Don't waste time, don't miss opportunities for growth.
As the country accelerates towards its goal of becoming a developed nation by 2045, preventing the waste of time and development opportunities is no longer merely a management requirement, but a pressing necessity.
Wastefulness is not just the loss of money, assets, or land. In this new stage of development, wastefulness is also present in every day of delay, every cumbersome procedure, every prolonged project, and every missed opportunity.
As the country accelerates towards its goal of becoming a developed nation by 2045, combating wasted time and development opportunities is no longer merely a management requirement, but has become an urgent necessity.
It is no coincidence that at the conference summarizing the work of the Party's internal affairs sector in the first six months of 2026 and the activities of the Provincial Steering Committee for preventing and combating corruption, waste, and negative phenomena, Politburo member, Secretary of the Central Committee of the Party, and Head of the Central Internal Affairs Committee Le Minh Tri emphasized the requirement that "the prevention and combating of waste should not only focus on money and assets, but also on preventing and combating the waste of time and opportunities for development."
State management agencies need to study and quantify the prevention and combating of wasted time and development opportunities into specific criteria to clearly define the responsibilities of each agency, organization, and individual.
This viewpoint aligns with the directives of General Secretary and President To Lam regarding overcoming the situation where citizens and businesses have to waste time and effort due to cumbersome administrative procedures; overcoming inertia, avoidance, shirking of responsibility, and fear of accountability, which slow down the development process. The head of the Party and State has clearly pointed out that the most pressing issue of waste today is no longer just the loss of public assets, but also the prolonged projects, bottlenecks that are slow to be resolved, which deplete resources, increase the burden of costs, erode trust, create invisible barriers, and miss opportunities for national development.
The country is entering a new phase of development with high growth requirements, aiming towards the strategic milestones of 2035 and 2045. In this context, every delayed decision and every stalled resource allocation can lead to lost development opportunities. Money lost can be earned back, but time lost and opportunities missed cannot be recovered. Therefore, combating waste today must first and foremost mean combating the waste of time and development opportunities.
The urgency of the issue is further highlighted by the figures presented at the 30th session of the Central Steering Committee on preventing and combating corruption, waste, and negative phenomena. After a review, the country has 4,492 stalled and long-standing projects, with only 1,531 projects resolved. In addition, there are 30,595 surplus land and buildings after organizational restructuring, but only 14,992 have been put into operation.
Each delayed project not only increases investment costs, and each unused plot of land not only wastes public assets, but more worryingly, these are resources that have not been put into production and business, have not created more jobs, and have not contributed to the current double-digit growth target.
Therefore, the Central Steering Committee requests a determined effort to definitively resolve all outstanding projects and surplus land and housing facilities in 2026.
But while the waste of resources can be measured in numbers, the waste of time is more difficult to quantify, more insidious, yet its consequences are no less serious. A lengthy procedure can cause businesses to miss investment opportunities, a delayed project can cost a locality its competitive advantage, and a slow-to-issue decision can cause an entire sector to lose its chance of development. Therefore, combating the waste of time is protecting the driving force of growth.
During his lifetime, President Ho Chi Minh once instructed: "Each day's task should be completed on the same day; do not put it off until tomorrow. Remember that the people have used their sweat and tears to pay our salaries during those working hours."
More than half a century has passed, but that teaching remains just as valuable, especially in a context where the country demands speed and efficiency more than ever before. To combat wasted time and missed opportunities for development, the requirement is not only to address specific cases but, more importantly, to improve institutions, control power, and clearly define the responsibilities of each agency, organization, and individual. Another requirement is to quantify the prevention and combating of wasted time and missed opportunities for development using specific criteria, as a basis for evaluating accountability and the effectiveness of public service.
Furthermore, digital transformation needs to be accelerated to shorten processing times, increase transparency, and control power through data. In the first half of 2026, the Central Internal Affairs Commission digitized 4,846 outgoing documents and 20,615 incoming documents, and continued to revise and digitize 304,888 pages of documents. These are not only figures demonstrating the application of technology but also an important foundation for reducing processing time, lowering social costs, and mitigating potential negative issues.
Currently, the overarching principle set by the Central Committee is to shift strongly from dealing with consequences to early and proactive prevention; from reviewing and compiling statistics to decisive action; and from detecting violations to preventing waste from its very beginnings. To achieve this, leaders must truly dare to think, dare to act, and dare to take responsibility. Because every act of avoidance, shirking responsibility, or waiting for instructions means that time continues to be wasted and opportunities continue to slip away.
The country is facing great opportunities for development. To realize the strategic goals for 2035 and 2045, every resource must be used efficiently. Not only money, land, or public assets, but also time and development opportunities must be considered precious national resources. Therefore, combating waste today is not just about preventing losses, but also about leveraging and preserving growth opportunities, creating additional resources and impetus for faster and more sustainable national development.
