National Assembly Standing Committee: Carefully review regulations on highway standards

The National Assembly Chairman said that it is necessary to continue reviewing and carefully adjusting regulations on standards and conditions of highways; investment in construction and expansion of highways; investment forms...

National Assembly Chairman Tran Thanh Man delivers the opening speech. (Photo: Thong Nhat/VNA)

On the morning of June 11, the National Assembly Standing Committee gave opinions on explaining, accepting and revising the draft Road Law.

At the meeting, Chairman of the National Assembly's Committee on National Defense and Security Le Tan Toi reported on 6 major issues regarding the explanation, acceptance and revision of the draft Law: On road classification according to management level (Article 8); On land fund for road infrastructure (Article 12); On the scope of protection above and below roads (Article 17); On costs of management, use, operation, exploitation and maintenance of road infrastructure (Article 41); On investment, construction and development of highways (Article 47); On highway usage fees (Article 50).

Regarding investment, construction and development of highways (Article 47), the Standing Committee of the National Defense and Security Committee finds that the content of Clause 5, Article 47 is appropriate.

However, current laws do not yet stipulate the responsibilities of the presiding and focal agencies in controlling the total investment for projects divided into sub-projects and component projects.

Therefore, on the basis of agreement with the Drafting Committee and relevant agencies, the Standing Committee of the National Defense and Security Committee proposes that the Standing Committee of the National Assembly supplement paragraph 2, clause 5, Article 47 to stipulate this content as follows: “In case of deciding to separate a project into sub-projects and component projects, the investment policy decision-making authority shall decide to assign a presiding agency to be responsible for organizing the implementation of the project to ensure the overall and synchronous nature of the entire project; be responsible for reviewing, harmonizing, balancing and unifying the adjustment of the total investment between sub-projects and component projects, ensuring that it does not exceed the preliminary total investment of the entire project for which the investment policy has been decided.”

Regarding land fund for road infrastructure (Article 12), the Standing Committee of the National Defense and Security Committee accepts and adjusts Clauses 1 and 2 of this Article to comply with Resolution No. 06-NQ/TW dated February 24, 2022 of the Politburo on planning, construction, and management of sustainable urban development in Vietnam to 2030, with a vision to 2045; consistent with the provisions of Resolution No. 1210/2016/UBTVQH13 of the National Assembly Standing Committee on urban classification.

In addition, to ensure feasibility and suitability with the practice of land management and use in existing urban areas, and to absorb the opinions of National Assembly deputies, the Standing Committee of the National Defense and Security Committee proposed to supplement Point c, Clause 3 in the direction of stipulating that for some urban areas with special factors other than those specified in Resolution No. 1210/2016/UBTVQH13, the proportion of land for transportation will be determined by the Standing Committee of the National Assembly.

National Assembly Chairman Tran Thanh Man speaks. (Photo: Thong Nhat/VNA)

Stating that this is a draft law that has received great attention from National Assembly deputies and voters, National Assembly Chairman Tran Thanh Man acknowledged and highly appreciated the agency in charge of the review for closely coordinating with the drafting agency to actively absorb the opinions of National Assembly deputies to perfect the draft law.

According to the National Assembly Chairman, recently, the National Assembly has passed many Resolutions allowing piloting many contents related to the fields of investment and management of roads and highways.

Under the drastic management of the Government and the Ministry of Transport, investment and management of roads and highways have made much progress.

Expressing his agreement with many contents of the draft Law on Expressways, the National Assembly Chairman emphasized that this is new content compared to the current Law, with many issues being legalized from the practice of investing and constructing expressways in recent times.

However, it is necessary to continue to review and carefully revise this content, especially regulations on standards and conditions of highways; investment in highway construction; highway expansion; investment forms...

The National Assembly Chairman also requested a careful assessment of what constitutes a standard highway and what constitutes a substandard highway.

“The highways in some countries have at least 4 or 5 lanes on each side, but ours have 3 lanes, and in some places 2 lanes. The Can Tho-My Thuan and My Thuan-Trung Luong highways have only 2 lanes, while Trung Luong-Ho Chi Minh City has 3 lanes,” the National Assembly Chairman cited.

Chairman of the National Assembly's Law Committee Hoang Thanh Tung proposed to carefully review the regulations on land funds for urban road infrastructure in Clause 2, Article 12 of the draft Law.

“The provisions in the draft Law are too detailed and contain contents that are not really suitable for the current conditions of localities. In addition, there are some contents that are not suitable for the future development trend of urban areas. If there are strict regulations on land fund ratios without accompanying sanctions and measures to ensure implementation, it will not be feasible,” said Mr. Hoang Thanh Tung.

Therefore, the Chairman of the Law Committee suggested that there should only be orientational regulations to ensure the stability and longevity of the Law; at the same time, it must be consistent with Resolution No. 1210/2016/UBTVQH13./.

(Vietnam+)