Phó bí thư Thành ủy TP.HCM Đặng Minh Thông yêu cầu xử lý dứt điểm điểm nghẽn chuyển đổi số
Ho Chi Minh City must firmly establish itself as a national pioneer in digital transformation, waste no time in addressing lingering bottlenecks, and accelerate its strategic administrative modernization efforts. This directive was delivered by Dang Minh Thang, Deputy Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee, during a high-level conference held on the morning of September 18. The assembly was convened to comprehensively evaluate the current progress, achievements, and persistent roadblocks encountered during the implementation of the city’s ambitious 100-day action plan targeting critical digital bottlenecks across the local political and administrative systems.
The high-stakes review brought together top municipal leaders, department heads, and security officials to take stock of an initiative designed to fundamentally reshape how Vietnam’s economic powerhouse delivers public services, secures its digital infrastructure, and leverages emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI). While notable advancements have been recorded in several foundational digital sectors, the frank assessment revealed significant disparities in task completion rates among various local government bodies, underscoring the urgency for immediate corrective measures ahead of tightly enforced upcoming deadlines.
Background Context and the Genesis of the 100-Day Action Plan
The 100-day action plan currently underway in Ho Chi Minh City is not an isolated local administrative exercise; rather, it represents a critical localized execution of broader national directives championed by top leadership, including General Secretary and State President To Lam. Launched officially on July 10, 2026, the targeted campaign is scheduled to run through November 30, 2026. Its primary mandate is to untangle chronic bureaucratic delays, resolve overdue and pending administrative tasks, and decisively eliminate systemic bottlenecks hampering digital transformation.
In an era where urban centers are increasingly defined by their technological adaptability, Ho Chi Minh City has faced mounting pressure to streamline its vast administrative apparatus. The city’s leadership recognized that incremental progress would no longer suffice to meet the demands of a modern, fast-growing metropolis of millions of residents and thriving enterprises. Consequently, the 100-day framework was structured to concentrate intense administrative energy across multiple core pillars: institutional mechanisms, digital infrastructure, data governance, digital platforms, public administrative procedures, human resources, financial allocation, and cybersecurity.
Current Implementation Status: Progress, Delays, and Data Gaps
According to the comprehensive evaluation report presented by the Permanent Agency of the City’s Steering Committee 57, the city has successfully laid down several essential digital foundations. Notable achievements include the operationalization of platforms designed to expedite administrative processing, bolster support for local business entities, issue digital skills certifications, and foster foundational training in artificial intelligence.
However, beneath these surface-level milestones lies a troubling array of implementation delays, structural gaps, and institutional sluggishness that threaten to derail the overarching timeline.
Most notably, the report highlighted that 112 out of 168 commune-level Party committees have yet to complete the crucial tasks of organizing, cleaning, and digitizing essential documentation. The current progress rate for commune-level digitization languishes at a mere 27.5%, raising acute concerns that the interim target of September 30 will be severely missed. Furthermore, the digitization of historical data archives remains largely trapped in the preliminary bidding stages, stalling the creation of a unified, accessible digital repository.
Critical vulnerabilities were also identified in the realm of network security and digital governance. Essential protocols regarding information security, network safety, and the widespread deployment of specialized digital signatures remain markedly deficient. Initiatives aimed at bolstering the digital workforce have similarly lagged; support programs for specialized digital transformation personnel have only been approved across 9 commune-level units, translating to direct financial allowances for just 12 individuals.
Financial disbursement—the lifeblood of any large-scale infrastructural campaign—presents another area of acute vulnerability. As of September 15, the overall disbursement rate for digital transformation initiatives stood at a modest 26.24%. The Permanent Agency has strongly urged all participating municipal units to thoroughly audit their existing procurement packages, review investment contracts, and inject aggressive momentum into capital disbursement to reach a 100% completion rate well before the ultimate November 30 deadline.
Official Responses and Directives from City Leadership
Addressing the assembly, Deputy Secretary Dang Minh Thang maintained a rigorous and demanding tone, balancing recognition of early successes with strict accountability for lagging departments.
"Ho Chi Minh City must lead the charge in digital transformation. Whatever targets have not yet been reached must be actively fought for and achieved. I call upon the Department of Science and Technology and the Ho Chi Minh City Digital Transformation Center to focus intensely on execution," Mr. Thang emphasized during his concluding remarks.
The Deputy Secretary established uncompromising temporal milestones. He mandated that foundational infrastructure, technical equipment, and associated digital platforms must be fully finalized throughout the month of September. Existing software systems currently utilized by administrative personnel that have demonstrated low operational efficacy must be immediately scrutinized, repaired, or replaced with more robust alternatives. Furthermore, he directed that financial disbursement must achieve decisive milestones by September 30, with specific exemptions carved out only for provisions directly tied to the forthcoming enforcement of the Urban Development Law, which takes effect on October 1.
Emphasizing structural accountability, Mr. Thang instructed that the Permanent Agency of the Steering Committee must systematically categorize participating units based on their performance metrics—identifying those that have successfully fulfilled their mandates versus those whose completion rates fall below 50%. Lagging units will face direct integration into end-of-year administrative evaluations, while proactive units that accelerate their deliverables will be nominated for formal commendation and rewards.
Echoing these sentiments, Alternate Member of the Party Central Committee and Vice Chairman of the HCMC People’s Committee Nguyen Manh Cuong underscored the inextricable link between administrative modernization and comprehensive data management. Mr. Cuong noted that while Ho Chi Minh City maintains a high level of concentration and ranks among the national leaders in aligning administrative procedures with digital databases, persistent limitations remain in the integration and utilization of national public service portals.
"I explicitly require that our department heads and sector leaders thoroughly grasp the details of every newly introduced mandate, accompanying their understanding with comprehensive reporting and proactive submission of official correspondence. Only from this vantage point can we maintain a broad perspective, enabling us to resolve issues closely and expeditiously," Vice Chairman Cuong stated.
To address systemic institutional gaps, specific enforcement roles have been distributed across municipal agencies. The Ho Chi Minh City Police department has been tasked with spearheading the advisory framework for information security guidelines, ensuring that network security protocols are finalized ahead of the September 30 threshold. The Department of Home Affairs is charged with consolidating administrative bottlenecks for immediate presentation to the People’s Committee, while the Department of Finance must proactively advise on emergency contingency funding pools. Finally, the Department of Justice is instructed to swiftly clear all legal hurdles highlighted in police recommendations.
Broader Implications and Strategic Analysis
The rigorous oversight currently being exercised in Ho Chi Minh City highlights a broader structural challenge facing Vietnam’s administrative modernization: the friction between sweeping macro-level policy ambitions and the operational realities of grassroots execution.
While top-tier political commitments from national leaders have established an uncompromising framework for digital reform, local implementation often confronts entrenched bureaucratic inertia, procurement complexities, and technical capacity deficits at the district and commune levels. The decision by city leadership to institute strict 100-day timelines, tie project delivery directly to year-end performance reviews, and establish specialized monitoring protocols reflects an evolving governance model. This model relies on coercive administrative pressure and transparent metrics to bypass traditional bureaucratic stagnation.
The successful realization of Ho Chi Minh City’s digital roadmap carries profound implications not only for the local populace—who stand to benefit from streamlined public service delivery, reduced bureaucratic friction, and enhanced transparency—but also for the wider regional economy. As Vietnam seeks to position itself as a competitive regional hub for technology, innovation, and digital commerce, the administrative efficiency of its largest urban economic engine serves as a vital barometer for national economic readiness.
As the September 30 and November 30 deadlines rapidly approach, the immediate test for Ho Chi Minh City’s administrative apparatus will not simply be the technical deployment of software and hardware, but the cultural and structural pivot toward absolute accountability, data-driven governance, and uncompromising execution speed.
