Decentralize planning approval authority to the commune level.

One of the notable aspects of the draft Law amending and supplementing several articles of the Law on Urban and Rural Planning is the promotion of decentralization and empowerment of commune-level People's Committees, allowing communes to develop and approve certain detailed plans.

Specifically, point d, clause 2, Article 41 of the draft Law stipulates that, based on the requirements of development management and the capacity of the People's Committees at the commune level, the People's Committees at the provincial level shall decentralize and authorize the People's Committees at the commune level to approve zoning plans within cities, in accordance with the practical situation of some cities developing according to the model of multi-polar, multi-centered urban clusters (independent of the administrative boundaries of the commune level).

During discussions on this regulation at the Tenth Session of the 15th National Assembly , many opinions affirmed its necessity. However, decentralization must be accompanied by a coordination mechanism to avoid fragmentation in planning or a lack of synchronization. Furthermore, the regulation stipulating that provincial People's Committees can decide on the decentralization and delegation of authority to commune-level People's Committees to approve planning tasks and general plans of communes when they meet the necessary conditions regarding organizational structure and personnel capacity is not in line with reality and does not guarantee effective task implementation.

The reason is that, in the context of decentralization and delegation of power to local governments, if the commune-level government is not yet qualified or does not meet the requirements, who will take over the task of approving planning? Furthermore, the criteria for evaluating whether a commune is qualified in terms of organization and personnel are unclear and difficult to quantify. If the capacity requirements are not met, what will the accountability mechanism be? Will this lead to an overload for the units, and will the principle of decentralization and delegation of power linked to specific responsibilities be ensured?

Another opinion suggests adding a condition that decentralization must be linked to the capacity of specialized agencies and that mandatory training should be applied to commune-level officials. Without clear regulations, confusion could easily arise, leading to delays in planning or compromised quality. Furthermore, when communes develop land use plans, they must refer to and implement them based on the province's overall plan to avoid conflicts.

The decentralization and empowerment of commune-level People's Committees, allowing them to develop and approve certain detailed plans in the draft Law, is an important step towards perfecting a unified, modern, transparent planning system, consistent with the two-tiered local government model. However, this is a relatively new and significant issue, so concerns are inevitable.

However, as explained by Minister of Construction Tran Hong Minh, when promoting decentralization and delegation of authority in the preparation and approval of planning, it should not be assumed that communes or provinces lack the capacity for appraisal. Instead, specific guidance through decrees and circulars is needed to ensure consistent and high-quality implementation. Specifically, zoning plans within the scope of communes will be implemented by the People's Committees of those communes, while important plans concerning politics, culture, history, security and defense, and economic development will be approved by the People's Committees of the provinces.

For zoning plans, detailed plans need to be approved by the Provincial People's Committee based on the professional capacity, organizational structure, and technical conditions of the locality. When the Commune People's Committee does not meet the appraisal requirements, the implementation will be transferred to the Provincial People's Committee for execution, avoiding a situation where the State has to directly prepare all detailed plans…

It should be emphasized that one of the contents of Conclusion 221 of the Politburo and the Secretariat on the situation and results of the operation of the political system and the two-tiered local government apparatus is to assign the Party Committee of the Government to lead and direct ministries and sectors to continue coordinating with the Ministry of Justice and relevant agencies to urgently review the entire system of legal documents in each sector and field to promptly amend, supplement, and perfect institutions, policies, and laws to ensure they are practical and thoroughly overcome overlapping, conflicting, and incompatible situations with the two-tiered local government model, prioritizing the fields of finance and budget; land and planning…

Therefore, we shouldn't be too rigid and inflexible in assuming that the commune level will lack the capacity. Instead, we need to clearly define the conditions for decentralization to ensure the quality of planning and avoid a situation where everyone does as they please.

Source: https://daibieunhandan.vn/phan-cap-phe-duyet-quy-hoach-cho-cap-xa-10397847.html