HCMC to remove obstacles facing property firms

At a meeting on February 18 on the city’s January socioeconomic performance, Phong said that in 2018, the city established a working team to help remove any impediments to property projects. However, the team was only able to look into three to four projects at each meeting, Thanh Nien Online newspaper reported.

In the coming months, the city will focus on coping with the sector’s difficulties based on the orders of the Government and ministries.

HCMC vice chairman Vo Van Hoan, at a meeting on the same day with the municipal Department of Construction, pointed out that many companies have invested heavily in projects but have yet to get construction licenses. Therefore, Hoan asked the municipal Department of Construction to accelerate the issuance of construction licenses for them.

Multiple projects in the city are moving at a snail’s pace due to the poor coordination among the relevant agencies.

Hoan assigned the Department of Construction to work with the Department of Information and Communications and other relevant agencies to digitalize land and housing data, especially in the downtown area.

The municipal Department of Construction must also review social housing, especially in commercial apartment projects, and State-owned land and houses.

At the meeting on the city’s socioeconomic performance in the first month of the year, other issues were also raised.

Director of the Department of Finance Pham Thi Hong Ha explained that the Covid-19 outbreak and the decline in the transfer of real estate projects had hit local production and business activities. The city’s special consumption tax revenue fell by over 6%, while personal income tax revenue increased by 7.92%, but the increase was the lowest seen in three years.

Concluding the meeting, HCMC chairman Phong underlined the need to assess the impact of the coronavirus on the tourism sector, so that the city can ask the central Government to adopt appropriate tax policy for the business community.

In addition, the National Assembly may ratify the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement in May, creating favorable conditions for the export of products. Therefore, a plan on logistics and ecommerce development must be completed this quarter, Phong remarked, adding that the departments must review policies to improve the competitiveness of the city’s products.