Farmers harvest rice in Can Tho City. The city’s People’s Committee says the city should move away from its over-reliance on rice and fishery production and reform its industrial sector. — Photo baocantho.com.vn

The Can Tho People’s Committee has called for industrial reform as the city’s Industrial Production Index (IPI) is not growing as quickly as in other cities.

At a meeting of the People’s Committee, departments and district officials on Tuesday, the city’s Department of Planning and Investment reported that Can Tho’s IPI was 4.4 per cent lower than in January.

In addition, the overall IPI in the first two months was only 5.63 per cent higher compared to the same period last year. This was the lowest IPI increase among other big cities in the country.

Nguyen Minh Toai, director of the city’s Department of Industry and Trade, said the city’s rice harvest season had not arrived yet and workers were either on Tet (Lunar New Year) break or spending their time maintaining machinery for the harvest season.

The city’s IPI is mostly tied to rice and fishery production and processing, and will increase once the harvest season starts and workers resume their normal work load after Tet break, he said.

However, the People’s Committee said the city’s low IPI was due to over-reliance on the rice and fishery sectors, which are insufficiently profitable and slowing the city’s growth.

The committee said the Department of Industry and Trade should work with other departments to introduce more advanced technologies and reform the city’s industrial production towards industries with higher added value, moving away from reliance on rice and fishery.

The departments are expected to propose policies that would help achieve these results by the end of March.

The leaders of the city’s districts have also been urged to help locals and businesses begin construction projects, since the IPI also includes the construction sector. — VNS