Authorities at all levels in HCMC have stressed the need to speed up administrative reform in order to reduce troubles and offer support for local residents and businesses, and hence create a more favorable business environment.

Leaders of the HCMC People’s Committee are at the conference with grass-roots authorities on January 29

The HCMC People’s Committee held a conference with leaders of 322 grass-roots governments at the wards, communes and towns of the city on January 29.

Le Tien Sy, chairman of the People’s Committee of Tan Dinh Ward in District 1, said that as the municipal government aims for 500,000 enterprises by 2020, including a plan to convert business households into firms, there must be incentives to realize the target. 

A clear policy mechanism, according to him, is urgently needed to create favorable conditions for these entrepreneurs of this kind to make the change.

He explained that the municipal government should make it easier for such entrepreneurs to declare and pay their taxes, and apply information technology into the governance and public administration, as well as simplify administrative procedures and eliminate the ask-and-give mechanism.

Tran Thi Thanh Nga, chairwoman of the People’s Committee of Ward 8 in District 8, stated that it is necessary to develop a sense of responsibility among public servants, raise the quality of the one-door mechanism and collect feedback from the general public.

She stressed that public administrative services at levels 3 and 4, which allow individuals, businesses and management units to perform administrative formalities, submit documents and receive results online, should be made widely available to minimize costs and time for residents.

Simplifying administrative procedures and making life easier for businesses and residents are high on the city’s list of priorities, so tighter cooperation is needed to make the local investment and business environment more favorable, said the city’s chairman Nguyen Thanh Phong.

Such priorities are expected to help speed up State budget collections for the city, which are targeted at more than VND399 trillion (over US$17.2 billion) this year, he added.

He noted that the city government has chosen 2019 as a year of breakthroughs for administrative reform and of the better execution of a National Assembly resolution on piloting a special mechanism to bolster the development of the city.

SGT