Through more than 400 billion VND of public investment, preparing to operate two-level local government

HNN.VN - On the morning of June 20, the 24th Special Session of the 8th City People's Council took place with many important contents, laying the foundation for the process of converting to a two-level local government model.

The meeting was chaired by: Member of the Party Central Committee, Secretary of the City Party Committee, Chairman of the People's Council, Head of the City National Assembly Delegation Le Truong Luu; Member of the City Party Committee, Permanent Vice Chairman of the City People's Council Nguyen Quang Tuan and Vice Chairman of the City People's Council Ha Van Tuan. Also attending the meeting were Deputy Secretary of the City Party Committee, Chairman of the City People's Committee Nguyen Van Phuong.

Chairman of the City People's Council Le Truong Luu delivered a closing speech at the meeting.

Leverage for growth

The focus of the meeting was to review, discuss and approve the City People's Committee's reports on allocating and adjusting the public investment plan, notably the proposal to advance VND270 billion from the budget to speed up the progress of two urgent projects currently being implemented.

Specifically, 220 billion VND was added to the Hue City Police Office Project, with a total investment of 799 billion VND. This project was selected by the Ministry of Public Security as a project to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the People's Public Security Forces, which is of great significance to security, national defense and the image of Hue city. The project is currently under construction on schedule, expected to be inaugurated in August 2025, but resources need to be added in time to ensure this timeline.

The second project is the Office of some agencies and units of Thua Thien Hue province (now Hue city), proposed to allocate an additional 50 billion VND to complete in 2025. The total investment capital of this project is more than 415 billion VND, which has been approved many times before.

Along with capital provision, the City People's Committee also proposed using VND 154,484 billion from the 2024 budget savings for urgent public investment items, including: VND 105 billion to support Thuan Hoa district to clear land on Ba Trieu Street - one of the key inner-city traffic routes; VND 3 billion for Quang Dien district to complete school infrastructure, ready for the new school year; VND 28 billion to speed up the progress of the road along the Huong River (South), from Da Vien Bridge to Huyen Tran Cong Chua Street - a riverside traffic route with rich landscape value and urban connectivity.

According to the City People's Committee, the total budget savings in 2024 is up to VND 422,149 billion, with a proposed allocation of VND 100 billion to supplement the budget reserve; VND 90 billion for social security policies; nearly VND 80 billion for specific projects such as returning the Land Development Fund, treating wastewater at Kanglongda Factory, dredging Rao Cung River and other projects that are difficult to disburse but necessary for the sustainable development of the city...

Standing Committee of City People's Council chaired the meeting

Laying the foundation for two-tier local government

One content that delegates were particularly interested in was the report on the decentralization of revenue sources, expenditure tasks and budget allocation ratio between the city government and the commune/ward level. This is a step towards realizing the Law on Organization of Local Government (amended), effective from July 1, 2025, associated with the model of eliminating the district level and streamlining the apparatus.

Accordingly, Hue City's budget will enjoy 100% of many large revenues such as: State-owned enterprises, FDI, equitization; personal income tax (except for individual households); land use fees from projects approved by the city; business registration fees; administrative fines, lottery revenue...

On the contrary, the commune/ward level is allowed to retain 100% of the revenues that are appropriate to its capacity such as: Business license fees from individual households, revenue from public assets, commune-level public service fees, aid, voluntary contributions...

Notably, two groups of revenue sources will be divided according to percentages between the city and communes/wards, including land use fees from projects managed by communes/wards; revenues from business households and individual businesses (except for business license fees).

The clear division of revenue and expenditure rights not only ensures fairness between levels, but also motivates communes to proactively exploit local revenue sources, while reducing the situation of waiting and relying on superiors.

Discussing at the meeting hall, delegate Le Ngoc Son - Secretary of Huong Thuy Town Party Committee said that the decentralization policy is correct, but it is necessary to measure the "local" strength.

“In Huong Thuy, up to 7/10 communes and wards used to receive support from the district budget. Now, if we abandon the district budget and transfer all revenue to the city, there must be a reasonable compensation mechanism; otherwise, the commune level will face many difficulties in balancing revenue and expenditure,” said Mr. Son.

Mr. Son also suggested that the city should pay special attention to land use fee revenue – a large but often regulated source of revenue. “Previously, when there was a revenue shortfall, the district level compensated. Now that the district level is abolished, the city needs to find a solution,” Mr. Son suggested.

Delegate Le Ngoc Son expressed his opinion at the meeting.

Ready for a “historic move” in July

Speaking at the closing session, Chairman of the Hue City People's Council Le Truong Luu said that the session passed 14 important resolutions, not only removing the "bottleneck" on public investment, but also establishing the legal foundation for the two-level local government model.

Mr. Le Truong Luu requested the City People's Committee and relevant units to urgently implement the contents of the resolution, especially comprehensively preparing for the operation of the new model from July 1, 2025.

Accordingly, it is necessary to review and arrange personnel, headquarters, facilities and administrative infrastructure at the new commune level; organize professional training for commune officials in the fields of finance, land, environment, and public administration; carefully review ongoing projects to avoid interruptions during the transition period; complete the program to eliminate temporary and dilapidated houses before June 30, 2025; proactively prepare plans to prevent natural disasters, fires and explosions in the summer, and ensure national defense and security...

“We are entering a new period of development, with a more streamlined, effective and efficient apparatus. Today’s resolutions are the first bricks on a new journey. The entire political system must turn policies into concrete and practical actions,” Mr. Le Truong Luu emphasized.

Le Tho

Source: https://huengaynay.vn/chinh-tri-xa-hoi/theo-dong-thoi-su/thong-qua-hon-400-ti-dong-dau-tu-cong-chuan-bi-van-hanh-chinh-quyen-dia-phuong-hai-cap-154867.html