Will drastically reduce the project of covering with blankets and mattresses

Amending the Law on Public Investment: Will drastically reduce "covered" projects

According to the assessment of National Assembly deputies, the policy proposals in the draft revised Law on Public Investment will help minimize the situation of "capital waiting for projects, projects waiting for capital".

Promote decentralization, minimize the situation of "capital waiting for projects, projects waiting for capital"

This afternoon (October 29), the National Assembly discussed in groups the draft revised Law on Public Investment. The strong decentralization and delegation of power to localities was especially approved by the National Assembly deputies.

According to delegate Tran Van Khai (Ha Nam), decentralizing authority to People's Committees at all levels to decide on investment policies for group B and group C projects managed by localities will create initiative for People's Committees at all levels, especially at the provincial level, in proactively deciding on investment policies for group B and group C projects under their management in order to meet the requirements of completing investment procedures and developing public investment plans.

In addition, decentralization to People's Committees at all levels to adjust medium-term public investment plans using local budget capital among budget-using units will create initiative for People's Committees of provinces to promptly adjust capital plans so that ministries, central and local agencies have a basis for implementation, thereby promoting disbursement and improving capital use efficiency. At the same time, it will create conditions for People's Committees at all levels to manage medium-term public investment plans, promptly allocate capital, minimize the current situation of "capital waiting for projects", "projects waiting for capital", slow capital flow into the economy, soon complete infrastructure, promote growth, and socio-economic development.

Delegate Pham Trong Nghia (Lang Son) said that the regulation as drafted will help reduce the time by about 3 months (currently 6-7 months). However, delegate Tran Van Khai (Ha Nam) said that the current regulation should be kept to ensure compliance with the provisions of the Constitution and ensure consistency in the legal system.

Regarding the authority to decide on investment policies, the draft Law also strongly decentralizes to ministries, branches and localities. Accordingly, the heads of ministries and central agencies decide on investment policies for group A projects managed by their agencies and organizations with capital scale of less than VND 10,000 billion; group A projects from VND 10,000 billion to less than VND 30,000 billion are under the authority of the Prime Minister. People's Committees at all levels decide on investment policies for group B and group C projects managed by localities.

According to delegate Pham Trong Nghia, this decentralization creates initiative for localities, but it is necessary to carefully assess the appraisal and assessment capacity of the agencies and competent persons assigned to make decisions, ensuring the feasibility and effectiveness of public investment capital management. At the same time, it is necessary to study the control and handling mechanism to ensure the organization, implementation and management of public investment activities for these projects are effective.

Delegate Tran Hoang Ngan (HCMC): The revised Law on Public Investment with many breakthrough policies, if passed, will significantly reduce the number of projects that are shelved.

Regarding site clearance - one of the biggest problems currently facing public investment projects - the draft revised Public Investment Law allows the separation of compensation, support, resettlement, and site clearance (GPMB) into independent projects for all project groups. This provision was approved by most delegates. Speaking with Dau Tu newspaper, delegate Tran Hoang Ngan (HCMC) commented that the separation of site clearance into independent projects, unifying a single point of contact for inter-regional projects... has been piloted and proven to be clearly effective in practice, helping to quickly resolve problems in the implementation of public investment projects. Therefore, it is very necessary for the draft revised Public Investment Law to codify things that have been proven correct in practice. In addition, the provisions promoting decentralization and delegation of power in the draft law are also major breakthroughs. If passed, they will contribute to solving the problem of slow disbursement of public investment capital, and frozen and under-funded projects will decrease sharply.  

The bill's passage would be a major breakthrough.

Speaking at today's group discussion, Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung affirmed that the policy proposals put forward in the draft revised Law on Public Investment have all been reviewed, summarized, and selected for truly urgent issues, most importantly in line with the spirit of removing obstacles to promote development, promptly institutionalizing regulations, policies, and decisions of the Party and the National Assembly. In particular, it is necessary to innovate thinking from management thinking to a new thinking of both management and openness, creation, and promotion of development.

Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung

According to the Minister, if the revised Law on Public Investment is passed by the National Assembly at this session, it will be very timely to prepare for the medium-term public investment plan for the next period. If delayed, it will cause many consequences. Of course, quality is not ignored because of time, but with this draft law, the Government has chosen very mature, very clear, and very urgent issues. If passed, this bill will be a major breakthrough.

Regarding specific contents, the Minister emphasized the policy proposal to separate site clearance into independent projects for all project groups. Currently, the disbursement of public investment capital is very slow, one of the main reasons is the problem of site clearance. According to current regulations, when there is an investment decision, the next steps such as site clearance, measurement, inspection, resettlement, etc. can be carried out, which takes a lot of time. Separating the site clearance stage will shorten the time for investment preparation. Most importantly, separating the stages and assigning specific responsibilities to each stage will speed up the project implementation process.

Another breakthrough innovation of the draft revised Law on Public Investment emphasized by the Minister is the decentralization of power, in accordance with the spirit of the 10th Central Conference. Some delegates are concerned that the effectiveness of decentralization may not be as expected because of limited capacity at the commune and district levels.

However, the Minister affirmed that decentralization or not depends on the decision of the superiors. If the capacity is not sufficient, there will be no decentralization and flexibility in management. If the assigned level feels that the capacity is not sufficient, it can also withdraw.

Regarding the concerns of some delegates about the decentralization of the adjustment of the medium-term public investment plan using the central budget between ministries, central agencies and localities from the National Assembly Standing Committee to the Prime Minister, the Minister said that if the projects had to be "collected in one batch" and waited for the Standing Committee to meet to submit, the locality would miss the opportunity. Therefore, letting the Prime Minister decide is the most flexible, of course, the National Assembly still controls the total budget.

Source: https://baodautu.vn/sua-luat-dau-tu-cong-se-giam-manh-du-an-trum-men-dap-chieu-d228669.html