Continuing the 9th Session, on the morning of June 16, the National Assembly listened to the Presentation and the (supplementary) Examination Report on the draft Law on Railways (amended).
Authorized by the Prime Minister to present the Submission (supplement) of the draft Law on Railways (amended), Minister of Construction Tran Hong Minh said that, implementing the working program of the Politburo, the Ministry of Construction has developed a draft Resolution of the National Assembly to pilot a number of specific and special mechanisms and policies for investment in developing the railway system; the draft Resolution has been appraised by the Ministry of Justice , submitted and agreed upon by competent authorities. Based on the direction of competent authorities, the Government has reviewed and supplemented the mechanisms and policies in the draft Resolution to the draft Law on Railways (amended), completed the Draft Law dossier and reported to the National Assembly in Submission 489/TTr-CP dated June 9, 2025.
On June 13, 2025, the National Assembly Standing Committee met and gave opinions on the Submission (supplement) of the Railway Law and the National Assembly's Committee on Science , Technology and Environment also issued Report No. 3811/BC-UBKHCNMT15 dated June 13, 2025 on the examination of the Submission supplement to the Law project. On that basis, the Government issued a Report on receiving and explaining the opinions of the National Assembly Standing Committee, the opinions on examination and revision, and finalization of the Law project.
 |
Minister of Construction Tran Hong Minh. (Photo: National Assembly Portal) |
According to Minister of Construction Tran Hong Minh, the draft Law has been revised to add 23 mechanisms and policies in the draft Resolution to the Chapter on Railway Construction Investment and Article 5 of the draft Law. Of these, 4 policies were already included in the draft Law submitted to the National Assembly. The new draft Law consists of 4 chapters and 84 articles.
To ensure the progress of investment in railway projects, the Government proposed new additional regulations to the draft Law, which will take effect from July 1, 2025, and the remaining regulations of the Railway Law (amended) will take effect from January 1, 2026. The draft Law has been supplemented with specific and special mechanisms and policies for investment in the development of the railway system, creating a breakthrough legal corridor for railway development, specifically legalizing the content of the draft Resolution into 20 articles of the draft Law, and revising 33 articles according to the opinions of the agency in charge of reviewing the draft Law submitted to the National Assembly.
In response to comments from the National Assembly's review agency, the Ministry of Construction has added to the draft Law provisions on credit incentives for organizations participating in railway business activities in areas with difficult or extremely difficult socio-economic conditions; enterprises participating in investment and development of the railway industry and railway infrastructure business are entitled to preferential corporate income tax rates; institutionalizing the draft Resolution, the draft Law has added provisions on import tax exemption for goods serving the project that cannot be produced domestically or can be produced but do not meet the technical standards of the project. This policy also inherits the provisions of the 2017 Railway Law.
 |
Chairman of the National Assembly's Committee on Science, Technology and Environment Le Quang Huy. (Photo: National Assembly Portal) |
On behalf of the reviewing agency, Chairman of the National Assembly's Committee on Science, Technology and Environment Le Quang Huy affirmed that the Committee is unanimous in implementing the direction of competent authorities, urgently completing a breakthrough legal corridor for investment in developing the railway system. Therefore, the Committee basically agrees with the additional review of the draft Law and reports to the National Assembly for consideration and comments; unanimously proposes to pass the draft Law at the 9th Session of the National Assembly (according to the procedure at 01 session); at the same time, requests the drafting agency to supplement the dossier, explain and clarify the review opinions.
According to the Government's Submission, the draft Law has been supplemented and revised to legalize 23 specific and special mechanisms and policies.
Basically, the Committee on Science, Technology and Environment highly agrees with the policy of needing specific, special mechanisms and policies to invest in the Vietnam railway system. However, in order to institutionalize the Party's policy and legalize the specific, special mechanisms and policies stipulated in the National Assembly's Resolutions on investment in the development of a number of specific railway projects, it is recommended that the drafting agency study and perfect these specific, special mechanisms and policies in the direction of: limiting the scope and subjects of application; ensuring the consistency, unity, universality and sustainability of the legal system; strengthening supervision, information disclosure and transparency; and having appropriate sanctions. At the same time, it is necessary to ensure the requirements of feasibility, strictness and efficiency.
Regarding specific mechanisms and policies, Chairman of the Committee for Science, Technology and Environment Le Quang Huy said: Regarding mechanisms and policies for resource mobilization and capital allocation, some opinions basically agree with the provisions on granting capital initiative to the entities specified in the draft Law, allowing the issuance of government bonds, mobilizing ODA, using increased revenue and budget savings to supplement capital if the annual budget does not meet the progress. However, it is necessary to review and supplement regulations on mechanism limits, only applying when demonstrating outstanding efficiency; limiting the mobilization level to a safe threshold, with supervision, ensuring financial safety; clear responsibilities; strict monitoring conditions and mechanisms to prevent risks.
Regarding the mechanism and policy for urban development around the railway (TOD model) and exploitation of land funds in the vicinity of the station, many opinions basically agree with the urban development mechanism focusing on the public transport system (TOD) to exploit land funds around the station to create resources for the railway, in line with the orientation of innovation. However, the Committee proposed to clarify and study additional regulations clearly defining the limits of local authority when adjusting the planning; stipulating an independent and transparent monitoring mechanism when adjusting the planning; supplementing regulations on criteria for infrastructure capacity and infrastructure upgrade plans before approving TOD, stipulating implementation conditions; clearly defining the mechanism for revenue sharing; stipulating accountability and sanctions; reviewing, amending and supplementing relevant laws, etc.
Source: https://baophapluat.vn/bo-sung-23-co-che-chinh-sach-dac-thu-de-dau-tu-phat-trien-he-thong-duong-sat-post551906.html
Comment (0)