HCMC’S JAN-OCT BUDGET REVENUE MEETS 97.2% OF FULL-YEAR TARGET

Nguyen Van Duoc, chairman of the HCMC People’s Committee, speaks at the first meeting of the Executive Committee of the 2025-2030 Party Committee of the HCMC People’s Committee today – PHOTO: HUU CHUONG

HCMC – Total budget revenue of HCMC in the first 10 months of this year amounted to VND652 trillion, meeting 97.2% of the target for all of 2025 set by the central Government. By the end of the year, the southern metropolis expects to beat the full-year target.

Speaking at the first meeting of the Executive Committee of the 2025-2030 Party Committee of the HCMC People’s Committee today, Nguyen Van Duoc, chairman of the HCMC People’s Committee, said the city would absolutely obtain higher budget revenue than expected for this year if each individual or each organization showed a sense of responsibility for getting their jobs done.

The investment environment has remained attractive, he noted, adding that at a recent investor conference, investors expressed a positive view on HCMC’s investment climate.

In the first 10 months of this year, the city continued to lead the country in foreign direct investment (FDI) attraction, with more than US$7.2 billion registered, including US$2 billion committed to the high-tech, semiconductor, and big data sectors.

Chairman Duoc, who is also secretary of the Party Committee of the HCMC People’s Committee, said that in order to achieve gross regional domestic product (GRDP) growth of 8.5% this year, the city would have to take drastic measures to bolster economic and investment activities.

In the fourth quarter, the city would need to obtain growth of as high as 12.4% if it is to ensure GRDP growth of 8.5% for this year. Duoc said this is a tough challenge for the city under current economic conditions.

To realize the GRDP growth target, he said, the city will have no other choice but to boost public investment disbursement.

Public investment disbursement so far this year has met nearly 60% of the 2025 goal while the city planned to obtain 75% in the third quarter and 100% in the fourth quarter, he said, so department leaders would have to clarify reasons for lower-than-expected disbursement and propose breakthrough solutions in the rest of the year.

As for public investment disbursement, Tran Quang Lam, director of the HCMC Department of Construction, said that public investment disbursement largely depends on land compensation and land clearance progress.

The city spent nearly half of the previous term without making bold preparations for new projects, leading to bottlenecks toward the end of the term when new projects required site clearance and compensation, Lam noted.

To address this, right at the start of the new term, the city focuses on investment preparation to ensure a pipeline of projects ready for construction early in the term, he said.

Concerning major infrastructure projects partially or fully funded by the state budget, Tran Quang Lam, director of the HCMC Department of Construction, said that aside from focusing on the Beltway No. 3 project — which is expected to reach basic completion by the end of this year and to be opened to traffic in 2026 — HCMC is also prioritizing the Beltway No. 4, the HCMC–Moc Bai Expressway, and metro lines.

Regarding the metro line which links downtown HCMC and the coastal commune of Can Gio and which is being studied by Vietnamese diversified conglomerate Vingroup, the Department of Finance is appraising the investment proposal before submitting it to the city government, while the Department of Construction is guiding the investor through subsequent administrative steps. The project is expected to break ground by the end of this year after amendments to the National Assembly’s Resolution 98 on special policies for HCMC are approved.

Other metro lines funded by major corporations are also being implemented with close coordination among relevant departments and agencies.

Source: The Saigon Times