HCMC – HCMC has set a target to attract US$5.4 billion in foreign direct investment (FDI) this year, US$1 billion higher than last year, said Le Thi Huynh Mai, director of the municipal Department of Planning and Investment.
At a meeting presided over by municipal chairman Nguyen Thanh Phong on March 4, Mai said the department had set out regulations on the process for authorities to work with residents and enterprises and deal with their complaints, the local media reported.
The department has also set seven other targets, comprising establishing more than 40,000 new enterprises, being in the top five provinces with the highest Provincial Competitiveness Index, reaching a satisfaction rate of over 91% among local residents, addressing all the residents’ complaints, handling 98% of procedures in a timely manner, handling all online documents of administrative agencies and 100% use of electronic tools at work among officials.
City chairman Phong said the city’s growth rate reached only 1.39% last year due to Covid-19. This year, the city will carry out specific plans to build the single-tier government structure and improve the investment environment.
The city must take drastic measures to create a favorable investment environment. The biggest obstacle is investment and business registration procedures, Phong said, adding that improving the investment environment is a must and the municipal Department of Planning and Investment will play a decisive role.
He agreed with the eight targets of the department and ordered adding a target of digital transformation and making the administrative reform target more detailed.
The municipal chairman also asked the department to remove the obstacles facing long-stalled projects, including a commercial center project of the Saigon Trading Group, the Phan Dinh Phung Indoor Stadium and an international commercial center on Le Loi Street.
Besides administrative procedures, the city’s infrastructure also needs to be developed, Phong noted, saying that the Government had allowed the city to change the use purposes of some 30,000 hectares of agricultural land, but only 1,000 hectares will be used for the purpose of industrial production.
Over the past five years, the city has had no new industrial parks, so Phong asked the Department of Planning and Investment to review all industrial parks and export processing zones in the city to ascertain which ones can attract more foreign investment. The department should work out specific solutions to help develop the city’s economy by applying hi-tech and minimizing sectors using many laborers.
The department had earlier reported that it had licensed nearly 42,000 new enterprises with total registered capital of nearly VND 1,170 trillion last year. In addition, 13,800 enterprises suspended their operations and nearly 6,000 firms completed dissolution procedures.
Moreover, some 10,600 companies resumed their operations.
