On the morning of November 26, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, Head of the Steering Committee for the implementation of Resolution No. 98 of the National Assembly on piloting a number of specific mechanisms and policies for the development of Ho Chi Minh City, chaired the first meeting of the Steering Committee.

Resolution No. 98 stipulates the piloting of a number of specific mechanisms and policies for the development of Ho Chi Minh City on investment management; finance, state budget; urban, natural resources and environment management; priority industries and occupations to attract strategic investors to the City; science and technology management, innovation; organization of the City government and Thu Duc City.

The most groundbreaking, fastest deployment ever

According to Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee Nguyen Van Nen, Resolution 98 is the most groundbreaking ever. The Prime Minister's establishment of the Steering Committee to implement Resolution 98 is highly revolutionary, new and unprecedented.

After 125 days of implementation, the City found that this was the fastest, most effective and most specific implementation among the other resolutions. The City has achieved results but there are also some aspects that have not kept up with the schedule.

The Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee has issued directives and resolutions, established a Steering Committee, directed the Party, the Youth Union, the People's Council, and the People's Committee to carry out assigned tasks, and at the same time thoroughly disseminated throughout the political system and among the people the spirit of "people know, people discuss, people do, people inspect", along with widespread communication and mobilization throughout the city.

Mr. Nen suggested that in the implementation, the members of the Steering Committee should demonstrate more clearly their roles and responsibilities. The decisive factor in implementing the Resolution is people and personnel. From there, Mr. Nen proposed that Ho Chi Minh City have an additional Vice Chairman of the City People's Committee to direct and monitor the work because the current administrative apparatus of Ho Chi Minh City is currently overloaded.

Issue feasible regulations to work with peace of mind

In his concluding remarks, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh stated that Ho Chi Minh City has a long tradition of dynamism, creativity, distinct potential, outstanding opportunities, competitive advantages, and huge development space, and is highly expected by the country and the international community, but its legal framework, mechanisms, and policies are still limited.

Resolution 98 aims to resolve these legal difficulties and problems. To effectively implement the Resolution, we must think maturely, have clear ideas, high determination, great efforts, act decisively and effectively, and focus on key points and complete each task.

The Prime Minister highly appreciated the City People's Committee (the working group of the Steering Committee), the Ministry of Planning and Investment - the Standing Agency of the Steering Committee, for coordinating with relevant agencies to prepare well the content for the Conference; the reports and opinions of delegates assessed the initial results, analyzed objective and subjective causes, lessons learned, and proposed directions and tasks for the coming time.

Summarizing the results achieved in implementing Resolution 98, the Prime Minister stated that we have had increasingly better and more appropriate thinking, awareness, and approaches; creating motivation and confidence to promote the development of Ho Chi Minh City; contributing to helping relevant ministries, agencies and Ho Chi Minh City to be more confident and effective in building policies; some initial tasks that have been implemented have had positive results, contributing to helping Ho Chi Minh City achieve results in the following quarter higher than the previous quarter, in the following month better than the previous month in 2023, with economic growth higher than the national average.

However, some ministries and branches still have a reserved approach due to unclear thinking. To overcome this, the Prime Minister emphasized that we must have an offensive mindset, promote decentralization, authorization, eliminate unnecessary procedures, make the best use of the Resolution's contents, coordinate closely, promptly, and more effectively, discuss and negotiate with outputs to remove difficulties and obstacles, and issue feasible regulations so that the City can do it and feel secure.

Along with that, the way to solve problems and difficulties must be at a higher level, stronger, such as the railway problem for Ho Chi Minh City must be solved comprehensively, focusing on key points, dedicating resources to large projects that are about changing the situation, changing the state, doing it quickly and economically, and preventing waste.

Urgently submit decrees under simplified procedures

Assigning specific tasks to ministries and branches, the Prime Minister requested that decrees must be developed and submitted according to simplified procedures and order, and must be submitted for promulgation within the next month at the latest.

In particular, the Ministry of Finance completed the dossier to submit to the Government to issue a Decree regulating loan interest, reasonable profits, payment methods, and settlement of project implementation applying BT contracts and regulations on exemption of corporate income tax and personal income tax related to innovation and startup activities in priority areas of the City.

The Ministry of Home Affairs and the Government Office will soon complete the dossier to submit to the Government for the policy of building a Decree on decentralization of state management in some areas for the City. The Prime Minister said that for the whole country, it is possible to decentralize and delegate power to the district level, and for Ho Chi Minh City alone, it can be decentralized to the ward level, because a ward in Ho Chi Minh City can have the same population as a district elsewhere, and a district in the City can have the same population as another province.

Regarding the installation of rooftop solar power systems, the Prime Minister assigned the Ministry of Industry and Trade to preside over and coordinate with ministries and branches to complete the development of a Decree regulating mechanisms and policies to encourage the development of rooftop solar power installed in private homes, offices, and industrial parks, and submit it to the Government before December 31, 2023.

The Prime Minister clearly stated the spirit of encouraging the development of rooftop solar power, self-sufficiency, "issuing policies so that people do not have to ask for it anywhere", the regulations for Ho Chi Minh City alone may be more flexible than the general regulations for the whole country.

Along with that, the Ministry of Transport reviews and supplements the function of Can Gio port area in the Master Plan for the development of Vietnam's seaport system for the period 2021 - 2030, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development reviews and coordinates with the City to implement the procedures for converting the purpose of using protective forest land to other purposes in Can Gio, on the basis of research, careful assessment of impacts, listening to multi-dimensional opinions, especially on mangrove protection, to be completed in the first quarter of 2024.

Regarding the construction of an international financial center in Ho Chi Minh City, the Prime Minister established a Steering Committee to develop a regional and international financial center project, assigning Deputy Prime Minister Le Minh Khai to directly direct and handle related issues.

Emphasizing that the Saigon River is a priceless asset bestowed by nature, the Prime Minister assigned the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment to coordinate with ministries, branches, and the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee to update the planning and exploitation of the Saigon River to promote its role as the main axis of the City .