Maximum decentralization and delegation of power to develop Ho Chi Minh City

On the morning of November 26, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, Head of the Steering Committee for the implementation of Resolution No. 98 of the National Assembly on piloting some special mechanisms and policies for the development of Ho Chi Minh City, chaired the first meeting of the Steering Committee.

Resolution No. 98 stipulates the piloting of a number of specific mechanisms and policies for the development of Ho Chi Minh City regarding investment management; finance and state budget; urban management, resources, and environment; priority sectors and professions to attract strategic investors to the City; science and technology management, innovation; and the organizational structure of the City government and Thu Duc City.

The biggest breakthrough, the fastest deployment ever.

According to Ho Chi Minh City Party Secretary Nguyen Van Nen, Resolution 98 is the most groundbreaking resolution to date. The Prime Minister's establishment of the Steering Committee for the implementation of Resolution 98 is highly revolutionary, new, and unprecedented.

After 125 days of implementation, the City recognizes this as the fastest, most effective, and most concrete implementation among all previous resolutions. While the City has achieved some results, there are also areas where progress has been slower than planned.

Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee Nguyen Van Nen (Photo: VGP).

The Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee has issued directives and resolutions, established a Steering Committee, and directed the Party, mass organizations, People's Council, and People's Committee to carry out assigned tasks. Simultaneously, it has instilled in the entire political system and among the people the spirit of "the people know, the people discuss, the people do, the people inspect," coupled with widespread communication and mobilization throughout the city.

Mr. Nên suggested that in the implementation process, members of the Steering Committee need to more clearly demonstrate their roles and responsibilities. The decisive factor in implementing the Resolution is human resources. Therefore, Mr. Nên proposed that Ho Chi Minh City should have an additional Vice Chairman of the City People's Committee with specialized expertise to oversee and monitor the work, as the current existing government apparatus is overloaded.

Issue feasible regulations to ensure peace of mind during implementation.

In his concluding remarks, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh stated that Ho Chi Minh City has a long tradition of dynamism and creativity, unique potential, outstanding opportunities, competitive advantages, and a vast development space, which is highly anticipated by both the country and the international community, but its legal framework, mechanisms, and policies remain limited.

Resolution 98 aims to address these legal difficulties and obstacles. To effectively implement the Resolution, careful consideration is needed, clear thinking is essential, strong determination is required, great effort is necessary, action must be decisive and effective, and implementation must be focused and prioritized, ensuring each task is completed thoroughly.

The Prime Minister highly appreciated the People's Committee of Ho Chi Minh City (the working group of the Steering Committee), the Ministry of Planning and Investment - the permanent agency of the Steering Committee, for coordinating with relevant agencies to prepare the content for the Conference well; the reports and speeches of the delegates assessed the initial results, analyzed objective and subjective causes, lessons learned, and proposed directions and tasks for the future.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh concludes the meeting (Photo: VGP).

Summarizing the achievements in implementing Resolution 98, the Prime Minister stated that we have developed increasingly better and more appropriate thinking, awareness, and approaches; creating momentum and confidence to promote the development of Ho Chi Minh City; contributing to helping relevant ministries, agencies, and Ho Chi Minh City be more confident and effective in formulating policies; some initial tasks have been implemented with positive results, contributing to Ho Chi Minh City achieving better results each quarter and each month in 2023, with economic growth higher than the national average.

However, some ministries and agencies still adopt a cautious approach due to a lack of understanding. To overcome this, the Prime Minister emphasized the need for a proactive mindset, promoting decentralization and delegation of authority, eliminating unnecessary procedures, making the best possible use of the Resolution's contents, coordinating closely, promptly, and effectively, and engaging in discussions with clear objectives to resolve difficulties and obstacles, issuing feasible regulations so that the City can implement them with confidence.

Furthermore, the approach to resolving obstacles and difficulties must be at a higher and more decisive level. For example, the railway issue for Ho Chi Minh City must be addressed comprehensively, focusing on key priorities, allocating resources to large-scale projects that can transform the situation, change the status quo, and be implemented quickly and economically, while preventing waste.

Expeditiously submit the decrees using the expedited procedure.

Assigning specific tasks to ministries and agencies, the Prime Minister requested that the decrees be drafted and submitted using a streamlined procedure, and that they be issued within the next month at the latest.

Specifically, the Ministry of Finance is finalizing the dossier to submit to the Government for promulgation of a Decree regulating interest rates, reasonable profits, payment methods, and settlement for projects applying BT contracts, and stipulating exemptions from corporate income tax and personal income tax related to innovation and entrepreneurship activities in priority sectors of the City.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh presides over the first meeting of the Steering Committee for the implementation of Resolution 98 (Photo: VGP).

The Ministry of Interior and the Government Office will soon finalize the dossier to submit to the Government for approval of the Decree on decentralizing state management in some areas to the City. The Prime Minister believes that for the whole country, decentralization and delegation of power can be done down to the district level, and for Ho Chi Minh City specifically, it can be done down to the ward level, because a ward in Ho Chi Minh City can have a population equivalent to a district elsewhere, and a district in the city can have a population equivalent to that of another province.

Regarding the installation of rooftop solar power systems, the Prime Minister assigned the Ministry of Industry and Trade to take the lead and coordinate with other ministries and agencies to complete the drafting of a Decree stipulating mechanisms and policies to encourage the development of rooftop solar power installed in residential houses, public offices, and industrial zones, and submit it to the Government before December 31, 2023.

The Prime Minister emphasized the spirit of encouraging the development of rooftop solar power, self-sufficiency, and "issuing policies so that people don't have to ask for anything from anywhere," adding that regulations for Ho Chi Minh City could be more flexible than the general regulations for the whole country.

In addition, the Ministry of Transport will review and supplement the functions of the Can Gio port area in the Master Plan for the Development of Vietnam's Seaport System for the period 2021-2030. The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development will review and coordinate with the City to implement the procedures for converting the land use purpose of protective forest land to other purposes in Can Gio, based on thorough research and assessment of impacts, listening to diverse opinions, especially regarding the protection of mangrove forests, to be completed in the first quarter of 2024.

Regarding the construction of an international financial center in Ho Chi Minh City, the Prime Minister established a Steering Committee for the development of a regional and international financial center project, assigning Deputy Prime Minister Le Minh Khai to directly oversee and handle related issues.

Emphasizing that the Saigon River is an invaluable asset bestowed by nature, the Prime Minister instructed the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment to coordinate with other ministries, agencies, and the People's Committee of Ho Chi Minh City to update the planning and exploit the Saigon River to enhance its role as the main artery of the city .

Source: https://www.nguoiduatin.vn/thu-tuong-phan-cap-phan-quyen-toi-da-de-phat-trien-tp-hcm-a637846.html