Govt asks parliament to extend pilot autonomy scheme for HCMC

In a report tabled in the parliament Tuesday, the government explained why it was making the request to extend Resolution 54, which was passed by the National Assembly in November 2017, by another year.

The resolution, effective from January 2018 to the end of 2022, granted HCMC extra autonomous decision-making power to help it develop to its full potential.

Explaining the reasons for extending the trial period, Finance Minister Ho Duc Phoc said that while Resolution 54 has created conditions for HCMC to increase its self-responsibility and solve difficult problems, actual implementation was slower than planned.

The city spent the first year developing plans and other preparations. Then, it was heavily affected by the Covid-19 epidemic for two years (2020 and 2021), so there was not much time to fully promote mechanisms and policies of the resolution, Phoc said.

There were still shortcomings related to the equitization of state-owned enterprises and policies to attract experts, scientists and talents, he added.

In addition, several other policies such as increasing environmental protection tax and special consumption tax have not been implemented so far, Phoc said.

Chairman of the National Assembly’s Finance and Budget Committee Nguyen Phu Cuong agreed that HCMC should be allowed to continue the pilot scheme for another year.

He said one reason that the committee concurs with the request is that after nearly five years, the government is not yet to come up with proposals for a stable policy after piloting the specific mechanism.

The National Assembly will vote on extending Resolution 54 for HCMC on November 15.