President Nguyễn Xuân Phúc working with leaders of the municipal People's Committee on October 13. — VNA/VNS Photo Thống Nhất

HCM CITY — President Nguyễn Xuân Phúc asked HCM City to promptly solve urgent issues that have drawn a great deal of public attention, especially those related to urban planning, during his working session with leaders of the municipal People's Committee on Thursday.

The President said the city's position as a growth engine for the southern region and the whole country is gradually declining due to its falling growth rate.

Meanwhile, technical and social infrastructure is increasingly inadequate compared to the requirements of the new stage of development, especially planning.

Traffic infrastructure is more overloaded, with insufficient effort exerted at reducing traffic jams and flooding.

In addition, the city has recorded a low disbursement rate of public investment.

“Ensuring stability and good control of the macro-economy has great importance for a mega-city with a large population like HCM City,” he said.

He asked the city to continue supporting labour training, while restoring and developing the business sector, and regularly holding dialogues with enterprises to help them address difficulties.

The city must create favourable conditions for businessmen to contribute more to the city’s process of building and developing a smart city.

“Residents in the city are under more severe inflation pressure than those in other localities, so it is necessary to pay more attention to programmes, projects and initiatives which serve social welfare and assist vulnerable groups,” he said.

The city needs to continue to reform both policies and public services to make positive changes in the business environment.

Improving policies and infrastructure related to digital platforms and innovation, as well as developing a digital economy, green economy, and circular economy are also needed, he said.

A new policy is needed to help the city develop quickly and sustainably in the coming time.

The President agreed that a new policy framework will help the city quickly remove its bottlenecks in infrastructure, congestion, flooding, and environmental pollution. — VNS