Being fully aware of the importance of improving the provincial competitiveness index (PCI), Quang Nam province has carried out various measures to create an advantageous investment and business environment for enterprises and investors to draw more domestic and foreign investors.
In the past years, Quang Nam issued many documents in a bid to improve investment and business environment and enhance PCI, including Resolution 09-NQ/TU dated May 4, 2009 of the Provincial Party Committee, Action Programme 553/QD-UBND dated February 3, 2010 of the Provincial People’s Committee on investment climate improvement, Decision 3766/QD-UBND dated May 10, 2013 of the Provincial People’s Committee on the establishment of the Steering Committee in charge of improving the investment climate and business development, Decision 3766/QD-UBND dated December 4, 2013 of the Provincial People’s Committee on coordination regulations on the implementation of the “one-stop source” mechanism for settling investment procedures, and Directive 10/CT-UBND dated June 18, 2013 of the Provincial People’s Committee on measures to improve the investment climate and PCI. Besides, provincial departments and district governments have applied many measures to improve the investment and business environment so as to raise PCI and draw more investors to the province.
However, the province still has certain shortages and limitations in improving the investment environment and supporting local businesses, particularly in direction, administration, cross-sector coordination, inconsistent solution to investment procedures and proposals from enterprises, slow land clearance for investment projects, and insufficient labour training among others. This leads to unstable PCI rankings. Quang Nam province’s PCI ranked 11th out of 63 provinces and cities surveyed in 2011 and 15th in 2012. But, it slid 12 places to the 27th position in 2013 – the second straight year suffering a drop in PCI scores, which reached 63.4 points in 2011, 60.7 points in 2012 and 58.7 points in 2013. The province witnessed four component indices slide in 2013, including market entry, informal cost, business support and personnel training.
Given the above disappointing rankings, bettering the investment and business environment in the coming years has become a top priority for Quang Nam province. The province will review falling component indices. Mr Dinh Van Thu, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People’s Committee, said, in addition to organising conferences on investment environment improvement and PCI uplifting in 2014 and 2015, the Provincial People’s Committee recently assigned the Investment Promotion Agency (IPA) to study good models and initiatives in other provinces and cities across the country to advise the Provincial People’s Committee on solutions to better the investment environment and PCI. Earlier, on July 1, 2014, the Quang Nam Provincial People’s Committee issued Decision 2479/KH-UBND on the Action Plan on enhancing the investment and business environment and raising PCI in the 2014-2015 period, targeting at 60 points or higher of PCI in 2014 and a Top 10 position in 2015 and beyond.
To accomplish its objectives, Quang Nam is determined to achieve three groundbreaking missions: Building synchronous infrastructure, developing human resources and improving the investment climate. The province will continue to maintain and upgrade highly-ranked PCI component indices and improve lowly-ranked indices. In addition, it will continue to improve the business and investment environment, simplify procedures to shorten the time required for settlement, and hold direct dialogues in various suitable forms with businesses to learn about their difficulties and introduce optimal support solutions.
With the efforts from provincial to local levels, Quang Nam province is confident to return to the group of good localities in PCI ranking soon.
Hong Hanh
Đăng ký: VietNam News