The bravery of Ho Chi Minh City's economic locomotive in the face of 'headwinds' in 2023

(Dan Tri) - The Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City said that when the growth rate was low (0.7%) in the first quarter of 2023, the locality received a lot of criticism. The city remained calm, analyzed, and found solutions to overcome that period.

The upcoming year 2024 is a pivotal year for Ho Chi Minh City in implementing the socio-economic development goals and tasks according to the Resolution of the 11th City Party Congress, term 2020-2025. According to tradition, in the fourth year of the term, the leading urban area of ​​the country only needs to accelerate to reach the finish line. However, facing both internal and external fluctuations, Ho Chi Minh City needs to prepare a different mindset than usual to enter 2024. "The city needs to be ready to both accelerate and overcome obstacles to reach the finish line. There are still many obstacles, there are heavy rocks but there is no way to avoid them," said Mr. Nguyen Van Nen, Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee, at the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee Executive Committee Conference on the afternoon of December 2.

Mr. Nguyen Van Nen, Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee, expressed at the Conference of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Executive Committee (Photo: Quang Huy).

The Calm of a Train

Back at the beginning of the year, Ho Chi Minh City ended the first quarter with surprising indicators when it grew by only 0.7%, the lowest among the five centrally-run cities. At that time, a series of questions were raised about "what is happening in Ho Chi Minh City?", "What problems is Ho Chi Minh City facing?". Mr. Phan Van Mai, Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee, recalled that at that time, the city had received criticism and comments. After nearly a year of summarizing, the head of the city government said that the locality needs to be calm in the face of such problems, analyze together, and find solutions to overcome them.

Mr. Phan Van Mai, Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee, recalled the time when Ho Chi Minh City achieved low growth in the first quarter of 2023 (Photo: Quang Huy).

In the context of mounting difficulties, Ho Chi Minh City has carried out a huge amount of work with quality and efficiency. This is demonstrated by the results and actual figures on the socio-economy. "I have not measured it yet, but I feel that the efficiency is at least 1.5 times higher than usual. We can see it through the development of the socio-economy and many other aspects," the Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee expressed. Specifically, in the past year, the city has advised the National Assembly to issue Resolution 98 to pilot a number of specific mechanisms and policies and immediately implement this resolution. The locality also focused on removing a series of difficulties and obstacles for businesses, while focusing on solving huge backlogs. In 2023, Ho Chi Minh City will also restart and start construction of many important projects and works such as the Ho Chi Minh City Ring Road 3 project, Tham Luong - Ben Cat - Rach Nuoc Len canal, etc.

In 2023, Ho Chi Minh City will start construction on many important projects and works, including the Ring Road 3 project (Photo: Hai Long).

According to Ms. Le Thi Huynh Mai, Director of the Department of Planning and Investment of Ho Chi Minh City, in 2023, the city was assigned by the Central Government 68,000 billion VND to disburse public investment, double that of last year. Up to now, the disbursement rate of public investment in Ho Chi Minh City is about 45.2%. It is expected that by December 5, Ho Chi Minh City can disburse 50.3% of the total capital allocated for 2023. "Although the target of 95% has not been achieved, the absolute figure reached over 31,000 billion VND, double the same period last year. In the work of summarizing the disbursement of public investment nationwide in early November, the Ministry of Planning and Investment reported that Ho Chi Minh City's absolute figure ranked 3rd after ministries, branches and localities," Ms. Mai analyzed.

At the time of 0.7% growth in the first quarter of 2023, Ho Chi Minh City had to endure many criticisms and comments.

Mr. Phan Van Mai, Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee

After a year of being affected by many internal and external factors, Ho Chi Minh City is expected to have an economic growth rate (GRDP) of 5.8%. The Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee said that although it has not met the set requirements, this is a commendable result. After the low growth rate of the first quarter of 2023, the whole locality has made efforts to increase the following quarter compared to the previous quarter, and the quality of growth has also continuously improved. "We have overcome the "headwind", both overcoming shortcomings and maintaining economic recovery and development. Positive changes have taken place every month and every quarter, notably improving the material and spiritual life of the people", Mr. Nguyen Van Nen shared.

The rocks HCMC needs to overcome

"There are heavy rocks but there is no way to avoid them. If we put the rocks down soon, we will speed up quickly," Secretary Nguyen Van Nen expressed. The head of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee analyzed that the locality has been and is continuing to resolve outstanding issues. Since the end of 2022, a previously outstanding case has occurred and become a major incident. That is the Van Thinh Phat case. On the government side, Mr. Phan Van Mai, Chairman of the City People's Committee, analyzed that the entire local political system has made great efforts to resolve a large amount of work over the past time. Of which, most of the effort has been spent on resolving these backlogs.

There are heavy rocks but no way around them. If we put the rocks down soon, we will speed up quickly.

Mr. Nguyen Van Nen, Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee

"The city has spent a lot of time, effort and resources to solve these cases. If we can solve them, the city will certainly remove a heavy burden to move forward," said Mr. Phan Van Mai. Mr. Nguyen Van Nen, Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee, also added that the local political system is inheriting what the previous generation left behind. In which, unfinished things need to be continued, but bad issues need to be corrected, and wrongdoings and violations need to be handled. These are things that need to be done with the purest motives and the highest responsibility.

The case related to Van Thinh Phat is one of the major backlogs that Ho Chi Minh City must resolve (Photo: Hai Long).

The head of the City Party Committee also acknowledged that next year, the global economy is not very optimistic, the domestic economy is still affected by many unfavorable external factors and internal limitations. Faced with intertwined advantages, difficulties and challenges, the city needs to take full advantage of opportunities, promote opportunities, and flexibly adapt to unusual fluctuations. "We have endured and overcome them, so now we continue to promote that spirit. There is no other way," Mr. Nguyen Van Nen emphasized. According to the Resolution of the 11th Ho Chi Minh City Party Congress, term 2020-2025, the locality needs to have an average GRDP growth rate of 8%/year during this period. The head of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee said that despite many challenges, the locality has the basis to achieve this growth target. "The city is still growing and implementing many new policies to mobilize social resources. We are trying to achieve this goal so that we can report to the Congress that we have completed the task," the Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee emphasized.

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