City ratifies infrastructure action plan
City ratifies infrastructure action plan
An action plan for "synchronous infrastructure development" in HCM City to support the country's industrialisation and modernisation process was ratified yesterday at a meeting of the city's Party Committee.
Nguyen Huu Tin, Deputy Chairman of the HCM City People's Committee, said three basic measures would be deployed in implementing the action plan, the first of which was to improve planning and management.
The second was to mobilise capital for infrastructure development projects. HCM City requires US$3 to 4 billion for infrastructure development per year for the next decade, with each of the five metro lines planned costing $1.5 billion, said Tin.
However, the State Budget could only provide some $500 million for these infrastructure projects annually, he added.
In addition to the ODA (official development assistance) loans, HCM City needed policies and initiatives to mobilise capital from the people and other sources, he said.
The third measure will focus on administrative reforms that would be carried out strictly. Tin also said that contractors' work and progress made by infrastructure projects will be strictly supervised and violations punished.
The HCM City People's Committee proposed at the meeting that between 2012 and 2020, the city's resources should be focused on five key sectors of infrastructure development: transport; urbanisation; irrigation, flood control and climate change response; health care; and education, scientific and technological development.
Under the city's action plan, by the end of 2015, the city will have 210km of new roads and 50 new bridges.
By then, the city will have an average of 17sq.m of housing per person, and this will be raised to 19.8sq.m per person by 2020.
By 2015, the city will provide accommodation to 140,000 students (or 60 per cent of the estimated demand) and 100,000 workers (50 per cent of demand). This will rise to 230,000 students and 200,000 workers by 2020.
In his report on socio-economic development of HCM City in the first half of 2012, Le Hoang Quan, Chairman of the HCM City People's Committee, said the city had achieved stable and "reasonable" growth.
It achieved a GDP of VND288.6 trillion (over $13.8 billion), a year-on-year increase of of 8.1 per cent, while total investments in the city reached VND56 trillion (nearly $2.7 billion), up 10.2 per cent over the same period last year.
In June, the city's CPI (consumer price index) fell by 0.43 per cent compared with May.
Healthcare services have been improved and strong measures have been taken to prevent diseases. The city has also ensured security and social order, Quan said.
Addressing the meeting, Le Thanh Hai, Politbureau member and Secretary of the HCM City Party Committee, exhorted the city authorities to create favourable conditions for businesses, especially small and medium-d enterprises.
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