HCMC People’s Council deputy Nguyen Van Khoa said procedures for an infrastructure project can take between 15 and 20 months

Inefficiency in public land use, large losses of tap water and sluggish infrastructure projects were among major concerns voiced by deputies Tuesday on the opening day of the city legislature’s three-day session.

Many construction projects were unduly slow due to complicated procedures and ineffective coordination between relevant agencies, he noted, adding part of the responsibility for this lay with city regulations.

Many deputies also blamed complicated procedures for wasteful use or non-use of public land in the city.

Nguyen Minh Hoang, head of the council’s economic and budget section said it was a waste of resources that many freight yards and public lands have been left unused.

Concerned ministries and agencies have taken decisions on this issue but revocation of these lands has not been completed, he said.

Khoa reserved severe criticism for the loss of tap water, estimated at 42 percent of the supply, while many residents have very little or no water for daily use.

The city loses around 500 million liters of tap water a day, five times higher than the current capacity of the new Thu Duc Water Plant, he noted.

Poverty, pollution

Deputy Nguyen Van Minh said he was very concerned about poverty in the city after meeting with many poor families in Cu Chi and Can Gio districts.

The poverty rate in Can Gio stands at 47.6 percent and has not been reduced, he said, adding this had forced many children to quit or simply not attend school.

The city poverty line is set at a yearly income of VND12 million ($674) per person.

Deputy Nguyen Dang Nghia urged the city to take stricter measures against polluters to protect the health of the community.

Untreated wastewater from hospitals remains a concern while many production firms have refused to move out of residential areas, he said.

He also criticized the city administration for being ineffective in handling the issue by blaming it on “low awareness” among the companies and “limited ability” in tackling pollution.

Many deputies took several industrial zones to task for discharging untreated wastewater into the environment.

First-half GDP at 4.6 percent

The city’s economy grew an estimated 4.6 percent in the first six months from a year earlier, plunging steeply from the 10.5 percent recorded in the same period last year, deputy mayor Nguyen Thanh Tai said.

This growth was the lowest over the past ten years, he said in a report on the city’s socio-economic performance.

The service sector grew 5.9 percent; industry and construction, 3.3 percent; and agriculture, 2.6 percent.

The city’s total revenue in the first half this year was VND58.3 trillion (US$3.27 billion), around 47 percent of the target.

On the second day of the session today, deputy mayor Tai and directors of the departments of Transport, Health and Natural Resources and Environment will take the floor to answer questions from deputies.

Reported by Nguyen Thuy