City People’s Council talks issues
HCM CITY The ninth tenure of the HCM City Peoples Council began its ninth session yesterday to discuss a list of issues the top of any voters minds like traffic congestion, flooding, increasing pollution, encroachment of public lands, and public security.
In his opening speech, Nguyeãn Thò Quyeát Taâm, chairwoman of the council, said in the first half of 2018 the political and social situation remained under control, with the economy growing at 7.86 per cent and social order and security maintained, reflecting the great efforts made by the administration.
Nguyenã Thienä Nhanâ , Secretary of the city Party Committee, hailed the citys many accomplishments but said there were many long-term problems like growth falling short of potential, unsustainability of development, low competitiveness, tardy administrative reform, ineffective fight against corruption, complicated fire and crime situation, and worsening political security and social safety situation.
He said members of the house should focus on important issues that are closely related to the current situation and the development of the city, focusing on solutions to ensure the quality of economic growth, achieve this years economic growth target of 8.3 - 8.5 per cent, create breakthroughs in administrative reform and ensure social security and safety.
In the first six months of this year the citys tax revenues increased by 8 per cent to VNÑ183.465 trillion (US$8 billion) and exports were up 7.6 per cent to around $18.12 billion.
Foreign investment was worth nearly $4.2 billion, an increase of 144 per cent, while services and retail sales grew by 12.5 per cent and industrial output by 7.11 per cent.
The citys four key industries engineering and automation; electronics; chemicals, rubber, plastics; and food processing continued to perform strongly, growing at nearly 10 per cent.
This year some 21,500 new companies with a combined registered capital of VNÑ249 trillion ($10.9 billion) have been licensed, an increase of 107 per cent year-on-year.
The city Peoples Council will focus on resolving problems such as shortage of resources for development, inefficient mechanisms and policies, unsustainable and lowquality growth and slow progress of the seven breakthrough programmes.
Flooding, traffic jams, pollution, urban and land management, administrative reform, food safety, corruption, and social evils remain issues of great concern to most, hindering the citys development and detracting from the quality of life. VNS