Quang Ngai "kills" dozens of slow-progressing projects

Although dozens of projects that were not implemented on schedule have been "terminated", handling these projects is still a difficult problem for Quang Ngai province.

According to the People's Committee of Quang Ngai province, up to now, the province has recorded 67 investment projects approved by the provincial People's Committee (except for economic zones and industrial parks) that are not being implemented on schedule, with a total registered investment capital of VND9,221 billion and a land use area of 824 hectares. Of which, 13/67 projects have leased land; 54/67 projects have not leased land.

The reason is that in the process of implementing procedures after approving the investment policy, many projects are not implemented on schedule as prescribed in the granted investment certificate/investment policy decision.

Quang Ngai Provincial People's Committee acknowledged that typical causes of slow progress are problems with land regulations, mainly concentrated in projects in the agricultural sector; problems with land areas managed by the state in the project area; problems with negotiations, compensation, and support for people with land in the project area; problems with changes in socio-economic development orientation and implementation after inspection conclusions...

Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, Mr. Tran Phuoc Hien said that recently, the Department of Planning and Investment has always proactively reviewed, urged and warned investors whose projects are not implemented on schedule.

“After reviewing, in some cases where investors were slow to implement, the Department of Planning and Investment took the lead and coordinated with local authorities and relevant agencies to review and, based on investment laws, advise the Provincial People's Committee to promptly handle the case. Specifically, from 2021 to present, the Provincial People's Committee has terminated the legal validity of investment policies and revoked 61 projects that were not implemented on schedule,” said Mr. Hien.

According to the leaders of Quang Ngai province, for some projects that were not implemented on schedule due to objective reasons and the investors were still determined to implement, when the investors proposed to the competent authority to adjust the project investment policy, the Department of Planning and Investment promptly coordinated with the local authorities and related units to appraise and advise the Provincial People's Committee to consider and adjust the project according to the provisions of the law on investment. Along with that, the Quang Ngai Provincial People's Committee established an interdisciplinary inspection team to conduct on-site inspections, work directly with many investors, hold meetings and report to the Provincial People's Committee on handling options.

However, in the process of handling slow-progressing projects, the province faced a number of difficulties and obstacles, such as regulations on terminating investment projects that are not specific and depend on other specialized laws.

“Provincial specialized agencies recognize that the handling of investment projects that are not on schedule currently has many obstacles, and that legal regulations are still unclear. They also determined that terminating the investment policy of projects mainly based on the voluntary spirit of investors is feasible and fastest. However, during the working process, some investors have not agreed to voluntarily terminate the project activities, with the main reason being that the investors have spent money to carry out related procedures after the investment policy decision was made,” said Mr. Hien.

Currently, for projects that have been allocated land or leased land but are slow to implement, the Provincial People's Committee has directed the Department of Natural Resources and Environment and the People's Committees of districts, towns and cities to review and advise the Provincial People's Committee to consider and handle according to regulations.

Some projects have not been allocated land or leased land due to legal problems (focused on the agricultural sector). The Department of Natural Resources and Environment is coordinating with the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development to determine the feasibility of accessing land and advise the Provincial People's Committee to handle it according to regulations.

According to the Department of Planning and Investment, this agency is continuing to strengthen investment monitoring and evaluation; reviewing projects that are behind schedule and advising the Provincial People's Committee to handle them according to regulations. In particular, for projects that investors are still actively implementing, the Department of Planning and Investment will guide investors to carry out procedures to submit to competent authorities for consideration and adjustment of project progress according to investment law to have a basis for implementing other related procedures.

The Ministry of Planning and Investment is consulting with competent authorities to promulgate the Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Investment Law, including a draft regulation amending and supplementing Article 48 of the 2020 Investment Law on termination of investment project activities.

Therefore, after the competent authority issues the above regulations, the Department of Planning and Investment will review and advise the Provincial People's Committee to handle each specific project, ensuring strictness and compliance with current legal regulations.

Source: https://baodautu.vn/quang-ngai-khai-tu-hang-chuc-du-an-cham-tien-do-d238500.html