Continuing the 8th Session, on the morning of November 6, the National Assembly discussed in the hall the Draft Law on Public Investment Amendment.

Speaking to explain and clarify the content of interest to the National Assembly Deputies, Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung, on behalf of the drafting agency, respectfully thanked the opinions of the National Assembly Deputies who spoke in groups as well as in the hall today. The opinions were profound, responsible, dedicated, close to reality, very accurate and correct to current problems, especially suggesting many issues that need to be regulated in more detail, more clearly, more specifically.

Regarding the viewpoint and principles of amending the revised Law on Public Investment, Minister Nguyen Chi Dung emphasized the need to change the thinking of law-making as stated by the General Secretary, the National Assembly and the National Assembly Chairman have sent documents to the National Assembly deputies. If in the past, the thinking of law-making only focused on management, this time it must both manage and create for development, create new spaces, clear bottlenecks, free up resources, and meet the requirements of national development. "This is an extremely important requirement and a huge change in thinking," Minister Nguyen Chi Dung emphasized.

In addition, according to Minister Nguyen Chi Dung, it is necessary to switch from pre-control to post-control and promote decentralization. The Minister cited the experience of China, where a province built 2,000 km of highway in just 3 years. “When asked why they could build a large volume in a short time at a low cost, they said it was because of strong decentralization to localities, daring to borrow and establish state-owned companies to carry out transport infrastructure projects. After the investment is completed, it is transferred to the private sector for exploitation and capital recovery...”. Therefore, if we continue to follow the old mindset, it will be very slow, so we need to decentralize more strongly, he added.

"The Central Government, the National Assembly, and the Government should focus on controlling, creating, and perfecting institutions and the investment environment, simplifying administrative procedures, reducing asking for favors, reducing power over you, power over me, and pushing and avoiding," Minister Nguyen Chi Dung stated his opinion.

Regarding the proposal to increase the scale of public investment capital for important national projects to 30,000 billion VND or more (currently 10,000 billion VND), some delegates suggested that it should only be increased to 20,000 billion VND. Minister Nguyen Chi Dung explained that the criteria for important national projects set out in 1997 was 10,000 billion VND. Since then, the size of the economy has increased 10 times compared to 2000 and 2.5 times compared to 2013. The average depreciation rate from 2020 to present is 3% per year. With the expected life cycle of the law being about 5-10 years, the Minister is concerned that if it is increased as suggested by delegates, it will no longer be appropriate in a few years. Therefore, he proposed to keep the scale of important project capital at 30,000 billion VND as proposed by the Government.

Minister Nguyen Chi Dung added that in fact, in the 2021-2025 period, the National Assembly resolved 10 important national projects, of which 5 projects were over 30,000 billion VND. It is expected that in the coming 2026-2030, there will be 40 projects over 10,000 billion VND, of which 30 projects are over 30,000 billion VND. Considering and resolving a large number of projects in a National Assembly term is a lot. If the scale is reduced to 20,000 billion VND, the National Assembly will have to spend a lot of effort in considering and approving important national projects. "This is also to promote decentralization and delegation of power so that the National Assembly can focus on making major decisions for the country," the Minister explained.

Regarding the proposal to decentralize the adjustment of the mid-term public investment policy from the central budget from the National Assembly Standing Committee to the Prime Minister, Minister Nguyen Chi Dung affirmed that this does not violate the Constitution. At the same time, it also ensures flexibility because project adjustments take place daily and monthly, not in batches. “The Government cannot submit each project and each province to the National Assembly Standing Committee for consideration. Even if the National Assembly Standing Committee meets once every few weeks, it is difficult. Waiting to collect them all at once to submit again will miss the work of the locality. Adjustments arise daily and monthly, so decentralization as in the draft law will ensure flexibility and suitability to actual situations,” the Minister informed.

Responding to opinions disagreeing with the decentralization of authority from the People's Council to the People's Committee to decide on investment policies for Group B and C projects, Minister Nguyen Chi Dung said that Article 17 of the current Law allows that, if necessary, the People's Council can delegate authority to the People's Committee. In fact, 43 provinces have implemented this. The Government recently consulted 63 localities and all agreed. However, the Minister said that he would seriously consider it, and work with the examining agency to carefully study whether to decentralize to the People's Committee or keep it as it is now, then report to the Government and the National Assembly. The option could be to separate and decentralize according to the provincial or district budget.

Regarding the issue of separating land clearance projects, Minister Nguyen Chi Dung said that according to current regulations, a project goes through three steps: investment preparation, project preparation and project implementation. Land clearance is in the project preparation stage, done first and in parallel with investment procedures. Once the investment procedures are completed, they can be implemented immediately, instead of having to wait until the investment decision is made to move on to land clearance. The Minister emphasized that separating land clearance projects into separate projects is a "revolution". However, according to the Minister, "it is open for development but still needs to be strictly managed to avoid spreading and waste". Therefore, the Draft Law stipulates that when separating land clearance projects, they must be consistent with planning, plans and capital allocation and mobilization.

Concluding the session, Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Nguyen Duc Hai said that 27 delegates spoke during the discussion session, and the Minister of Planning and Investment explained and clarified a number of opinions of the National Assembly delegates. Through the discussion, the delegates agreed on the necessity of amending the Law on Public Investment to institutionalize the Party's policies, remove urgent difficulties and obstacles in the spirit of innovative thinking and law-making. Innovate and improve the efficiency of management and use of public investment capital, serve socio-economic development, and strive to achieve the highest results of the goals set by the 13th National Party Congress. Overcome shortcomings in the development and implementation of the medium-term public investment plan for the 2021-2025 period. Timely apply to the development of the medium-term public investment plan for the 2026-2030 period.

Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Nguyen Duc Hai emphasized that the opinions of the National Assembly deputies have been recorded and fully transcribed. The National Assembly Standing Committee will direct the verification agency to closely coordinate with the drafting agency and relevant agencies to study the opinions expressed in the hall today and the opinions discussed in groups to absorb and complete the draft law to submit to the National Assembly for consideration and decision.