As the 2010-2015 term wraps up, Binh Phuoc province achieved encouraging results in all fields of social life. This important success reaffirmed the correct leadership of the Provincial Party Committee and effective administration of all tiers of authorities. This was also an important motivation for the province to successfully implement socioeconomic development tasks in 2016 - the first year of executing the Resolution of the 10th Provincial Party Congress with the aim of achieving or exceeding criteria set for the year to lay stepping stones for successfully realising all socioeconomic development tasks set for the 2016 - 2020 term. The following interview with Mr Nguyen Van Loi, Secretary of Binh Phuoc Provincial Party Committee, will show more about the determination and efforts of Binh Phuoc in a new phase of development. Nguyen Viet Hung reports.
Situated in the southeast region, Binh Phuoc province has a very convenient geographic location along National Road 13 running from Ho Chi Minh City to Cambodia via the Hoa Lu International Border Gate, and National Highway 14 connecting Ho Chi Minh City with the Central Highlands. In the coming time, the Trans-Asia Railway Project, which links Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam via Hoa Lu International Border Gate to Ho Chi Minh City, will provide enormous opportunities for Binh Phuoc province to draw investment capital for comprehensive socioeconomic development.
In addition to its prime geographic location, another leading advantage of Binh Phuoc is a large area of fertile soil suitable for agricultural development, especially long-term industrial crops and livestock farming. Its industrial parks are built not too far from business districts and have convenient traffic connections. Land lease procedures and prices are extremely preferential. The abundant young workforce comprises of more than 600,000 people at working age, of which more than 40 per cent have been trained. Especially, under the motto "Ready to accompany investors to success," the provincial government is devoted to improving the local investment environment and attracting investment flows by applying fast-track one-stop single-window mechanisms to administrative procedures.
In the 2010 - 2015 term, the Party and the people of Binh Phuoc province united and endeavoured to realise the Resolution of the 9th Provincial Party Congress and obtained many important achievements. Could you please introduce some of the remarkable socioeconomic achievements over the past five years?
In the past term, despite Vietnamese and global unfavourable economic fluctuations, Binh Phuoc province still managed to achieve an average annual growth of 10.8 per cent thanks to its efforts to effectively tap its resources and speed up three breakthrough programmes. People's living quality increasingly improved and per capita income rose from VND24 million in 2010 to nearly VND40 million in 2015. The National Target Programme on New Countryside Construction was effectively and substantially carried out to give a strong facelift to its rural areas. Industrial production kept developing, while investment attraction and business development got better.
Cultural and sports aspects made progress and the quality of education and healthcare gradually met requirements. Party construction, administration construction, fatherland front construction and solidarity movements obtained higher and higher results. National defence and security was maintained.
In addition to these achievements, it is reported that Binh Phuoc still missed some objectives set in the Resolution. What were the reasons? How will the province address existing backlogs?
Some criteria missed targets proposed in the Resolution of the Ninth Provincial Party Congress, including economic growth rate and economic restructuring. In addition to objective reasons caused by impacts of world economic situations and price fluctuations of local key commodities, we candidly acknowledged some subjective reasons relating to our administration. Notably, responses to emerging difficulties were slow and support for enterprises in the tough time was still weak, albeit progressive. The province also lacked groundbreaking policies to mobilise resources and attract investment capital for development.
To deal with these limitations, right from the start of the new term, we instructed relevant agencies to establish action plans for implementation of the Resolution and amended the Policy on Investment Encouragements and Incentives to provide the most favourable conditions for investors. In February 2016, we announced hotlines and emails of the Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee to listen to difficulties and suggestions from people and businesses across the province. All the ideas from these hotlines are my consideration and I will direct relevant bodies to check, process and answer in a quick manner.
2016 is the first year we implement the five-year plan according to the Resolution of the 10th Provincial Party Congress. What measures has the Provincial Party Committee adopted to lead and direct relevant bodies to achieve the objectives set in 2016?
In 2016, economic situation remains in difficulty. The world economy recovers slowly and poses potential risks. And, the Provincial Party Committee’s aim is to create profound changes from the beginning year. The central tasks of economic development are aimed to improve and enhance people’s living quality in the province; to build a clean and strong Party and upgrade personnel work; effectively prevent corruption; and raise the quality of education, vocational training and healthcare to enhance the quality of human resources to serve development. These big goals will generate strong ripple effects in many socioeconomic aspects.
To accomplish these major goals, in 2016, the province continued to reform Party leadership methods, build the Resolution based on people’s expectations, and improve people’s living quality. The province will enhance the effect and efficiency of State management and advance public administration reform in the one-stop single-window mechanism. It will pick up some specific areas in support of people and businesses.
Moreover, the province will continue to implement its economic restructuring scheme, focus on restructuring the agricultural sector in connection with the new rural area construction and response to climate change, build clean, modern agricultural production models applicable for the entire province, and speed up investment attraction and increase occupancy rate in industrial parks. Binh Phuoc will accelerate the progress of key projects, especially infrastructure projects, and create all favourable conditions to attract social capital for infrastructure and urban development projects in the province.
The province will carry out the National Target Programme for sustainable poverty reduction in association with new countryside construction in the 2016-2020 period. The province’s advocacy of countryside development policy is to take people’s benefits as the centre of development and make drastic changes in the lives of rural people. Developing and investing in education and health infrastructures is a fundamental solution for rural and agricultural development in Binh Phuoc now.
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