According to the research team of Ho Chi Minh City University of Economics, infrastructure is one of the three major challenges of Ho Chi Minh City in transforming the growth model to enter a new era of development. Focusing on solving this challenge is the most effective approach, contributing to determining the growth rate of Ho Chi Minh City.
On the morning of December 25, Ho Chi Minh City University of Economics (UEH) and the Ho Chi Minh City Statistics Office jointly organized the Ho Chi Minh City Economic Dialogue: Recovery and readiness for a new era.
On behalf of the implementation team, Dr. Ho Hoang Anh (UEH) said that through research and assessment, the City's economy in 2025 is forecast to continue its recovery momentum thanks to the growth of the service, industrial and construction sectors. However, the City is still facing three major challenges in transforming the growth model to enter a new era with high and sustainable growth rates. These are challenges in high-quality human resources; investment from domestic and foreign enterprises; and challenges in infrastructure.
The research team assessed that Ho Chi Minh City has competitive advantages and potential to develop the service industry in general, in which the pillars are wholesale and retail trade and logistics.
Focusing on developing and improving infrastructure also plays a key role in building and developing the foundational structure of a highly productive production machine and a livable city. The speed at which infrastructure challenges are resolved will contribute to determining the City's growth rate in 2025 and play a key role in determining the growth rate in the new era.
Discussing further, Deputy Director of the Department of Industry and Trade - Nguyen Nguyen Phuong, said that currently logistics costs in Ho Chi Minh City are very high compared to Singapore and Bangkok. Retail sales are increasing, but wholesale sales in Ho Chi Minh City are decreasing, the reason is that wholesale businesses are moving to register procedures in neighboring localities when Ho Chi Minh City collects infrastructure fees to invest in seaports.
Meanwhile, Associate Professor Dr. Tran Hoang Ngan, Assistant to the Politburo and Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee, also stated that infrastructure is the most decisive factor in attracting investment to Ho Chi Minh City. However, infrastructure investment resources for Ho Chi Minh City are very limited, due to the large changes in the budget allocation rate over each period. If in 2000-2003, Ho Chi Minh City was left with 33% of the budget, then in the 2017-2021 period, it was only 18%.
According to Associate Professor, Dr. Tran Hoang Ngan, although the rate of public investment disbursement may not be high, in terms of value, in the 5 years from 2011 to 2016, Ho Chi Minh City disbursed 110,000 billion VND. From 2021 to now, in less than 4 years, Ho Chi Minh City has disbursed 150,000 billion VND.
“This capital supports growth and reduces traffic congestion. Although not satisfactory, it is still a great effort of Ho Chi Minh City. In the past 4 years, Ho Chi Minh City has completed 18 bridges and inaugurated a metro line…”, Associate Professor, Dr. Tran Hoang Ngan said.
Also focusing on the value creation factor, Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Statistics Office Nguyen Khac Hoang also said that Ho Chi Minh City's growth has not reached expectations, but it is still the leading city in the country. In terms of value creation, 1% growth of Ho Chi Minh City is equivalent to 1.2% of Hanoi, more than 4% of Hai Phong, 14.5% of Da Nang, 17.3% of Can Tho.
In specific industries, Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City Real Estate Association Le Hoang Chau said that it is necessary to continue to remove obstacles for the real estate market. According to him, Vietnam has not identified real estate as a pillar of the economy, but considers it a risky market. From such a risky mindset, it leads to "unreasonable" policies, "suffocating" project supply, limiting businesses' access to land.
Since then, “affordable” apartments have gradually disappeared. In the first 11 months of 2024, in Ho Chi Minh City, only 4 projects were eligible to be launched on the market to raise capital, with a total of 1,611 apartments, while in 2017 there were 43,000 apartments. Notably, all 4 of the above projects are in the high-end segment.
The Ho Chi Minh City Economic Report: Recovery and Ready for the New Era is a scientific research publication jointly conducted by UEH and the Ho Chi Minh City Statistics Office, with the advice of: Prof. Dr. Nguyen Dong Phong, Chairman of the UEH Council; Prof. Dr. Su Dinh Thanh, Director of UEH; MSc. Nguyen Khac Hoang, Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Statistics Office; Prof. Dr. Nguyen Trong Hoai, Editor-in-Chief of the Asian Journal of Economic and Business Research, UEH; Assoc. Prof. Dr. Pham Khanh Nam, Principal of the UEH School of Economics, Law and State Management.
The group of authors who conducted the report included Dr. Ho Hoang Anh, UEH (editor-in-chief); MSc. Nguyen Van Thang, Ho Chi Minh City Statistics Office (co-editor-in-chief); Le Minh Hung, Ho Chi Minh City Statistics Office; Dr. Nguyen Thanh Binh, Ho Chi Minh City Statistics Office; MSc. Vo Duc Hoang Vu, UEH.
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Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/thao-go-triet-de-ha-tang-de-tphcm-buoc-vao-ky-nguyen-moi-post774778.html
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