National Assembly delegates propose exemption from counterpart funding for poor communes and areas frequently affected by natural disasters

On the morning of December 5, the National Assembly discussed in the hall the investment policy of the "National target program on new rural areas, sustainable poverty reduction, socio-economic development in ethnic minority and mountainous areas by 2035".

General Secretary To Lam and President Luong Cuong with National Assembly deputies at the discussion session in the hall on the morning of December 5.

Propose that the Ministry of Ethnic Minorities and Religions take the lead role in the specific component, instead of coordinating.

As the first delegate to speak in the discussion session, delegate Ho Thi Minh (National Assembly delegation of Quang Tri province) affirmed that the consolidation of 3 current National Target Programs into one comprehensive program is considered an institutional breakthrough, helping to overcome the shortcomings and limitations of the previous stage such as: overlapping beneficiaries, investment locations, cross-management between ministries, branches, and localities in implementation organization...

Delegate Ho Thi Minh said that the National Target Program for Socio -Economic Development of Ethnic Minority Areas (EMBA) has come a long way, fulfilling the mission of shortening the gap and changing the face of life in EMBA economic areas. Integrating 3 Programs into 1 does not mean losing the specificity of each field and policy, especially ethnic policies. Therefore, it is necessary to clarify the governing role of the management agency.

According to the conclusion of the National Assembly Standing Committee, ethnic policy is a specific policy, implemented synchronously over many periods of time; especially, in the National Target Program, ethnic policy has a direct and profound impact on ethnic minorities. Therefore, delegate Ho Thi Minh proposed that the Ministry of Ethnic Minorities and Religions must be the management agency performing the state management function on ethnic minorities, and must play a leading role, not a coordinating role as stated in the submitted documents.

"We see that the second component is a specific component of ethnic minority areas. However, currently, the Ministry of Ethnic Minorities and Religions only plays a guiding role. Therefore, when there are problems with slow disbursement, it will be very difficult to assign responsibility. Therefore, I suggest that in the Resolution, it is necessary to clearly state the authority of the Ministry of Ethnic Minorities and Religions as the role of directly presiding over the allocation of capital for the second component instead of coordinating and guiding," delegate Ho Thi Minh emphasized.

Concerns about outstanding debt in basic construction

Delegate Ho Thi Minh (National Assembly delegation of Quang Tri province) spoke at the hall on the morning of December 5.

Regarding capital allocation, delegate Ha Sy Dong (National Assembly delegation of Quang Tri province) said, "The minimum capital requirement for the 2026-2030 period is 240,000 billion VND, but currently only about 100,000 billion VND has been balanced, only reaching about 41.5% of the minimum requirement. Meanwhile, the requirement to mobilize 33% of local budget capital and 28% from businesses and the community is very difficult to achieve." The delegate suggested that it is necessary to re-determine the appropriate proportion of counterpart capital.

Delegate Dieu Huynh Sang (National Assembly delegation of Dong Nai province) also affirmed that the local counterpart capital ratio is more than 4 times the central capital, which is "inappropriate and difficult to implement". The delegate suggested that the central budget must be the main resource, playing a decisive role in concentrating investment resources with focus and key points.

Regarding capital allocation, the estimated capital of the Program for the 2026 - 2030 period is 1.23 million billion VND , delegate Ho Thi Minh expressed concern: "We see that the central budget is only 8%, the local budget is 33% and the capital mobilized from people and businesses is 28%. In reality, ethnic minority areas, especially localities in the Central Highlands provinces, are facing many difficulties. The budget is still receiving subsidies from the central government, so applying the local budget capital of 33% is very difficult for localities, which will lead to outstanding debts in basic construction".

Delegate Ho Thi Minh suggested that the National Assembly should review the capital structure and exempt counterpart funds for poor communes and areas that frequently experience floods and natural disasters such as the Central and Central Highlands regions.

Delegates attending the discussion session in the hall

Balancing unachieved targets, having a special mechanism to delegate power to localities

Another issue that delegate Ho Thi Minh was concerned about was the goals set out in the Program for the 2030-2035 period. Specifically, there are some very high targets that are difficult to achieve with the current small-scale investment method. The delegate cited that, up to now, some project targets on clean water, residential land, and production land in the National Target Program have not been achieved; only the housing target has been achieved thanks to the Government's program to eliminate temporary and dilapidated houses.

From that reality, delegate Ho Thi Minh proposed the Government: Synchronously and thoroughly review the land fund in forestry and farm farms to hand over the land to ethnic minority people to live and do business. At the same time, do not invest in small, scattered projects such as drilling wells and supplying water tanks, but need to have a strategy to get water from streams and springs and invest in the national power grid.

Faced with the complicated developments of natural disasters in recent years, floods, landslides, delegate Ho Thi Minh expressed her concern that the National Target Program for the 2035 period has not yet mentioned separate sub-projects to support resettlement, livelihoods, and climate change response in ethnic minority and vulnerable areas... Therefore, the delegate suggested that the National Assembly and the Government need to have a special mechanism to delegate authority to localities to implement urgent issues to overcome the consequences of natural disasters through separate mechanisms without having to pass the Law on Public Investment as at present.

Source: https://phunuvietnam.vn/dai-bieu-quoc-hoi-de-nghi-mien-doi-ung-voi-cac-xa-ngheo-vung-thuong-xuyen-gap-thien-tai-238251205112602821.htm