Discussing specific mechanisms and policies on investment in construction of road traffic works

BTO-According to the program of the 6th Session of the 15th National Assembly, on the afternoon of October 27, there was a discussion in groups about piloting a number of special mechanisms and policies on investment in the construction of road traffic works. Group 15 included the National Assembly delegations of the provinces: Binh Thuan, Yen Bai, Binh Phuoc, Hoa Binh.

Giving opinions, delegates said that submitting to the National Assembly a Resolution to pilot a number of specific mechanisms and policies on investment in the construction of road traffic works is within the authority and meets practical requirements.

Clear regulations for implementation

Commenting specifically on Article 3 - Regarding the principles and criteria for selecting pilot projects, National Assembly delegate Tran Hong Nguyen of Binh Thuan province stated: Clause 1 of Article 3 stipulates that one of the principles and criteria for selecting pilot projects is "There is a written proposal from the Ministry of Transport and/or the People's Committees of provinces and centrally-run cities". According to delegate Nguyen, this provision is unclear whether it is mandatory for the Ministry of Transport and the provincial People's Committee to propose together or if only the Ministry of Transport or the provincial People's Committee proposes to meet the requirements. Or if both cases are the case, when will only the Ministry of Transport or the provincial People's Committee propose; when will the Ministry of Transport and the provincial People's Committee propose together? At the same time, it is also unclear what the implementation process is for each case? Therefore, the delegate suggested that the drafting agency re-study this content and clearly stipulate it to have a basis for implementation.

National Assembly Deputy of Binh Thuan province Tran Hong Nguyen discusses in groups.

Regarding regulations for national highway and expressway projects passing through localities, road traffic projects in many localities that need to be piloted. Clause 2, Article 5 and Clause 2, Article 6 of the draft Resolution currently stipulate the procedures for pilot implementation according to this Resolution for other projects not included in the Project List in Appendix 02, Appendix 03, but during the implementation of the Resolution, if they meet the principles and criteria for selecting pilot projects and have a need for piloting, in the case between two sessions of the National Assembly, based on the Government's submission, the National Assembly Standing Committee will consider and decide to decentralize to the Provincial People's Committee or assign a Provincial People's Committee to be the competent authority to implement the project.

The draft stipulates this but there is no provision on what to do if the Government submits it during the session. In this case, will the project addition be added to the List of projects in Appendix 02, Appendix 03 or will it be considered and decided on for each specific project? Therefore, delegate Nguyen suggested that this content should also be clarified and specifically regulated in the draft Resolution.

Regarding the specific mechanism in the exploitation of minerals for common construction materials, it is proposed to stipulate Clause 2, Article 7 in a similar direction to Clause 2, Article 5 and Clause 2, Article 6 in the direction of specifying the competent authority to review and report to the Government, the Government submits to the National Assembly or the National Assembly Standing Committee for consideration and decision to ensure consistency with the principles and criteria for selecting pilot projects in Clause 1, Article 3 of the draft Resolution...

Effective implementation of special mechanisms

National Assembly Delegate of Binh Thuan province Dang Hong Sy participated in the discussion.

Discussing the proportion of state capital participating in projects under the public-private partnership (PPP) investment method, National Assembly member of Binh Thuan province Dang Hong Sy said that in 2020, the Law on Investment under the public-private partnership method was issued and took effect on January 1, 2021. However, the implementation process has encountered many difficulties due to difficulties in capital mobilization; changes in policy mechanisms, leading to the protection mechanism for investors not being guaranteed, so investors are not interested. Expressing doubts regarding the limitations in BOT in the past, delegate Sy said that this issue has not been assessed to remove obstacles, especially the traffic volume to collect tolls to recover capital. According to delegate Sy, currently there is a lot of traffic, on which routes are charged tolls, people do not use, leading to difficult to accurately assess traffic volume. Therefore, Clause 1, Article 4 states that the proportion of state capital is not more than 70% of the total investment, the delegate wondered if this is based on the law?

On the other hand, in the list of proposed projects, there is only the coastal road of Thai Binh province. “Why is there only one project? Is it because the Ministry of Planning and Investment or the Government did not notify the localities to register or did they notify but no one participated? Although in Clause 2, Article 4, it is stated that if any projects are proposed in the future, they will be submitted to the National Assembly Standing Committee for consideration between two sessions. So, is the budget guaranteed while the medium-term public investment capital has been calculated and allocated? I suggest that we must calculate effectively, otherwise we will encounter many problems in the future,” said delegate Sy.

Expressing agreement on the special mechanism in the exploitation of mineral mines for common materials, delegate Sy said that in the past, the National Assembly had Resolution 43 for the special mechanism for the construction of the North-South expressways. However, after the implementation, the assessment and summary were slow, so there was no experience to implement the new mechanism. Delegate Sy said that recently, the Government Inspectorate inspected the expressways and many localities were found to have violated the regulations, including Binh Thuan, which was slow in completing procedures to grant mining permits because the procedures were very long. Therefore, it is necessary to have a special mechanism to shorten the procedures, ensuring that the progress of traffic works is not affected. According to delegate Sy, the special mechanism needs to have a clear and shortened guidance process to speed up the construction progress, in which it is noted that it is necessary to closely inspect and supervise to avoid the situation where mine owners are applied with special mechanisms but sell materials to many other places...

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