On the morning of November 6th, at the National Assembly building, continuing the program of the 8th Session, under the chairmanship of National Assembly Chairman Tran Thanh Man , the National Assembly discussed in the plenary hall the draft Law on Public Investment (amended).
Participating in the discussion, National Assembly Deputy Mai Van Hai, Provincial Party Committee member and Deputy Head of the Thanh Hoa Provincial National Assembly Delegation, basically agreed with the Government's submission and the verification report of the Finance and Budget Committee.
To further refine the draft Law, National Assembly Deputy Mai Van Hai contributed several specific opinions, including: Article 18. Authority to decide on investment policies for programs and projects: This article contains many new points in the spirit of strong decentralization to agencies to consider and decide on investment policies. In particular, regarding point b, clause 6 and clause 7 concerning the authority of the Provincial People's Council and People's Committee to decide on investment policies for projects implemented in two or more provinces, or in two or more districts or communes, Deputy Mai Van Hai fully agrees; However, it is proposed that, in order to determine the managing unit of the Provincial People's Committee, for projects involving two or more provinces, the Ministry of Planning and Investment should be assigned to lead the process in collaboration with the provinces where the projects are implemented to jointly select the Provincial People's Committee as the managing agency, and report to the Prime Minister for consideration and decision (point b, clause 6 and clause 7). It is also proposed that there should be no need to report to the Provincial People's Council for approval, and that the Provincial People's Committee proposed as the managing agency should not have to report to the Prime Minister as stipulated in Clause 2, Article 30 on the procedures for deciding on investment policies for projects implemented in two or more provincial-level administrative units.
Similarly, regarding the procedures for deciding on investment policies for projects in areas with two or more district-level or commune-level administrative units, it is proposed that the Department of Planning and Investment be assigned to lead the project implementation in collaboration with the districts. This would ensure that the district-level People's Committee is the managing agency, eliminating the need to report this policy to the district People's Council and the Department of Planning and Investment. Based on the districts' consensus, the report would then be submitted to the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee for consideration and decision, assigning a single district People's Committee as the managing agency for project implementation. This would shorten the time for deciding on investment policies and avoid creating additional procedures.
Article 58, regarding the timeframe for allocating funds for project implementation: The timeframe for allocating funds for Group A projects shall not exceed 6 years, Group B projects not exceeding 4 years, and Group C projects not exceeding 3 years, as stipulated in the 2019 law. Clause 2 of this provision states that in cases where the timeframe for allocating funds is not met, "for Group A, B, and C projects, the extension shall not exceed 1 year; for Group A projects with a total investment of 10-30 trillion VND, the extension shall not exceed 2 years; national target programs shall be extended by the investment decision-making authority. If the extension period is exceeded, the managing agency shall report to the Prime Minister for consideration and decision." For local budgets, the Chairman of the People's Committee at each level shall decide on the timeframe for allocating funds for project implementation and report to the People's Council at the same level at the nearest meeting.
Extending the timeframe and delegating authority to the Chairmen of People's Committees at all levels to decide on the allocation of funds will increase proactiveness and flexibility in allocating funds from the central and local budgets. However, it is suggested that the extension period for Group A, B, and C projects should not exceed one year, and for Group A projects (10-30 trillion VND) not exceed two years. If the deadline is exceeded, it must be reported to the Prime Minister for consideration and decision, potentially leading to further delays in fund allocation. It is proposed that the authority responsible for investment decisions should be responsible for granting extensions. Furthermore, to avoid arbitrary extensions of the allocation period, prolonging project implementation, and causing waste of state budget resources, it is suggested that specific conditions, grounds, and circumstances under which adjustments are permitted should be considered.
Clause 3 of Article 98 of the draft Law stipulates: “3. In cases where projects implemented over two consecutive medium-term public investment plan periods as stipulated in points a and d of Clause 2 of this Article exceed 20%, the competent authority shall report to the Prime Minister for central government budget funds, or the People's Councils at all levels for local government budget funds under their management, for approval, but not exceeding 50% as stipulated in points a and d of Clause 2 of this Article.”
However, Clause 1 of Article 56 of the draft Law stipulates that one of the conditions that must be met for programs, projects, tasks, and other public investment objects to be included in the medium-term public investment plan is: “1. The project is a transitional project belonging to the list of the previous medium-term public investment plan.”
Thus, according to Clause 1, Article 56, transitional projects included in the previous public investment plan are incorporated into the subsequent public investment plan, provided they comply with the legal regulations on the principles and criteria for allocating public investment capital.
In reality, some projects have been approved by competent authorities with a commencement and completion schedule within one medium-term public investment plan period; however, due to objective reasons, the projects have not been completed and need to be carried over to a later phase. Alternatively, some urgent and key projects, added in the final years of the previous medium-term plan period, have only received funding for investment preparation, with the investment implementation portion (representing the majority of the project's total investment) allocated in a later phase. The remaining capital for these projects must be allocated in a later phase, causing the total investment value of programs and projects to be implemented in the later medium-term public investment plan to exceed 50% of the capital allocated in the previous medium-term public investment plan period for each funding source. Therefore, implementing these projects in the subsequent phase of the public investment plan, while ensuring compliance with the regulations on principles and criteria for allocating public investment capital as stipulated in Article 56 of the draft Law, is inconsistent with the provisions of Article 98 of the draft Law.
Therefore, to ensure consistency and uniformity among the regulations in this draft amendment to the Law, and to increase proactiveness and flexibility in implementing the medium-term public investment plan, in accordance with the actual situation, it is proposed not to stipulate a percentage ratio between the total investment value of projects implemented in the subsequent medium-term public investment plan and the capital of the previous medium-term public investment plan, according to each source of funding, as stipulated in Clause 3, Article 98 of the draft Law.
Quoc Huong
Source: https://baothanhhoa.vn/dbqh-mai-van-hai-doan-dbqh-tinh-thanh-hoa-tham-gia-gop-y-ve-du-an-luat-dau-tu-cong-sua-doi-nbsp-229592.htm
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