Proposal to make construction a key economic sector
In 2020, entering a new decade, looking back over the past 30 years, the Vietnamese construction industry has made great strides with breakthroughs. In the immediate future, we have many opportunities, needing breakthrough policies to promote development.
Not long ago, large-scale projects requiring high technical and aesthetic requirements such as high-rise buildings, cable-stayed bridges, road tunnels, international airport terminals, etc. were the work of foreign contractors.
If construction enterprises are not active and proactive in learning abroad to always keep up with the world, the situation of “superstar projects criticizing domestic contractors” may repeat itself in the future.
According to the Academy of Officials and Management under the Ministry of Construction, per capita, the human resources in the construction industry in Vietnam are the highest in the world.
The number of engineers and experts alone is 4 times higher than the average of other developed countries.
Currently, the labor force in the tourism industry is only 3 million people, but tourism is considered a key economic sector of the country and has a master plan for strong development, while construction has up to 4.2 million workers but is only considered a supporting economic sector.
I think our goal is not to export labor in the construction industry but to export comprehensive construction services, that is, general construction contractors.
Promoting the development of the construction industry will make a great contribution to the national economy and can become a key economic sector.
Developing the construction industry abroad, it is certain that the supply chains of related products and services such as the production of construction materials, interior and exterior equipment, construction design, real estate investment, financial services, insurance, etc. will expand the market.
Making construction a key economic sector of the country can help us overcome the middle-income trap before the golden population period passes (forecasted around 2030). Thus, we only have 10 years for this breakthrough.
