3 questions the Ho Chi Minh City Party Secretary requests officials to answer when implementing the Law on Urban Development

Speaking at the conference to thoroughly grasp and implement the Law on Urban Development on the morning of August 26, Politburo Member, Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee Tran Luu Quang emphasized that the greatest value of the law is to change the mindset about urban areas, from management objects to growth engines.

One of the important points of the law is substantive decentralization and delegation of power in the spirit of Resolution 09 of the Politburo: local decision, local action, local responsibility.

Notably, Ho Chi Minh City is prioritized to apply the law when there is a conflict with other legal regulations. Ho Chi Minh City Party Secretary called this the "diamond value" of the law.

The law also creates space for the city to pilot new policies and economic models. Mr. Tran Luu Quang said that the new mechanism also helps shorten implementation time, and the city no longer has to wait for decrees and guiding circulars to deploy work.

Ho Chi Minh City Party Secretary assessed that the Law on Urban Development is a great opportunity, but the city must not be complacent.

Infrastructure is the runway, which is the raw material, institutions are the decisive factor for the city to take off, but the most important factor is the implementers" - Mr. Tran Luu Quang said.

The Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee requested officials at each position to answer 3 questions: What powers does the Law grant to you and your agency? What products are created with that power? If you don't do it or do it ineffectively, who is responsible?

According to him, the Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee still has more than 1 month to concretize 240 legal contents allowed by 105 documents, including 73 resolutions of the People's Council and 32 decisions of the People's Committee and Chairman of the People's Committee.

The goal is that by October 1st, when the law takes effect, Ho Chi Minh City will have enough legal corridors to implement immediately, creating clear results in the last 3 months of the year.

For departments and sectors, Mr. Tran Luu Quang requested to proactively grasp the tasks, select important and decisive tasks to prioritize implementation.

In particular, working thinking must shift from "proposing solutions to specific issues" to "proactively designing solutions within the limits allowed by law". "In terms of reasoning, there is no longer the thing of asking for roundabout opinions" - Mr. Tran Luu Quang emphasized.

Ho Chi Minh City Party Secretary said that he will conduct self-criticism if units and officials continue to issue written inquiries back and forth within the organization regarding issues that have been clearly regulated.

We will not accept anyone answering the report to the city leaders as'you are issuing a document asking department A, sector B' for something'" - Mr. Tran Luu Quang said.

At the grassroots level, Mr. Tran Luu Quang assessed that 168 communes, wards, and special zones are the place that decides the success or failure of bringing the law into life, because this is the level that directly contacts people and businesses.

He requested localities to develop action programs and specific plans to remove obstacles and create development.

The new spirit is to shift from control by asking for permission to control by publicity, transparency and accountability. Ho Chi Minh City will periodically publicize the set of indicators for evaluating management efficiency and decentralization efficiency; inspection teams will work periodically and unexpectedly, directly inspecting products and results.

Ho Chi Minh City Party Secretary also noted 2 trends that easily lead to errors: slow, delayed or too hasty leading to wrong application, abuse of power.

According to him, having the right but not using it, having the opportunity but not grasping it, waiting for other places to do it first is unacceptable.

Conversely, officials who make decisions within their authority, transparently, without self-interest, for the common good but the results do not meet expectations will be protected by the city.

If they take advantage of the mechanism for personal gain, group interests, causing resource loss, they must be strictly handled and surely there will be no forbidden zones" - Mr. Tran Luu Quang affirmed.

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