Amending the Law on Public Investment, promoting decentralization and delegation of power

Kinhtedothi- According to Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung, we need to change our thinking in law-making, move from pre-inspection to post-inspection and promote decentralization and delegation of power.

On November 6, continuing the 8th Session, the National Assembly discussed in the hall the Draft Law on Public Investment (amended).

Simplify administrative procedures, reduce requests, reduce your rights and my rights.

Speaking to explain and clarify a number of issues raised by National Assembly deputies, Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung thanked the opinions of the National Assembly deputies who spoke in groups as well as in the hall. The opinions were very profound, responsible, dedicated and very close to reality; at the same time, very accurate and relevant to current problems.

Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung spoke to explain and clarify a number of issues raised by National Assembly deputies. Photo: Quochoi.vn

“First of all, we need to change our thinking about law making. Previously, we only focused on management, now we have to both manage and create for development. This is a huge change in thinking. Legal regulations must create new momentum, space and clear bottlenecks, freeing up resources for national development,” Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung emphasized.

In addition, according to Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung, it is necessary to shift from pre-inspection to post-inspection and promote decentralization and delegation of authority.

According to the Minister of Planning and Investment, the Central Government, the National Assembly, and the Government focus on playing the role of controlling, creating, and perfecting institutions and the investment environment, simplifying administrative procedures, reducing asking for and giving, reducing power, power over others, and pushing and avoiding.

Regarding the scope of the Law amendment, the Minister of Planning and Investment said that the content of this Law amendment is the core issue, and practical problems need to be adjusted immediately.

Regarding the proposal to increase the scale of public investment capital for important national projects to 30,000 billion VND or more (currently 10,000 billion VND), some delegates said that it should only be increased to 20,000 billion VND. The Minister of Planning and Investment said that the criteria for important national projects set out in 1997 was 10,000 billion VND. Since then, the size of the economy has increased 10 times compared to 2000 and 2.5 times compared to 2013. The average inflation rate from 2020 to now is 3% per year.

Scene of the 8th Session, 15th National Assembly. Photo: Quochoi.vn

According to the Minister of Planning and Investment, the expected life cycle of the Law is about 5-10 years, if it is increased as the delegates suggested, it will no longer be suitable in a few years. Therefore, it is necessary to maintain the important project capital scale at 30,000 billion VND as proposed by the Government.

In fact, in the 2021-2025 period, the National Assembly approved 10 important national projects, of which 5 projects are over 30,000 billion VND. It is expected that in the 2026-2030 period, there will be 40 projects over 10,000 billion VND, of which 30 projects are over 30,000 billion VND. Considering and approving a large number of projects in a National Assembly term is a lot. If the scale is reduced to 20,000 billion VND, the National Assembly will have to spend a lot of time reviewing and approving important national projects. This is also a way to promote decentralization and delegation of power so that the National Assembly can focus on making major decisions for the country.

Open for development but still tightly managed to avoid waste

Regarding the proposal to decentralize the adjustment of the mid-term public investment policy from the Central budget from the National Assembly Standing Committee to the Prime Minister, Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung affirmed that this does not violate the Constitution. At the same time, it also ensures flexibility because project adjustments take place daily and monthly, not in batches.

The Government cannot submit each project and each province to the National Assembly Standing Committee for consideration. Even if the National Assembly Standing Committee meets once every few weeks, it is still difficult. Waiting to collect them all at once to submit again will miss the local work. Adjustments arise daily and monthly, so decentralization as in the draft Law will ensure flexibility and suitability to actual situations.

8th session, 15th National Assembly. Photo: Quochoi.vn

Regarding opinions disagreeing with the decentralization of authority from the People's Council to the People's Committee to decide on investment policies for Group B and C projects, Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung said that Article 17 of the current Law allows that, if necessary, the People's Council can delegate authority to the People's Committee. In fact, 43 provinces have implemented it. Recently, the Government consulted 63 localities and all agreed.

However, Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung said that he will seriously consider and, together with the examining agency, carefully study whether to decentralize to the People's Committee or keep it as it is now, then report to the Government and the National Assembly. The plan could be to separate and decentralize according to the budget source of the province or district.

Regarding the separation of site clearance projects, Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung said that according to current regulations, a project goes through 3 steps: investment preparation, project preparation and project implementation. Site clearance is in the project preparation stage, done first and in parallel with investment procedures. Once the investment procedures are completed, it can be implemented immediately, instead of having the investment decision completed and then moving on to site clearance.

“Separating the land clearance project into a separate project is a “revolution”. However, opening up for development still requires strict management to avoid spreading and waste. Therefore, the Draft Law stipulates that when separating land clearance projects, it must be in accordance with planning, plans and capital allocation and mobilization” - Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung emphasized.

Source: https://kinhtedothi.vn/bo-truong-bo-ke-hoch-dau-tu-sua-luat-dau-tu-cong-day-manh-phan-cap-phan-quyen.html