Ring Road No.2 from the Nga Tu So intersection to Vinh Tuy Bridge (Photo: baogiaothong.vn)

Over the past 5 years, Hanoi’s economy has grown steadily. The Gross Regional Domestic Product (GRDP) grew 7.39%, hitting the target of 7.3-7.8% and growing faster than in the 2010-2015 period.

Last year, Hanoi’s GRDP was an estimated 45 billion USD; the annual per capita income was nearly 5,800 USD, up 50% since 2015, and 80% above the national average. 

In addition to promoting economic restructuring in the direction of increasing the proportion of industrial and service sectors, Hanoi has focused on infrastructure development (especially in transportation),  administrative reform, and new-style rural building to improve the living standard in rural areas.

Transportation infrastructure is Hanoi’s most urgent issue. Five key transport projects are under construction: an overpass at the intersection of Hoang Quoc Viet and Nguyen Van Huyen street, bridges over Linh Dam lake, the interchange of Highway 3 and the Hanoi-Hai Phong expressway (Ring Road No.3), and Ring Road No.2 from the Nga Tu So intersection to Vinh Tuy Bridge.

Nguyen Manh Hung, Director of the Hai Ba Trung district Project Management Board, said, “Ring Road No.2 is a very important route for the development of Hai Ba Trung district and greater Hanoi. Once the land clearance is completed, the project will be quickly finished and traffic congestion will be resolved, creating favorable conditions for socio-economic development.”

To narrow the gap between the rich and the poor and between rural and urban areas, Hanoi has established large-scale rice fields and restructured crops and livestock to increase productivity per hectare.

Since 2016 Hanoi has spent nearly 800 million USD for the national target program on building new-style rural areas.

It will launch activities to promote rural industry that will improve productivity and competitiveness.

These efforts have produced significant improvements in farmers’ lives.

To date, 96% of Hanoi’s 382 communes have been recognized as new-style rural areas, 21 as advanced new-style rural areas, and 10 as new rural districts. Last year’s per capita income in rural areas was over 2,400 USD.

Pham Hai Hoa, Chairwoman of the Hanoi Farmers' Union, attributed the changes in rural areas to the city’s mobilization of resources and the people’s innovative and venturesome spirit.

“Hanoi has set up 783 farmers clubs for production, trading, and economic development with a total of 23,000 members. The movement to build new-style rural areas has resulted in 876 models for protecting the environment and increasing production,” said Hoa.

All of Hanoi’s departments, agencies, sectors, and people’s committees are expected to jointly deploy a single-window e-service system at three levels. (Photo: ict-hanoi.gov.vn)

Hanoi has made strides in administrative reform, making the satisfaction of people and businesses the measure of quality improvement.

Hanoi has improved more than 1,700 internal processes to handle administrative procedures within Departments, Department-level agencies, and the People's Committees of districts, towns, communes, and wards.

The highlight of Hanoi’s administrative reform has been applying IT to state management, launching a single-window e-service model at three levels, and a shared information system for education and health, which has shortened the time needed to process documents.

Hanoi offers 1,500 public services at levels 3 and 4 (80% of the total) online.

Ho Van Lam, a Hanoi resident who was recently completing procedures at the Land Registration Office in Long Bien District, said, “The process of handling administrative procedures is fast. Everybody has received considerate instructions. Anyone who didn’t bring the right documents will be told how to do it properly.”

Steady economic growth, investment in infrastructure, and administrative reform is paving the way for Hanoi to fulfill its future socio-economic targets.