“Bottlenecks” that hinder development
Mr. Nguyen Huy Long, Chairman of Lao Cai Province Business Association, said: In addition to positive results, private enterprises are currently facing many difficulties due to inadequacies in mechanisms and policies, and especially difficulties in accessing bank loans. "This situation limits the ability to expand production and business and improve competitiveness," Mr. Long emphasized.
Ms. Nguyen Thi Minh Hien, President of the Lao Cai Province Young Entrepreneurs Association, also frankly admitted: “Most businesses are medium, small and micro-sized, so they face many difficulties in terms of capital, market and development strategy. Competitiveness is not high, technology application is fragmented and unsynchronized. Domestic competition is fierce while the outside world is also affected by global trade, natural disasters, epidemics...”. All of these factors affect the operations of businesses in Lao Cai province at present as well as in the future.
Institutions and administrative procedures are one of the “bottlenecks” that make it difficult for businesses. Mr. Bui Duy Dung, Vice President of Lao Cai Young Entrepreneurs Association, shared: “The investment environment in Lao Cai has become more open, the government is very receptive. However, businesses need long-term stability in policies, especially when discussing the merger of administrative boundaries.”
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Mr. Bui Duy Dung, Vice President of Lao Cai Province Young Entrepreneurs Association. |
Mr. Dung proposed: “The province needs to ensure consistency in planning, simplify land procedures, construction bidding, and shorten the time for processing documents. If these “lock valves” are cleared, it will create momentum for businesses to develop stably.”
Mr. Dang Tien Duc, Deputy Director of Duc Giang Lao Cai Chemical Company Limited, shared the reality: “There are projects that can only start construction from 2019 until 2025 because they have to go through many rounds of asking for opinions from departments, agencies, and sectors. After construction is completed, it takes a whole year to complete production licenses, prevent chemical incidents...”. “Businesses need quick and clear opportunities, they cannot wait forever while costs increase every day,” Mr. Duc added.
Not only lacking capital, businesses also lack high-quality labor, especially in the fields of industry, technology, mechanics, digital technology , logistics... Although the labor force is large, it is mainly unskilled, without professional training, the source of qualified and skilled labor is still seriously lacking. The reason is that the vocational training system is still scattered, lacking connections with businesses, and at the same time many young workers choose to leave their hometown to work in large industrial parks in the lowlands.
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Mr. Dang Tien Duc, Deputy Director of Duc Giang Lao Cai Chemical Company Limited. |
Mr. Pham Xuan Phuong, Deputy General Director of Infrastructure Investment and Construction Joint Stock Company, shared: The current source of high-quality human resources is still very limited. For hydropower enterprises, recruiting highly skilled workers is quite difficult. The company wants to recruit reservoir operation engineers who require high expertise, in addition to applying digital technology for management and supervision (operational supervision, flood warning, etc.), but cannot recruit. The reason lies in the vocational training system being scattered and not connected to business needs. Many young qualified workers choose to go to lowland industrial parks, making it more difficult for localities to retain talented people.
Mr. Bui Van Trong, Director of Hoang Nguyen Company, shared: “Land clearance is a huge obstacle. There are projects whose contracts have expired but there is no land yet, the price of materials has increased, leading to price increases that directly affect the business. Even though the business knows it will lose money, it still has to do it because it has won the bid.”
Another “bottleneck” is the difficulty in accessing credit and financial support. Most private enterprises in Lao Cai are small and micro enterprises, lacking collateral, making it difficult to borrow capital from banks, especially during the period when interest rates tend to increase again in 2024 - 2025.
Commenting on the “bottlenecks” in private economic development, Mr. Vu Lan, Deputy Director of the Lao Cai Provincial Department of Finance, said: In addition to difficulties in capital and labor, overlaps in decentralization and delegation of authority are also institutional “bottlenecks”. The project processing process is still lengthy, hindering investors. If responsibilities are not clearly defined between levels, it will be difficult to improve the business environment.
Enterprises offer ideas to develop the private economy
In order for the private economy to truly become an important driving force of the local economy, Mr. Nguyen Huy Long, Chairman of the Lao Cai Provincial Business Association, said that it is necessary to continue reviewing and cutting administrative procedures, eliminating unnecessary regulations, and at the same time publicizing and making processes and procedures transparent so that businesses can easily access and implement them. Promoting the application of information technology and deploying high-level online public services will help businesses save time and costs.
Regarding access to capital, he proposed building a credit policy suitable for the characteristics of small and medium enterprises, reducing collateral requirements, and simplifying loan procedures. It is necessary to develop credit guarantee funds and support funds for small and medium enterprises to expand capital access channels outside the banking system.
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Mr. Pham Xuan Phuong (left), Deputy General Director of Infrastructure Construction Investment Joint Stock Company shared with PLVN Newspaper reporter. |
Solutions need to be implemented synchronously and in coordination between authorities and businesses, contributing to building a favorable and sustainable business environment. At the same time, businesses want the reform process to reduce intermediaries, avoid disrupting operations, and affecting workers' jobs.
Businesses expect the government to establish a cooperative mindset, considering businesses as development partners. This is not just a political proposition but needs to be realized through concrete actions, from planning, land allocation, infrastructure investment to coordination in inspection and supervision of production and construction.
Mr. Pham Xuan Phuong, Deputy General Director of Infrastructure Investment and Construction Joint Stock Company, suggested: “Lao Cai needs to develop a mechanism for ordering vocational training in line with the actual needs of businesses; at the same time, have a policy to retain and attract highly skilled workers to work locally for a long time”. In addition, businesses also hope that the government and local departments, branches and sectors will consider businesses as partners, always accompany, help and support businesses to develop, thereby contributing to the socio-economic development of the locality.
On the business side, to overcome challenges, the business community also needs to improve management capacity, proactively seek opportunities, and innovate production and business models. Internal initiative will help businesses adapt flexibly to changing contexts.
In the context of the economy facing the requirement of rapid but sustainable growth, private economic development is the "key" to expanding development space and increasing the resistance of the local economy.
Only when the "bottlenecks" are untied from the root, and the cooperation between the government and businesses is built substantially, can the private economy "take off" and play a pivotal role as the province has set out to do by 2030.
Source: https://baophapluat.vn/ky-2-thao-go-diem-nghen-nha-nuoc-va-doanh-nghiep-cung-dong-hanh-post552257.html
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