On the third day of the Lunar New Year (Tet), Chairman Tran Sy Thanh of the Hanoi People’s Committee answered Tien Phong newspaper that “Hanoi City will have a practical way to fundamentally change the face of the city in 2025, aiming to make the city’s living environment cleaner, improve the quality of life for people, and contribute to building Hanoi into a livable city.” In general, Thanh wants to turn Hanoi into a livable city.
Similar to Deputy Secretary Nguyen Thanh Nghi of the Ho Chi Minh Party Committee, on the third day of Tet last year when he was Minister of Construction, he also went on air to talk about a series of policies, listing a bunch of sub-law documents that would be issued in 2024, to make the dream of social housing for low-income people come true. Then in 2024, he did not remove any bottlenecks. The dream of social housing still could not reach the poor. The task was not completed, but he left his seat to find a new position to fight for power. The ambitious project with a mess of unresolved issues, he left it to his successor to clean up.
Now, Chairman Thanh is repeating the old scenario of Nghi. Looking at the many items he mentioned to turn Hanoi into a livable place, maybe even a small item would require a big policy to be implemented for many years.
However, he likes to take on a lot of things. From budget collection to growth targets, and cleaning up rivers, etc., all are big problems. Those problems are bottlenecks that his predecessors have left. Surely, Thanh will also repeat the same old path as Nghi did, which means only “bragging” in the newspapers to promote his image but he does not implement it.
After Chu Ngoc Anh was imprisoned, with the advantage of being from Nghe An, Thanh got support from many officials, including then Chairman of Vietnam’s National Assembly Vuong Dinh Hue, who at that time had a great influence on General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong’s decision.
The position of Chairman of the Hanoi People’s Committee is considered a launching pad to enter the Politburo in the next term. Information said that Thanh, Ho Duc Phoc and Pham Thi Thanh Tra are mobilizing the support of many important figures to enter the Politburo at the 14th party National Congress slated in January 2026. In fact, Thanh only sees the position of Chairman of the Hanoi People’s Committee as a stepping stone to enter the Politburo. If successful, he will also leave Hanoi and move up to another position.
Recently, the face of Hanoi was tarnished because a noodle shop overcharged customers with a price of VND1.2 million ($45) for 3 bowls of noodles, 10 times higher than normal. Although the shop was pressured to close, the city’s stain is still there. The overcharging in this city has long been a reminder to the Southerners. Whenever they hear someone speaking with a Southern accent, they automatically overcharge. Of course, not all cases are similar, but most of them have made Hanoi, which was elegant in the pre-communist era, now terrible.
Recently, Thanh directed the Hanoi Government to draft a resolution to increase the fine from 1.5 to 2 times the fine of Decree 168, which has caused chaos in the city for the past month. Seeing General Secretary To Lam and Minister of Public Security Luong Tam Quang “overcharging” people, Thanh also raised his hand and slashed. Can such a management style make Hanoi a livable place? Even Hanoians find it difficult to live, let alone passersby?
For a long time, communists have only talked a lot and done little. They often say one thing but do another. Even Nghi, despite his Western education, is still a very communist person. He cannot become a person who says and does as the superiority of Western leaders. What about Thanh? He will not do anything to make Hanoi a livable city other than empty words in the newspapers.
Thai Ha – Thoibao.de
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