Clearly demonstrate the role, responsibility and supervisory rights of People's Council delegates

On the afternoon of December 13, under the chairmanship of comrades: Lai The Nguyen, Standing Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the Provincial People's Council; Le Tien Lam, Member of the Standing Committee of the Provincial Party Committee, Standing Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Council; Nguyen Quang Hai, Member of the Provincial Party Committee, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Council, the 24th session of the 18th Thanh Hoa Provincial People's Council continued to work, conduct questions and answers.

Overview of the meeting.

Attending the meeting were comrades: Do Minh Tuan, Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee; comrades members of the Standing Committee of the Provincial Party Committee, Standing Committee of the Provincial People's Council, People's Committee, Provincial Fatherland Front Committee; Provincial National Assembly Delegation; leaders of departments, branches, sectors, mass organizations at the provincial level, districts, towns, cities and delegates of the 18th Provincial People's Council.

Speaking at the opening of the question and answer session, Chairman of the Provincial People's Council Lai The Nguyen stated: This afternoon, the Provincial People's Council will spend a session to conduct questions and answer sessions. Surely the question and answer session will be closely followed and awaited by many voters and people in the province.

Chairman of the Provincial People's Council Lai The Nguyen delivered the opening speech at the question and answer session.

Voters expect responsible comrades and competent authorities to remove difficulties and shortcomings and propose solutions to meet the expectations of voters and people in the province.

Questioning activities at the session continue to be implemented according to the provisions of the Law on Supervisory Activities of the National Assembly and People's Councils, making questioning activities increasingly become an important content of each session of the Provincial People's Council.

Delegates attending the meeting.

At the meeting, performing its supervisory function, the Provincial People's Council will question the Director of the Department of Planning and Investment about the progress of a number of direct investment projects, especially large-scale, key projects of the province, which are still slow and have not met the set progress requirements.

Questioning the Director of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment about environmental pollution caused by production and livestock farming that still occurs in some localities; the overload situation at many landfills in the province, and the slow progress of implementing projects to treat domestic solid waste.

Questioning the Director of the Department of Information and Communications about digital transformation, application of information technology in state management, development of digital economy in a number of sectors and fields; handling of false information and fake news on the media is still widespread and has not been thoroughly handled.

To exercise his right to question, the Chairman of the session requested that the delegations and the Provincial People's Council delegates prepare questions to question on the above 3 issues.

When asking questions, we must choose prominent and pressing issues; raise common issues that most voters are interested in.

Delegates attending the meeting.

The chairman of the session also requested that delegates ask questions that are short, easy to understand, and clear about the content of the question. For those who answer questions, it is requested that they fully answer the questions and the content of the questions raised by the delegates. The content of the answer must also be short, clear, not explaining too long, getting caught up in reporting achievements or avoiding the content of the delegate's question.

It is necessary to be frank, open-minded, and take responsibility if there are limitations or problems. And it is important to propose solutions; commit to a time to fix, a time to direct, and a time to resolve.

Depending on the content of the questions and answers in each content, after the answer of the department director, the Chairman of the meeting can invite leaders of relevant sectors and district People's Committees and invite the Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee in charge of the field to speak to clarify the issues.

Director of the Department of Planning and Investment Le Minh Nghia answered questions at the meeting.

After the speech of the Chairman of the Provincial People's Council, the Provincial People's Council questioned the Director of the Department of Planning and Investment and heads of relevant departments.

According to the report of the Director of the Department of Planning and Investment, Le Minh Nghia, there are 23 large-scale, key projects being implemented in the province, with a total investment of about 74,208 billion VND. Of these, only 7 projects are on schedule.

Delegates ask questions.

Delegates ask questions.

After the delegates questioned, the Director of the Department of Planning and Investment, heads of relevant sectors and districts answered the questions.

Delegate Do Ngoc Duy (Nga Son Delegation) asked: Many projects have adjusted their investment policy approvals and investment certificates; including content related to "postponing" project implementation time. There are projects that have adjusted their policies up to 8 times, such as the Project Line 1, Cong Thanh Cement Factory. We would like to request the Department of Planning and Investment to inform us of the reasons for the policy adjustment and what solutions are there to prevent the adjustment and extension of many times while the investor still does not implement?

Responding to this content, the Director of the Department of Planning and Investment said: The implementation of investment policy adjustments related to project scale, total investment or implementation time, and change of investor has been clearly regulated by law. Therefore, when investors propose the need for adjustment in accordance with the provisions of law, the State Management Agency will implement it. In cases of intentionally prolonging the project implementation time, after monitoring, the Department of Planning and Investment will report to the Provincial People's Committee for consideration. There are also projects that encounter difficulties in site clearance during implementation, so investors make adjustments to reduce the area and investment scale.

Regarding the question of whether it is possible to prevent the extension of the project implementation period that the investor still deliberately does not implement, the Director of the Department of Planning and Investment said that advising the Provincial People's Committee to agree or disagree with adjusting the policy on the content of extending the project implementation period has been regulated and implemented for objective reasons. For example, in the years 2020-2021, many investors encountered difficulties due to the force majeure of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Explaining further the reason for the extension of Cong Thanh Cement Plant's line 1 many times, comrade Nguyen Tien Hieu, Head of Nghi Son Economic Zone and Industrial Zones Management Board, said: This project was first extended in 2008, and the 8th time in 2021. The last extension was due to the Government's approval of the Strategy for the development of Vietnam's construction materials for the period 2021-2030, with a vision to 2050, requiring construction materials projects with low capacity and unsuitable equipment to be urgently invested in accordance with the orientation. However, due to the adjustment of the project in 2021 when the COVID-19 pandemic occurred, the investor had financial difficulties, so it was still implemented as planned.

Also related to this content, delegate Nguyen Ngoc Tuy (Nhu Xuan District Delegation) asked: 3 projects to treat domestic waste plants in the province including: Dong Nam Commune Landfill Project (Dong Son); Domestic Waste Incineration Power Plant in Dong Son Ward (Bim Son Town); Project in Quang Minh Ward (Sam Son City) are all behind schedule. In which, the Domestic Waste Incineration Power Plant in Dong Son Ward, implemented since 2004, has not been completed and put into operation. Up to now, after many "changes of owners", the project has been restarted this year with the "promise" to be put into operation in 2025. Can this "commitment" be fulfilled? What is the real cause of the long delay and what is a truly breakthrough, effective and feasible solution to soon complete the plants and put them into operation?

Answering the question of the delegates, the Director of the Department of Planning and Investment said: In fact, all three of these projects are behind schedule. The Provincial People's Committee has repeatedly issued directives and assigned relevant departments to inspect and urge. Currently, the project of the Domestic Waste Treatment Plant in Dong Nam Commune, Dong Son District has been completed but is not yet qualified for operation. During the implementation process, the projects in this group are behind schedule due to the need to complete many types of documents as required by the central ministries and departments.

"Investigation" to the end of the feasibility of creating conditions for projects to be adjusted and extended many times, Standing Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Council Le Tien Lam asked an additional question: "As the Director of the Department has answered, the agreement to adjust and extend the project is carried out within the framework of the law. Many projects have had their policies adjusted and extended many times and continuously. However, can the Department of Planning and Investment ensure that investors will "enthusiastically" implement the project as "requested" for extension?".

Responding to questions, Director of the Department of Planning and Investment Le Minh Nghia said: The extension of project implementation time is based on legal regulations and is only implemented in cases of objective reasons. From 2021 to present, the Department of Planning and Investment has also inspected the implementation of investment procedures for 111 projects and advised the Provincial People's Committee to terminate the investment validity of a number of projects that violate the Investment Law. For projects that have been allocated and leased land, the Department of Natural Resources and Environment will continue to monitor the implementation process of the investor. If the project is delayed in implementation according to the provisions of the Land Law for 24 months, the project will be revoked according to regulations.

Among the major, key investment projects under review, 11/16 projects are delayed due to site clearance issues. Delegates also questioned and clarified the roles and responsibilities of the Department of Planning and Investment and related sectors, units and localities.

Delegate Hoang Anh Tuan (Hau Loc Delegation) asked: In the 4 groups of objective and subjective causes leading to project delays that have been reviewed by the Department of Planning and Investment, site clearance is the main factor. In particular, difficulties in determining land origin and slow construction of resettlement areas are recurring causes in many projects. So, what feasible solutions does the Department of Planning and Investment orientate so that site clearance is no longer a major bottleneck in project implementation?

According to Director of the Department of Planning and Investment Le Minh Nghia, site clearance work is the responsibility of districts, towns and cities. In many projects, localities do not thoroughly implement, "easy things are done first, difficult things are left for later", so there are projects that have not completed site clearance for 10 years and are behind schedule. In response to the opinions of delegates, the Department of Planning and Investment will report to the Provincial People's Committee to direct districts, towns and cities to organize site clearance neatly and thoroughly, not allowing investors to "make excuses" to prolong the project completion time because site clearance has not been completed.

Delegates also questioned many issues related to the responsibilities of many related sectors and units. Delegate Dinh Ngoc Thuy (Nong Cong District Delegation) raised the question: One of the three subjective reasons leading to the project's slow progress is that some agencies and units in charge of monitoring have not regularly urged. The Department of Planning and Investment has advised the Provincial People's Committee to assign 6 units to be the focal points, which agencies and units are they? Has the Department of Planning and Investment promptly reported and advised the Provincial People's Committee on this situation to find solutions to overcome this weakness?

Responding to this content, the Director of the Department of Planning and Investment clearly stated that each group of projects has been assigned by the unit advising the Provincial People's Committee to focal units for monitoring such as: Management Board of Economic Zones and Industrial Parks monitoring 9 projects; Department of Agriculture and Rural Development monitoring 3 projects; Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism monitoring 2 projects; Department of Natural Resources and Environment monitoring 1 project. However, some units have not promoted the spirit of coordination, monitoring progress as well as reporting and advising on removing difficulties and obstacles.

At the questioning session, the Director of the Department of Planning and Investment also frankly acknowledged the current situation of slow-progressing direct investment projects in the province. Although there are many reasons and many tasks related to sectors and localities because the investment process of a project includes many stages of implementation, from approving the policy, site clearance, state management of land... However, the Department of Planning and Investment also frankly accepted responsibility as the focal agency, advising the Provincial People's Committee on many related procedures. With the responsibility of the unit, in the coming time, the Department will advise the Provincial People's Committee on more effective and fundamental solutions to remove difficulties for investing in large-time direct projects.

Concluding this content, Chairman of the Provincial People's Council Lai The Nguyen said: At the question and answer session, the delegates raised very specific, concise, clear questions that closely followed the question and answer topic, went straight to the point, were constructive, and highly responsible; demonstrating the role, responsibility, and supervisory rights of the People's Council delegates.

The questions of the delegates were answered by the Director of the Department of Planning and Investment relatively clearly about the current situation, causes, and responsibilities in the delay in project implementation.

More importantly, through this questioning, there was also agreement on the purpose and significance of removing difficulties for projects and putting projects into operation soon.

Chairman of the Provincial People's Council Lai The Nguyen delivered a concluding speech at the questioning session with the Director of the Department of Planning and Investment.

The Chairman of the Provincial People's Council stated: Attracting investment and implementing investment projects is a strategic solution, deciding the sustainable development of the province. With drastic administrative reform, improving the investment and business environment, accompanying enterprises, the province has attracted many large projects, including national key projects. When completed and put into operation, these projects are truly a boost, a driving force to create a breakthrough in the growth and budget collection of the province. From that reality, there is more basis to affirm that removing difficulties in implementing projects and attracting investment is extremely important.

The Chairman of the Provincial People's Council pointed out 4 reasons leading to slow progress in project implementation, and at the same time suggested that in the coming time, it is necessary to focus the most, with the participation of authorities at all levels and sectors with a high sense of responsibility, with the goal of thoroughly removing difficulties and obstacles, creating clear changes right in 2025, in order to create conditions for projects to start and implement.

The Provincial People's Committee assigned the Vice Chairmen of the Provincial People's Committee and relevant departments to directly monitor and resolve difficulties for each specific project. At the same time, it is necessary to clearly define the responsibilities of the People's Committees and Chairmen of the District People's Committees in directing the site clearance of projects that are behind schedule, striving to basically have a direction to resolve them by 2025.

The Provincial People's Committee requires investors to commit to allocating capital to focus on site clearance payments. At the same time, it requires investors to commit to implementing the project on schedule. Along with that, it focuses on removing difficulties for investors, especially paying attention to investing in infrastructure of industrial parks and clusters.

Director of Department of Natural Resources and Environment Le Sy Nghiem answered questions.

Next, the Provincial People's Council questioned and answered questions from the Director of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment about environmental pollution caused by production and livestock farming in some localities; the overload at many landfills in the province, and the slow progress of implementing projects to treat domestic solid waste.

Regarding this issue, Director of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment Le Sy Nghiem said: In the province, there are 671 establishments (595 production establishments, 76 farms) subject to environmental impact assessment reports and environmental licensing under the authority of ministries and provinces. Of these, about 152 establishments are in the group with environmental pollution risk, accounting for 22.7%; the group that is not in the type with environmental pollution risk but often generates a lot of dust during operation is 318 establishments, accounting for 47.4%...

Director of Department of Natural Resources and Environment Le Sy Nghiem answered questions.

Recently, environmental pollution caused by some production and livestock facilities has occurred in some localities, affecting people's lives and causing resentment among the people such as: Seafood processing facilities in Nghi Son town, Hau Loc district; some large and small-scale livestock farms in Thuong Xuan, Lang Chanh, Thach Thanh, Hoang Hoa, Thieu Hoa districts....

Delegates participate in questioning.

Faced with the above situation, the provincial People's Council delegates raised many questions and requested the Director of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment to clarify the causes, responsibilities and solutions.

In particular, answering the question of delegate Le Thi Huong (Tho Xuan district delegation) related to the management of votive paper production facilities located along the Ma River in localities such as Quan Hoa, Quan Son, Ba Thuoc and the inspection and examination of the above facilities, Commander of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment Le Sy Nghiem said: In 2021, the Provincial People's Committee established an interdisciplinary inspection team to comprehensively inspect the environmental protection work (BVMT) of 18 votive paper production facilities in the districts of Quan Son, Quan Hoa, Ba Thuoc, Lang Chanh and Thanh Hoa city. The inspection process showed that the facilities all had violations of regulations on land, construction investment, water resources and environmental protection at different levels, the violations were reminded and handled by the industry according to regulations. Up to now, the above facilities have all invested in wastewater treatment areas; the operation process is supervised by functional sectors and local authorities.

Regarding the question of delegate Cao Tien Doan (Sam Son City Delegation) about the cause and fundamental solution to overcome the overload situation at landfills, the Director of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment stated: Recently, the amount of waste transported daily to some landfills in the province is very large, leading to overload, causing environmental pollution, affecting the surrounding area. Typical examples are the landfill in Dong Nam commune (Dong Son); the landfill in Dong Son ward (Bim Son town); the landfill in Trung Son ward (Sam Son city).

The solution to overcome the above situation is that the Department of Natural Resources and Environment will continue to coordinate with the People's Committees of districts, towns and cities to widely implement regulations on classifying solid waste at source according to the provisions of the Law on Environmental Protection. Coordinate with the departments to strengthen the urging and requesting investors of waste treatment plant projects in Dong Nam commune (Dong Son); Dong Son ward (Bim Son town) and Quang Minh commune (Sam Son city) to urgently complete and put into operation to close landfills causing environmental pollution. In the long term, it will advise on investing in large-scale modern waste treatment plants.

Commander of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment Le Sy Nghiem also clarified the difficulties, obstacles, and responsibilities of the sector and related units regarding the delay in implementing the project of the Waste Treatment Plant in Dong Nam Commune (Dong Son); Waste-to-Energy Plant in Dong Son Ward (Bim Son Town); and Domestic Waste Treatment Plant in Quang Minh Commune (Sam Son City).

According to Director of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment Le Sy Nghiem, the reason for the slow progress is that administrative procedures for investment projects are still complicated and the project appraisal time is prolonged. The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020-2022 greatly affected the progress of projects; problems in site clearance were slowly resolved... In particular, project investors have not focused all resources to promptly complete related procedures to implement the project.

Answering the questions of delegate Nguyen Quoc Hai (Thieu Hoa district delegation) and delegate Nguyen Ngoc Tuy (Nhu Xuan district delegation) about solutions to speed up the progress of solid waste treatment projects, the commander of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment emphasized: The Department of Natural Resources and Environment continues to accompany investors of solid waste treatment plants to promptly remove difficulties and speed up the progress of projects that have been approved for investment. At the same time, advise the Provincial People's Committee to approve the price of solid waste treatment services after the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment issues regulations on economic and technical norms and technical processes for collecting, transporting and treating solid waste; advise the Provincial People's Committee to continue issuing documents directing and urging investors to promptly complete and put the project into operation on schedule and as committed; revoke projects that do not complete legal procedures as prescribed.

Concluding this content, Chairman of the Provincial People's Council Lai The Nguyen said: The answer to the question of the Director of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment partly clearly shows the current situation of environmental pollution caused by some production facilities, livestock facilities and environmental pollution at landfills, as well as the slow progress of waste treatment plants in the province that are being invested in.

Chairman of the Provincial People's Council Lai The Nguyen delivered a concluding speech at the questioning session with the Director of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment.

Through that, we can also see the strong leadership of the Provincial People's Committee in handling environmental issues in general and the groups of questions raised at the meeting in particular. Through the questions, we have clarified the responsibilities of the functional branches, the Department of Natural Resources and Environment as well as the responsibilities of the People's Committees of the districts in state management work in the area.

To effectively address environmental pollution caused by production facilities and livestock farms, the Chairman of the Provincial People's Council requested that in the process of directing and operating socio-economic development, competent agencies strictly implement issued plans, including provincial planning, land use planning, urban planning, district planning... as a basis for preventing and minimizing the impact of environmental incidents caused by the arrangement of production, business and livestock farms not according to the plan.

It is necessary to focus on directing investment attraction and implementing investment to complete the infrastructure of industrial parks, industrial clusters, and concentrated livestock areas of the province and district to arrange industrial production facilities in industrial parks and industrial clusters, thereby minimizing and overcoming the situation of production pollution. At the same time, it is necessary to study and consider the direction of only approving investment in livestock projects if they meet environmental protection requirements and are associated with livestock product processing.

Strengthen environmental inspection and examination at livestock production facilities according to regulations, resolutely stop operations of facilities that cause pollution and do not meet environmental requirements.

To solve the current environmental pollution caused by overload at landfills, the Chairman of the Provincial People's Council suggested focusing on leadership and direction to accelerate investment in waste treatment plants. Applying advanced technology treatment measures at landfills to minimize pollution and impact on people's lives.

Authorities at all levels, especially Thanh Hoa City and districts and towns, must focus on disseminating laws on environmental protection, mobilizing people to participate in classifying and treating domestic solid waste at source with a high sense of self-awareness. At the same time, request garbage collection units to ensure conditions for collecting garbage according to classification.

The Provincial People's Committee needs to promptly direct the implementation of procedures to select investors for the solid waste treatment plant in Xuan Phu commune, Tho Xuan district according to the plan.

Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Mai Xuan Liem reported the content of the questioning.

Next, the Provincial People's Council questioned and answered questions from Comrade Mai Xuan Liem, Member of the Provincial Party Standing Committee, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee on digital transformation, application of information technology in state management, development of digital economy in a number of sectors and fields; handling of false information and fake news on the media is still widespread and has not been thoroughly handled.

Delegates participate in questioning.

After the delegates questioned, the Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee answered the questions and clarified the issues raised by the delegates.

Concluding this content, Chairman of the Provincial People's Council Lai The Nguyen said: The answer of the question of the Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee with a very high and clear sense of responsibility. of the State to take the digital and social economy.

The Chairman of the Provincial People's Council Lai The Nguyen concluded the questioning session.

The Chairman of the Provincial People's Council proposed to drastically implement the Resolutions of the Central Government and the Government, the Prime Minister's direction in digital transformation and especially the Resolution No. 06 of the Standing Committee of the Provincial Party Committee on digital transformation, in order to create clear changes in awareness and actions of officials, party members and people in digital transformation and aware of the great benefits of the digital transformation process.

Continuing to pay investment and upgrade of information infrastructure, including computers, server networks, software and storage systems large enough to meet the requirements of digital conversion. Electronics via the Internet.

Regarding the struggle to rebuke the bad and poisonous information, the Chairman of the Provincial People's Council proposed the functional branches of the province and the Steering Committee of 35 provinces to work closely with branches and levels to continue promoting the effects of positive social networking sites, and proactively in communication activities, policies, information on important events of the Party, the State, cultural and social events for the provincial communities and examples for the communities in the province.

Continue to enhance the use of software to scan and detect early bad information, false information and strictly control information, limit users to share and spread negative information affecting political security, social order and safety in the province.

The authorities regularly monitor and promptly handle fake and bad news on cyberspace to avoid comments and images that are not good on the network environment as happened.

Quoc Huong - Minh Hieu

Source: https://baothanhhoa.vn/the-hien-ro-vai-tro-trach-nhuem-va-quyen-giam-sat-cua-dai-bieu-hddd-233352.htm