Amend the law, eliminate asking and giving

According to Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung, the development of the Law aims to promptly remove urgent institutional difficulties and obstacles, simplify administrative procedures and promote decentralization and delegation of authority in the fields of planning, business investment, investment under the public-private partnership method and bidding.

On October 30, the National Assembly discussed in groups the draft Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Planning, the Law on Investment, the Law on Investment under the public-private partnership model and the Law on Bidding.

Ring Road 4 Project - Capital Region section through Me Linh district (Hanoi). Photo: Le Khanh.

The Draft Law aims to focus on amending contradictory regulations that are causing difficulties and urgent need to be amended to create favorable conditions for investment, production and business activities.

Stop projects that are behind schedule and causing land waste

Specifically, according to Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung, regarding the amendment of the Law on Planning, some contents of the Law on Planning have been amended, such as: clearly defining the relationship between technical and specialized planning and planning under the national planning system to resolve problems regarding the basis for planning when the higher-level planning has not been approved. Delegating authority to the provincial People's Committee to issue plans to implement provincial planning and supplementing regulations to adjust the planning implementation plan to create initiative and flexibility for localities in organizing the implementation of planning.

Regarding the amendment to the Investment Law, Mr. Dung said that this Law amends and decentralizes the Prime Minister's authority to approve investment policies to provincial People's Committees for investment projects in construction and business of infrastructure in industrial parks and export processing zones. It stipulates the termination of activities for projects that are behind schedule, projects that have not been implemented for many years, causing waste of land, in order to free up resources for socio-economic development.

Regarding the amendment to the Law on Investment under the public-private partnership (PPP) method, the Minister of Planning and Investment said that this Law adds a type of BT contract that does not require payment to apply to infrastructure works and public service provision that investors propose to invest in and build and transfer to the State without requiring payment for construction investment costs.

Regarding the financial mechanism for PPP projects, a flexible mechanism is applied in allocating state capital to participate in the implementation of PPP projects in the direction of continuing to stipulate the state capital ratio at 50% and assigning the Prime Minister or the Provincial People's Council to decide on a higher state capital ratio but not exceeding 70% of the total investment for the project. Decentralize the People's Council at the grassroots level to appraise the feasibility study report for projects under the Prime Minister's authority to decide on investment policies.

The amendment to the Law on Bidding amends some contents, allowing the approval of contractor selection results before the project is approved or signing contracts with contractors before international treaties and foreign loan agreements are signed to help save time and speed up the implementation of projects and bidding packages. At the same time, amend and supplement some other contents to remove obstacles, increase competitiveness in bidding, and ensure the rights of subjects during the bidding process.

Reviewing the draft Law, Mr. Vu Hong Thanh - Chairman of the National Assembly's Economic Committee said that the Economic Committee found that the draft Law basically meets the requirements of the Law on Promulgation of Legal Documents. The draft Law amends and supplements many regulations related to planning, implementation of business investment activities, investment under the public-private partnership model and bidding activities, including regulations directly related to resources, state budget, authority, decentralization, delegation of power to ministries, branches, localities, and administrative procedures.

Regarding project revocation, National Assembly member Hoang Duy Chinh (Bac Kan delegation) proposed stricter regulations in the direction that if the commitment is not properly implemented, the project must be revoked, instead of delaying the implementation of the land before revocation as in the current law. At the same time, amend the regulations on investment licensing to be more stringent, ensuring that resources are not wasted.

According to National Assembly Deputy Vu Dai Thang (Quang Binh delegation), the Investment Law, the PPP Law and the Bidding Law are newly passed laws but have not really been effective in the process of socio-economic development. Specifically, there are difficulties in site clearance, slow disbursement, delays in investment procedures, waiting between planning at one level and planning at another, delays in converting land and forest use purposes. Therefore, it is necessary and urgent for the Government to submit to the National Assembly a comprehensive amendment to the provisions that are still entangled and conflicting with each other. Otherwise, it will cause a waste of the country's resources.

View of the meeting. Photo: Quang Vinh.

Create equality according to market mechanism

National Assembly Deputy Ta Dinh Thi - Vice Chairman of the National Assembly's Committee on Science, Technology and Environment expressed the necessity of promulgating the Law "1 law amending 4 laws" to remove difficulties and obstacles in practice, especially issues related to the Law on Planning and specialized laws that need to be adjusted.

Regarding the Law on Planning, according to Mr. Thi, the Law on Geology and Minerals and the Law on Electricity have not been consistent with the Law on Planning, so they need to be handled immediately. Currently, there are specialized plans that specify many specific parameters. Electricity has developed a power supply network, but according to the current plan, it is no longer there and is integrated into the provincial plan without specific details. In fact, the parameters need to be adjusted promptly.

Or like the Prime Minister approves national electricity. The Government proposes to assign this authority to the Minister of Industry and Trade. In principle, whichever level approves, that level will adjust the planning. As for the provincial level, it is assigned to the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee. Therefore, the above issue needs to be considered and studied. If there is an adjustment, it should be adjusted immediately to remove obstacles.

Regarding the Investment Law, Mr. Thi emphasized that the demand for developing the marine economy is very large. The central government has issued a specialized resolution on the strategy for developing the marine economy until 2030, with a vision to 20245. In which, the contribution of coastal provinces to the country's growth is expected to be 70-75% of GDP. "Currently, investment projects on land are clear, but projects on the sea do not clearly state the authority and responsibility. For example, the issue of offshore wind power needs further research to create conditions for the development of coastal localities in the coming time," said Mr. Thi.

National Assembly Deputy Hoang Van Cuong (Hanoi Delegation) also said that in planning adjustments, attention should be paid to whichever level approves, that level should make the adjustments. However, local adjustments need to be decentralized, but the project objectives and space cannot be changed. "For example, planning to build a school but adjusting it to push the school to a remote area does not ensure space issues. On the contrary, it is unreasonable that the Thien Y waste-to-energy plant is not allowed to adjust its capacity from 70-90MW when it is still in that location, only the capacity is changed" - Mr. Cuong compared.

Regarding the PPP Law, according to Mr. Cuong, it must be attractive. Because currently investors are “afraid” of PPP, not daring to enter because of the risk mechanism. “For example, toll-collecting traffic projects, if toll collection is not allowed now, who would dare to invest? Therefore, it is necessary to have a risk handling mechanism, commitment to sharing and responsibility, in which the responsibility of the agency approving the PPP project is clearly defined. Otherwise, investors are afraid and do not dare to enter.”

Regarding BT projects, Mr. Cuong said, “it’s like a double-edged sword.” Because of the great benefits and high efficiency if well managed. Otherwise, the opposite is true. Therefore, it must be accompanied by conditions of fast time and fast costs. It must be equal according to the market mechanism, but creating “barriers” and negativity is not acceptable.

Switch from pre-control to post-control

Regarding the PPP Law, Permanent Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Hoa Binh said that we have many methods of mobilizing social resources (stock market, bonds). The public-private partnership method is a form of mobilizing social resources. The Permanent Deputy Prime Minister gave an example, the North-South high-speed railway is being discussed, but state resources are only a part, other resources must be mobilized to be able to do it.

According to Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung, countries today are constantly innovating and reforming. If Vietnam does not innovate and reform, investors will certainly not come or will come and then go. The State currently has many rights. The right to do what, who to do, where to do it, how to do it? As for investors, they only have one right: "not to do it". Therefore, the design of the Law must harmonize between state management and at the same time encourage domestic and foreign investors to invest in business and investment. If the provisions of the law cannot do this, the country will lose opportunities. Losing opportunities means losing everything, losing jobs for the people, losing state budget revenue, losing development opportunities.

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According to Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung, in the past, we built laws mainly for management, but now we must not only manage but also promote development. We must abandon "can't manage, then ban" and "ask - give". Then the "your rights, my rights". Ministries and branches often hold on to the "your rights, my rights" from general laws to specialized laws, but mainly create procedures, create power. When there is power, there will be interests, group interests and personal interests. That hinders the country's development. This time we must overcome, and this time the direction is to strongly shift from "pre-control" to "post-control", decentralize more thoroughly, and cut down administrative procedures more substantially. Procedures must be concise to reduce time and costs for investors, and not lose opportunities for investors.

9th working day, 8th session, 15th National Assembly

On October 30, the National Assembly continued its 9th working day, 8th Session, 15th National Assembly at the National Assembly House under the chairmanship of National Assembly Chairman Tran Thanh Man.

Morning: Under the direction of Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Nguyen Duc Hai, the National Assembly convened a plenary session to listen to the following contents: Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung, authorized by the Prime Minister, presented the Report on the draft Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Planning, the Law on Investment, the Law on Investment under the public-private partnership model and the Law on Bidding; Chairman of the National Assembly's Economic Committee Vu Hong Thanh presented the Report on the review of the draft Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Planning, the Law on Investment, the Law on Investment under the public-private partnership model and the Law on Bidding...

The National Assembly then discussed in groups: The draft law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Planning, the Law on Investment, the Law on Investment under the public-private partnership model and the Law on Bidding; the draft resolution on piloting the handling of evidence and assets during the investigation, prosecution and trial of a number of criminal cases.

Afternoon: The National Assembly held a plenary session to conduct the following activities:

Content 1: Under the direction of Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Tran Quang Phuong, the National Assembly listened to Member of the National Assembly Standing Committee, Chairman of the National Assembly's Committee on National Defense and Security Le Tan Toi present a report explaining, accepting and revising the draft Law on People's Air Defense. After that, the National Assembly discussed a number of contents with different opinions of the draft Law on People's Air Defense... At the end of the discussion, Minister of National Defense Phan Van Giang spoke to explain and clarify a number of issues raised by National Assembly deputies.

Content 2: Under the direction of Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Nguyen Khac Dinh, the National Assembly listened to the following contents: Minister of Home Affairs Pham Thi Thanh Tra, authorized by the Prime Minister, presented the Government's Submission on the draft Resolution on the organization of urban government in Hai Phong City. Chairman of the National Assembly's Law Committee Hoang Thanh Tung presented the Report on the examination of the draft Resolution on the organization of urban government in Hai Phong City; Minister of Home Affairs Pham Thi Thanh Tra, authorized by the Prime Minister, presented the Government's Submission on the establishment of Hue City under the Central Government...

Source: https://daidoanket.vn/sua-doi-luat-loai-bo-xin-cho-10293474.html