Phan Văn Mãi, chairman of the municipal People’s Committee, speaks at a meeting to review the city’s socio-economic development in the first eight months. — Photo courtesy of the HCM City Press Centre

HCM CITY — HCM City is likely to exceed its growth target of 6-6.5 per cent this year, a city official said.

Speaking at a meeting on Tuesday, Phan Văn Mãi, chairman of the municipal People’s Committee, said the country’s largest economic hub would focus on speeding up disbursement of public investment in the remaining months of the year.

Public spending remains too slow, causing major public projects to be postponed for years, according to Mãi, who attributed the delays to complicated administrative procedures, among other hurdles.

Total public investment disbursement reached more than VNĐ9 trillion (US$386.9 million) as of August 26, accounting for 23.8 per cent of the year’s target of VNĐ38 trillion. In August, it disbursed less than VNĐ600 billion.

The city is seeking Government allocation of an additional VNĐ120 trillion ($5.13 billion) for implementation of major public projects.

It would need VNĐ672 trillion of public investment over the next three years but only VNĐ142 trillion was approved, or only 21 per cent of what is needed, Mãi noted.

In 2021, the city disbursed less than VNĐ30 trillion, accounting for only 61.3 per cent of the year’s target.

Mãi has proposed the Government remove obstacles to ensure the allocation of investment capital for the implementation of major projects.

The projects include the metro routes, Ring Roads 3 and 4, the HCM City – Mộc Bài expressway, and others.

It will also need to mobilise private investment to invest more in public facilities such as schools, hospitals and cultural and sports centres.

Steering committee

The city has established a steering committee to speed up the disbursement of public investment and resolve other issues facing the city, according to Mãi.

“The most important is to improve administrative reform and the business climate.”

It will also speed up the disbursement of aid packages to support businesses and packages to support housing rentals for employees, he said.

It will continue to fight against COVID-19 and other diseases such as dengue fever; hand, foot and mouth disease; and monkeypox, he added.

The city will speed up vaccination against COVID-19, especially for children, as it has a low rate of vaccination for children aged between five and 12, he said.

Lê Thị Huỳnh Mai, director of the Department of Planning and Investment, said the city’s total budget revenue reached VNĐ312 trillion in the first eight months, or nearly 80.7 per cent of the year’s target and up 21.34 per cent year-on-year.

Exports reached $31.75 billion, up 9.02 per cent year-on-year.

Its Index of Industrial Production rose by 14.8 per cent over the same period last year.

Retail sales of goods and services were up 6.2 per cent year-on-year.

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) was 2.1 per cent compared to 2.58 per cent for the whole country.

Total tourism revenue increased by 2.6 per cent year-on-year.

While the country’s attraction of foreign direct investment (FDI) dropped 12.3 per cent year-on-year in the first eight months, the city attracted $2.71 billion worth of FDI (up 24 per cent year-on-year), the highest in the past five years. — VNS