Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung (2nd, L) with senior government officials and local leaders at the conference held in HCMC to discuss recent National Assembly resolutions and budget estimates

Provincial and municipal administrations will be entrusted to be investors of important projects planned in their localities and held responsible for their implementation, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung said Friday.

These measures aim to expedite the projects’ progress and avoid delays, he said.

During the two-day conference that wrapped up Friday, local leaders urged the government to streamline investment formalities and ensure faster capital disbursement.

The leaders of Hanoi and Hai Phong cities said improved policies on site clearance would be key to hastening major investment projects.

The prime minister said he would authorize provincial or municipal leaders to select contractors for these projects.

He also said local leaders would have to select competent contractors to assure the project’s progress and capital disbursement.

Mai Van Ninh, People’s Committee chairman of the northern Thanh Hoa Province, said Friday that he supported the decentralization measures, but added the government should also focus on tackling other hurdles in the implementation of major projects including land regulations.

Increased support for small, medium businesses

Also Friday, the prime minister instructed the Ministry of Finance and the State Bank of Vietnam to work out the credit guarantee mechanisms for small- and medium enterprises by next month to help them sustain operations and ensure employment for workers.

These firms would also be given preferential tax policies by the government, Dung said.

Earlier on Wednesday, Minister of Planning and Investment Vo Hong Phuc had revealed more details of the government’s US$1 billion economic stimulus package announced earlier this month.

The focus on the package would be interest rate subsidies for small and medium businesses, he said. The subsidies would represent a 4 percent discount on current commercial bank interest rates on loans.

Dung also called on agencies concerned to speed up the construction of around 500,000 houses for the poor as well as implement supportive policies for the 61 poorest districts nationwide.

Minister of Labor, Invalids, and Social Affairs Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan admitted Friday that workers and farmers had not been caught in such stark difficulties for a long time.

At least 20,000 jobs have been cut in just eight surveyed provinces and cities including Vinh Phuc, Hanoi, HCMC, Binh Duong and Dong Nai, Ngan said.

“It is time to crank up support for businesses or their shutdown would aggravate the problem,” she added.

Education Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan also said Friday his ministry would soon carry out a mass job-training program for around one million farmers.

Ministries told to buck up

PM Dung Friday admitted forecast mistakes by central government and local agencies and asked that they be avoided in the future.

At the plenary session of the National Assembly last month, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Cao Duc Phat accepted responsibility for the ministry’s faulty forecast about rice harvests and export prices which led to a temporary cessation in signing new export contracts in April, leaving farmers counting heavy losses.

PM Dung asked ministries and local agencies to improve their performance in this regard.

“It is time we stopped forecasting the storm for tomorrow when it has already hit today,” Dung said.

Reported by Minh Nam