Chairman of Nghe An Provincial People's Committee: Remove bottlenecks, select key areas and sectors for investment and development

On the morning of June 11, comrade Nguyen Duc Trung - Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee chaired the specialized meeting of the Provincial People's Committee in June 2020 to listen and give opinions on many important contents.Attending the meeting were Comrade Cao Thi Hien - Member of the Provincial Party Committee, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Council; Provincial People's Council committees, Provincial Fatherland Front Committee, and leaders of departments, branches and sectors.

ECONOMY CONTINUES TO GROW

At the meeting, the Provincial People's Committee listened to the Department of Planning and Investment present a draft report assessing the implementation of the 5-year socio-economic development plan 2016 - 2020 and the 5-year socio-economic development plan 2021 - 2025.

In the period of 2016 - 2020, despite many difficulties and challenges, Nghe An's economy continued to grow. The average growth rate of gross regional domestic product (GRDP) in the period of 2016 - 2020 is estimated at 7.84%/year.

The economic structure has shifted in the right direction, reducing the proportion of agriculture and increasing the proportion of industry, construction and services. The investment and business environment and the socio-economic infrastructure system have been increasingly improved. During the period of 2016 - 2019, the province attracted 532 projects with a total registered investment capital of about 67,308 billion VND.

Mr. Nguyen Xuan Duc - Deputy Director of the Department of Planning and Investment of the province presented a report assessing the implementation of the 5-year socio-economic development plan 2016 - 2020, the 5-year socio-economic development plan 2021 - 2025. Photo: Pham Bang

There has been much progress in the cultural and social fields, and the material and spiritual life of the people has been gradually improved. The average GRDP per capita by the end of 2020 is estimated to reach 44.34 million VND, 1.58 times higher than in 2015. The poverty rate from 12.1% in 2016 is expected to decrease to 3% by the end of 2020. National defense and security are maintained, social order and safety are ensured, and there are many positive changes.

However, Nghe An is still a province with many difficulties, slow economic growth and economic restructuring. Labor productivity, quality, efficiency, competitiveness, and accumulation from within the economy are still low compared to its potential and advantages. Due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, the budget revenue in 2020 is expected to reach only about 14,060 billion VND.

It is forecasted that 8/31 key targets will be difficult to achieve as planned; unemployment remains high; state management in some areas has not been well implemented; crime and drug abuse are still evolving and potentially complicated.

Comrade Hoang Nghia Hieu - Member of the Provincial Party Committee, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee said that the implementation solution must have a breakthrough in infrastructure construction, especially the seaport system, promoting administrative reform, and creating human resources. Photo: Pham Bang

The lives of a segment of the population, especially in remote and isolated areas, are still difficult. Administrative reform and the leadership and coordination capacity of some levels and sectors are not really drastic and effective. The capacity, responsibility, and sense of organization and discipline in performing public duties of some cadres, civil servants, and public employees do not meet the requirements.

Main targets by 2025:

- Average gross domestic product (GRDP) growth rate in the 2021 - 2025 period reaches 9.5 - 10.5%.

- GRDP per capita in 2025 will reach about 83 million VND.

- Budget revenue by 2025 will reach 26,000 - 30,000 billion VND.

- Total social investment capital in the 2021 - 2025 period will reach about 500 trillion VND.

- The multidimensional poverty rate decreases by about 1 - 1.5% each year, of which the rate in mountainous areas is 2-3%.

- By 2025, 82% of communes and 11 district-level units will have completed the task of building and meeting new rural standards.

REMOVE BOTTOM LINES, SELECT KEY INDUSTRIES FOR INVESTMENT

Concluding this content, Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Nguyen Duc Trung said that the meeting pointed out many limitations. First is the ineffective use of resources, spread out, lack of synchronization; the bottleneck in attracting investment is administrative reform.

The Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee said that the general goals need to be consistent with the characteristics and actual situation of the province. Nghe An is still striving to become a fairly good province, but the specific goals must be quantified, how well? What can be quantified is the people's living standards, people's income, the development of industries in the area...

The Chairman of the People's Committee of Nghe An province requested the sectors to remove bottlenecks in administrative reform and focus on attracting investment with focus and key points. Photo: Pham Bang

Regarding the 2020 growth scenario, the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee agreed with scenario 1, which is a growth rate of 7.45%, to strive for. At the same time, he said that the targets for the next 5 years must closely follow the targets in the Political Report of the Provincial Party Executive Committee for the 2020-2025 term. Regarding the target of forest cover rate, it is agreed to be 58%.

The Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee also agreed with the 14 tasks in the draft report. In addition, he requested that the sectors review and pay attention to measures to remove the bottlenecks that have been identified and pointed out.

“The viewpoint on resource use in the coming time is to concentrate, focus, and focus on the poles that we want to attract for development.”

Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Nguyen Duc Trung

Comrade Nguyen Duc Trung also agreed with the view that Nghe An has developed sustainably but not rapidly, the growth rate is stable, the lives of Nghe An people are not poor but not rich either. The province has achieved good results in the new rural construction program, associated with hunger eradication and poverty reduction.

Question: What is the problem that is not fast? The Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee said that it is because we have not chosen the right key areas, have not chosen the right key industries to focus on for rapid development. The experience of other localities that have had economic breakthroughs in the recent period, economic growth is industry.

"Industry needs to have dynamic projects. Nghe An has favorable conditions, has planned industrial parks, this is the basis for the province to attract investment projects. In addition, the local labor resources. Besides, the province must take advantage of the opportunities of the scientific and technological revolution, which can be a place for innovative start-up businesses," said Mr. Nguyen Duc Trung.

Nghe An has favorable conditions in terms of industrial park area and abundant labor resources. In the photo is WHA Industrial Zone 1 Nghe An. Photo courtesy

Regarding administrative procedure bottlenecks, the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee requested that they be resolved in the coming period. In 2020, the province will establish a working group to resolve problems and difficulties in administrative procedures.

Regarding the action program to implement the 5-year socio-economic development plan 2021 - 2025, the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee said that among the 49 projects, it is necessary to choose what to do, once chosen, it must be done, and it must be linked with resources to be effective. It is necessary to focus on about 10 key projects to implement drastically.

Also on the morning of June 11, the Provincial People's Committee listened to and commented on the Report on the implementation of the budget revenue and expenditure estimates for the first 6 months of 2020, tasks for the last 6 months of 2020; Report on the results of practicing thrift and fighting waste in the first 6 months of 2020 and tasks for the last 6 months of 2020; Draft Resolution of the People's Council on the allocation of additional targeted foreign capital from the Central Government in 2020 in the province; Draft Resolution of the Provincial People's Council stipulating a number of expenditure contents, expenditure levels for victim support work and support regime for victims of human trafficking; Report on administrative reform work in the first 6 months of 2020, tasks for the last 6 months of 2020; Draft Resolution of the Provincial People's Council on support policies for redundant commune-level officials and civil servants...; Report on anti-corruption work in the first 6 months of 2020, tasks for the last 6 months of 2020; Report on receiving citizens, handling complaints and denunciations in the first 6 months of 2020, directions and tasks for the last 6 months of 2020.