Nguyen Thanh Phong (centre), chairman of the city People’s Committee, speaks at a meeting to review the city’s socio-economic development in the first eight months. (Photo courtesy of the HCM City Press Centre)HCMCity (VNS/VNA) - HCM City will continue to speed up thedisbursement of public funds and seek to increase budget revenue for theremaining months of the year, the chairman of the municipal People’s Committeehas said.
Speaking at a meeting to review socio-economic development in the first eightmonths, Nguyen Thanh Phong said the city would speed up the disbursementof at least 80 percent of the planned investment next month in order to achievethe target of over 95 percent of the plan by the end of the year.
As of August 23, as much as 21.3trillion VND (911.5 million USD) had been disbursed, accounting for 50 percentof the set target, almost 2.5 times higher than the same period last year,according to him.
The HCM City ManagementBoard for Traffic WorksConstruction and Investment and the HCM City ManagementAuthority for Urban Railway (MAUR) have urged the city to speed up thedisbursement rate to ensure the progress of many public projects with hugeinvestments, he said.
Various traffic infrastructure works in the city have begun, but havebeen delayed due to the low disbursement rate, mostly becauseof long delays in compensation payments for land, according to theHCM City Management Board for Traffic Works Construction and Investment.
Of the 60 projects that are behind schedule due to land clearance issues,five are under a “red alert” status.
Phong has also urged the HCM City Management Authority for Urban Railways towork with relevant units to ensure that all necessary procedures are completedby October 12 for the first metro line trains to arrive in the city.
Earlier this month, the HCM City Management Authority for Urban Railwaysannounced that 75 percent of the metro line No 1 has been completed.
They expect to complete 85 percent of the total project by the end of thisyear, but the COVID-19 pandemic has badly affected the progressas foreign experts have been unable to enter Vietnam, and it hasbeen difficult to import machinery.
HCM City this year plans to implement 1,643 public investment projects worth 42.1 trillionVND (1,8 billion USD), of which 33.94 trillion VND will be from thecity budget and the rest from the central government budget, according toPhong.
HCM City last year spent 24.62 trillion VND (1.06 billion USD), or only 85percent of the allocation, for public spending.
The city will also seek to increase the budget revenue for the remainingmonths, according to the municipal leader.
According to the Department of Finance, the city’s total budget revenue wasestimated at 220.8 trillion VND in the first eight months, or 54 percent of theplan.
The city government has urged tax authorities to work with agencies to resolveenterprises’ challenges, especially for projects that have land but havefaced problems in legal procedures, preventing enterprises fromfulfilling their financial obligations.
The city People’s Committee has asked the Department of Natural Resources andEnvironment to speed up the auction of nine land lots in Thu Thiem new urbanarea in accordance with the law.
In addition, the city has ordered the Department of Tourism to continue todevelop a domestic tourism stimulus programme to help the hard-hit sectorto recover.
The city also plans to provide another financial support package, especiallyfor businesses that have suspended operations due to the impact of thesecond COVID-19 outbreak.
The city will issue specific policies to help enterprises orindustries heavily affected such as restaurants, hotels, andtransport and tourism-related services, according to Phong.
More than 21,000 businesses in the city have suspended operations andlaid off a large number of employees.
In addition, the city will this month complete a project to adjust therate of state budget retained for the city, as well as theplans to establish the new Thu Duc in the city's easternpart, and develop HCM City into an international financial hub.
Le Thi Huynh Mai, director of the city Department of Planning and Investment,said the total retail sales of goods and service revenue during the periodreached about 827 trillion VND, down 3.3 percent from the same period lastyear, while total budget revenue was more than 216.7 trillion VND, down17.37 percent over the same period. Total budget expenditures were 49.264trillion VND.
Mai said: “Despite the resurgence of the pandemic, the HCM City economyis gradually recovering and increasing rapidly in the fourth quarterof 2020.”
The city’s industrial production index in the first eight months increased by2.1 percent over the same period last year.
In addition, total registered capital and additional capital of newlyestablished enterprises reached nearly 850 trillion VND, up 31.3 percentover the same period./.
VNA
