Officially approve specific mechanisms and policies to implement National Target Programs

Reporting on the reception, explanation and revision of the draft Resolution of the National Assembly on this content, Chairman of the National Assembly's Council of Ethnic Minorities Y Thanh Ha Nie Kdam said that on January 16, 2024, the National Assembly discussed in the Group and the Hall on the "draft Resolution of the National Assembly on a number of specific mechanisms and policies to implement national target programs" (hereinafter referred to as the draft Resolution), with 119 opinions expressed in the Group and 8 opinions expressed in the Hall. The majority of opinions of the National Assembly deputies agreed with the necessity, name, scope of regulation, and subjects of application of the Resolution; the dossier was ensured in accordance with the provisions of law, and qualified to be submitted to the National Assembly for consideration and approval at this session.

Chairman of the National Assembly's Council of Ethnic Minorities Y Thanh Ha Nie Kdam reported on receiving, explaining and revising the draft Resolution.

Regarding the allocation and assignment of the annual central budget regular expenditure estimates (clause 1), there are opinions suggesting at point c, stating clearly that “in case of necessity, the Provincial People's Council shall delegate to the district level…”, which needs to be specific for implementation. There are opinions that the Provincial People's Council shall only assign total capital to the district level, the detailed allocation of projects and component sub-projects should be assigned to the district level to proactively and flexibly adjust the projects and sub-projects. The Standing Committee of the National Assembly finds that the opinions of the delegates are appropriate and accept at point c as follows: “The Provincial People's Council shall decide, or delegate to the District People's Council, the allocation of the annual central budget regular expenditure estimates of each national target program in detail to the component projects”.

Regarding the adjustment of the state budget estimate and the annual capital investment plan (clause 2), at point c, there are opinions that it is necessary to decentralize the right to local authorities to adjust the estimates and plans between programs and between public capital and investment capital, but there must be principles to ensure the common goals of the program. The Standing Committee of the National Assembly agrees with the Government's view that allowing adjustments to all 3 programs will disrupt the structure of the programs, create more procedures, make it difficult to achieve the goals and may lead to adjustments to the investment policy, while the implementation time is only 2 years, so please keep the content of the draft Resolution.

Regarding the promulgation of regulations on procedures, criteria, and sample dossiers for selecting production development projects (clause 3), there are opinions suggesting considering the regulation that the People's Committee has the right to adjust regulations issued by the Provincial People's Council, which is not within its authority according to the provisions of law. The Standing Committee of the National Assembly finds that the participating opinions are appropriate and accepts and adjusts in the direction that the National Assembly allows the Provincial People's Committee to report to the Standing Committee of the People's Council for permission to adjust, and report back to the People's Council at the nearest session to create flexibility and timeliness for the locality.

Regarding the use of the state budget in the case of assigning the owner of the production development project to purchase goods for production development activities (clause 4), some opinions are concerned about the feasibility and complexity of determining prices, processes and payment procedures, especially assigning the commune level to determine the price of goods according to the market; confirming payment procedures for cases of purchasing goods from people and communities. The Standing Committee of the National Assembly would like to accept and revise Clause 4 of the draft Resolution.

Regarding the management and use of assets formed from production development support projects (clause 5), the majority of opinions agreed not to apply the regulations on public asset management to assets with state budget support capital of less than 500 million, and at the same time suggested that it is necessary to clarify the basis for determining the level below 500 million and that there must be principles and management mechanisms for assets with a value of 500 million or more.

The Standing Committee of the National Assembly found that the basis for proposing a level below 500 million not to apply the regulations on public asset management has been clarified by the Government in Submission No. 13/TTr-CP dated January 12, 2024. The determination is based on the reference level of asset value according to the regulations on determining the value of assets, supplies, and materials in the process of organizing the liquidation of public assets prescribed in Article 31 of Decree No. 151/2017/ND-CP dated December 26, 2017 and regulations on the value of large assets of a number of ministries, central agencies and localities.

Regarding the management and support for assets worth VND 500 million or more, the Standing Committee of the National Assembly accepted the opinions of National Assembly deputies, amended and supplemented point b of the Resolution: "For assets worth VND 500 million or more, the maximum support capital shall not exceed 20% of the asset value and shall not exceed the total support level from the state budget according to each specific project approved by competent authorities".

Regarding the pilot mechanism of decentralization to the district level in managing and organizing the implementation of national target programs (Clause 7), taking into account the opinions of the delegates, the Standing Committee of the National Assembly stated in Point a, Clause 7 of the draft Resolution that the Provincial People's Committee decides to assign tasks to the selected district level for the pilot. At the same time, the Provincial People's Council is assigned to decide to select no more than 02 districts for the pilot based on practical situations.

Regarding the assignment of medium-term public investment plans and annual capital investment for small-scale, non-complicated technical construction investment projects (Clause 8), the Standing Committee of the National Assembly accepts and supplements point a, Clause 8 with the same content as in the draft.

Regarding the effectiveness, the Standing Committee of the National Assembly finds that the Resolution is effective from the date of promulgation until the National Assembly has other appropriate regulations during the pilot implementation.

National Assembly delegates press the button to pass the Resolution

After listening to the Chairman of the National Assembly's Council of Ethnic Minorities Y Thanh Ha Nie Kdam present the Report on receiving, explaining and revising the draft Resolution, the National Assembly proceeded to vote to pass this Resolution. The results of the electronic voting showed that 455 delegates participated in the vote in favor (accounting for 92.29%). Thus, the National Assembly officially passed the Resolution on a number of specific mechanisms and policies to implement national target programs.

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