Ho Chi Minh City leaders convened a meeting on Monday to review the city’s socio-economic performance so far this year and discuss plans for upcoming Tet celebrations.

People go shopping before Tet holiday (Photo: VnExpress)

The focus of the meeting centered on the best ways to provide local citizens with a safe and joyful Tet holiday.

To that end, Le Hoang Quan, Chairman of the HCMC People’s Committee, asked the leaders of various departments, agencies and companies to provide detailed information on their plans for the traditional holiday.

The HCMC Agriculture Corporation said it has spent VND110 billion to reserve consumer goods for Tet.

The Saigon Transport Corporation will provide 500 vehicles for the transport of passengers and goods during peak hours and Ben Nghe Port will be open around the clock throughout the holiday.

The Department of Traffic and Public Works promised to keep the streets clean and drain some flooded areas in the city.

The Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs will dispense VND82 billion to people who rendered services to the country during the war and poor citizens. 

Most leaders agreed that the city’s socio-economic performance was quite good in January; however, much remains to be done in 2007.

The city has set a high target of VND80,000 billion in revenue for the year, which works out to VND166 billion per day.

Mr. Le Hoang Quan said that in order to reach the target, administrative reform is a must, because it would free up a lot of time and money, allowing companies to be more competitive.