Discussing the plan to handle transitional BOT and BT projects

Resolutely handle the problems and difficulties of the transitional BT projects to pave the way for new projects.

“The goal is to completely resolve the problems and difficulties of transitional projects, in the spirit of facilitating projects to attract new projects. Because if transitional projects are not favorable, it will not create confidence for investors to participate in new projects,” Mr. Tran Hao Hung, Director of the Bidding Management Department, Ministry of Planning and Investment, shared the views of the Drafting Committee with representatives of ministries, branches, localities and enterprises.

Currently, according to the Drafting Board's summary, the difficulties and problems that transitional BOT and BT projects are facing include problems with payment and settlement of loan interest after the construction phase for BT projects paid in cash; payment to investors in cases where the BT contract has been signed but the content is not in accordance with the provisions of law at the time of signing the contract and handling problems due to lack of legal provisions at the time of signing the contract, etc.

In the Draft Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the PPP Law, the Drafting Committee proposed to add content allowing BT projects to sign contracts before the effective date of this Law, in which the interest costs after the construction period and reasonable profits determined in the financial plan in the project contract are included in the total investment of the project for payment.

Project contracts signed before the effective date of this Law are also proposed to continue to be implemented according to the provisions of the project contract. In case the law at the time of signing the project contract does not have provisions, the provisions of this Law shall apply.

To ensure the consistency of legal regulations, the Draft Law proposes to amend Clause 2, Article 134 of the Construction Law in the direction that the total investment of BT projects paid from the state budget includes the total investment according to the provisions of the law on construction and the interest expense after the construction period, and reasonable profits are determined in the financial plan.

For BT project contracts paid in cash signed before this Law takes effect, if the interest expense after the construction period and reasonable profit are determined in the financial plan in the project contract, they will be included in the total investment of the project for payment.

For BT project contracts paid by land funds that have been concluded by state inspection and audit agencies to be in accordance with the provisions of the law in effect at each period, the project can continue to be implemented and payments can be made according to the provisions of the signed BT project contract.

However, for the BT project contract paid by land fund, which has been concluded by the state inspection and audit agency to have content that is not in accordance with the provisions of the law in effect at each period and has implemented the decision to impose administrative sanctions and take remedial measures according to the provisions of the law on handling administrative violations, there are a number of options being proposed.

First, if the investor has not yet constructed the BT project, the BT contract will be terminated.

Second, in case the investor has built a BT project but has not yet been allocated land for payment, the competent state agency shall negotiate with the investor to amend and supplement the contract according to one of two options. First, the investor shall be paid the land fund value equal to the value of the completed BT project; the land area of ​​the increased difference between the value of the paid land fund and the value of the completed BT project (if any) shall not be paid. Second, in case the land fund for payment cannot be separated, the land fund for payment shall be sold by auctioning land use rights and the BT Contract shall be paid with the proceeds from the sale of the land fund in accordance with the provisions of law.

In case the investor has built a BT project but has built the project on the BT payment land fund, the Drafting Committee also provides 2 cases. Case 1, the competent state agency agrees with the investor to amend and supplement the contract to continue implementing the project and pay the investor according to the provisions of law at the time of amending and supplementing the contract.

In case it is not possible to amend the inappropriate content of the signed BT contract or it is not possible to reach an agreement with the investor to amend or supplement the contract, the competent authority shall agree to terminate the contract before the deadline with the investor.

The draft also clearly stipulates that in cases where the contract must be terminated according to the above provisions, if the inappropriate content of the contract is due to the investor's fault, the investor must bear all risks and will not be reimbursed for the costs incurred; if due to the fault of the competent authority, this authority will arrange the budget to pay compensation to the investor; if due to the fault of both parties, the parties can agree and determine the cost of early termination of the contract.

Mr. Hung said that the Drafting Committee will have a separate meeting on this content, to ensure that the provisions facilitate the implementation of transitional projects but do not create conditions to legalize violations. The meeting is expected to take place next week.

Source: https://baodautu.vn/ban-phuong-an-xu-ly-du-an-bot-bt-chuyen-tiep-d224524.html