HCM CITY — Many businesses in Bình Thuận said they face difficulties and called on provincial authorities to resolve them.

Speaking at a conference on how to improve the province’s business climate and ranking in the provincial competitiveness index (PCI) yesterday, Nguyễn Văn Khoa, chairman of the Bình Thuận Tourism Association, said some businesses operating in Hàm Tiến Ward and the southern part of Phan Thiết City face difficulties because the beach has been severely eroded.

Owners of affected tourist sites have built embankments using sandbags and used other measures to keep the sea out.

If tourist sites build their own embankments, it would surely affect the beauty of the coastal area, he told the conference, which was attended by nearly 400 businesses.

Besides, since the embankments are not in uniform, erosion has worsened in some places, he said.

So the association urged authorities to organise a meeting with marine experts to assess the situation and propose the best solution for the entire beach.

Phan Thế Vinh of Hải Nam Co., Ltd, a seafood export company, said due to the nature of his company’s business, its workers regularly go in and out of Phan Thiết fishing port, but have to pay unreasonable and multiple fees.

Businesses have to pay infrastructure fees and also have entry and exit fees and cargo charges just like businesses that only occasionally use the port, which is unreasonable, he said.

He said the port should waive the entrance and exit fees for businesses that need to go in and out daily and pay the infrastructure fees.

He also said authorities need to review and reduce the tariffs for wastewater treatment at the port.

Leaders of the province People’s Committee, departments and agencies took questions from businesses about land lease, capital support policies for small and medium-sized enterprises, environmental protection and other issues.

For issues that require time to be fully resolved, the province leaders assigned specific departments and local authorities to work directly with businesses.

Nguyễn Ngọc Hải, chairman of the People’s Committee, said the province considers supporting businesses and improving the investment environment as the foundation of its socio-economic development.

The dialogue demonstrates the province’s determination to remove obstacles faced by businesses and listen to their voice to perfect its policies and create a competitive and level playing field for investors, he said.

To further improve the investment environment and provincial competitiveness index (PCI) ranking he instructed departments, agencies and localities to speed up administrative reform, reduce the time required for businessed to complete administrative procedures, and publicise zoning plans and administrative procedures.

He also ordered leaders of departments and localities to regularly meet and hold discussions with businesses to quickly take up their problems and proposals.

According to the province Department of Planning and Investment, besides publishing administrative procedures and reducing the time needed for business registration, departments and agencies have reviewed to eliminate overlapping and complicated administrative procedures in many areas.

The province ranked 24th in the PCI in the country last year with 63.34 points, up eight places and 5.14 points from the previous year. — VNS