Amending 4 laws to help remove obstacles for power development projects

Continuing the working program of the 8th Session of the 15th National Assembly, in the 2nd working week, one of the contents that many delegates are interested in is the Government submitting to the National Assembly the content of amending and supplementing a number of articles of 4 Laws: Planning, Investment, Investment under the public-private partnership method and Bidding (draft Law).

There needs to be a flexible adjustment mechanism in planning power development projects.

Accordingly, during the discussion program in groups on the revised content of the above 4 draft laws on the morning of October 30, the majority of delegates agreed that the law should be promulgated soon to promptly resolve urgent problems that are occurring.

Delegates attending the meeting at the group. Photo: Thu Huong

Previously, in the discussion session in the group on the afternoon of October 26, delegate Au Thi Mai - Tuyen Quang delegation affirmed: There is high consensus on the need to amend and supplement a number of articles of the Law on Planning, the Law on Investment, the Law on Investment under the public-private partnership method and the Law on Bidding. The promulgation of 1 law amending 4 laws has promptly removed difficulties and obstacles in terms of institutions and laws, unleashed resources for socio-economic development, especially resolved urgent problems in the process of implementing projects in the past related to planning, business investment, investment under the PPP method and bidding activities and especially this amendment has simplified administrative procedures and increased decentralization and delegation of power to localities.

Delegate Au Thi Mai - National Assembly delegation of Tuyen Quang province (Photo: TK)

Accordingly, to contribute to removing obstacles and bottlenecks in the development of electricity projects, along with the draft Electricity Law (amended), delegate Vuong Quoc Thang - Quang Nam delegation basically agreed with the explanation of the drafting agency, however, the delegate also requested that the drafting agency consider and supplement some of the following specific contents:

Regarding the draft Law on Planning, the National Assembly's Committee on Science, Technology and Environment is currently helping the National Assembly Standing Committee complete the draft Law on Electricity (amended), in which the specificity of electricity development planning must clearly calculate the amount of capacity, source projects, and power grids during the planning period to ensure electricity demand for the country's socio-economic development and ensure energy security.

Delegate Vuong Quoc Thang - National Assembly delegation of Quang Nam province speaking at the group on October 26. Photo: QH

However, during the planning and investment process, there will be many subjective/objective factors affecting electricity demand, projects...

This leads to the requirement of having a flexible and timely adjustment mechanism. The planning adjustment (Article 53) and the order and procedures for planning adjustment (Article 54) according to the Law on Planning do not meet the practical requirements for the specific characteristics of the electricity sector.

“ In the process of organizing the implementation of the power development plan, there are often fluctuating factors: The emergence of additional large electricity customers, leading to an increase in the demand for loads requiring investment in power supply, transformer stations, and power lines compared to the approved plan; due to the need to adjust the capacity scale, technical parameters, and connection plan of the power project when implementing the investment after the plan is approved; large power sources have difficulty arranging finance and are slow in implementation progress, so it is necessary to replace other power sources to ensure national energy security... ..” - delegate Vuong Quoc Thang said.

According to the delegate, in reality, localities/Investors have the need to add transformer stations, power lines, and adjust the connection plan of power sources. However, according to the provisions of Article 53, these adjustment needs are not allowed to be adjusted and the procedures prescribed in Article 54 of the Law on Planning are implemented as new planning procedures, so they are not suitable for small, local adjustments that need more flexibility, and therefore, cannot resolve local requests. This has a significant impact on the investment attraction situation as well as the socio-economic development of localities.

The draft Law on Electricity (amended) proposes to specifically regulate cases of adjustment suitable to the characteristics of the electricity industry in the Law on Electricity ( in addition to the cases generally regulated in the Law on Planning, and at the same time, regulates the decentralization of authority to adjust planning ). Therefore, delegates suggested that the drafting agency should coordinate with relevant agencies, especially the Ministry of Industry and Trade, to study and propose amendments to the Law on Planning, ensuring the consistency and synchronization of the legal system.

In addition, to ensure that the decentralization of responsibility for local planning adjustment (to the planning agency is reasonable and supervised), delegate Vuong Quoc Thang also suggested that the drafting agency study and supplement the regulations in the direction that: Local planning adjustment contents can be decentralized to the planning agency, within the scope of specific regulations and subject to the supervision of the competent planning approval agency. The competent planning decision-making and approval agency has the authority to decide or approve the planning adjustment, or can decentralize to the planning agency to carry out planning adjustment in some cases of local adjustment stipulated in specialized laws.

Regarding the transitional regulations, according to delegate Vuong Quoc Thang: There is a proposal to add transitional regulations for plans approved before this Law takes effect, specifically: For plans approved before this Law takes effect, the planning agency must report to the competent authority or the Prime Minister for consideration and decision on decentralization of approval of adjustments. The planning agency is responsible for reporting to the competent authority or the Prime Minister on the implementation results . Therefore, it is recommended that the drafting agency review and add transitional regulations.

Need to unify and synchronize with the draft Law on Electricity (amended)

Regarding the draft Investment Law, through the process of helping the National Assembly Standing Committee complete the draft Electricity Law (amended) and through research, delegate Vuong Quoc Thang said that there are still some shortcomings, specifically:

First, on offshore wind power projects:

Regarding the authority to approve investment policies: Articles 30, 31, 32 of Investment Law No. 61/2020/QH14 stipulate the authority to approve investment policies of investment projects, however, I see that the offshore wind power project has not clearly stated the authority to approve investment policies.

Regarding investor selection: Article 29 of the Investment Law only stipulates regulations for projects using land, and does not have regulations for projects using sea surface such as offshore wind power.

Second, on handling delayed projects for power investment projects:

Article 48 of the Investment Law stipulates the termination of investment projects, including the termination of activities related to implementation progress. However, the requirements/conditions for termination of activities are not clearly and fully defined or are not really suitable for the specific characteristics of power projects.

Along with the Electricity Law (amended), the National Assembly's early approval of the amendments to a number of articles of four laws at the 8th Session will promptly resolve urgent current problems for electricity development projects. Illustration: Van Ny

The above problems have been reflected by many localities during the review of the system of legal documents and according to Resolution No. 55-NQ/TW dated February 11, 2020 of the Politburo on the orientation of Vietnam's National Energy Development Strategy to 2030, with a vision to 2045.

Third, specific regulations on deciding on investment policies for power investment projects:

Currently, when bidding to select investors, power projects must have a plan for the target, scale, location, land use needs, preliminary design plan for construction, explanation, technology, engineering and appropriate equipment, preliminary total cost of project implementation, etc. and proposed electricity price for the project. Therefore, the application for approval of the investment policy of the investment project must include the decision on the investment policy of the project and the pre-feasibility study report on the investment and construction of the project.

Therefore, delegate Vuong Quoc Thang suggested that the drafting agency should coordinate with relevant agencies, especially the Ministry of Industry and Trade, to study and propose amendments to the Investment Law, ensuring the consistency and synchronization of the legal system.

Also related to the issue of ensuring consistency and unity in laws, especially the draft laws being amended and submitted to the National Assembly, delegate Nguyen Manh Cuong - National Assembly delegation of Quang Binh province said that amending the Law on Planning is very necessary. However, in the draft amendment and supplement to the Law on Planning, the relationship between the General Law on Planning and the planning regulations in specialized laws is currently not unified.

Delegate Nguyen Manh Cuong - National Assembly Delegation of Quang Binh province (Photo: NA)

The delegate gave an example, the Electricity Law (amended) was discussed in groups on the afternoon of October 26. According to the delegate, the planning in the Electricity Law is completely different from the planning adjustment in the General Planning Law and is not consistent with each other. The General Planning Law clearly stipulates that when adjusting the planning according to the shortened procedures, it must ensure that the planning's objectives and viewpoints are not changed. The Electricity Law stipulates that changes in objectives and viewpoints can still be adjusted according to the shortened procedures.

“ In the Electricity Law, there are many other cases regulated by simplified procedures, but in the General Planning Law, there are no such cases and bases, ” emphasized delegate Nguyen Manh Cuong.

The delegate gave an example, in the Electricity Law, in cases where it is necessary to ensure security and national defense, it can be adjusted according to shortened procedures and sequences. But this basis is not available in the Planning Law. Or in cases where the formation of a project has a major impact on land use, the environment, etc., the Electricity Law stipulates that such a case must be adjusted according to shortened procedures and sequences, but the Planning Law does not have this case, there is no basis. Or, in the Electricity Law, there is a basis for changing the development plan for sources, grids, electricity load demand, etc., then the planning can be adjusted according to shortened procedures and sequences, but the Planning Law does not have this basis.

From the above analysis, the delegate believes that this is one of the reasons for the fear of making mistakes and not daring to do anything, and it causes many cases of handling responsibilities related to unclear, inconsistent, and inconsistent legal regulations.

“ We also know that the electricity sector has many special characteristics that require regulations related to planning issues. At the meeting of the National Assembly Standing Committee, the Minister of Planning and Investment said: “The Planning Law only plans general issues, while detailed issues related to planning in sectors and fields must be regulated by specialized laws and applied according to the provisions of specialized laws”. And if we intend to have such a principle of law application, I propose that we must regulate the principle of law application - adding a provision on the principle of law application in the Planning Law. Currently, the Planning Law does not have an Article on the principle of law application .” - delegate Cuong proposed.

According to delegate Cuong, although the issue is only technical in nature, it is very important. If it is not resolved in this Planning Law, the overlap and difficulties in the application of planning laws will continue to exist, causing bottlenecks and difficulties in implementation.

Source: https://congthuong.vn/sua-4-luat-giup-go-vuong-cho-cac-du-an-phat-trien-dien-luc-355907.html