Traffic congestion on the Binh Trieu Bridge leading to the Eastern Coach Station in District 9 in HCM City. The city's authorities said traffic issues will be among the highest priorities in its 2020 agenda.

Speaking at a meeting on Monday, Nguyen Thanh Phong, chairman of HCM City People’s Committee, said the city last year maintained strong growth and would continue this year to implement major projects, including the smart city plan and the creative urban area in the city’s eastern part (districts 2 and 9).

A pilot project to develop an urban administrative model for more efficient governance will also be launched, he said.

The city will also focus on significant problems such as traffic congestion, traffic accidents, flooding, and environmental pollution, as well as climate-change adaptation and training of high-quality human resources, he added.

Last year, most of the city’s key economic sectors, especially the service sector, grew significantly compared to 2018, he said. “The city also managed to resolve complaints of residents in many areas.”

The city’s labour productivity in 2019 was nearly three times that of the whole country (VNĐ299.8 million per person, an increase of 6.8 per cent over 2018), Phong said, adding that the city’s budget revenue exceeded 3.3 per cent of the target for the year.

In addition, the implementation of National Assembly's Resolution 54, which gives more autonomy to the city to speed up development, saw positive results in 2019.

The city’s gross regional domestic product (GRDP) in 2019 reached more than VND1.34 quadrillion, an 8.32 per cent increase year-on-year, he added.

HCM City has set a target of achieving a growth rate of 8.5 per cent for GRDP in 2020, with total private investment accounting for 35 per cent of GRDP.

This year, the city also aims to create 44,000 new businesses, creating 135,000 new jobs.

The total number of international visitors to the city reached 8.5 million in 2019, a year-on-year increase of 14 per cent with sales up by 14.5 per cent over 2018, according to Phong.

In addition, the city in 2019 attracted $8.3 billion worth of foreign investment.

Budget revenue

The city has set a target in 2020 to achieve 100 per cent of budget revenue set by the Government, which is one of its major goals for this year.

Also speaking at the meeting, Le Ngoc Thuy Trang, deputy director of the city’s Department of Finance, said the Government this year set a target of budget revenue collection for the city of VND405.8 trillion ($17.55 billion), up 1.68 per cent compared to 2019, accounting for 26.5 per cent of the country’s total budget revenue.

Of the figure, domestic budget revenue would be VND278.6 trillion, up 2.3 per cent compared to the estimate in 2019.

To achieve the goal, the city will improve corporate financial management, accelerate the equitisation and divestment of SOEs, and closely monitor tax collection from enterprises.

The city will also use the revenue from the transfer of land-use rights as well as transfer of State-owned houses and land.

It will also focus on recovering and auctioning the land that investors have not used to prevent wastefulness.

According to Trang, to improve the use of the State budget, the city needs to restructure the operation of State-owned enterprises and call for more private investment.

Trang proposed that the city review all investment projects and focus on urgent projects, which should be submitted to the city People’s Committee to arrange for capital.

The city will also focus on accelerating the progress of ODA (Official Development Assistance) projects in the city. — VNS

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