A corner of Hai Phong City (Photo: Minh Thu/VNA)
Resolution No. 35/2021/QH15 on piloting a number of specific mechanisms and policies to develop Hai Phong City, which has just been approved by the National Assembly, will be an important legal framework for Hai Phong’s breakthrough from a growth pole to a driving force of the national development.
Vietnam News Agency reporter had an interview with Chairman of Hai Phong City People's Committee Nguyen Van Tung regarding this new Resolution.
"Fruitful achievements" are the results of solidarity and unity
- Congratulations to Hai Phong City on the first National Assembly’s Resolution stipulating a number of specific mechanisms and policies to develop the City. What are the city’s strengths and internal resources which makes this achievement reasonable, Mr. Chairman?
Chairman Nguyen Van Tung: At the 2nd session of the 15th National Assembly, the National Assembly passed a resolution on a number of specific mechanisms and policies to develop 4 provinces and cities, including Hai Phong City.
As Hai Phong is the largest port city in northern area, one of the economic locomotives, it will be difficult for the city to promote its strengths and advantages, especially marine economy, with the same mechanisms as other provinces and cities.
The National Assembly’s pilot resolution with specific mechanism is to concretize the tasks in the Politburo’s Resolution No. 45-NQ/TW on the construction and development of Hai Phong City to 2030, with a vision to 2045; create a legal basis for putting policies and mechanisms into real life; open up new opportunities as important foundations and driving forces to develop Hai Phong City as well as enhance its regional influence in coming time.
According to the Politburo’s policies, the directions of the National Assembly’s Standing Commttee, with the support and guidelines of central ministries and agencies, especially Ministry of Planning and Investment, Ministry of Justice, the Government Office, Hai Phong City has complete the project dossiers for adopting specific development mechanism in a period of less than 01 month which was approved by the Government to submit to the National Assembly with its Standing Committee for consideration and promulgation of a Resolution on piloting a number of specific mechanisms and policies to develop Hai Phong City.
These achievements are the result of solidarity, unity and high determination of the entire Party Committee, Authority, Army and People of the City; the reasonable, innovative and creative leadership of the City Party Committee with its Standing Committee; the drastic management and administration of the City People's Committee; the synchronous coordination and efforts of the city's departments and agencies.
The driving force of national development
- In a recent meeting with the city's voters, Chairman of the National Assembly Vuong Dinh Hue hoped that the specific mechanism approved by the National Assembly would develop Hai Phong from a growth pole into a driving force of the national growth. What do you think about this opinion?
Chairman Nguyen Van Tung: Resolution No. 35/2021/QH15 on piloting a number of specific mechanisms and policies to develop Hai Phong City is an important legal tool for Hai Phong’s breakthrough, becoming a driving force of the national development. Those specific mechanisms will bring Hai Phong new development opportunities as follows:
Mechanisms and policies on additional budget allocation, increase in outstanding balance, fees and charges will encourage the City to increase budget revenue, contributing to the central budget and create the basis for the central budget alllocation in the following years for the city’s effective implementation of tasks and socio-economic development goals set by the Politburo in Resolution No. 45-NQ/TW.
Policies on land management will create favorable conditions for Hai Phong City to proactively, flexibly and quickly respond to the urgent requirements of land use exploitation, thereby creating an open environment to improve investment attraction capacity towards key projects for socio-economic development.
Policies on planning management will help strengthening decentralization with the city’s increasing activeness in adjustment and attracting key investment projects with leading role in socio-economic development and inter-sectoral growth.
Chairman of Hai Phong City People's Committee Nguyen Van Tung (Photo: An Dang/VNA)
Policies on income for officials and employees will be a good mechanism to attract and retain human resources, especially those of high-quality to ensure the city’s future development. In the past time, although Hai Phong is a city directly under the Central Government with high economic growth and large revenue, the salaries of state officials and employees are on par with other localities with lower revenue due to certain regulations.
Mechanisms and policies are proposed from the viewpoint of Hai Phong development not only for the city itself, but also for the whole country, promoting its role as a driving force for the northern region and the whole country. In the northern region, apart from Hanoi Capital, there is not any provinces having specific mechanisms and policies to make contributions to the northern region development.
There remains challenges
- The specific mechanism will bring Hai Phong new development opportunities, but the city still has certain drawbacks?
Chairman Nguyen Van Tung: In response to strong development requirements of the City according to the directions of the Politburo’s Resolution No.45-NQ/TW dated January 24, 2019, the City is now facing with various difficulties and challenges in order to continuously maintain a high growth rate, actually become a driving force for the socio-economic development in the northern region and the whole country.
Firstly, the socio-economic development rate with the increasing demand for import and export goods through Hai Phong international seaport is posing a great challenge for the city's infrastructure, especially transport infrastructure.
Although the city's transport infrastructure has recently witnessed breakthroughs with the inauguration of various key traffic projects in regional and international linkage, demonstrating the city’s important role as a traffic center and main gate to the sea of northern provinces, Hai Phong’s transport infrastructure fails to be properly synchronous and modern. Meanwhile, the city has not fully exploited its strength of possessing all 5 transport types which are now of unbalanced proportion with low rate of transportation by railway, inland waterway. Railway infrastructure is out of date, not yet connected to seaports in Dinh Vu and among the main causes of inner urban traffic congestion.
Secondly, Hai Phong is a major seaport, maritime and shipping service center of the whole country, however, seaport infrastructure is slowly upgraded as compared with the development requirements and other regional and international ports with an absence of a modern logistics center of regional or world class level. Mechanisms and regulations regarding seaport management, investment, construction and operation have been slowly reformed towards market mechanism; making it is difficult to mobilize capital investment to increase the efficiency of exploiting and connecting goods to global value chains.
2022 first cargo receiving at Tan Vu port branch. (Photo: VNA)
Thirdly, as an important traffic center and a main gate to the sea of northern provinces with a largely open economy and deep integration, Hai Phong, where a number of indutrial zones situated, will be among the localities badly affected by COVID-19 pandemic.
The City has an important position in the region and the world
- Hai Phong is striving to become a modern city with an important position in the region and the world. Accordingly, what policies and breakthrough solutions are needed to help create a leap, fírst with socio-economic in 2022, for the city?
Chairman Nguyen Van Tung: In order to become a leading city nationwide in industrialization and modernization, a driving force for the northern region and whole country, the City has identified three breakthrough solutions in the Resolution of the 16th City Party Congress:
To build, develop and modernize Hai Phong urban areas with its own distinctive identity of a seaport city; highly concentrate on urban architecture planning and management; accelerate development, expand urban space in three breakthrough directions;
To focus on developing traffic infrastructure, industrial park infrastructure; drastically implement investment procedures, especially site clearance; create favorable conditions to attract new investment waves; prioritize to develop processing, manufacturing, high-tech and environment-friendly industries to turn Hai Phong into a major industrial center of the whole country;
To develop Hai Phong into a major tourism center of the whole country with tourism infrastructure investment as a priority, especially tourism projects, commercial centers, high-class resorts with international standards; create typical tourism products associated with the city’s seas, islands, historical and cultural relics.
In 2021, against the complex development of COVID-19, the City has strongly directed and effectively implemented the "dual tasks" of the pandemic fighting and strong socio-economic development with the gross regional domestic product (GRDP) increasing by 12.38%, the highest nationwide according to General Department of Statistics’s data
Lach Huyen International Port in Hai Phong (Photo: Duc Nghia/VNA)
With 2021 achievements, the City has put forward goals in 2022 as follows: safe, flexibe adaptation to and effective control of COVID-19 epidemic to protect the people's health and promote socio-economic development; gross regional domestic product (GRDP) increase of more than 13% in comparison with 2021; effective implemention of 2022 theme: "Promoting urban embellishment and modernization - Building new exemplary rural areas - Implementing digital transformation."
Accordingly, the City will focus on implementing the following relative solutions:
Firstly, thoroughly grasp and strictly implement the Central directions on the prevention and control of COVID-19 epidemic; proactively develop plans and scenarios to respond promptly, flexibly and creatively in all situations, maintain anti-epidemic achievements, absolutely prevent the epidemic’s spread in the city; achieve the "dual goals".
Secondly, urgently implement the National Assembly’s Resolution on piloting a number of specific mechanisms and policies to develop Hai Phong City; drafting the project on establishing a free trade zone in Hai Phong City.
Thirdly, continuously innovate growth model and restructure economy in 3 main pillars: high-tech industries; seaports- logistics; tourism-trade, in which the City will:
Keep regular updates on economic situations, focus on facilitating production and business activities; accelerate the industrial projects to soon put them into operation in 2022 for more production capacity and new products for the city’s economy;
Create favorable conditions for infrastructure and land fund to attract new, high-tech industries, large-scale industrial projects with modern and clean technology with high added value, making great contribution to state budget;
Focus on developing and modernizing seaports, logistics services; kick off construction projects of container terminals No.3, 4, 5, 6 in Hai Phong international gateway port;
Expand scope of attracting investment resources to strongly develop tourism with 3 core tourism products: sea and island tourism; sport tourism; agricultural and rural tourism.
Fourthly, carry out urban embellishment and modernization; develop synchronous and modern transport infrastructure; immediately implement Master Plan of Hai Phong City to 2035, with a vision to 2050 after being approved by the Prime Minister; speed up the progress of important transport infrastructure projects; strive to start the construction project of Cargo Terminal and Passenger Terminal 2 at Cat Bi International Airport in the first quarter of this year.
Fifthly, accelerate the implementation of Hai Phong City Digital Transformation Program to 2025, with a vision to 2030; build infrastructure, platforms and shared services for digital government as the core value and foundation for a digital government.
- Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman./.