'HCMC officials are not as rich as businessmen but their salaries must be enough to live on'

Being a civil servant in Ho Chi Minh City cannot make you as rich as a businessman, but your salary must be enough to live on and feel secure in your work, according to Mr. Phan Van Mai.

"The city will have policies to ensure that civil servants have enough to live on and feel secure in their work," said Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee Phan Van Mai at the seminar "Development driving force from Resolution 98" organized by Saigon Giai Phong newspaper on the morning of August 31.

Resolution 98 was passed by the National Assembly on June 24, granting the city a number of special policies. In particular, the City People's Council was allowed to decide to allocate additional income for officials, civil servants, public employees, and workers at a level not exceeding 1.8 times the salary. At the same time, the city also issued a resolution to attract experts, scientists , and excellent students with more incentives than before.

Mr. Phan Van Mai spoke at the discussion on the morning of August 31. Photo: Huyen Mai — Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee Phan Van Mai speaks at the discussion on the morning of August 31. Photo: *Huyen Mai*

Recently, the Department of Science and Technology has proposed that the head of a public science and technology organization established by the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee receive a salary of 60-120 million VND per month. In addition, the deputy head of a public science and technology organization receives a salary of 50-100 million VND, the head of a department receives 40-80 million VND, and the deputy head of a department receives 30-60 million VND per month.

According to Mr. Mai, the city is developing a project to build an effective and efficient public service system to serve the people and create development. In particular, in the selection of civil servants and public employees, Ho Chi Minh City must have its own mechanism to attract highly skilled, dedicated workers who want to contribute to the construction and development of the city.

Officials of Thu Duc City People's Committee during working hours, August 2022. Photo: Quynh Tran — Officials of Thu Duc City People's Committee during working hours, August 2022. Photo: *Quynh Tran*

The city also plans to strengthen the Cadre Academy, promote existing training facilities, and cooperate with international training institutions to train staff. The method is to train by title, depending on each position and job title, cadres must have the expertise and skills to meet the needs.

"The locality will organize the selection of people with good expertise, enthusiasm and desire to contribute to the city," said Mr. Mai, adding that the training of cadres is linked to meeting requirements and having a mindset ready to change.

In addition, the head of the Ho Chi Minh City government said that the city will develop a process for handling public administrative procedures, select pilot wards and then expand it to the entire city. "If done well, it will reduce the workload for the grassroots by 15-30%, helping to improve service efficiency to satisfy people," said Mr. Mai.

Le Tuyet

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