Opening the "sky" of innovation for Ho Chi Minh City

Delegate Nguyen Van Loi (HCMC). Photo: QUANG PHUC

Ensuring that Ho Chi Minh City truly has freedom of action

Delegate Hoang Van Cuong ( Hanoi ) pointed out that current specific resolutions (such as Resolution No. 98/2023/QH15) are ineffective because they lack openness and flexibility, and are often bound by general legal regulations, losing their innovative nature.

According to the analysis of Deputy Hoang Van Cuong, Ho Chi Minh City is a major development center of the South, especially after the reorganization, it has become a strong development pole, with many potentials and many conditions to attract outstanding investment. Therefore, there needs to be a truly special institution for Ho Chi Minh City.

Delegate Hoang Van Cuong (Hanoi). Photo: QUANG PHUC

According to Deputy Hoang Van Cuong, up to now, "whatever is newest in the country is from Ho Chi Minh City, then spreads throughout the country." The Deputy proposed turning Ho Chi Minh City into an "institutional sandbox", a place allowed to experiment and create new policies ahead of the rest of the country. Ho Chi Minh City must be the place to go first, create institutions, create policies, and create new ways of doing things.

Giving specific comments, the delegate said that the draft resolution, instead of listing details and specific regulations, should focus on providing a framework of principles so that the City People's Council can proactively decide, ensuring that Ho Chi Minh City truly has the right to act freely within the supervision framework.

For example, according to Deputy Hoang Van Cuong, it is unnecessary to specify and list the types of strategic investors. The Deputy proposed to amend and supplement Resolution No. 98/2023/QH15 in the direction of fundamentally changing the approach. Accordingly, all regulations on "special" contents must be removed, but are bound by other regulations, because "implementation according to legal regulations is no longer special". On the other hand, the special mechanism is not listed too specifically, because it cannot cover all newly arising issues.

Delegate Hoang Van Cuong also proposed to add a regulation allowing Ho Chi Minh City to apply Clause 2, Article 4 of Resolution No. 206/2025/QH15 of the National Assembly (on special mechanisms to handle difficulties and obstacles due to legal regulations), giving the City People's Council the right to promulgate regulations, policy mechanisms to resolve conflicts, obstacles and difficulties of current laws that are not suitable for Ho Chi Minh City and report this to the Government so that the Government can report to the National Assembly Standing Committee.

“When you have given such power to the city and it cannot do it anymore, it is your fault, you cannot say it is due to policy. But I believe that when given such power, Ho Chi Minh City will truly open up a "sky" for innovation, creativity, and development. Freedom but still within the framework of supervision, that is the real place to test the institution,” analyzed Deputy Hoang Van Cuong.

HIẾU .jpeg — Delegate Phan Duc Hieu ( Hung Yen ). Photo: QUANG PHUC

Sharing his opinion with Deputy Hoang Van Cuong, Deputy Phan Duc Hieu (Hung Yen) said: “It is not advisable to describe in too much detail, too specifically. Such regulations can easily become outdated and may not meet the needs of investors.”

For example, Deputy Phan Duc Hieu cited that the draft resolution stipulates that priority projects to attract strategic investors must have a minimum capital scale, such as 2,000 billion VND. But for a priority project, the important issue is not how much investment money, but what technology and solutions are used.

Commenting on the criteria for determining strategic investors, Deputy Phan Duc Hieu also expressed the view that there should not be "rigid frameworks". The Deputy proposed a "completely new mechanism" in determining strategic investors. Accordingly, considering strategic investors as large investors, it is possible to refer to many rankings of enterprises, such as Forbes, in the fields of IT, infrastructure, energy, construction and take them from the group of 500...

“We must understand that strategic investors require a completely different treatment from other investors. Ho Chi Minh City, if possible, should propose establishing an agency to handle investment procedures. This agency is the focal point for receiving documents to handle investment procedures. Investors only work with one agency and receive results from that agency.”

Need a mechanism to protect cadres

Similarly, at the Ho Chi Minh City National Assembly delegation, Deputy Tran Hoang Ngan and many other deputies proposed removing the phrase "Thi Vai - Cai Mep" from the draft resolution when referring to the free trade zone (FTZ). The reason is because the planning includes up to 4 FTZs and clearly stating the port name may force the resolution to be amended if FTZs are implemented in other areas later.

Deputy Nguyen Van Loi, Head of the National Assembly Delegation of Ho Chi Minh City, supports the strong empowerment of Ho Chi Minh City, especially through the removal of unnecessary legal constraints on specific mechanisms, comprehensive decentralization of project decision-making power, and the addition of comprehensive strategic infrastructure mechanisms for Ho Chi Minh City.

Frankly stating that the current draft still has contradictions when stipulating a special mechanism but requiring "compliance with the law", Deputy Nguyen Van Loi stated his opinion: "The special mechanism needs to go beyond current regulations, because it is of a pilot nature". However, the Deputy noted the principle of law application. Accordingly, "if the provisions of current law are more favorable, the law can be applied, and conversely, if the provisions of this resolution are better, the resolution can be applied". The Deputy suggested clearly affirming this in the resolution to avoid future legal consequences due to ambiguity in compliance.

ĐỖ HIỂN .jpg — Delegate Do Duc Hien (HCMC). Photo: QUANG PHUC

Sharing the same concerns about handling legal issues when implementing a superior mechanism, different from the current law, Deputy Do Duc Hien (HCMC) commented that adding a provision on exemption from liability is necessary to increase efficiency in the implementation process. This provision is linked to the Politburo's conclusion on protecting dynamic, creative, and daring cadres.

The original draft included provisions allowing heads of agencies, units, civil servants, public employees, and workers participating in the development, promulgation, and implementation of mechanisms and policies stipulated in this resolution to be considered exempt from liability when they have fully implemented relevant procedures and regulations, and have not sought personal gain in the course of performing their duties, but have caused damage due to objective risks. However, the draft submitted to the National Assembly on December 3 no longer has that provision.

According to the delegate, it is necessary to mobilize the capacity and intelligence of experts and scientists. If only applying the Law on Cadres and Civil Servants (which has similar provisions on exemption from liability - PV) is not enough, because these experts will not be within the scope of regulation.

According to Mr. Do Duc Hien, the provisions on liability exemption will be a great encouragement for the city's cadres, civil servants, and experts and scientists when they participate in special and unprecedented policies in this revision. The delegate also noted that, after reviewing, the draft resolution on a number of special mechanisms for the capital Hanoi submitted to the National Assembly has content on liability exemption.

Sharing the same view, Deputy Dao Chi Nghia (Can Tho) suggested: "It is necessary to stipulate a mechanism that has been agreed upon by the City People's Council to be implemented, considering it as a pre-inspection mechanism to protect cadres."

Also on the viewpoint of boldly giving HCMC the power to make decisions and take responsibility, Deputy Nguyen Quang Huan (HCMC) proposed adding to the draft regulations on chairing inter-provincial projects.

Delegate Nguyen Quang Huan analyzed that the draft regulation stipulates that infrastructure projects using public investment capital, located within the administrative boundaries of Ho Chi Minh City and neighboring provinces, will be assigned to a provincial People's Committee as the managing authority. The drafting agency explained that this is to shorten the time (currently, inter-provincial projects must be submitted to the Prime Minister for assignment, leading to delays).

“If the general regulation is “one provincial People’s Committee”, then when there are 2 or 3 provinces involved, the People’s Committees still have to discuss which committee will be the presiding agency. I propose that for inter-provincial projects involving Ho Chi Minh City, the National Assembly assigns the authority to the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee to preside. This demonstrates the uniqueness of the mechanism,” the delegate commented.

According to the agenda of the 10th session, on December 8, in the plenary session, the National Assembly will discuss in the hall about this draft resolution.

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