HCM CITY — Flood management, traffic congestion, environmental pollution and food safety are some of the issues which authorities of HCM City need to tackle over the second half of this year, said Nguyễn Thị Quyết Tâm, chairwoman of the HCM City People’s Council.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the fifth meeting session of the council yesterday, Tâm acknowledged the city’s achievements in maintaining social order and safety and reaching socio-economic targets in the first half of this year.

“The city’s economic growth has been stronger than the same period last year, and its public administration has improved in social, cultural, educational, and medical fields,” she said.

“However, the growth is unsustainable, and the city still lacks resources and preferential policies for investments,” she added.

Floods, traffic congestion, environmental pollution, urban and land management, as well as food safety, corruption, and social vices were some of the issues yet to be improved upon, despite being constantly reported by citizens, she said.

“The council’s deputies need to discuss these issues more thoroughly and come up with practical solutions to meet the city’s growth demands,” she said.

Since the city’s gross regional domestic product (GRDP) increased by only 7.7 per cent in the first half of this year, more efforts would be required in order for the city to achieve economic growth targets of 8.4-8.7 per cent for the whole year, she added.

"New solutions are required to clear pavement encroachment, facilitate the application of electronic government in public administration, ensure social security, and maintain social order and safety in the city," she said.

Speaking at the ceremony, Lê Thanh Liêm, vice chairman of the city’s People’s Committee, said that the city had made efforts in creating an ideal environment for investment during the first half of the year by launching a project on developing 500,000 enterprises by the end of 2020, and providing 20,000 newly-established enterprises with favourable conditions for development.

Apart from focusing on increasing its economic growth rate, the city would also find solutions to improve its Public Administration Performance Index (PAPI), Public Competitiveness Index (PCI), and Public Administration Reform Index (PAR) during the second half of this year, he said.

Held on July 4-6, the fifth meeting session of the HCM City People’s Council will review the city’s socio-economic, cultural and defence achievements, as well as the performance of its People’s Court and People’s Procuracy during the first half of this year.

The council’s deputies will also discuss a proposal to form a specialist monitoring group and review an agenda for its social monitoring programme in 2018. — VNS