Nghe An: Aim to raise PCI ranking to group 15-20 nationwide

(Baonghean) - Improving the Provincial Competitiveness Index (PCI) is being implemented by Nghe An province, considered the "key" to improving the business environment, creating a strong driving force to attract investment and develop the economy.

Positive change

The project to improve and enhance the provincial competitiveness index was issued under Decision No. 2595/QD-UBND of the People's Committee of Nghe An province, setting the goal of improving the PCI score and ranking compared to the whole country and the North Central region. After 5 years of effectively implementing the proposed solutions, the PCI index results of Nghe An from 2012 to present have continuously improved.

2016 was a successful year when Nghe An's PCI index reached 59.45 points, the highest ever, ranking 25/63 nationwide, up 5.09 points and up 21 places compared to 2012. In comparison to the provinces in the North Central region, Nghe An's PCI ranking also had a positive change; in 2016, it increased 4 places compared to 2012, from 6th/6 in the North Central region (2012) to 2nd/6 (2016), behind Thua Thien - Hue.

Provincial leaders inspect production situation to remove difficulties for businesses. Photo: Viet Phuong

More importantly, the awareness of departments, branches, localities and enterprises has had many positive changes. Therefore, the investment and business environment has been improved; this has positively impacted the results of attracting investment to Nghe An in recent years. Mr. Nguyen Van Nam - Deputy Director of the Provincial Investment Promotion and Support Center said that in the period of 2012-2016, investment attraction has achieved remarkable results.

The number of projects, their scale and quality have increased over the years. The structure of investment projects in the province has become more and more reasonable, reducing the number of projects in the field of natural resource exploitation and increasing the number and scale of projects in the field of processing and labor-intensive industries.

The province has attracted many large, breakthrough and strategic projects such as: VSIP Nghe An Industrial - Urban - Service Complex, Hemaraj Industrial Park, Hoa Sen Steel Sheet Factory, MDF Wood Processing Factory, Song Lam Cement, Vingroup Trade and Service Complex, Provincial General Hospital Phase 2...

At the same time, the province also received investment attention from many potential and branded investors such as Becamex Group, Vietnam National Coal and Mineral Industries Group, Massan, Vingroup, Vinamilk, TH, Ton Hoa Sen, The Vissai Group, Royal Food, Cargill, FPT, BSE,... These projects will be the core driving force, spreading breakthroughs for Nghe An province in the period of 2016 - 2020.

Textile products lead Nghe An's export turnover. Photo: Viet Phuong

The above results reflect the effective and synchronous implementation of many policies to improve the business environment and improve each PCI component index of the entire government system in recent times.

Reduce the burden of “costs”

Currently, although Nghe An's total PCI score has changed and improved, there is still a relatively large gap compared to the top provinces in the country; at the same time, the improvement trend is not stable.

In 2016, Nghe An's PCI was 10.55 points lower than Da Nang (the leading city in the country in terms of PCI), 6.15 points lower than Quang Ninh, 5.51 points lower than Dong Thap... Some criteria had almost no change, even decreased in points and rankings, and were in the average or low group compared to the whole country; for example, the informal cost index (ranked 60/62), and land access (ranked 52/63). These are barriers that greatly affect the province's investment environment.

According to VCCI's data during the PCI index survey, in 2016, up to 14.86% of enterprises had to spend more than 10% of their revenue on informal fees; 60.81% of enterprises agreed that harassment in handling procedures for enterprises was common; the percentage of enterprises that said they had to pay additional informal fees to handle work remained high (72.73%).

Producing white stone on a modern production line in Quy Hop. Photo: Cao Duy Thai

Recently, at the Workshop on improving the provincial competitiveness index (PCI) and promoting the initiative to build a set of competitiveness assessment indexes at the department, district and town levels (DDCI) organized by the Provincial People's Committee in coordination with VCCI Nghe An branch, Mr. Dau Anh Tuan - Head of VCCI Legal Department, Director of PCI project shared many experiences on solutions to improve the PCI index.

Mr. Tuan said that one of the solutions to improve the PCI index is to make the operating enterprises feel satisfied, and to build a service-oriented administration. Solving difficulties for enterprises and helping enterprises feel satisfied with the business environment is the most effective way to promote investment. To improve the PCI index, in addition to the efforts of the provincial leaders, there needs to be a strong change at the department, district and town levels.

Nghe An aims to raise its PCI ranking to the 15-20 group of the country by 2020. The provincial People's Committee, departments, branches and localities are developing general solutions and specific solutions for each component index, with special attention paid to component indexes that have not improved or have decreased in points in previous years. Provincial leaders also clearly define the responsibilities of monitoring, urging, supervising and organizing the implementation of each agency and unit; set out the main tasks to be performed and the results to be achieved; at the same time, assign responsibilities to the presiding agency and coordinating agencies to organize the implementation and the time to complete the assigned tasks.

Viet Phuong