish the good things just to use the new things. In other words, you should not carry out the renovation by the devastation,” Ha said.

He went on to say that people need to be respected. They deserve to have the right to use better services, while no need to impose someone’s will on them.

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