Removing 'bottlenecks' to enter a new era

Despite the National Assembly’s Resolution 98 on specific mechanisms and policies for the development of Ho Chi Minh City, the country’s economic “locomotive” city is still struggling to maintain growth, especially since the “post” Covid-19 period until now. To escape this situation, many experts have advised Ho Chi Minh City to boldly remove “bottlenecks” and limitations to make a breakthrough.

Dr. Truong Minh Huy Vu said that Ho Chi Minh City needs to soon develop synchronous transport infrastructure to connect regions and make breakthroughs.

This is the content that many delegates discussed and contributed solutions to at the discussion, with the theme "What should Ho Chi Minh City do to enter the era of national development", taking place on November 27, in Ho Chi Minh City.

Removing many "bottlenecks"

Regarding the current limitations and shortcomings of Ho Chi Minh City, Mr. Pham Chanh Truc - former Deputy Secretary of the City Party Committee, former Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Council pointed out 3 basic "bottlenecks", including: traffic infrastructure, with the situation of "traffic jams, flooding"; inadequacies in waste treatment and weaknesses in solving housing for people, especially low-income people. Regarding the "bottlenecks" of traffic infrastructure, the expert pointed out: "A special urban area with more than 13 million people cannot have the current urban traffic network. Instead, it is necessary to move towards public transport, limit private vehicles... If there are still congestions here, it will be more cumbersome and slow".

Regarding housing for the people, Mr. Truc said that this is an issue that needs special attention. The high price of real estate, including apartments, makes it difficult for the poor, workers, and laborers to access housing. We must make sure that social security policies are directed towards these groups, and that low-income people cannot live in poverty without housing.

Dr. Truong Minh Huy Vu - Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Research Institute commented that it is time for the city government to review and clearly identify which development index is important and needs to be prioritized in the coming time, in order to focus development resources. This expert cited the transport infrastructure index. In particular, before 2022, Ho Chi Minh City's traffic will lack many ring roads. Even Ring Road 2 is still short of more than ten kilometers. And it is expected that by the end of this term, the city will have Ring Road 3, and currently the city is preparing to submit Ring Road 4.

Mr. Vu expects that in the next 5 years, Ho Chi Minh City will have a relatively complete belt road system and be able to operate vital routes that will connect this region in the next 10 years. Along with the belt roads, Ho Chi Minh City will also begin implementing metro lines, first of all metro line 1, Ben Thanh - Suoi Tien route. The city is also determined to operate metro line 2 from now until 2030, in parallel with the plan to eliminate 46,000 households on canals within the next 5 years and 10 years. That shows the city's determination to step into a new era.

From a macro perspective, Dr. Tran Du Lich - Member of the National Monetary Policy Advisory Council, Chairman of the Advisory Council for the Implementation of Resolution 98 of the National Assembly, said that Ho Chi Minh City has now opened up many spaces in terms of specific mechanisms and policies for development. However, in the next stage, the city still needs a revolution to reform the state apparatus and build a true model of urban government. Specifically, the city needs to quickly shape the urban government model and further develop a special urban law. Therefore, the city needs to quickly position the functions of the State in relation to the market and the relationship with citizens. From there, there will be a basis for a streamlined, effective and efficient apparatus. From this model, it is proposed that the National Assembly develop a special urban law that is specific to the city.

Need a strong breakthrough

Emphasizing the particularly important role of the economic “locomotive” of Ho Chi Minh City in the upcoming period of strong “transformation”, Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Tan Phat - Member of the City Party Committee, Secretary of the Party Committee, Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Academy of Officials said: Ho Chi Minh City is a special urban area, a large center of the country in terms of economy and society. In recent years, the development of the city has always made important contributions to the overall development of the country. Many models, leadership and management methods of the Party Committee, the city government and models of organizing economic and social development, organizing urban development have been replicated nationwide.

According to Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Tan Phat, in each turning point development stage (early period of national renewal, smart cities, digital transformation...) or difficult situation (economic recession, Covid-19 pandemic...), the city has new models and methods that are breakthrough and creative, becoming a source of inspiration for innovation for other localities.

In the current period, we can mention the models and solutions that Ho Chi Minh City is implementing before the whole country and for the whole country such as: urban government model; implementing special mechanisms and policies, high-tech zones... To maintain its "locomotive" role, the city needs to develop remarkably in many areas, to demonstrate the strong aspiration to rise and the constant initiative, dynamism and creativity of the Party Committee, government and people of the city. In particular, the Ho Chi Minh City government needs to continue to take advantage of the special mechanism from Resolution 98 to quickly remove "bottlenecks", thereby breaking through to enter the era of national development.

Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Tat Vien - former Standing Member of the Central Steering Committee for Judicial Reform also agreed that the Ho Chi Minh City government must quickly remove "bottlenecks", especially human resources (resource planning, internal strength). This expert also supports the proposal for the National Assembly to develop a Special Urban Law and believes that this Law should have been developed a long time ago. Because the Special Urban Law will fundamentally solve institutional "bottlenecks", helping Ho Chi Minh City change its "tight shirt" and open up a large space to grow.

At the seminar, experts and scientists also gave advice and suggestions on 9 tasks that Ho Chi Minh City needs to do to enter the era of national development. Opinions were also highly unanimous on the awareness of the era of national development of Vietnam, including opportunities and chances for Ho Chi Minh City to realize its aspiration for breakthrough development, promote its true stature, perfect the urban government model to meet the requirements of streamlining, effectiveness and efficiency; focusing on removing difficulties in traffic infrastructure, housing and effectively promoting the advantages of high-quality human resources.

Source: https://daidoanket.vn/thao-diem-nghen-de-buoc-vao-ky-nguyen-moi-10295418.html