Provincial People's Council delegates discussed enthusiastically in the hall

Entering the second working day, on the morning of July 21, the 15th session of the Provincial People's Council, term XVII, 2016 - 2021, held a discussion session in the hall.

Attending the meeting were comrades: Thai Thanh Quy - Alternate member of the Party Central Committee, Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee; Nguyen Xuan Son - Standing Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the Provincial People's Council; Nguyen Duc Trung - Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee; Nguyen Van Thong - Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee; National Assembly deputies of the province; comrades in the Standing Committee of the Provincial Party Committee, Standing Committee of the Provincial People's Council, People's Committee, Provincial Fatherland Front Committee; representatives of leaders of provincial departments, branches, sectors and districts, cities and towns. Photo: Thanh Cuong

Before the discussion session in the hall, the meeting listened to the meeting secretary, Mr. Pham Van Hoa, report on the summary of the discussion group's opinions on the afternoon of July 20. In a lively, focused, democratic and frank atmosphere, there were 116 opinions from the delegates in 8 discussion groups. Through the synthesis, some opinions of the delegates were explained by the Provincial People's Committee and the branches, further clarifying the issues that voters were interested in.

Through discussion, the majority of delegates basically agreed with the Report of the Provincial People's Committee on the results and some shortcomings and limitations in implementing the socio-economic development plan in the first 6 months of 2020 as well as tasks and solutions in the last 6 months of 2020.

The presiding delegation presided over the meeting. Photo: Thanh Cuong

Focus on removing difficulties

Many delegates said that, despite the difficulties caused by natural disasters and the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Provincial People's Committee has directed departments, branches and localities to implement many synchronous and drastic solutions, thus achieving positive results. In the last 6 months of the year, the Provincial People's Committee needs to assign specific responsibilities to departments, branches and localities to propose specific solutions to effectively implement the proposed plan.

In addition, delegates also raised a number of issues that need continued attention, namely: Removing difficulties and creating favorable conditions for businesses to invest, conduct production and business activities due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic plays an important role in economic recovery and growth.

Delegates reflected on some low budget revenue items such as: Revenue from central enterprises (only 34.4% of the estimate); Revenue from non-state industrial, commercial and service sectors (only 34.9% of the estimate); Revenue from foreign-invested enterprises (only 43.2% of the estimate). Propose that the Provincial People's Committee take specific measures in directing and operating to overcome difficulties and complete the estimate assigned by the Provincial People's Council.

Chief of the Provincial People's Council Office Pham Van Hoa reports on the summary of the group discussion. Photo: Thanh Cuong

Delegates suggested that the province direct the Electricity sector to have fundamental solutions to best resolve the problem of power outages without notifying people and businesses; power outages on Highway 48; weak electricity; the power grid system in many places has seriously degraded, voters have petitioned many times but it has not been resolved; speed up the progress of bringing electricity to people in remote areas, currently many villages and hamlets still do not have access to the national grid...

The delegates suggested that the province continue to pay attention to directing solutions to stimulate domestic tourism in the province. The delegates suggested that the Provincial People's Committee have effective solutions, taking advantage of expanding flight routes to domestic tourist destinations to develop tourism, attracting tourists to Nghe An province...

Regarding investment and development, delegates requested the Provincial People's Committee to clarify a number of contents such as: Solutions and feasibility in mobilizing resources for key projects of the province; pay attention to attracting external investment, and at the same time focus on solutions to remove difficulties for businesses in the province to effectively implement socio-economic development measures in the "post-Covid-19" period...

Delegates reported that the progress of investment projects is still slow; investment attraction is not very effective; inspection and recovery of slow-progressing and "suspended" projects are not resolute, causing people to lose confidence.

Delegates expressed concern that the province’s investment attraction is still lower than that of other provinces. They requested the province to direct a review and evaluation of the effectiveness of the Investment Promotion Conference in the past 10 years to find fundamental solutions to improve the effectiveness of this work in the coming time…

Regarding natural resources and environment, delegates reflected that every year the Provincial People's Council passes resolutions on land reclamation and conversion, but the implementation rate is low; requested the Provincial People's Committee to direct the clarification of causes, responsibilities, difficulties, obstacles and solutions for implementation in the coming time. Delegates requested the Provincial People's Committee to soon have solutions to remove difficulties in land reclamation and land allocation for a number of production and business projects that lease land...

Concerns about policies and regimes for grassroots cadres

Regarding the cultural and social fields, delegates said that the Provincial People's Committee needs to pay attention to the conservation and restoration of relics, especially recognized and ranked relics, to limit the current situation of many relics being degraded.

Delegates requested the education sector to re-evaluate online learning methods. The preparation of online teaching plans is not guaranteed, and students are not able to grasp knowledge as well as when learning directly.

Delegates attending the meeting. Photo: Thanh Cuong

The delegates suggested that the Provincial People's Committee pay attention to improving the quality of medical examination and treatment, and invest in equipment for communes suitable for communes with doctors to improve the quality of medical examination and treatment, especially in mountainous districts. The delegates suggested that there should be solutions to promote job creation and ensure social security after the Covid-19 pandemic, including for overseas workers returning home.

Regarding the fields of internal affairs, administrative reform, inspection, citizen reception, handling of petitions, complaints and denunciations, delegates said that the implementation of Decision No. 14/2020/QD-UBND dated May 27, 2020 of the Provincial People's Committee on the level of allowances and the process of implementing the level of allowances for people directly participating in the work of hamlets, blocks and villages in Nghe An province has many shortcomings that cannot be implemented.

Delegates reflected that in many localities after merging communes and hamlets, the physical facilities were both redundant and lacking because they were not large enough for the new communes and hamlets after the merger.

It is recommended that the Provincial People's Committee provide specific guidance and unify the plan for handling assets after the merger to avoid waste and have a new basis to ensure the living conditions of communes and hamlets after the merger; at the same time, there should be a mechanism to support funding for building facilities in communes and hamlets after the merger.

Some delegates also proposed that the Provincial People's Committee have solutions to reform administrative procedures, especially in the field of investment attraction, creating favorable conditions for businesses to invest in the area. At the same time, they proposed that the Provincial People's Committee study to promote decentralization of some procedures in some fields to the district level to ensure efficiency and speed in State management.

The group discussion session also "heated up" with many related issues that many people and voters were interested in, such as the inadequacies in implementing Resolution 22/2019/NQ-HDND dated December 12, 2019 of the Provincial People's Council on the number, titles, allowances, regimes and policies for non-professional workers and other subjects in communes, wards, towns and hamlets, blocks and villages in Nghe An province and Decision No. 14/2020/QD-UBND dated May 27, 2020 of the People's Committee of Nghe An province on the level of allowances and the process of implementing the level of allowances for people directly participating in the work of hamlets, blocks and villages in the province, when applied in units.

View of the meeting. Photo: Thanh Cuong

At the discussion session in the hall on the morning of July 21, many delegates continued to raise difficulties in the practical implementation of Resolution 22/2019/NQ-HDND of the Provincial People's Council and Decision No. 14/2020/QD-UBND of the Provincial People's Committee.

Delegate Ngo Thi Thu Hien (Vinh city) commented that Decision No. 14/2020/QD-UBND stipulates that the subjects of application are people directly participating in work in blocks, hamlets, and villages, in which priority is given to the branch presidents of 5 organizations: Women, Farmers, Veterans, Elderly, and Youth Union.

Delegate Ngo Thi Hien (Vinh City) spoke at the discussion hall. Photo: Thanh Cuong

However, those who regularly participate in work in the block, hamlet, and village also include the Red Cross, Encouragement of Learning, and Heads of residential groups... With the current number of people working in the block and hamlet compared to the contract level according to Resolution 22/2019/NQ-HDND, it is difficult to ensure spending levels for all subjects.

Responding to clarify the concerns of the delegates, Deputy Director of the Department of Home Affairs Tran Quoc Chung affirmed: In practice, there are still many shortcomings, so after this session, the Provincial People's Committee is requested to direct the Department of Home Affairs and the Department of Finance to survey and re-evaluate the practice to resolve them. If the policy is correct, it is necessary to do a good job of propaganda so that the policy can be put into practice.

Many delegates raised difficulties caused by hot weather and severe drought affecting production and people's lives; and issues of economic development, hunger eradication and sustainable poverty reduction for ethnic minority areas.

Delegate Nguyen Huu Cau (Ky Son unit) contributed comments to the Resolution on socio-economic development of the Provincial People's Council. Photo: Thanh Cuong

Forest management, protection, land allocation, forest allocation, land, mineral and environmental management still have many shortcomings, with many large forest fires occurring. Illegal sand and gravel mining still occurs in some localities. Administrative reform progress is slow.

Opinions of the Provincial People's Council delegates and guest delegates related to the proposed contents of the Provincial People's Council Resolution, including: Resolution approving the list of works and projects in Nghe An province requiring land recovery as prescribed in Clause 3, Article 26, Land Law.

Director of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment Vo Duy Viet answered and clarified the opinions of delegates contributing to the content of the Resolutions on land. Photo: Thanh Cuong

Delegates also commented on the Resolutions on converting the purpose of using rice fields, protective forest land, and special-use forest land to implement project works in the province. Resolutions on policies to support funding for purchasing journey monitoring equipment and support service subscription fees for journey monitoring equipment installed on fishing vessels...

Concluding the discussion session at the meeting hall, Vice Chairwoman of the Provincial People's Council Cao Thi Hien said that 17 comments focused on frank discussions to clarify many issues on the socio-economic situation, national defense, security and reports and draft resolutions submitted to the meeting.

Vice Chairwoman of the Provincial People's Council Cao Thi Hien concluded the discussion session at the hall. Photo: Thanh Cuong

Comrade Cao Thi Hien said that, in addition to some opinions that have been received and clarified by the sectors, for issues that have not been fully answered at the discussion session in the hall, the Provincial People's Council will request the sectors and the Provincial People's Committee to receive and answer immediately after the meeting to report to the delegates.