To help "ship 57" accelerate and reach its destination.

The Ho Chi Minh City Steering Committee for Science, Technology, Innovation, and Digital Transformation held a review meeting for the first quarter and set key tasks for the second quarter of 2026 regarding the implementation of Resolution 57 of the Politburo, Project 204 of the Party Central Committee, and Project 06 of the Government. This resulted in many valuable lessons, insights, and clearer, more specific directions for the next phase.

Ho Chi Minh City Party Secretary Tran Luu Quang suggested ways to address and accelerate the implementation of this "backbone" resolution in practice in Ho Chi Minh City, such as institutional issues and conflicts between the new law and management practices. In 2026, the 2025 Law on Science , Technology and Innovation and the Law on Digital Industry will come into effect, while the new guiding decree will be issued in the first quarter. Therefore, the entire year of 2026 will be a transitional period without any completely clear mechanisms.

The gap between the "target budget" and the actual "planned budget" is significant, meaning that while capital has been allocated according to the overall target (to achieve a 4.16% budget ratio), there are not enough specific projects and programs in reality. This is not to mention the low capacity to absorb capital because public investment projects in the science and technology sector have more complex technical approval processes than typical infrastructure projects, from technology assessment to software copyright and security standards.

Furthermore, the IT equipment supply market is dependent on international supply chains, leading to the risk of delayed deliveries. This has resulted in nearly 60% of total capital remaining idle in intermediate budget levels even after the first quarter has ended. In Ho Chi Minh City, large private enterprises remain indifferent and have not systematically participated in the local innovation ecosystem.

In reality, the data cleanup campaign is the most challenging task of the second quarter and the entire year of 2026 because it is not essentially a technical issue, but rather an internal governance problem. Therefore, to ensure that "Train 57" truly accelerates and arrives at each station on schedule, effectively serving society, core principles and preferential mechanisms for attracting strategic investors should be added to the draft Law on Special Urban Areas to create a more solid institutional foundation and a more complete legal framework.

In terms of overall capital allocation, instead of approving budgets based on detailed input categories, a mechanism for approving based on quantitative output targets (standardized data rate, number of transactions on technology platforms, online public service rate) should be considered. To clean up data, while simultaneously filtering physical data and building a data architecture according to the framework issued by Ho Chi Minh City, we need "signed data" - each dataset has a responsible person, a name, an update date, and an approver. Social pressure will be far more effective than purely administrative reminders. Units that complete data standardization ahead of schedule will be prioritized for digitalization budget allocation and recognized in performance evaluations. Conversely, units that fail to complete the standardization will have their IT system operating budgets cut.

NGUYEN QUAN CAT

Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/de-con-tau-57-tang-toc-tiep-dich-post851060.html