The participants also evaluated the progress of the public investment plan for the first six months of 2024, and discussed strategies to expedite capital disbursement for the remaining months, and laid out the public investment plan for 2025.

In the first half of 2024, the province's GRDP growth rate remained robust, ranking first among the eight provinces in the extended northwest region, and tenth among the 63 provinces and cities nationwide.

Tourist arrivals in Điện Biên increased by 2.18 times compared to the same period in 2023. The province's PCI index for 2023 improved significantly, rising 31 places compared to 2022.

However, the implementation and disbursement of public investment capital in the first five months of 2024 reached only 18.27 per cent, below the national average disbursement rate of 22.34 per cent.

Progress on the three national target programmes remained slow. Several key projects continue to face unresolved land clearance issues, affecting construction timelines.

The disbursement rate reached over 19 per cent as of May 31.

Addressing the challenges in public investment capital disbursement, several delegates proposed that local authorities and project investors expedite and resolutely resolve land clearance issues.

Legal measures should be enforced if necessary, especially for key projects related to the province’s socio-economic development.

Authorities and project investors should also accelerate efforts to complete the approval documentation for new investment projects.

It was suggested to establish a task force to assist the Provincial People’s Committee in land clearance efforts.

At the meeting, provincial Party Secretary Trần Quốc Cường urged the provincial People’s Committee to direct departments, sectors, and localities to focus on accelerating public investment capital disbursement in the second half of the year.

Emphasis should be placed on key projects, expediting land clearance, and formulating stringent regulations to resolve bottlenecks and subjective factors in the province's socio-economic development.

To promote tourism and services development, the provincial People’s Committee needs to implement solutions to enhance the quality of tourism services.

They should transform agricultural products and handicrafts from ethnic minority communities into high-quality, sophisticated goods for tourists.

The province is committed to enhancing its tourism services by upgrading guesthouses, accommodation facilities, and luxury resorts; creating sports and recreational amenities; and improving transportation infrastructure to boost tourism.

A strategy combining historical and recreational tourism will be pursued.

Concluding the discussion on Thursday morning, provincial People’s Committee Chairman Lê Thành Đô requested the drafting unit to incorporate delegates’ feedback, review, and accurately supplement data on budget revenue and expenditure, capital mobilisation rates, and agricultural statistics.

Specific shortcomings and their causes must be clearly identified, particularly the low public investment capital disbursement rate. More thorough evaluations of obstacles in implementing the three national target programmes are necessary.

To complete the tasks for the second half of the year, the provincial chairman urged departments and units to intensify their focus on urban and new rural planning, implementing the provincial planning.

The restructuring of the agriculture and forestry sectors should be prioritised, with a focus on projects involving macadamia and cinnamon plantations, and forest cultivation for biomass raw materials.

The pace of land and forest allocation needs to be accelerated.

The industrial and construction sectors should be promoted, with a particular emphasis on speeding up the disbursement of public investment capital.

Efforts should also be made to improve the quality of trade, tourism, and transportation services, with a focus on opening new flight routes.