Amendments to certain Decrees on investment under the PPP method.

Drafting a Decree amending and supplementing a number of Decrees detailing and guiding the implementation of the Law on Investment under the Public-Private Partnership method.

The Ministry of Finance is closely coordinating with the Ministry of Planning and Investment in the process of developing and finalizing the contents of the Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Planning, the Law on Investment, the Law on Investment under the PPP method, and the Law on Bidding to ensure the resolution of difficulties and obstacles related to BT contracts as reported by the Ministry of Finance; continuing to review and study amendments to Government Decree No. 69/2019/ND-CP dated August 15, 2019, to resolve difficulties and obstacles related to BT contracts under the Government's authority simultaneously with the process of developing and finalizing the Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Planning, the Law on Investment, the Law on Investment under the PPP method, and the Law on Bidding.

Limitations and obstacles in implementing decrees on PPP investment.

The Law on Investment under the PPP Method was passed by the National Assembly on June 19, 2020, and came into effect on January 1, 2021. To ensure the implementation of this Law, the Government issued Decree No. 35/2021/ND-CP dated March 29, 2021, detailing and guiding the implementation of the Law on Investment under the PPP Method, and Decree No. 28/2021/ND-CP dated March 26, 2021, stipulating the financial management mechanism for PPP projects.

Furthermore, prior to the Law on Investment under the PPP method coming into effect, the Government issued Decree No. 69/2019/ND-CP dated August 15, 2019, regulating the use of public assets to pay investors when implementing construction investment projects under the Build-Transfer (BT) contract form.

According to the Ministry of Planning and Investment, from the time the PPP Law and its detailed regulations came into effect until the end of 2022, 24 new PPP projects were implemented under the provisions of the Law on Investment in the PPP method (10 projects have been approved, 14 projects are in the investment preparation phase) and 295 PPP projects (including 160 projects using the BT contract type) are being implemented under the transitional provisions of this Law. Most of the new PPP projects implemented under the provisions of the Law on Investment in the PPP method are key national projects of large scale.

However, the implementation of decrees on investment under the PPP method still faces some limitations and obstacles. Specifically:

- Decree No. 35/2021/ND-CP detailing and guiding the implementation of the Law on Investment under the PPP method: (i) The minimum total investment scale required for PPP projects is larger than the actual situation and the local investment attraction needs, leading to difficulties in attracting small-scale projects with potential and attractiveness to investors through PPP; (ii) The regulation that the contracting agency only pays a maximum of 50% of the value of completed work for sub-projects using public investment capital in PPP projects makes it difficult for investors to arrange capital to implement the entire PPP project; (iii) Transitional provisions and implementation clauses for PPP projects in general and BT projects in particular need to be supplemented to resolve difficulties in early contract termination, payment, settlement, adjustment of feasibility study reports and adjustment of construction design...

- Decree No. 28/2021/ND-CP stipulates the financial management mechanism for PPP projects: (i) The indicators for analyzing and evaluating the financial plan of projects in each field are incomplete, leading to confusion in assessing financial feasibility; (ii) Regulations on the percentage of state capital participation in PPP projects are not consistent and unified with the regulations in the Law on Investment under the PPP method; (iii) The source of funds for payment for PPP projects of the build-transfer-lease (BTL) contract type and build-lease-transfer (BLT) contract type are not specifically regulated in cases where a public non-profit organization that self-finances its recurrent expenditures is the contracting agency...

- Decree No. 69/2019/ND-CP regulating the use of public assets to pay investors when implementing BT projects: (i) There are no regulations on the conditions for competent authorities to decide to allow the use of cleared land or state agency headquarters assigned to investors to implement BT projects; (ii) There is a lack of regulations on handling the funds advanced by investors for land clearance work...

Therefore, reviewing and amending some Decrees detailing the Law on Investment under the PPP method is necessary to ensure legal and practical basis, as well as the direction of the Government and Government leaders.

Source: https://kinhtedothi.vn/sua-doi-mot-so-nghi-dinh-ve-dau-tu-theo-phuong-thuc-ppp.html