Overview of the session
Discussing at the meeting, delegate Do Duc Duy - Delegation of the National Assembly of Yen Bai province highly appreciated the Government in the process of summarizing the Law on Water Resources in 2012 and developing the draft Law on Water Resources (amended) to submitted to the National Assembly at this session. In which, in addition to inheriting relevant provisions of the current law, the draft Law has amended and supplemented many new regulations and policies in the direction of approaching international practices on integrated management of natural resources. country and suitable to the practical conditions of Vietnam.
The Draft Law already provides principles for the management, protection, exploitation and use of water resources; prevent, combat and overcome consequences caused by water in Article 4. In which, regulations on ensuring water source security have been added in Clause 9. Delegates said that this regulation is a necessary requirement and In the current context, not only countries but also globally must pay attention to and handle non-traditional security issues in general, including water security.
The draft also adds regulations on economic tools, policies and resources for water resources, and supplements regulations related to financial mechanisms to clarify the economic value of water resources in the country. socio-economic development according to the principles of market economy. Delegates assessed that the addition of this regulation is very necessary to contribute to raising awareness, responsibility and attitude of organizations and individuals towards water resources, this is one of the resources. the nation's most important and precious natural resource along with land resources. From there, there is a scientific and practical thinking and approach that is suitable to the economic value of water resources as well as the protection, exploitation, use, savings, efficiency, safety and sustainability of natural resources. water, serving socio-economic development and people's life.
At the same time, these new regulations also contribute to correctly and fully calculating the cost of water resources in the price of products, goods and services according to the market mechanism to avoid wasting and losing state resources. as well as limit risks for Vietnamese products and goods when integrating into the international market; avoid being denied or being subject to additional taxes due to violations of regulations on the use of water resources in accordance with international practices.
Paying attention to the regulations on basic survey of water resources in Article 12, Clause 1 stipulates that “… Results of basic survey on water resources using state budget must be approved by competent state agencies. appraise and verify according to regulations of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.” Delegate Do Duc Duy proposed to change the phrase "according to the regulations of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment" to the phrase "according to the regulations of the Government". Explaining the above point of view, the delegate said that, for the component activities of the basic survey of water resources, the survey and assessment of water resources has been assigned by the Government to guide the implementation in Clause 4 of this Article. 12, Clause 8, Article 13 of the draft Law. These two clauses have stipulated that the Government shall be assigned to guide, therefore, Clause 1, Article 12 of the provision that the Government shall be assigned to guide is not appropriate.
Delegate Do Duc Duy – Delegation to the National Assembly of Yen Bai province
In addition, expressing agreement with the name of the Law on Water Resources, delegate Phan Viet Luong - Binh Phuoc Provincial National Assembly Delegation said that this name covers functions, fields and contents such as water management. management, protection, exploitation and use of water resources. This name is also basically consistent with many established laws. The delegate said, the draft Law also adds 1 Article on the subjects of application, which stipulates that “This Law applies to agencies, organizations, residential communities, households and individuals managing, exploitation and use of water resources”. Meanwhile, there are many contents related to the protection of water resources, so the delegate suggested adding the phrase "protection" to ensure completeness and coverage.
For Article 3 on the interpretation of words, delegate Phan Viet Luong proposed to review the phrase "domestic water source" in the direction that domestic water sources are directly serving water sources or treated water sources for service. for living purposes to ensure science. Delegates also expressed concern when many contents in the draft Law were assigned to the Government and ministries and branches to provide detailed regulations. The delegate stated that in the draft there are about 18 articles assigned to the Government, of which many articles assign the Government to regulate the entire content. With the goal of amending the law for effective application, the delegate proposed to review this issue to avoid the situation of framework law and pipe law.
In addition, delegate Khang Thi Mao - Delegation of the National Assembly of Yen Bai province said that according to the World Bank's assessment, the value of water use in Vietnam is very low, 1m3 of water only generates $2,37, about 1/10 of the global average of 19,43 USD. The rate of water drainage in urban and rural domestic water supply is still high; the percentage of rural domestic water supply works inefficiently operating is still high, over 30%. The efficiency of water use for agriculture in Vietnam is still low, reaching 0,2 USD/m3. Water used in agriculture accounts for 81% of the total amount of water exploited and used in Vietnam but only generates 17%-18% of GDP. Therefore, the delegates said that it is very necessary to upgrade the efficiency of exploitation and use of water resources. Along with that, there must be tools to measure, evaluate and monitor the efficiency of exploitation and use of water resources.
Delegates in attendance
From the above analysis, the delegates expressed their agreement with the provisions of Article 68 on integrating water resource activities of the draft Law. It can be said that this is an important tool to measure the value of water resources and the efficiency of water use. This regulation has institutionalized the viewpoints, guidelines and policies of the Party on fully assessing the value of water resources and improving the efficiency of water use in the issued documents. Realizing that this is a technical issue, in order to ensure the effectiveness and efficiency of the draft Law, delegates expressed their agreement with the Government's assignment of detailed regulations and a roadmap for implementation. for this content. At the same time, it is recommended that the drafting agency, in the process of developing detailed regulations, review the current legal provisions on statistics as well as related fields to ensure clarity, synchronization and efficiency in the field of statistics. perform.
Concerned about the issue of water storage, according to the delegate, in addition to the basic task of a hydroelectric reservoir, which is to generate electricity and ensure electricity supply for the national power system, it must also ensure the harmony of economic interests. economic, social and environmental. Typically, ensuring the minimum flow, coordinating with irrigation reservoirs, supplying water for daily life, agriculture and production in the downstream region in the dry season, ensuring the safety of the works and contributing to flood reduction for the area. downstream during the flood season.
In fact, in recent years, hydropower reservoirs have actively participated in water storage and water discharge to meet domestic water needs and irrigation in periods of drought and water shortage. Therefore, the delegate said that the draft Law should clarify whether the water storage activities of hydropower reservoirs are considered as water storage activities entitled to incentives and support as specified in Article 69? In addition, in case it is required to mobilize hydroelectric reservoirs to store water or discharge water to meet domestic, production and downstream water needs, which affects the development interests of the unit, it is necessary to study , consider the compensation or benefit sharing regime from benefiting organizations and individuals for the units managing and operating hydropower reservoirs to ensure fairness in exploitation and use of water resources.
At the meeting, the National Assembly deputies also gave opinions on water resource protection and water restoration; regulation, distribution and exploitation and use of water resources; economic tools, policies and resources for water resources and responsibility for state management of water resources. At the same time, give opinions on the project of the Law on Credit Institutions (amended).
