Minister Nguyen Chi Dung: Simplify, facilitate but follow regulations, not 'let the chickens out to chase'

Minister Nguyen Chi Dung affirmed that the policy proposals put forward in the draft Law on Public Investment (amended) have all gone through a "whole process" of reviewing, summarizing, and selecting truly urgent issues.

Minister Nguyen Chi Dung - Photo: GIA HAN

On the afternoon of October 29, the National Assembly discussed in groups the draft revised Law on Public Investment. Through the discussion, the majority of opinions expressed agreement with the strong decentralization and delegation of power to localities.

Manage and open, create and promote development

Speaking at the group discussion, Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung affirmed that the policy proposals put forward in the draft Law on Public Investment (amended) this time have all gone through a process of reviewing, summarizing, and selecting truly urgent issues.

Most importantly, it is in the spirit of removing obstacles to promote development and promptly institutionalizing regulations, policies and decisions of the Party and the National Assembly.

Especially, changing thinking from management to new thinking is both management and openness, creation, and promoting development.

He cited a story about a legal mindset that was correct for each period and very good, but now cannot keep up with new development requirements, not that the law is at fault.

"But now many points are no longer suitable so they must be revised to keep up with the requirements. How can we manage but also open up, create for development, and at the same time have control to avoid risks and problems in the future," said Mr. Dung.

According to Minister Nguyen Chi Dung, if the amended law is passed by the National Assembly at this session, it will be very timely to prepare for the medium-term public investment plan for the next period (2026 - 2030). If it is delayed, it will cause many consequences.

He pointed out that quality should not be neglected for the sake of time, but with this draft law, the Government has chosen very mature, very clear, and very urgent issues. If passed by the National Assembly at the 8th session, "this bill will be a major breakthrough."

Regarding specific contents, the minister emphasized the policy proposal of separating site clearance into independent projects for all project groups.

According to the minister, the long-standing slow disbursement of public investment capital has many reasons, but the most important is site clearance.

According to current regulations, only after an investment decision is made can the next steps such as site clearance, measurement, inspection, resettlement, etc. be carried out, which takes a lot of time.

Separating the site clearance stage will shorten the time for investment preparation. Most importantly, separating the stages and assigning specific responsibilities to each stage will speed up the project implementation process.

The National Assembly cannot sit and handle each small project.

Regarding the issue of decentralization and delegation of power, Mr. Dung said that the recent 10th Central Conference agreed on this, allowing localities to decide, do and take responsibility for themselves, meaning maximum delegation to localities.

He said the National Assembly will delegate to the National Assembly Standing Committee, the National Assembly Standing Committee will delegate to the Government, the Government will delegate to localities. At the local level, the People's Council will delegate to the People's Committee for flexibility in management.

Mr. Dung further analyzed that the Constitution stipulates that the National Assembly decides on budget issues but does not clearly state how to decide. The regulations so far have been self-understood, interpreted and decided.

This time, the Government proposed that the National Assembly decide on the total budget, and hand over any adjustments or issues to the Prime Minister for "fastest" results.

In addition, if it has to be submitted to the National Assembly, it must wait for a "batch" to complete the procedures for submission at once. It is not possible for each province to have several projects submitted to the National Assembly.

"The National Assembly cannot sit and deal with each small project. If we don't do it, the locality will have to wait and miss the opportunity," Mr. Dung said, adding that the Government's proposal wants to be as flexible as possible, but the National Assembly can still control the total national budget.

The proposal for the People's Council to decentralize the decision on investment policies for group B and C projects to the People's Committee is an issue that the Finance and Budget Committee is concerned about.

Mr. Dung said that in reality, 43 provinces have decentralized and here only the level of investment policy decision has changed, but everything else has not changed. At the same time, the Government asked for opinions from 63 provinces and cities and 100% agreed.

The Minister emphasized how to ensure management but must be truly simplified and convenient, while still being able to be monitored and inspected.

"It's still according to regulations, not like we let the chickens out to chase. We let them out but we have to control, overcome risks, and limit them," Mr. Dung emphasized.

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/bo-truong-nguyen-chi-dung-don-gian-hoa-thuan-loi-nhung-dung-quy-dinh-chu-khong-tha-ga-ra-duoi-20241029201908012.htm