Concerns about the proposal to assign the provincial People's Committee to decide on port projects under 2,300 billion VND

On the morning of October 30, the National Assembly listened to the presentation and examination report on the draft Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Planning, the Law on Investment, the Law on Investment under the public-private partnership model and the Law on Bidding.

Decentralization to the Provincial People's Committee to decide on investment policies for many projects

Presenting the report, Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung said that the draft Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Planning, the Law on Investment, the Law on Investment under the form of public-private partnership and the Law on Bidding aims to promptly remove urgent difficulties and obstacles in institutions, simplify administrative procedures, promote decentralization and delegation of power in the fields of planning, business investment, investment under the form of public-private partnership and bidding.

"This project will focus on amending conflicting regulations that are causing difficulties and urgent need to be amended to facilitate investment, production and business activities," Mr. Dung emphasized.

Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung presented a report at the meeting.

In particular, this draft law amends some contents of the Investment Law such as decentralizing the Prime Minister 's authority to approve investment policies to the provincial People's Committees for 3 groups of projects.

These are investment in construction and business of infrastructure of industrial parks and export processing zones; investment projects in construction of new ports and port areas with investment capital of less than VND 2,300 billion in special seaports; investment projects regardless of scale within the protection scope of Zone I and Zone II of relics recognized by competent authorities as national relics and special national relics, except for investment projects within the protection zone I of special national relics in the World Heritage List to create initiative for localities.

Regarding the amendment to the Law on Investment under the public-private partnership model, this draft law abolishes the limit on the minimum investment capital scale to implement PPP projects, assigning ministries, branches and localities to consider and be responsible for deciding to select projects suitable to the needs and implementation conditions of investors.

Add a type of BT (build-transfer) contract that does not require payment to apply to infrastructure works and public service provision projects that investors propose to build and transfer to the State without requiring payment for construction investment costs.

Regarding the financial mechanism for PPP projects, the draft law stipulates the application of a flexible mechanism in allocating State capital to participate in the implementation of PPP projects.

The approach is to continue to regulate the state capital ratio at 50% and assign the Prime Minister or the Provincial People's Council to decide on a higher state capital participation ratio but not exceeding 70% of the total investment for the project.

Panoramic view of the parliament.

Regarding the handling of problems with transitional BOT and BT projects, the draft law allows the application of the PPP Law in cases where contracts are signed before the PPP Law takes effect and there are no regulations governing issues arising during project implementation.

For BT project contracts with contents that are not in accordance with legal regulations at the time of signing, the Government has proposed a handling mechanism in Submission No. 513.

However, this is a complex issue that needs to be reviewed and evaluated more carefully. Therefore, the Government has reported to the competent authority to study and draft a National Assembly Resolution to remove obstacles for these projects.

Re-study the decentralization of the People's Committee to decide on port investment under 2,300 billion VND

From the perspective of examination, Chairman of the Economic Committee Vu Hong Thanh said that the committee basically agrees with the necessity of amending and supplementing laws.

Commenting on the regulation on decentralization to the provincial People's Committee to approve investment policies for investment projects to build new ports and port areas in special seaports with an investment capital scale of less than VND 2,300 billion, the Economic Committee said that this regulation does not show any difference in investment conditions for these projects.

Therefore, it is recommended to re-study and review to ensure compatibility with the revised content on project scale in the Law on Public Investment (amended) being submitted to the National Assembly.

Chairman of the Economic Committee Vu Hong Thanh presented the audit report.

Regarding the field, scale of investment under the PPP method and the minimum investment capital scale to implement PPP projects, the Economic Committee believes that expanding the field of PPP investment and lowering the minimum scale or abolishing regulations on the minimum scale limit can contribute to creating conditions and increasing the participation of the private sector in performing State tasks.

However, the expansion of the scope of application in some localities in the pilot phase has not been summarized and evaluated. Therefore, it is recommended to review, consider, and be cautious with this proposal and supplement it with a thorough evaluation.

In addition, the PPP Law has been in effect for about 5 years, but mobilizing investors to participate in PPP projects still faces many difficulties. Therefore, it is recommended to clarify the difficulties and obstacles facing PPP projects in the past to find more appropriate solutions.

Regarding the BT contract type, the review agency found that the National Assembly has allowed a pilot BT contract type in some localities such as Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, and Nghe An province.

These regulations have just been piloted, have not been fully and thoroughly summarized and assessed for impact, and have not had enough time to be tested in practice.

In addition, the provisions on BT contracts in Clause 10, Article 4 of the draft Law are different from those in the Capital Law and the pilot resolutions. At the same time, the provisions in the current draft Law have not yet resolved the issues raised when the implementation of BT contracts was stopped in the past.

Therefore, the Economic Committee believes that there is not enough basis to legalize the provisions on mechanisms, order and procedures of BT contracts in the draft Law.

To ensure the feasibility of regulations on BT contracts, it is recommended that regulations be made in the direction of assigning the Government to provide detailed instructions on the mechanisms, procedures, and processes of BT contracts based on the principle of comprehensively innovating the implementation and payment methods for investors, maximally overcoming shortcomings and limitations in implementation, promoting the advantages of BT contracts, and preventing loss, waste, and negativity.

Source: https://www.baogiaothong.vn/ban-khoan-de-xuat-giao-ubnd-cap-tinh-quyet-du-an-ben-cang-duoi-2300-ty-dong-192241030093118443.htm