This afternoon (July 1), the People's Committee of Ho Chi Minh City held a preliminary review of the socio -economic situation in the first 6 months of the year and set out tasks for the last 6 months of the year.

At the conference, Mr. Nguyen Khac Hoang, Director of the City Statistics Office, said that although GRDP in the first 6 months of the year grew by 6.46%, the economic picture of Ho Chi Minh City is slowing down compared to the whole country.

If in the first quarter, GRDP increased by 6.54%, 0.67% higher than the national average, then in the second quarter it was only 6.34%, 0.62% lower than the national average.

Although half a year has passed, Ho Chi Minh City has only disbursed nearly VND10,963 billion, reaching over 13.8%. In the first quarter, the disbursement rate was 7%, but in the second quarter, it dropped to 6.8%, while the city set a disbursement target of over 22% by the second quarter.

In the remaining 6 months of 2024, the city must disburse 13% each month, equal to the disbursement of the first 6 months of the year. This is a big challenge for the city.

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Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City Phan Van Mai speaks at the conference. Photo: TTBC

Sharing the same view, Mr. Tran Quang Lam, Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Transport, said that the city's current public investment disbursement situation is 'very worrying'. According to Mr. Lam, if the current implementation continues, the disbursement capacity in 2024 will not be equal to last year.

"The two biggest problems of public investment today are planning and compensation for site clearance. Although Ho Chi Minh City leaders have held regular meetings to resolve them, there have not been many changes," said Mr. Lam.

Speaking at the conference, Chairman of the City People's Committee Phan Van Mai expressed his concern about the city's slow public investment disbursement picture.

According to him, after 6 months, disbursement has only reached 13.8%, while the target is 30%.

"Last week, we disbursed about VND2,716 billion. Thus, the disbursement target of VND10,000 billion/month is completely achievable. If public investment disbursement has not been achieved so far, we must review and analyze to draw lessons for the future," Mr. Mai requested.

Mr. Mai also informed that the City People's Committee will have a separate topic to discuss public investment. But for now, he suggested that units focus on solutions to remove obstacles and promote this.

Mr. Phan Van Mai suggested that departments, branches, and localities review and propose that if any project can be transferred to districts for faster implementation, they should be transferred immediately, with the spirit that the transfer procedures must be done as quickly and neatly as possible.

He also requested departments, branches, and districts to review projects and propose adjustments to public investment capital to the Department of Planning and Investment to synthesize and submit to the City People's Committee to seek opinions from the City People's Council for timely adjustment.

“It is necessary to systematically review backlogged projects and identify any problems to resolve and clear up disbursement. In order to achieve the target of disbursing about 95% of public investment capital in the area in the remaining 6 months of 2024,” Mr. Mai requested.

"Renovating slums is a matter of survival for Ho Chi Minh City"

The above issue was raised by Dr. Tran Du Lich , Chairman of the Advisory Council for the implementation of Resolution 98, at the conference.

Dr. Tran Du Lich suggested that the City Department of Construction should focus on the housing program, because he believes that "this is a matter of survival for Ho Chi Minh City".

According to him, in reality, there are many people living in 100 square meters, but there are also many people living in 'matchboxes' of only a few square meters.

He said that the issue that District 1 Secretary Duong Anh Duc raised at the City Party Committee Conference about cramped housing, people sleeping in shifts... is very close to reality, because "you have to go, you have to see and it is truly unimaginable".

According to Dr. Tran Du Lich, implementing the housing program requires renovating the "slums" as above, this is considered an important issue for the city.

If we focus on renovating these areas, it will be the brightest spot in terms of people and society... for the upcoming 12th Congress of the city.