On the afternoon of May 28th, the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee organized a workshop to gather feedback from former Ho Chi Minh City leaders on the draft Law on Special Urban Areas. The workshop was chaired by Mr. Nguyen Van Duoc, Member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam, Deputy Secretary of the City Party Committee, and Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee; and Mr. Nguyen Manh Cuong, Alternate Member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam, Member of the Standing Committee of the City Party Committee, and Vice Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee.
Hierarchical structure is linked to the control of power.
Commenting on the draft law, Ms. Vo Thi Dung, former Deputy Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee, suggested that the mechanism for controlling power needs to be clearly defined and stated in the law. She proposed that the law should include a provision granting the City People's Council the authority to issue specific mechanisms for controlling power. According to her, if this is considered a new issue, the city could immediately apply the pilot provisions in the draft to implement it.
Simultaneously, to enhance the effectiveness of comprehensive supervision, the Vietnam Fatherland Front's social supervision and criticism work needs to be designed with a mechanism for close and synchronized coordination with the National Assembly delegation and the City People's Council. This will avoid overlapping responsibilities and ensure that specific mechanisms operate transparently, correctly, and achieve the highest efficiency.
Meanwhile, Ms. Nguyen Thi Le, former Deputy Secretary of the City Party Committee and former Chairwoman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Council, argued that the current draft regulations on decentralization list only the tasks that localities are allowed to do – meaning the city is essentially "requesting" specific mechanisms, which easily overlooks practical issues and creates legal loopholes when new areas arise.
The law also needs to include provisions on policy mechanisms, planning, and governance solutions in special urban areas, with the legitimate rights, safety, quality of life of citizens, and social balance as core criteria. This must be mandatory, and social impact assessments and heritage impact assessments must be conducted before approving projects with large-scale impacts of 200 hectares or more.
Regarding the special civil service regime and the mechanism for protecting officials, Comrade Nguyen Thi Le also stated that the provision on exemption from responsibility in the draft is still too general and does not clearly define the concept of "not acting for personal gain and within one's authority," leading to difficulties in application and easily causing a fear of making mistakes or taking responsibility. She suggested that this concept needs to be clarified in the draft Law on Special Cities.
He also suggested a separate chapter on sandboxes to highlight key points and ensure a systematic approach. According to him, the law should clearly stipulate that when a pilot policy proves effective (through the establishment of an independent evaluation council), the city can automatically implement it officially without waiting for legal amendments. At the same time, he proposed granting the authority to the City People's Council to issue implementation decisions within the city, reporting to the National Assembly Standing Committee for consideration and widespread implementation.
Ready to implement once the law is enacted.
Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee, Nguyen Van Duoc, highly appreciated the opinions of the delegates. He also emphasized that the development of a Law on Special Urban Areas to enable Ho Chi Minh City to develop rapidly and sustainably is a direction given by the Central Government to the city, and also the aspiration of the Party Committee and people of Ho Chi Minh City.
According to him, Ho Chi Minh City is a leader in innovation and serves as a testing ground for mechanisms and policies for the whole country. This tradition has driven the city's continuous development over the years. Recently, the Politburo issued Resolution 09 on building and developing Ho Chi Minh City in the new era, allowing the city to develop a law on special urban areas, creating a stable and sustainable mechanism. This is a great opportunity for the city to make further breakthroughs, achieve double-digit growth, and develop rapidly and sustainably.
Analyzing the city's future tasks as a leading force in development, the Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee stated that this is the foundation and determination for the city to build a Special Urban Law with superior institutions for rapid and sustainable development. The city's perspective in building the Special Urban Law is to selectively inherit the special mechanisms granted to Ho Chi Minh City by the National Assembly and the effective policies outlined in the Capital City Law.
In addition, the city boldly proposed new mechanisms. During the drafting process, the city also prepared legal documents so that they could be implemented immediately once the National Assembly approved them.
Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/xay-dung-luat-do-thi-dac-biet-tao-da-but-pha-tu-phan-cap-phan-quyen-post854878.html
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