Resolutely reforming administration, creating a foundation to promote economic development

To increase competitiveness in attracting investment, the province has resolutely directed administrative reform (AR), improved the image of the service-oriented administration, and broken through bottlenecks to contribute to promoting sustainable socio-economic development, making Nam Dinh an attractive destination for domestic and foreign investors.

People and businesses carry out administrative procedures at the Center for Public Administration Services, Investment Promotion and Business Support of the province.

Strong leadership and reform

Identifying administrative reform as a key factor to improve competitiveness and promote socio-economic development, the province has issued a series of important directives. In particular, Resolution No. 04-NQ/TU dated June 18, 2021 of the Provincial Party Committee sets the goal of building a professional, modern, and effective public administration, creating a favorable and equal business environment. The Provincial People's Committee has also implemented many specific plans to improve the Provincial Competitiveness Index (PCI) and the Public Administration Reform Index (PAR Index).

In addition, the province has completed the Steering Committee for Administrative Reform to synchronously implement tasks according to the State Administrative Reform Master Program for the period 2021-2030. The province has established and actively implemented the activities of the Provincial Working Group (according to Decision No. 874/QD-UBND dated April 23, 2021 of the Provincial People's Committee) and the Special Working Group (according to Decision No. 1045/QD-UBND dated May 26, 2023) to inspect, urge, and remove difficulties and obstacles encountered by investors, speeding up the progress of investment projects. Nam Dinh is one of the pioneering localities in developing and applying the PAR Assessment Index since 2013; this is an effective tool to help provincial leaders monitor and evaluate the performance of departments, branches, sectors, and localities. Every year, the province organizes scoring and ranking of the PAR Index, determining the responsibilities of relevant collectives and individuals. Thanks to that, the province's PAR Index in 2023 reached 87.32 points, ranking 29th out of 63 provinces and cities, up 11 places compared to 2020. The indicators of administrative procedure reform (APR), e-government development, and improving the quality of civil servants all had breakthroughs.

In order to create maximum convenience for businesses and people, the province has established the Center for Public Administration Services, Investment Promotion and Provincial Enterprise Support. This center operates under the "one-stop-shop" mechanism, helping businesses only need to work with a single contact without having to pay any additional fees when handling administrative procedures related to investment projects that do not use state budget capital in the province. In addition, the province also directed to promote reform of procedures related to business registration, investment, land, construction, etc. to help shorten the time to process documents and reduce costs for businesses; at the same time, civil service discipline is tightened, strictly handling acts that cause trouble for people and businesses. The emulation movement "Promoting administrative reform in Nam Dinh province" contributes to raising awareness and responsibility of cadres and civil servants in performing their duties. Departments, branches, sectors and localities in the whole province widely deploy to all civil servants and public employees, raise awareness and responsibility of leaders in administrative reform efforts, improve the business environment, enhance provincial competitiveness, serve people and businesses more and more practically, considering this as the top task of their agencies and units.

Thanks to reform efforts, Nam Dinh's investment environment has been increasingly improved. As a result, Nam Dinh's PCI Index has changed positively over the years: In 2021, it reached 64.99 points, ranked 24/63 provinces, up 16 places compared to 2020. In 2022, it reached 65.29 points, maintaining growth momentum. In 2023, it reached 66.67 points, approaching the national average, continuing to improve the quality of management. Some important indicators of the province's PCI have maintained high results and rankings such as: 0% of businesses have to wait more than a month to complete all business registration procedures to officially operate; clear and complete procedural instructions (business registration); knowledgeable staff (business registration procedures); The court's judgment was quickly enforced... With the results achieved, the province is gradually building a modern, transparent, and effective public administration, constantly improving competitiveness, enhancing business confidence, and attracting many large domestic and foreign enterprises to pay attention and invest in Nam Dinh. Typically, Xuan Thien Group invested in a complex of 3 green steel projects using advanced technology from G7 countries with a total investment of 98,900 billion VND in Nghia Hung. The world's leading technology group in the field of computer component manufacturing, Quanta Computer Inc., from Taiwan (China) invested in a computer and peripheral equipment manufacturing project in My Thuan Industrial Park (120 million USD), expected to reach 9 billion USD in revenue/year from 2028, contributing 90 million USD/year to the budget. Toray Group from Japan invested in a fabric production project at Rang Dong Textile Industrial Park with a total capital of 2.3 billion USD, expected revenue of 400 million USD/year, contributing 80 billion VND/year to the budget. Kim Kieu Aluminum Group invested in a project to produce green aluminum alloy bars, high-end 3C electronic materials and Kim Kieu automobile aluminum accessories with a total registered capital of 90 million USD at My Thuan Industrial Park; investor Xingfu Safety Technology (Singapore) invested in a project to produce technical safety products at My Thuan Industrial Park with a total investment of 85 million USD; investor JIA WEI LIFESTYLE invested in a project to produce plastic and Melamine products at My Thuan Industrial Park with a total investment of 77 million USD; YI DA DENIM MILL (VN) CO., LTD invested in a project to produce fiber, fabric and garments at Rang Dong Textile Industrial Park with a total investment of 60 million USD. In addition, the province signed a Memorandum of Understanding on March 25, 2023 with Vietnam - Singapore Industrial Park Joint Venture Company Limited (VSIP) on researching and proposing investment projects in industrial parks, urban areas, and services in the province; signed a Memorandum of Understanding on October 25, 2023 with AEON Vietnam Company Limited to develop the AEON Nam Dinh commercial center project... These results help Nam Dinh rise strongly in attracting investment, creating a driving force for sustainable growth for the province.

Towards a modern and professional administration

In the context of the need to constantly improve the management and service capacity of State agencies, Nam Dinh is implementing the 2025 administrative reform plan with the vision of building a modern, transparent and effective administration with the main goal: Promoting the modernization of public services, focusing on the application of technology, digitalizing administrative procedures to bring fast, accurate and convenient services to all subjects. Actively improving the administrative reform index, striving to bring Nam Dinh into the group of provinces with a "fair" administrative reform index nationwide. Linking administrative reform with socio-economic development, creating a favorable investment environment, promoting digital transformation and strengthening the connection between administrative work and economic development.

Within the framework of the proposed plan, the province requires departments, branches, sectors and localities to continue to consider administrative reform as a key political task, which is strictly assessed in the emulation and reward work of leaders at all levels. At the same time, continue to focus on implementing a series of breakthrough reform tasks including: Simplifying and improving the quality of administrative procedures with the goal of reducing and simplifying administrative procedures, especially in the fields of land, construction and social policies; 100% digitalization of administrative procedure records along with online settlement will contribute to shortening processing time and enhancing the responsibility of officials. Building e-government, towards digital government, utilizing population data and applying information technology to improve the efficiency of administrative management, promoting online payment, minimizing direct contact, thereby optimizing the working time of people and businesses. The province also actively implements streamlining the apparatus and improving the efficiency of public services. Through the arrangement and consolidation of administrative organizations and public service units, towards a streamlined and effective administrative management system. At the same time, the training and arrangement of cadres and civil servants are focused on to ensure the right people, the right jobs and to strengthen supervision and strictly handle violations in public service. Up to now, in the government sector alone, the province has merged structures and established a streamlined and effective administrative system. After the merger, the number of departments and branches has decreased by 5 units compared to before. After the merger, the number of functional departments of the departments has decreased from 25% to 36.6%, contributing to optimizing resources, eliminating duplication and enhancing coordination efficiency in administrative management. In addition, the province continues to promote decentralization, authorization and public finance reform, increasing autonomy for district and commune levels to help localities proactively solve work, while reforming public finance to improve the autonomy of public service units, optimize resources and use the budget effectively.

With the determination to innovate and modernize the administrative system to be modern, transparent and effective, Nam Dinh aims to improve the quality of service to people and businesses, contributing to creating a premise to promote comprehensive and sustainable socio-economic development of the province.

Article and photos: Thanh Thuy

Source: https://baonamdinh.vn/kinh-te/202502/quyet-liet-cai-cach-hanh-chinhtao-nen-tang-thuc-day-phat-trien-kinh-te-5f97e8a/