The Prime Minister directed to speed up the progress and improve the quality of planning work.

On the morning of March 2, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh chaired a national online conference on accelerating planning progress and consulting on the orientation of the National Master Plan for the 2021-2030 period, with a vision to 2050.

At Nghe An bridge, comrades: Nguyen Duc Trung - Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee; Le Ngoc Hoa - Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee co-chaired.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh chaired the Government bridge. Photo: VGP/Nhat Bac

SLOW PROGRESS, LOW QUALITY

Reporting on the development of plans under the national planning system according to the provisions of the Law on Planning, Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung said that the Ministry will strive to submit national-level plans to the Government for consideration and approval in July 2022 and submit them to the 15th National Assembly for consideration and approval at the 4th Session in October 2022.

Regarding regional planning, the Ministry of Planning and Investment has so far completed the task of planning 5 regions: Northern Midlands and Mountains; Red River Delta; North Central and Central Coast and Central Highlands. It is expected to be completed and submitted for appraisal in September-October 2022; submitted to the Prime Minister for approval in December 2022.

Regarding provincial planning, up to now, 61/63 provincial planning tasks of 61 localities have been approved by the Prime Minister. On that basis, localities are urgently organizing the establishment of provincial planning according to assigned tasks.

Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung speaks at the meeting. Photo: VGP/Nhat Bac

Regarding the orientation of the National Master Plan for the period 2021-2030, with a vision to 2050, the viewpoint is to develop the country as a unified entity, not divided or bound by administrative boundaries; Promote linkages between regions and localities to expand development space, mobilize and effectively use resources to enhance the country's global competitiveness.

Develop with focus, key points, concentrate resources to form a number of dynamic regions, economic corridors, growth poles in areas with potential and advantages to promote rapid and sustainable economic development of the whole country. Develop in a sustainable direction, aiming for balanced and harmonious development between regions. Ensure economical and effective use of land and resources...

The general goal is to create an effective and sustainable national development space allocation model, forming dynamic economic zones, economic centers, strategic urban areas, a synchronous and modern infrastructure network, connecting regions, urban and rural areas, creating conditions for high economic growth, promoting the implementation of the goal by 2030 of becoming a developing country with modern industry and high average income; by 2050, becoming a developed country with high income, a harmonious society, a fair, democratic and civilized society.

Comrades: Nguyen Duc Trung - Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee; Le Ngoc Hoa - Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee co-chaired the Nghe An bridge point.Photo: Pham Bang

Accordingly, in terms of national development space, the focus will be on forming and developing two North-South economic corridors and East-West economic corridors. At the same time, four main driving forces of the country will be formed: the main driving force in the North; the main driving force in the South; the Central driving force and the Mekong Delta driving force.

At the conference, leaders of central and local departments, ministries, branches and localities reported on the results of planning, raised many difficulties and problems and contributed many ideas to speed up the progress and improve the quality of planning, appraisal and approval.

Speaking at the conference, comrade Nguyen Duc Trung - Chairman of Nghe An Provincial People's Committee said that Nghe An identified the work of making the Provincial Planning for the period 2021-2030, with a vision to 2050 as a particularly important task and has been included in the Action Program and implementation of the Resolution of the 19th Provincial Party Congress, identified as the number 1 priority task.

Regarding progress, up to now, Nghe An has coordinated with consulting units and directed sectors and localities to focus on completing the planning synthesis report, and at the same time integrating 49 sectoral, field and local planning into the provincial planning. It is expected that in March, the Provincial Party Standing Committee will listen and give opinions; submit to ministries for appraisal at the end of the second quarter of 2022 and complete and submit to the Prime Minister for consideration and approval in the third quarter of 2022, ensuring progress in accordance with the spirit of Resolution 119/NQ-CP 2021 of the Government.

Comrade Nguyen Duc Trung - Chairman of Nghe An Provincial People's Committee spoke at the conference. Photo: Pham Bang

Reporting on the difficulties and obstacles in the process of provincial planning, Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Nguyen Duc Trung made two recommendations. Specifically, while the national master plans and regional plans have not been issued, he requested that central ministries and branches continue to pay attention, guide and coordinate with localities in the planning process. The Ministry of Planning and Investment should soon build and put into operation, manage and exploit the national database information system on planning work.

Regarding the national master plan orientation, Nghe An proposed to pay attention to the North Central region with 6 provinces from Thanh Hoa to Thua Thien Hue. This region accounts for 15.6% of the country's area and 12% of the country's population. Of which, 3 provinces: Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Ha Tinh have an area of ​​more than 10% of the country and a population of 10% of the country. Therefore, it is possible to consider and add 3 provinces:Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Ha Tinh become dynamic development regions in the North Central region.

Regarding economic corridor planning, it is proposed to determine the expressway route from Hanoi - Thanh Thuy (Vietnam) to Pac Xan - Vientiane.(Laos) is one of the economic corridors to be included in the national planning orientation. In which, the east-west connection has the road from Vientiane to Vinh city to Cua Lo port to supplement the western region corridor.

KEY POLITICAL TASKS IN 2022

Concluding the Conference, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh assessed that the work of planning, appraisal and approval in the past time has achieved positive results and certain progress. However, there are still two important points: the progress has not been achieved according to the program and the quality has not been as expected.

In addition to objective causes such as the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and the unsynchronized database system, the Prime Minister said that the main subjective causes are still the lack of awareness of planning work; the lack of proper attention from leaders in leadership and direction; limited investment in this work at all levels; poor allocation of human resources; lack of initiative in the organization of planning, appraisal and approval; and problems with current regulations.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh concluded the conference. Photo: VGP/Nhat Bac

With the goal of both ensuring progress and improving the quality of planning in the coming time, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh requested raising awareness at all levels and sectors, especially leaders, about the importance, role and position of planning work.

All levels and sectors must identify planning as a key political task for 2022. Closely follow the Platform, Constitution, Resolution of the 13th National Party Congress, Resolutions of the National Assembly, Government, levels, sectors and localities to concretize into planning. Strengthen supervision and inspection by competent agencies and elected bodies in appraising and approving planning.

The Prime Minister also requested that when doing planning work, we must try to find and clearly point out the potential differences, outstanding opportunities, competitive advantages to maximize; clearly point out the limitations, weaknesses, conflicts, challenges to have solutions to resolve in each industry and locality. Planning must have breakthrough thinking, strategic vision, and be close to reality. Planning must be on schedule but must pay attention to quality, be flexible in adaptation, be long-term but still practical, it is not immutable but must still be stable.

The Head of Government also requested that planning must be based on the development of an independent, autonomous, self-reliant, and self-reliant economy of each agency, unit, and locality, and at a higher level, the national level. Planning must take internal resources as strategic, long-term, and decisive. Internal resources here are people, nature, historical and cultural traditions. However, it must also be highly integrated, and must harmoniously combine internal and external resources, in which internal resources are fundamental.

Overview of the bridge in Nghe An province. Photo: Pham Bang

Regarding the organization of planning implementation, the Prime Minister requested to select good consulting contractors, listen to many perspectives, and establish professional and specialized support teams. The heads of local Party committees and authorities must take the lead in this work and closely follow the timely and regular direction of Party committees and authorities.

Through planning work, contribute to building a national database to facilitate exploitation and proper organization of planning announcement and management regulations, and fight against formalism. Absolutely do not let administrative congestion hinder planning progress and quality.

Regarding the orientation of the national master plan, the Prime Minister noted that it is necessary to study the rational zoning of driving forces and find new driving forces for the development of each region. The planning must also balance the economy, culture, society, national defense and security, and not sacrifice social security to pursue pure growth.

In addition to selecting the driving force, there must be breakthrough policies to help other regions escape poverty, so that all people can benefit from the state's policies. The national master plan must be linked to regional development in Asia and internationally./.