General Secretary To Lam: Cumbersome apparatus hinders development

On the morning of October 31, discussing in groups, General Secretary To Lam emphasized that since the 12th Congress, the Central Resolution has assessed that the State apparatus is cumbersome, operates ineffectively and inefficiently, and must be arranged and streamlined.

General Secretary To Lam, National Assembly delegate of Hung Yen province, speaks. (Photo: Doan Tan/VNA)

On the morning of October 31, discussing in groups the draft Resolution on the organization of urban government in Hai Phong city and the establishment of Hue city under the Central Government, General Secretary To Lam said that the policy of establishing Hue city under the Central Government has been prepared for a long time, the most important thing is that it must meet the criteria of a city under the Central Government.

Must be the growth pole of the region

Emphasizing that centrally-run cities must be the growth poles of the region and must have development prospects, the General Secretary said that the country currently has 5 centrally-run cities. With the addition of Hue city, the number will increase to 6 cities...

Investing in the city means investing in the growth pole of the region, so special mechanisms and policies must be studied. Because the city is the growth pole, it must be at the forefront of innovation, budget revenue and expenditure, and socio-economic development.

The General Secretary believes that development must be sustainable and harmonious. "If the city continues to develop rapidly while the countryside continues to face increasing difficulties, it will not be acceptable, and people will continue to flock to the city."

The Central Committee discussed the issue of establishing Hue City under the Central Government and found that it met the criteria, but there were still limitations. Hue must overcome all the difficulties it faces if it becomes a city.

"The whole country for Hue, Hue for the whole country. I think it's worth it. However, becoming a city requires a period, a transition... We hope that time is not too long," said the General Secretary.

The General Secretary also noted that localities that want to strive to become centrally-run cities must base their efforts on criteria from planning, population, economic, social and cultural development...

Commenting on the organization of the urban government of Hai Phong city, General Secretary To Lam stated that the focus is currently on streamlining, making the State management apparatus more effective and efficient, which is a very big issue. This must be done in substance, not in formality.

No streamlining of the apparatus cannot develop

General Secretary To Lam emphasized that since the 12th Congress, the Central Committee's resolution has assessed that the State apparatus is cumbersome, operates ineffectively and inefficiently, and must be reorganized and streamlined. Currently, it is only being done from the bottom up, such as merging communes and districts, while the province has not done so yet. Or, it has only been reorganized in some departments, bureaus, and general departments of ministries and branches, while the Central Committee has not done so yet.

If the Central Committee can be streamlined, the provinces will be streamlined. Without ministries, the provinces will have no departments, and the districts will have no offices. How to streamline the apparatus is a very big issue that will have to be discussed in the future. "The Central Committee's Resolution has been discussed for several terms and has been evaluated like that, so it must be considered," said the General Secretary.

Stating the viewpoint that "everywhere must be done and from now on the Central Committee must be exemplary, the Party's committees must be exemplary, the National Assembly must be exemplary, the Government must be exemplary", the General Secretary noted, "without streamlining the apparatus, development cannot be achieved."

Currently, the budget is spending about 70% on salaries, regular expenses, and operations. If the budget is managed like this, there will be no money left for investment in development, ensuring national defense, security, hunger eradication and poverty reduction, social security, etc. At least 50% of the budget must be spent on the above tasks.

The General Secretary analyzed that it is impossible to increase salaries because increasing salaries while the apparatus is huge will consume 80-90% of the budget, leaving no money for other activities. The cumbersome apparatus hinders development.

There are ministries and management agencies whose functions and tasks are unclear, and do not decentralize to localities, leading to "asking and giving." "If an expert has a different opinion, the entire system must stop to re-evaluate, meet again, and find a way to explain and explain those things. The current mechanism is like that, just one different opinion cannot overcome it."

Citing the recent story focusing on solving the problem of sand, rock, and gravel, 5-6 ministries focused on research but "don't know who is in charge," the General Secretary stated the reality, "just one problem, so many meetings, but when asked who is primarily responsible, no one knows," cumbersome, overlapping management leads to business suffering, negativity arises, and even crime is involved.

From transportation, exploitation, to dumping sand into industrial zones and public works, there are criminals taking advantage of the mechanism.

Considering that one of the targets we have not achieved in this term is the issue of labor productivity, the General Secretary said that the economy has grown but the actual labor productivity and the development index are decreasing. Decreasing labor productivity cannot develop the economy and society. We need to look at it frankly to make an accurate assessment.

Vietnam's labor productivity growth rate is decreasing, lower than many countries in the region. The 2021-2025 period is estimated at about 4.8%, compared to the 2016-2018 period, we got 6.1%. The target for this period is 6.8%, but there is a high risk of not achieving it.

"To increase labor productivity, we must have skilled workers and few people doing one job, must have high science and technology content, and good management methods. If there is a shortage of workers and low labor productivity, we cannot develop. We must encourage high labor productivity compared to surrounding countries... Over the past 40 years, we have had great development achievements, but compared to the development level of surrounding countries, we have not achieved them. Compared to China, Japan, Korea, and India, we are far behind...", the General Secretary frankly said.

According to him, our growth depends on some factors of foreign investment and import and export. If the economy wants to develop sustainably, it must rely on "our own things, self-reliance, self-reliance, and self-reliance, and borrowing from other places is not substantial."

Therefore, there is no other way but to increase labor productivity, mobilize everyone to participate in production and business. There must be more workers than beneficiaries. We are about to reach the period of reaching an aging population, which will be extremely difficult.

The new era must accelerate with the goal of becoming a developed, high-income country by 2045. If at the current pace, it is likely not completed, in 20 years, the scale of the economy must be 3 times larger than now, the average income per capita must be 3 times larger to reach the goal. These are things that the Central Government must discuss, must clearly see the difficulties to avoid, overcome to develop./.

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