Plenary session at the National Assembly hall on the morning of May 9. (Photo: VNA)

Continuing the 9th Session Program, on the morning of August 9, authorized by the Prime Minister, Minister of Finance Nguyen Van Thang submitted to the National Assembly a draft Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Planning.

Proposal not to establish, appraise, approve planning tasks

According to Minister Nguyen Van Thang, the draft Law consists of 02 articles, in which 33 articles and clauses of the Law on Planning are amended and supplemented, with some new contents and points. Specifically, the draft Law completes the planning system, in the direction of adding technical and specialized planning to the planning system; Supplementing regulations allowing national planning, regional planning, provincial planning, technical and specialized planning to be established at the same time; for urban and rural planning, it is implemented according to the provisions of the law on urban and rural planning.

In addition, the draft law also simplifies the planning content to improve the effectiveness and feasibility of the planning, specifically, amending and supplementing the planning content in the direction of only including framework regulations of an orientational nature; Transferring the list of expected important projects and priority investment projects in the planning to the planning implementation plan, and at the same time decentralizing the Minister and Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee to approve the plan to implement the national sectoral planning and provincial planning.

The Government 's submission also proposed to supplement regulations on procedures for adjusting planning for the 2021-2030 period to meet the requirements of rearranging provincial administrative units towards simplification and promoting decentralization and delegation of power.

Accordingly, it is not necessary to establish, appraise and approve the planning task; The planning appraisal can be in the form of a meeting of the Appraisal Council or obtaining written appraisal opinions from relevant Ministries and ministerial-level agencies; Decentralization to Ministries to organize appraisal and approval of adjustments to national sectoral planning; decentralization to the Provincial People's Committee to organize appraisal and adjustment of provincial planning, the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee approves the adjustment of provincial planning after being approved by the Provincial People's Council.

Minister of Finance Nguyen Van Thang presented the Draft Law on amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Planning. (Photo: VNA)

Notably, the draft law strengthens decentralization and delegation of power in state management of planning to enhance the initiative of all levels and sectors in directing and operating according to Conclusion No. 121-KL/TW of the Party Central Committee.

Specifically, decentralizing the Government's authority to the Prime Minister to organize the establishment of national marine spatial planning and national land use planning; decentralizing the National Assembly's authority to the Government to determine areas requiring regional planning and decide on national marine spatial planning and national land use planning; decentralizing the Prime Minister's authority to the Minister and Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee to decide on the list of priority investment projects in the plan to implement national sectoral planning and provincial planning.

Along with that, the draft law proposes to decentralize the Ministries to organize the appraisal and approval of adjustments to national sectoral planning; decentralize the Provincial People's Committee to organize the appraisal of adjustments to provincial planning, and the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee to approve adjustments to provincial planning after being approved by the Provincial People's Council for the adjustment of planning for the 2021-2030 period to meet the requirements for administrative unit arrangement.

“The draft law removes the provision on requesting approval for planning adjustment to simplify procedures and speed up the implementation of planning adjustments; Adds provisions clarifying that planning adjustments according to shortened procedures do not require strategic environmental assessment,” said the Minister of Finance.

In addition, the draft law also adds transitional provisions for national planning, regional planning, provincial planning for the 2021-2030 period, technical and specialized planning, and laws with regulations related to planning so that there are no legal gaps or interruptions in state management of planning that affect investment, production and business activities.

Clarifying the conflict resolution plan right in the draft Law

Commenting on the draft Law, the representative of the reviewing agency, Mr. Phan Van Mai, Chairman of the National Assembly's Economic and Financial Committee, suggested that the drafting agency should clearly define the purpose and scope of this amendment to the Planning Law to ensure feasibility, focusing on solving urgent issues that need to be handled immediately, in order to remove difficulties and obstacles in practice, free up resources and promote socio-economic development, especially issues arising when implementing the organization and apparatus arrangement of the political system, building a 2-level local government model. For the contents that still have many different opinions, it is necessary to continue to study and evaluate carefully when comprehensively amending the Planning Law.

Going into specific content, Mr. Phan Van Mai said that the draft Law has added the principle of handling conflicts between plans and assigned the Government to specify details, which is necessary to remove difficulties and obstacles in practice in the past. However, the draft Law only stipulates the principle of handling conflicts for plans that are not decided and approved by the same authority. Therefore, it is recommended that the Drafting Agency study, supplement and clarify the plan for handling conflicts right in the draft Law for plans that are decided and approved by the same authority.

In addition, some opinions suggested not yet decentralizing the authority of the National Assembly to the Government in deciding on national land use planning and national marine spatial planning, especially in the case of establishing new plans because this content has not been carefully reviewed and evaluated, which could lead to a lack of uniformity and unity of the legal system.

Therefore, it is necessary to continue to research, evaluate and summarize the practice when comprehensively amending the Law on Planning; in case it is necessary to decentralize the Government to decide on the establishment of new national land use planning and national marine spatial planning, it is necessary to review and research to integrate some important contents of these two plans into the content of the national master plan, ensuring the National Assembly's supreme supervision according to the Constitution over special resources of national importance.

Chairman of the National Assembly's Economic and Financial Committee Phan Van Mai presented a report explaining, accepting and revising the draft Law on Special Consumption Tax (amended). (Photo: VNA)

Regarding the simplification of planning content and assessment of the suitability of investment projects with the plans, the National Assembly's Economic and Financial Committee agrees with the amendment and supplementation of planning content at all levels in the direction of only including general, directional provisions and assigning the Government to provide detailed regulations to ensure flexibility in the implementation process. However, it is recommended to clarify the role of these plans, the basis for assessing the suitability of investment projects with the plans when approving investment policies and implementing projects.

In addition, the National Assembly's Economic and Financial Committee believes that the draft Law only provides general regulations for cases of planning adjustment for the 2021-2030 period, without specific regulations on the planning adjustment process according to the nature and scale of the territorial space of the planning that is changed after the implementation of the arrangement, merger, and adjustment of administrative boundaries. Therefore, it is recommended that the Drafting Agency study and make appropriate amendments; if necessary, the Government can provide detailed regulations to avoid obstacles during implementation.

Mr. Phan Van Mai emphasized that some opinions suggested reviewing the plans listed in Appendix I and Appendix II of the Planning Law to evaluate and remove unnecessary plans, plans that have not been implemented or are no longer suitable for practice. In addition, some opinions suggested considering not including the list of technical and specialized plans in the Planning Law, but rather stipulating the criteria and level of planning required and determined in the national sectoral planning.

“The Economic and Financial Committee requests that the Drafting Agency carefully study the review opinions expressed in the Full Report to absorb, explain and complete the draft Law; continue to carry out steps according to the process of the Law on promulgation of legal documents in 2025 before submitting it to the National Assembly for consideration and approval according to the shortened procedures,” the representative of the review agency added./.

According to vietnamplus.vn

Source: https://huengaynay.vn/chinh-tri-xa-hoi/theo-dong-thoi-su/can-nhac-khong-dua-danh-muc-quy-hoach-co-tinh-chuyen-nganh-vao-luat-quy-hoach-153429.html