An elevated section of HCM City’s Bến Thành – Suối Tiên metro line runs along Hà Nội Highway. VNS Photo Mạnh Linh

HCM CITY — The chairman of HCM City People’s Committee has urged agencies to speed up progress of major projects and select investors for waste treatment projects that use advanced technologies. 

Speaking at a meeting to review socio-economic development in the first five months, Nguyễn Thành Phong asked district authorities to strengthen administrative reform to support businesses in all fields. 

Phong urged agencies to shorten the process for compensation and site clearance, including for the first metro line project, a road project between HCM City and Mekong Delta provinces, and Mộc Bài expressway.

Trần Vĩnh Tuyến, vice chairman of the People’s Committee, said the city was adjusting a plan to rehabilitate the Xuyên Tâm canal in Bình Thạnh District under the investment form of Build-Transfer (BT). The city is waiting for guidance from the central government for implementation of such BT projects. 

City leaders also discussed an anti-flooding project worth nearly VNĐ10 trillion (US$426.7 million) invested in by Trung Nam Group, saying that site clearance was too slow, with only over 80 per cent of land handed over. 

The five districts involved in the project have committed to hand over the land before the end of this month. The People’s Committee will work with the district People’s Committees to speed up the handover, according to Tuyến. 

Nguyễn Toàn Thắng, director of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment, said early next month, the department would disclose the pre-qualification results for bids for a waste treatment project with renewable-energy combustion technology, and will then announce the shortlist of qualified investors. 

It is expected that investors will be selected in the second quarter of 2020. However, Phong, chairman of the People’s Committee, said that investors would need to be chosen as soon as possible because the city discharges up to 8,900 tonnes of domestic waste per day, excluding industrial and medical waste. 

The current waste treatment technology is only used for recycling and at landfills. 

Phong urged agencies to quickly support investors to shorten the time needed for implementation.

Lê Thị Huỳnh Mai, director of HCM City Department of Planning and Investment, said in the first five months of the year, the city’s total retail sales of goods and service revenue was estimated at VNĐ463.527 trillion ($19.8 billion), up 12.3 per cent year-on-year. 

As many as 16,664 domestic enterprises were established in the first five months with total registered capital of VNĐ265.613 trillion ($11.34 billion), of which real estate businesses accounted for the highest proportion (36.7 per cent). 

The city attracted $2.77 billion worth of foreign direct investment, with real estate having the most investment capital (46.7 per cent). 

The city’s budget revenues reached VNĐ165.199 trillion in the first five months, up 4.82 per cent over the same period last year, according to Mai. — VNS