INTRODUCTION

The Department of Planning & Investment, formerly known as Ho Chi Minh City’sCommittee of Planning, was founded on 15/11/1975. The department’s formation and development history can be divided into the aforementioned distinctive phases: Committee of Planning (1975 – 1996) and Department of Planning & Investment (1996 – Current).

1. 1975 – 1996 – Ho Chi Minh City’s Committee of Planning:

Upon total liberation of the South, on 15/11/1975, the city’s Committee of Military Administration established the Committee of Planning, the latter to be functioning directly under the jurisdiction of the former, with the publication of decision 318/TCCQ. This document also clearly defined the latter’s missions and organizational structure.

The early post- war years, or the initial stage of economic transformation, witnessed the intense struggle between "the old and the new" Ho Chi Minh City as the entire nation tried to overcome the economic depression. Under the State’s guidance and the spirit of socialism, the city was able to change its socio-economic structure and build a free market economy.

For this period, albeit planning was rather centralized and bureaucratic, it was still of colossal transformative importance. The Committee of Planning members frequently travelled on various business engagements to ensure proper functioning of entities and to initialize new working approaches such as planning-in-three-phases, utilizing four-way resources, and expansion on bonus schemes for labor to maximize personal income.

These ideas in content and innovations on method of planning have contributed in the liberation of labor, boosting workers’ morale and the sense of ownership for any organization as a whole. This has greatly assisted Ho Chi Minh City’s Committee of People and the Vietnamese Party to continue seeking solutions which advocate against economical stagnancy and depression.

After the Committee of Planning cycled through three 5-year plans between 1980 and 1995, the city has, in essence, mitigated the regressive consequences of the System of Budget Subsidies. Socioeconomically, Ho Chi Minh City was on the right track. Both in theory and practice, the State-issued ideologies gathered fruitful results, especially within the city itself.

2. 1996 – Current – Department of Planning and Investment of Ho Chi Minh City:

On 28/12/1995, the state issued decision 852/TTg regarding the establishment of local organizations. This was executed by HCMC’sPeople Committee on 27/05/1996 following decision 2559/QĐ-UB-NC. The Department of Planning and Investment was formed on the basis of unifying and restructuring the preexisting committees of (1) Planning and (2) Collaboration and Investment. It is stipulated in the legal documentation that the Department of Planning and Investment is a specialized organization functioning directly under HCMC’s People Committee, providing general information on city-wide urban planning, socioeconomical development plans and investment collaborations.

The Department’s specialty and mission has been appropriately updated to reflect the changing requirement by the State, which was to push for administrative reforms that improve quality and efficiency. Apart from its main purpose, the Department of Planning and Development also functions as a specialized local entity that is controlled by the State.

Enhancement on planning methods, executional guidance on socioeconomical improvements and basic investments on infrastructure have geared our economic structure onto the right track while mobilizing and utilizing resources with efficiency, boosting economic growth, stabilizing politics and society, and strengthening security. The Department has successfully achieve its objectives set out in the 5-year plans between 1996 to 2010 and performed exceptionally well as the connecting hub for joint ventures and collaborations with other provinces in the Southern strategic economic zone, as well as other provinces of Vietnam.

After several years of knowledge accumulation and other preparations, the period between 1996 – Current especially saw the Department’s change in essence regarding the provision of general information. This is seen especially in administrative reforms, simplifying regulations to attract local and foreign investors as well as business registrations within the city. The Department has been tasked by the People’s Committee to specialize in the research, documentation and proofreading of legal documents relating to the latter’s areas of control, under the jurisdiction of the former.