Hanoi saved nearly VND42 trillion (US$1.8 billion) during budget execution in the 2016-2021 period.

Overview of the meeting. Source: quochoi.vn

The figure was mentioned at a meeting between the National Assembly’s supervision delegation and Hanoi People’s Committee on-budget performance.

At the meeting, Chairman of the National Assembly Vuong Dinh Hue noted Hanoi has been among the top provinces/cities with high responsibilities in terms of preventing waste and inefficient budget spending.

According to Hue, there has been a positive shift in the city’s spending structure with 49% of the revenue subject to capital expenditure and 51% of regular spending.

“The city has been careful in public spending by cutting unnecessary costs in such budget lines as environmental hygiene, dike reparation, or lighting maintenance, along with efforts to address public projects with slow progress,” he added.

Hue, however, pointed out the city’s existing shortcomings in state budget performance, as shown by ineffective utilization of agricultural land resources or vacant resettlement areas.

He called for the authorities to soon complete the land planning process, to truly turn it into a key lever for the city’s development.

Chairman of the Hanoi People's Committee Tran Sy Thanh.

Meanwhile, Chairman of the Hanoi People’s Committee Tran Sy Thanh stressed the main goal of being thrift and combating waste is to improve efficiency in the use of public assets.

“Hanoi has been focusing on this regard by categorizing each type of asset, especially lands; supervising the construction of social and resettlement housing projects,” Thanh said.

Thanh expected the city to continue working on enhancing the budget performance efficiency in the fields of finance/public asset, lands and public projects and urban management.

Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Tran Quoc Phuong called for the city in the coming time to set up clear criteria for urban development and a roadmap for Hanoi to solidify its role as a cultural, educational, and scientific center.

“The goal is for Hanoi to become modern with high living standards by 2030,” Phuong said.

During the first seven months of 2022, Hanoi’s budget revenue reached over VND168 trillion ($7.17 billion), equivalent to 59.5% of the year’s estimate and up 25% year-on-year. This was higher than the national average budget revenue growth of 17.6% in the period.