Approval of Resolution on piloting a number of special mechanisms for investment in construction of traffic works

Previously, Member of the National Assembly Standing Committee, Chairman of the National Assembly's Economic Committee Vu Hong Thanh presented a Report explaining, accepting and revising the draft Resolution on piloting a number of specific mechanisms and policies on investment in the construction of road traffic works.

Accordingly, many opinions agreed with the necessity of issuing the Resolution, however, some opinions disagreed with the issuance of the pilot Resolution, suggesting reviewing relevant laws for comprehensive amendments. Regarding this issue, Chairman of the Economic Committee Vu Hong Thanh said that recently, the State has paid attention to and devoted large resources to invest in road traffic infrastructure, but for many different reasons, the implementation is still limited, not meeting the needs of socio-economic development, while investing in the synchronous and modern construction of the infrastructure system is one of the strategic breakthroughs.

In order to strive to successfully implement the Resolution of the 13th National Party Congress and the 5-year socio-economic development plan for the period 2021 - 2025 of the National Assembly, it is necessary to prioritize resources and have specific policies to accelerate the construction of a modern road infrastructure system. At the same time, a number of pilot policies in the draft Resolution are inherited from policies that have been approved by the National Assembly for application in the past and have achieved positive results.

Regarding the scope of regulation, subjects of application and criteria for selecting pilot projects (Article 1), there are opinions suggesting reviewing the scope of regulation and subjects of application of the draft Resolution. Many opinions suggest reviewing, supplementing and perfecting the principles and criteria for selecting pilot projects. On this issue, the Report of the National Assembly Standing Committee clearly states: The Government has set out criteria for selecting pilot projects and, based on proposals from localities, has reviewed and submitted to the National Assembly the draft Resolution and list of projects.

In addition, to ensure the pilot is effective, with clear address, scope, and application time, avoiding spreading, in line with the nature of the pilot, the National Assembly Standing Committee recommends that the National Assembly consider and decide that the pilot only applies to projects submitted by the Government and not to add to the list of pilot projects after the National Assembly votes and approves them. The Government is fully responsible for the list of projects proposed to the National Assembly; therefore, please do not stipulate the principles and criteria for selecting projects in the draft Resolution.

At the same time, the Standing Committee of the National Assembly requests to remove the provisions on the subjects of application in the draft Resolution, because the provisions in Article 1 on the scope of adjustment of the regulations on specific policies on investment in road construction for the projects stated in the Appendix attached to this Resolution already include the subjects and specific addresses of application of the projects.

Many opinions suggested adding principles and criteria on commitment to ensure progress, coordination responsibilities of localities in compensation, support, and resettlement of projects; and project management capacity of localities. The Chairman of the Economic Committee said that according to current legal regulations, compensation, support, and resettlement for project implementation are the responsibility of localities.

This work involves many state management agencies, investors, compensation and resettlement subjects, etc. and has been specifically regulated in relevant laws. Currently, the law on construction and the law on public investment do not stipulate criteria for capacity and experience in project management of the managing agency. According to the law on construction, projects will be assigned to agencies and organizations to implement the project. Therefore, whether the progress and quality of the project meet the requirements or not depends largely on the capacity of these agencies and organizations.

Therefore, at Point b, Clause 4, Article 7 of the draft Resolution, it is stipulated that the Provincial People's Committee is assigned as the competent authority responsible for ensuring the capacity and experience of the agencies and organizations assigned to implement the project in accordance with the law on construction.