In the first 6 months of 2019, Long An's economy has many positive results

In the first 6 months of 2019, the province's economy maintained its development. However, site clearance, application of high technology in agriculture and investment attraction still faced many difficulties. At the meeting in July, Chairman of Long An Provincial People's Committee - Tran Van Can asked heads of departments, branches and localities to focus on directing and managing to achieve the economic growth target of the year (9.6 percent).

Province's economy maintained its development

At the meeting, according to Deputy Director of Department of Planning and Investment - Vo Ngoc Dinh, most of the socio-economic targets were achieved and exceeded the plan. Gross Regional Domestic Product (GRDP) in the first 6 months of 2019 reached VND 39,679 billion (according to the comparative price of 2010), the growth rate was 9.89 percent. In which, sector I (agriculture, forestry and fishery) increased by 2.17 percent; sector II (industry and construction) increased by 14.65 percent; and sector III (trade and services) increased by 7.5 percent.

In the first 6 months of 2019, industrial production grew steadily, contributing to the province's economic growth

Agriculture was one of the sectors that achieved the most positive results. Although the growth rate was lower than the same period in 2018, it was higher than the annual plan of the first 6 months of 2019. Plants continued to be changed to more efficient ones.

Aquaculture continued to grow. The province had 2,755 hectares of brackish shrimp, reaching 41.7 percent of the plan, up 9.7 percent over the same period; of which 2,589 hectares was harvested, average productivity was 2.2 tons per hectare, the output was 5,773 tons, reaching 50.2 percent of the plan, increasing by 34.5 percent over the same period.

In the first 6 months of 2019, the whole province had 9 more communes that were recognized to meet the new rural standards. Therefore, the total number of new rural communes was 77, accounting for 46.3 percent of the total number of communes in the province.

Industry and construction sector maintained stable development. The output of most industrial products increased. Industrial production index increased by 15.12 percent over the same period. Industrial production value (2010 comparative price) reached VND 114,181.1 billion, reaching 46.4 percent of the plan, increasing by 15.2 percent (increasing by 16.4 percent in the same period). The number of industrial product groups had a high growth rate.

The province always creates favorable conditions for businesses to invest. In the first 6 months, newly established enterprises increased over the same period; domestic investment projects increased in quantity and registered capital. The province granted investment certificates for 115 domestic investment projects with a registered capital of VND 10,949 billion, an increase of 49 projects (an increase of VND 4,949 billion in capital) over the same period.

Attracting foreign investment also achieved positive results. There were 58 newly granted projects with a total registered capital of USD 208.6 million. There were 978 registered projects in the whole province with a registered capital of USD 6,148 million. In which, 576 projects came into operation (accounting for 58.9 percent of total registered projects) with a total capital of about USD 3,614 million (an increase of 58.8 percent of the total registered capital).

Thanks to the province's efforts in attracting investment and the support of central leaders, concerned ministries and branches, some major investors are carrying out investment procedures in Long An province such as Becamex IDC Group - VSIP, VinGroup, Ecoland Group, BRG Group JSC, Hoan Cau Vietnam Co., Ltd., and so on.

The province always cooperates and supports investors for long-term and sustainable development. Besides, the provincial People's Committee has documents to recognize and implement necessary procedures to receive some other major investment projects.

Attracting investment in industrial zones and clusters continued to have positive results. The Department of Planning and Investment, the Management Board of the Economic Zone and the Department of Industry and Trade focused on supporting investors to speed up the progress of site clearance and complete legal procedures to have at least 6 industrial parks and clusters to be put into operation from now until the end of the year.

In the first 6 months of 2019, industrial production grew steadily, contributing to the province's economic growth

In the first 6 months, the total state budget revenue in the province was VND 9,430 billion, reaching 68.9 percent of the Central budget estimate, reaching 68.6 percent of the estimate assigned by the provincial People's Council, increasing by 28.7 percent over the same period.

There are difficulties and limitations

Site clearance is considered as a key and breakthrough activity in 2019 but results are not meet the requirements. Some basic construction works and projects in industrial zones and clusters in Can Duoc, Can Giuoc and Duc Hoa districts, Tan An city, etc. have still faced difficulties.

In the first 6 months, the implementation of procedures for planning major investment projects was slow. Tan An city ring road and the road connecting Ho Chi Minh City - Long An - Tien Giang provinces were behind schedule. In addition, the management of land, urban order and environmental pollution control were not really good, especially in urban, residential areas, industrial zones and clusters of key economic areas of the province, said the Chairman Provincial People's Committee - Tran Van Can.

At this time, African swine fever negatively affected the livestock sector. Director of Department of Agriculture and Rural Development - Nguyen Thanh Truyen asked local authorities to actively prepare equipment to prevent the spread of epidemic. People should not repopulate to avoid pressure on the epidemic prevention.

It is necessary to drastically perform key tasks

According to the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee - Tran Van Can, the economy of the province in the past 6 months maintained development and achieved a high economic growth thanks to the efforts of local authorities at all level, branches and localities. To achieve the target of economic growth in 2019 (9.6 percent), leaders of departments, agencies and localities continue to drastically implement the compensation, site clearance and resettlement under the direction of Provincial Standing Committee.

At the same time, specialized inspection must be strengthened in order to promptly detect and handle violations; proactively review and propose the slow and non-implementation of investment projects; and drastically handle unlicensed projects.

Department of Planning and Investment continues to assume responsibility and coordinate with relevant functional agencies and localities to review infrastructure investment projects of industrial zones and clusters as well as direct investment projects in the province to speed up progress of infrastructure investment.

At the meeting

Department of Agriculture and Rural Development focuses on preventing African swine fever; implementing the high-tech agricultural program in association with restructuring agriculture as planned; establishing typical cooperatives; and improving the rate of clean water use in the province to reach at least 40 percent in 2019.

Other departments and branches focus on monitoring and inspecting residential and urban projects in order to promptly handle violations; speeding up the planning of traffic routes that have investment policies; implementing key traffic works; strictly handling violations of traffic order and safety in road and waterway; and achieving and exceeding the target of State budget collection./.

By Mai Huong - Translated by Pham Ngan