Provincial Party Secretary: Vinh City must be a livable city, a center to attract talented people.

Provincial Party Secretary Nguyen Dac Vinh chaired the meeting. Photo: Thanh Duy

Comrade Nguyen Dac Vinh - Member of the Party Central Committee, Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Head of the Provincial National Assembly Delegation chaired the meeting. Also attending were comrades: Nguyen Xuan Duong - Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee; Nguyen Van Thong - Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, comrades in the Provincial Party Committee Standing Committee, representatives of leaders of departments and branches.

On the Vinh city side, there were comrade Vo Viet Thanh - Member of the Provincial Party Standing Committee, Secretary of Vinh City Party Committee; comrades in the City Party Standing Committee and departments and branches.

Proposal to continue decentralization and delegation of authority to Vinh City

In 2017, Vinh City achieved quite comprehensive results, the economy continued to grow well, reaching 9.02%. Average income per capita reached 76.5 million VND. Total budget revenue reached nearly 2,495 billion VND. The City Party Committee was ranked as Strong by the Provincial Party Standing Committee.

Implementing the conclusion announcement No. 449 of the Provincial Party Committee Standing Committee, according to the decisions of the Provincial People's Committee, Vinh City, along with districts and towns in the province, has been licensed for all individual housing projects in the area and adjusted the planning for dividing residential land plots with an area after merging plots of less than 750m2. Vinh City has been authorized by the Provincial People's Committee to issue karaoke business licenses.

Vinh City Party Secretary Vo Viet Thanh speaks at the meeting. Photo: Thanh Duy

In addition, some other recommendations and proposals of the city have also been considered and agreed upon, such as: The Provincial People's Committee agreed to allow the city to recruit replacement teachers when teachers retire; the city has also arranged for 1 civil servant of the People's Council - People's Committee office of wards and communes to take on the work of the Party Committee office...

However, according to Vinh City Party Secretary Vo Viet Thanh, the current decentralization and delegation of authority to the city is still inadequate and not commensurate with the development requirements, functions, and roles of the city in the province and the North Central region.

Therefore, Vinh City continues to propose that the province decentralize some contents such as: deciding on the management, operation, and exploitation of the urban transport system...; at the same time, recommend and propose a series of issues on capital mobilization for development investment; policies on culture - society, and Party building.

In particular, Vinh City proposed to regulate for the city, including wards and communes 70% of land fees collected from investors' projects, land exploitation fees in the area; to proactively implement enhanced English teaching and IT teaching. In the 2017-2018 school year, the Department of Education and Training only allowed the city to pilot in 4 schools;...

Select a few key areas to focus on

At the meeting, leaders of departments, branches and comrades in the Provincial Party Standing Committee responded to the city's recommendations related to their areas of responsibility; and at the same time, outlined some orientations for the coming time.

Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee Nguyen Van Thong speaks at the meeting. Photo: Thanh Duy

Many opinions suggested that Vinh City should strengthen management of construction, clearance of traffic safety corridors, and urban beautification to ensure green - clean - beautiful areas. Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee Nguyen Van Thong suggested that the city should strengthen inspection and on-site handling of violations in construction activities, along with handling related officials.

The Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee also said that, as a class I city, the city's staff needs to have a stronger, more decisive offensive mindset in their work, avoiding perfectionism.

Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Nguyen Xuan Duong highly appreciated the city's development steps, however, compared to the requirements, role and position, this locality still has a lot to do.

The Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee suggested that the city should select a number of tasks and key points to focus on in order to change the situation more strongly, such as: economic development, urban order management associated with clearing traffic safety corridors; building civilized urban areas associated with building urban lifestyles; and administrative reform.

Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Nguyen Xuan Duong speaks at the meeting. Photo: Thanh Duy

Regarding the issue of decentralization, Vinh City proposed that the role and position of Vinh City for Nghe An as well as the role of Ho Chi Minh City for the whole country, the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee stated his opinion that any decentralization that is in accordance with the provisions of law, the province supports maximum decentralization for the city.

Therefore, the head of the Provincial People's Committee proposed that, immediately after this meeting, the city should conduct a review and make an official written proposal to the Provincial People's Committee for further direction.

5 perspectives on city development

Concluding the meeting, Provincial Party Secretary Nguyen Dac Vinh requested Vinh City to review the contents of Notice No. 449 dated October 21, 2016 of the Provincial Party Standing Committee to continue implementing; at the same time, it is necessary to continue shaping development based on strategic planning.

Regarding the city's development perspective, Secretary Nguyen Dac Vinh emphasized 5 contents: Vinh City must be a center to attract talented people to be the driving force for development; must provide good services, must be a livable city; must have good landscape, infrastructure, and traffic connections; operate the city well; and improve people's lives.

From the above viewpoints, the Provincial Party Secretary proposed solutions for Vinh City. First of all, it is urban management, which requires strict management of planning and traffic safety corridors.

“We must implement more fundamentally, cautiously and firmly” - the Provincial Party Secretary emphasized the solution to ensure traffic safety corridors; at the same time, to enhance the responsibility of grassroots officials, the city needs to assign responsibility and suggest criticism for wards and communes that do not complete their tasks right in the year-end review.

Intersection of Tran Phu - Truong Thi - Le Duan streets, Vinh City. Photo courtesy

The Provincial Party Secretary also requested the city to do well in construction management, security and order, and administrative reform. In particular, in administrative reform, in addition to improving working methods, attention should be paid to improving the service attitude of officials and civil servants.

Secretary Nguyen Dac Vinh also requested sustainable urban development, investment in infrastructure projects, attention to landscape and living environment, especially ensuring green space and lakes.

Besides, the city needs to continue building a strong political system, in which it is necessary to well implement Resolution 6 of the Central Committee (term XII); the leadership team must be well-qualified, dynamic and creative.

At the same time, Vinh City needs to continue developing industry in the direction of attracting high-tech industries, electronics industries, and developing services.

The city needs to build a modern, civilized, hospitable, friendly community that serves tourism and services.

Agreeing to continue decentralization to Vinh City, however, Secretary Nguyen Dac Vinh stated that the decentralized contents must comply with the provisions of the law, and at the same time be linked to the city's implementation capacity. "If the two criteria are met, then decentralization will be done" - the Provincial Party Secretary pointed out.

To diversify investment resources for Vinh City, the Provincial Party Secretary also assigned the Department of Planning and Investment to conduct a pilot study on land use planning and organize auctions to obtain funds for the city to invest in infrastructure construction.