The HCMC government has identified environmental protection and improvement of the quality of life as two of the core criteria for growth quality in the 2016-2020 period, said chairman Nguyen Thanh Phong.

HCMC Party chief Dinh La Thang (L) talks to other delegates on the sidelines of the seventh session of the 10th HCMC Party Committee’s Executive Board on September 25 

Phong said on the opening day of the seventh session of the 10th HCMC Party Committee’s Executive Board on September 24 that the city is looking to achieve annual gross regional domestic product (GRDP) growth of 8-8.5% in the five-year period.

The city has launched seven breakthrough programs to implement a resolution passed at the tenth HCMC Party congress. The programs are to develop human resources, streamline administrative procedures, improve growth quality, enhance competitiveness, reduce traffic congestion, control floods, and rehabilitate the cityscape. 

The city’s growth quality is assessed based on economic development, environmental protection and the quality of life.

Regarding annual GRDP growth of 8-8.5%, the services sector is expected to grow 9-9.6% per year, the industrial-construction sector 7.6-7.8% per year and the agriculture-forestry-seafood sector 5.8-6% per year.

The city will restructure its economy towards the three sectors, with the services sector accounting for 56-58% of GRDP growth by 2020.

Notably, at least 25,000 household businesses would be converted into companies and the city will have a minimum of 500,000 companies with 30-35% of them investing in innovations by 2020. 

Delivering his closing marks at the session on September 25, Party chief of the city Dinh La Thang said GRDP growth is estimated at 7.6% in the first nine months and the figure for all of this year is forecast at 8%.

Thang said budget revenues have totaled VND220 trillion in the nine-month period, meeting 73% of the 2016 target, and startups have reached 25,980, up 17% year-on-year. Thang described the city’s aim for 500,000 companies by 2020 as obtainable.

The city will further simplify administrative procedures, step up the application of information technology and develop an e-government. The city government will mobilize capital from different sources to carry out projects belonging to the seven breakthrough programs, especially transport development to promote connectivity with other cities and provinces in the region. The city will improve ways for investment promotion in foreign countries. 

“The HCMC government will adopt favorable mechanisms to make full use of resources to implement the breakthrough programs,” Thang said.

Phong said the city would carry anti-flood projects in the downtown area and part of the northern, western, southern, northeastern and southeastern areas covering 550 square kilometers in 13 districts with some 6.5 million people. The quality of water and the cityscape will be improved while more reservoirs will be built to store water as a measure to ease chronic flooding.

In 2016-2018, three wastewater treatment plants will be built, with Tham Luong-Ben Cat having a daily capacity of 131,000 cubic meters, Nhieu Loc-Thi Nghe 480,000 cubic meters and the second phase of the Binh Hung wastewater treatment project 469,000 cubic meters.

In 2019-2020, four other plants will be constructed, namely Tan Hoa-Lo Gom with a daily capacity of 300,000 cubic meters, Tay Saigon with a capacity of 150,000 cubic meters a day, Bac Saigon with a capacity of 170,000 cubic meters per day and the expanded Binh Tan plant with its daily capacity rising from 30,000 cubic meters to 180,000 cubic meters.

At present, just 7% of wastewater in the city is treated. When those wastewater treatment plants are put into operation in 2020, around 70% of wastewater discharged by seven million city dwellers will be treated.

HCMC chairman Nguyen Thanh Phong said the city will relocate 20,000 households along the canals by 2020, especially the Tham Luong-Ben Cat-Rach Nuoc Len Canal, Nguyen Kieu isle and Ho Khanh Hoi park. These families will receive a combined VND16.3 trillion in compensation.

Meanwhile, site clearance and resettlement will be conducted to relocate people along the Doi-Te Canal in districts 4, 7 and 8.

SGT