Nghe An focuses on growth targets

(Baonghean) -Looking back at 4 years of implementing Resolution 26 of the Politburo on the direction and tasks for developing Nghe An province until 2020 (referred to as Resolution 26) shows that, although many results have been achieved, to achieve the set goals, many fundamental solutions are still needed to quickly create a real breakthrough, especially in economic development...

Identify breakthrough opportunities

Nghe An is one of the few localities in the country where the Politburo has issued a separate Resolution. Recognizing the importance and special attention of the Central Government to the province, with a proactive attitude and determination to effectively implement Resolution 26, the Standing Committee of Nghe An Provincial Party Committee issued Action Program No. 24 in October 2013 with 6 key programs such as: Program to supplement and adjust socio-economic development planning, planning of key economic zones; program to develop economic zones, industrial parks, high-tech parks, policy building and development of regions, fields...

Nghi Thiet Cement Grinding Station and Seaport Complex (Nghi Loc). Photo: NN

On that basis, the People's Committee of Nghe An province issued a Decision to implement the Action Program; departments, branches and localities focused on implementation. On the Central side, the Party and Government committees, ministries and branches paid special attention to directing and helping Nghe An to implement Resolution 26 of the Politburo.

After 4 years of implementation, it shows that the Resolution has been seriously implemented; action programs, projects, and plans have been built that are close and practical, along with the attention and support of the Central Government, so they have quickly come into life. From the initiative, creativity, effective use of resources, overcoming obstacles and difficulties, Nghe An is on the path of determination to strive to "basically become an industrial province by 2020" as determined in the spirit of the Resolution.

Evaluating the results of 4 years of implementing Resolution 26, Director of the Department of Planning and Investment Nguyen Van Do said that the total product in the province (GRDP) in 4 years (2014 - 2017) increased by an average of 7.43%, higher than the growth rate of 3 years (2011 - 2013) of 5.54%. The economic structure shifted in the right direction, in 2017 compared to 2013, the proportion of the industrial and construction sector increased from 31.36% to 33%, the agriculture, forestry and fishery sector decreased from 26.95% to 25%, the service sector accounted for a fairly high proportion, from 41.69% to 42%.

Budget revenue also witnessed a significant increase, estimated at 41,444 billion VND in the 2014-2017 period. In particular, investment promotion activities in the 2014-2017 period were high with 446 projects with a total investment capital of 169,387 billion VND. The total number of registered enterprises reached nearly 17,250, ranking 7th in the country. The business sector contributed nearly 60% of the province's budget and in the 2014-2017 period created new jobs for more than 178,000 workers.

Resolution 26 of the Politburo also determined to build Vinh City into a center of the North Central region in 10 fields. The provincial sectors have coordinated with the city to implement related projects. Accordingly, in the period of 2014 - 2017, the growth rate of production value reached 10.66%/year. The city's economic structure has shifted positively, the service industry accounts for a large proportion, reaching nearly 67% in 2016 and tends to continue to increase in the total added value, being the driving force for the city's development.

The city's budget revenue has achieved a growth rate of 19.71% per year for the entire period, accounting for 33.6% of the total annual budget revenue in the province. The average added value per capita of the city reached more than 68 million VND in 2016, 2.4 times higher than the average level of the province. In particular, the infrastructure projects built have changed the appearance of Vinh city a lot, such as Ben Thuy II bridge, railway overpasses... Currently, the city is implementing Vinh urban development projects from ODA capital of the World Bank with a total amount of 3,000 billion VND, expected to be completed this year.

Identify the challenges

Despite many achievements, the implementation of Resolution 26 poses many challenges. In order for Nghe An to basically become an industrial province by 2020, the proportion of the service and industrial-construction sectors, as targeted by the province, is equal to 39-40%, while agriculture is 20-22%. However, the industrial-construction sector has not yet met expectations.

This is one of the reasons affecting many other indicators such as: Growth rate, budget revenue, per capita income... According to calculations by the authorities, with the current annual increase of about 10%, by 2020, budget revenue is estimated to reach about 16,000 billion VND, while the target is 25,000 billion VND, not meeting the regular spending needs in the area.

Meanwhile, in reality, there are many problems that need to be overcome such as: Infrastructure in mountainous areas, which account for 83% of the natural area, is still facing many difficulties, affecting the effectiveness of investment attraction. Administrative reform, especially administrative procedures, is not yet synchronized, the implementation of the one-stop shop and one-stop shop mechanism in some units is still ineffective, especially in the fields of: Site clearance, land management, completion of administrative procedures for investors, especially at the district and commune levels related to land procedures. Director of the Department of Planning and Investment Nguyen Van Do said that land issues are the biggest obstacle in the process of attracting investment, mainly at the grassroots level, which is slow to resolve. There are many localities that are hesitant and indecisive. This is a bottleneck that must be solved.

To successfully implement Resolution 26 of the Politburo, the role of Vinh City is considered as the locomotive. However, according to the assessment, the construction of Vinh City into a regional center in more than 10 fields is still slow. Vinh City Party Secretary Vo Viet Thanh said that according to experts' recommendations, the city needs to focus on its strengths to have priority investment options such as: Health, education, information technology. Vinh City Party Secretary also said that the city is very hopeful to access the 94 million USD ODA loan from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to continue investing, creating momentum for development.

Focus on growth targets

Evaluating the results of 4 years of implementing Resolution 26 of the Politburo, Provincial Party Secretary Nguyen Dac Vinh said that the province's growth model is mainly based on attracting investment and the efficiency of State budget investment in technical infrastructure and human resources. Therefore, the solution must also follow this direction to identify difficulties to solve, including specifically assessing the effectiveness of investment promotion with data on registered capital, disbursed capital, and the rate of effective projects. These will be reference figures to evaluate the effectiveness of implementing investment attraction procedures.

Workers work at MLB TENERGY Company Limited in Yen Thanh district. Photo: Thanh Duy

Citing the slow issuance of investment certificates for the Hemaraj project, which took about 8 months, not to mention the time before this enterprise came to survey and learn in the province or some large projects in the area that still had unresolved problems, the "stalking" of investors was not really drastic... leading to the slow implementation of the project, which affected the growth target, the Provincial Party Secretary requested that there should be an analysis; from there, set out very general tasks and specific tasks in the implementation process.

Resolution 26 has brought a real "push" to the socio-economic development of the province. However, the time for implementation is not much, while there is still a relative gap between the actual efficiency and the set target. Although there are objective reasons such as the method of calculating the growth rate from GDP to GRDP affecting the growth percentage, the core problem is that the driving force for growth is that enterprises are not really strong; large and main sources of revenue are still few, in 2016 there were only 59 enterprises paying over 10 billion VND in taxes.

From there, recognizing and analyzing objective and subjective causes, forecasting the situation comprehensively on a practical basis to have fundamental solutions, creating breakthroughs in development in the spirit and goals of Resolution 26 is the content that the Standing Committee of Nghe An Provincial Party Committee is directing to thoroughly implement.

Thanh Duy