Proposal to remove obstacles in detailed planning of public investment projects

Lam Dong believes that the regulation requiring detailed planning for public investment projects in areas with existing works; linear works must have detailed planning before establishing and appraising the project is very difficult.

Lam Dong Provincial People's Committee has just proposed that the Government and the Ministry of Construction consider removing obstacles in regulations on detailed planning of projects and economic-technical reports on investment in new construction works according to decisions on using public investment capital in the direction of shortening or only establishing master plans of the site.

Specifically, for additional construction investment projects (interspersed) or upgrading and expanding to increase construction density or land use coefficient of projects with existing works, built on land with stable land use functions, there is no requirement to prepare detailed planning or shortened master plan for appraisal and approval, but the planning indicators in the master plan drawing of the project must be consistent with the planning indicators, architectural form of the area, consistent with construction standards and regulations applicable to the project.

According to the Provincial People's Committee, the regulation requiring detailed planning for public investment projects (Articles 1 and 3 of Decree No. 35/2023/ND-CP), especially for investment projects in construction and renovation of works (schools, hospitals, headquarters, etc.) in areas with existing works; linear works must have detailed planning before establishing and appraising the project is very difficult. The process of establishing and appraising detailed planning (usually carried out after the project investment policy is issued) will affect the time for organizing, appraising and approving investment projects, prolonging the project implementation time, affecting the progress of disbursement of public investment capital.

In addition, some areas are subject to detailed planning before investment projects are established. However, the area does not have an approved higher level plan, so there is no basis for detailed planning, leading to insufficient basis for project appraisal and approval, affecting project implementation progress.

Second, Lam Dong Provincial People's Committee believes that the process of establishing an organization to establish, collect opinions, appraise, and approve detailed planning takes at least 45 days (of which 39 days are for public consultation), leading to a prolongation of project implementation time.

There is currently no specific guidance on the detailed planning cost estimate according to the shortened process (for investment projects for repair, renovation, expansion and general planning). The planning organization of the projects temporarily applies Circular No. 20/2019/TT-BXD dated December 31, 2019 of the Minister of Construction guiding the determination and management of construction planning and urban planning costs for implementation, while waiting for specific instructions from the competent state management agency. This affects the organization of planning and the compliance with legal regulations on cost management of the planning organization. In addition, the ratio of detailed planning costs to the total investment of the project is quite high (about 2%).

According to regulations, the competent state agency inspecting the acceptance work is allowed to invite organizations and individuals with appropriate capacity to participate in the inspection of the acceptance work. However, there are currently no specific regulations or norms on how to calculate the costs that the investor must pay to the organizations and individuals invited to inspect the acceptance work. This causes difficulties and confusion for the relevant agencies.

From there, Lam Dong Provincial People's Committee recommends that relevant authorities supplement instructions, or issue specific norms on how to calculate costs for investors to pay to organizations and individuals invited by competent state agencies to inspect the acceptance work, to facilitate the implementation process.

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