The National Assembly reviews and amends a series of important regulations on planning.

In the morning session of October 25, the National Assembly listened to the Report explaining and revising the draft Law on Urban and Rural Planning with many new contents on planning.

In the meeting this morning, October 25, the National Assembly listened to the Report explaining and revising the draft Law on Urban and Rural Planning with many new contents on planning. (Photo: DUY LINH)

Continue the program At the 8th session of the 15th National Assembly on the morning of October 25, Chairman of the Economic Committee Vu Hong Thanh presented to the National Assembly a report on receiving, explaining and revising the draft Law on Urban and Rural Planning.

Remove 2 articles and add 2 articles compared to the draft Law submitted to the National Assembly at the 7th Session

Chairman of the Economic Committee Vu Hong Thanh said that based on the opinions of National Assembly deputies, National Assembly agencies and the Government, the National Assembly Standing Committee has directed relevant agencies to study, absorb and revise the draft Law. The draft Law after being absorbed, revised and completed consists of 6 chapters and 65 articles; 2 articles were removed and 2 articles were added compared to the draft Law submitted to the National Assembly at the 7th Session.

Regarding the relationship between plans in the Urban and Rural Planning system, Clauses 2 and 3, Article 7 have been revised to clearly stipulate general planning, zoning planning and detailed planning with a gradually concretized and detailed nature.

Chairman of the Economic Committee Vu Hong Thanh presented to the National Assembly a report on receiving, explaining and revising the draft Law on Urban and Rural Planning. (Photo: DUY LINH)

The relationship between planning under the Urban and Rural Planning system and planning under the national planning system has been specifically regulated in the 2017 Law on Planning; accordingly, Clause 4, Article 6 of the Law on Planning stipulates that urban planning and rural planning must be consistent with national planning, regional planning, and provincial planning.

Regarding this content, the Government has proposed to amend the 2017 Planning Law in the direction of expanding the scope of regulation of the Planning Law, which clearly stipulates Urban and rural planning is "technical and specialized planning" belonging to the national planning system, but there are no clear and specific regulations on the relationship between technical and specialized planning and between technical and specialized planning and other planning belonging to the national planning system.

The Chairman of the Economic Committee emphasized that this is a content that needs to be considered very carefully and cautiously. It is necessary to continue to clarify the suitability of the investment project with national, regional and provincial planning when considering the investment policy, to avoid causing problems in the implementation process.

Scene of the meeting on the morning of October 25. (Photo: DUY LINH)

Regarding the principle of simultaneously establishing general plans; regulations to ensure the conformity and compliance of construction investment projects with urban and rural planning in case of conflicts between urban and rural planning, based on the opinions of National Assembly deputies, the draft Law has added regulations on allowing simultaneous establishment of general plans.

In case the master plan is approved by a different authority, the master plan with a higher authority shall be approved first; in case the master plan is approved by the same authority, the master plan that was prepared and appraised first shall be approved first.

Regarding the mechanism for resolving this problem, based on the Government's opinion, the draft Law has revised the provisions in Clause 3, Article 7 of the draft Law submitted to the National Assembly at the 7th Session, separating it into Article 8 with the following specific content: In case of conflicts between urban and rural plans at the same level, the competent authority approving the plan or a higher competent authority shall decide on the implementation of the plan, instead of carrying out the review and adjustment process. In case of conflicts between urban and rural plans at different levels, the planning agencies shall review and report to the competent authority approving the plan to carry out the adjustment of the plan according to the provisions of Chapter III of this Law.

In case of conflicts between plans at the same level, the contents approved by the competent authority for implementation must be updated and shown in the planning dossier. The order, procedures for reporting and planning decisions in this case are implemented according to Government regulations, ensuring the requirements and principles in urban and rural planning activities.

Proposal to supplement and clarify many concepts

Discussing some controversial contents of the draft Law on Urban and Rural Planning at the 8th session, National Assembly delegate Nguyen Quang Huan (Binh Duong delegation) proposed that the drafting committee consider including concept of "megacity" into the draft law.

The reason given by delegate Huan is that in the past we had cities under provinces, but now some localities have cities under cities, such as Thu Duc city under Ho Chi Minh City, and in the near future it may be Thuy Nguyen city under Hai Phong city. Therefore, it is necessary to consider including the concept of "super city" in the draft law to ensure that in the future, when large cities have sub-cities under their jurisdiction, those large cities themselves will be "super cities".

Speaking at the meeting, delegate Ly Tiet Hanh (Binh Dinh delegation) expressed concern about the concepts of urban and rural areas. (Photo: DUY LINH)

Speaking at the meeting, delegate Ly Tiet Hanh (Binh Dinh delegation) expressed concern about the concepts of urban and rural areas. The delegate said that explaining the concepts as in the current Draft would cause problems. The delegate suggested that the drafting agency continue to research and explain the concepts of urban and rural areas to identify them more clearly and explicitly.

Meanwhile, delegate Nguyen Phuong Thuy (Hanoi delegation) also proposed that the National Assembly consider and add to Article 2 an explanation of the concept of “inner city area”. The female delegate said that it is necessary to clearly understand the role of the inner city. This is not simply an area within the urban boundary but needs to be defined as the central area, the core of the urban area, with a high concentration of population, services, economic activities and urban infrastructure, a space with high connectivity.

Delegate Nguyen Phuong Thuy (Hanoi delegation) also proposed that the National Assembly consider and add to Article 2 an explanation of the concept of "inner city area".

“Identifying highly connected inner-city areas will help planning to be carried out in a comprehensive and unified manner, promoting the development of social infrastructure systems, urban technical infrastructure, with synchronous and highly connected connections, improving service quality and efficiency and increasing the area for urban residents; at the same time, creating a favorable environment, attracting businesses to invest and develop, thereby promoting economic growth of the urban economy, creating job opportunities, increasing income and many other positive impacts”, delegate Phuong Thuy expressed her opinion.

Also at the discussion session, delegates raised many comments related to infrastructure, authority to approve planning adjustments, regulations on environmental protection and many other issues.

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