HCM City to focus financial resources on key infrastructure projects

Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee Nguyen Thanh Phong underlined the plan at a conference on implementing social-economic tasks in 2017 held on December 30. 

The breakthrough programmes aim to relocate and settle down residents living on and along canals, give a facelift to urban landscape in combination with improving the water environment and repair and build new apartment buildings to replace degraded old ones.

Ho Chi Minh City has quickly completed procedures necessary for commencing projects on reducing traffic jams at the Tan Son Nhat International Airport and Cat Lai port, addressing severe flooded areas, upgrading Ba Bo Canal and several hospitals, with the goal of completing them within 2017.

In order to achieve 19 social-economic goals in 2017, including a GRDP growth rate of 8.4%-8.7%, the city has set forth many measures, focusing on attracting multinational corporations, encouraging the formation of big private companies besides developing small- and medium-sized enterprises, and boosting the linkage between domestic and foreign-invested firms.

Phong urged local authorities to continue implementing specific schemes assisting the development of enterprises and promoting startup, helping the city achieve its goal of having 50,000 newly-established enterprises in 2017.

In 2016, the city’s GDP expanded 8.05% to reach VND1,023.92 trillion and non-oil export value totalled US$29.2 billion, up 10% from last year. The industrial production index went up 7.33% year on year. The city collected VND307.3 trillion (US$13.8 billion) for the budget. 

Total social investment capital was VND310.5 trillion (US$14 billion). The city attracted US$3.7 billion in foreign direct investment while 36,000 new enterprises were established during the year.