Johnathan Hanh Nguyen, chairman of Imex Pan Pacific Group (left), with Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee Nguyen Van Duoc

Johnathan Hanh Nguyen, chairman of Imex Pan Pacific Group, suggested that Ho Chi Minh City needed to strengthen infrastructure and logistics capacity, starting with key transport investments by accelerating the completion of ring roads 3 and 4.

“We also need to improve river transport and connect it with the road and metro networks to reduce congestion and pollution, and increase the capacity to transport goods as well as serve tourists,” Nguyen said.

He also proposed applying the public-private partnership mechanism to attract private capital, shorten the approval process, and speed up project progress.

“Another major issue is improving Cat Lai Port and investing in green logistics system to enhance competitiveness for export goods and meet the supply needs of key shopping areas,” Nguyen added.

Pham Quoc Quan, chaiman of the south for Sun Group Corporation, recommended that the city should identify any problems to resolve them quickly.

“Regarding infrastructure, Ho Chi Minh City needs to add more large-scale parks, and 5- and 6-star hotels and resorts to welcome billionaires, businessmen, and high-ranking officials and leaders. The city has a serious lack of sports facilities and is not be qualified enough to host big events such as the SEA Games,” Quan said.

Nguyen Ngoc Hoa, chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City Business Association (HUBA), said that the need to resolve administrative procedures remains a problem that affects the business community. “Therefore, I recommend that the city consider cutting procedures to cut cost and time for businesses,” Hoa said.

"The government plans to cut 30 per cent of administrative procedures, so the city at least must do the same. We hope to work with each sector to identify the procedures that need to be eliminated," he said.

“Before issuing policies, authorities often wait for opinions from each relevant unit. We would like to propose changing this practice by clearly assigning tasks to each presiding department. The time for comments should be limited. If after the deadline there is no response from the relevant parties, the presiding agency should be allowed to issue a decision so that businesses do not have to wait,” he said. “This will significantly shorten the time for processing procedures, avoiding delays, and causing difficulties for businesses.”

Nguyen Van Duoc, Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee, acknowledged the comments and suggestions from the business community and considered them an important basis for perfecting management policy.

“The city will continue to improve the investment environment, enhance dialogue between the government and businesses, and promote initiatives to support businesses to recover and develop after economic fluctuations,” Duoc said.

Ho Chi Minh City still holds high potential and advantages that have not been fully exploited. Some barriers in the investment environment, especially administrative procedures, continue to cause difficulties for businesses, he added.

“Our upcoming heavy task is to achieve double-digit growth and remove difficulties for businesses to create a fair investment environment for the city, and contribute to the overall development of the country,” he added.