On Thursday, at the recent 2^nd session of the Da Nang People’s Council (PCl) in its 9^th tenure of the 2016 - 2021 term, the participants discussed effective measures to deal with local issues of high concern.

Director of the Department of Planning and Investment, Mr Tran Van Son, addressing the event

The Director of the Department of Planning and Investment, Mr Tran Van Son, noted that over the first half of this year Da Nang was one of Viet Nam’s localities with the lowest number of FDI projects.  The main reasons for this are thought to be that special economic zones featuring preferential policies have yet to be established in the city.  In addition, the city’s land lease fees and labour costs are still higher than those of other Vietnamese localities.  Also, the city authorities have not approved FDI projects which might cause negative impacts on the local environment. 

Director Son suggested that more effective measures should be taken to improve the local investment environment, with a focus on promoting local infrastructure development, developing new economic aspects and support industries, training human resources, and improving the performance of the city’s Centre for Investment Promotion.

The Director of the Centre, Le Canh Duong, stressed the urgency for the city to ask for permission from the central government to issue its own special investment attraction mechanisms and policies.  Special attention should be paid by the city authorities to showing more concern for domestic and foreign businesses operating in the city.

The Da Nang Administrative Centre

Municipal Party Committee Secretary cum PCl Chairman Nguyen Xuan Anh re-affirmed the city’s firm stance on only selecting environmentally-friendly projects in such priority aspects as IT and hi-tech.

With regard to solutions to environmental pollution, municipal People’s Committee Chairman Huynh Duc Tho decided to issue ultimatums to the owners of factories and manufacturing establishments asking them to build their own wastewater treatment systems or face having their business licences revoked.

Chairman Tho also asked the city’s Department of Natural Resources and the Environment to inspect local businesses who specialise in exploiting stone and soil for local urban development projects.  The aim is to reduce environmental pollution in the city.

As for solutions to prevent the illegal deforestation on the Son Tra Peninsula, Director of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Phu Ban stressed the need to limit the granting of business licences to timber processing establishments and those involved in exploiting mineral resources on the peninsula.

Municipal People’s Committee Vice Chairman Dang Viet Dung urged local relevant agencies to facilitate local farmers in Hoa Vang District to grow safe and clean vegetables and fruit which meet the Viet Nam good agricultural practices (VietGap) standards to satisfy the increasing local demand for these food items.

He also noted that the city authorities will continue taking samples of local seafood for testing to ensure safe supplies for local consumers.

Also at the session, a PCl member urged the city leaders to consider relocating the Da Nang Administrative Centre to a more suitable site.  His reasoning is that the building’s ventilation system is inefficient which is adversely affecting the health of government officials and employees working there, plus the fact that traffic jams occur during rush hours near the current site of the centre.

In response to this issue, Secretary Anh remarked that the building is a new local architectural landmark on the city’s skyline, and it symbolises Da Nang’s strong aspirations to become a liveable city.  Thanks to the good performance of the centre, the city has been ranked top in Viet Nam’s Provincial Competitiveness Index (PCI) for the 3^rd consecutive year.  He, therefore, stressed the need to take the relocation of the centre into account, and said that the city’s authorities will widely collect opinions from the general public about this matter.