NA approves resolution on specific mechanism, policies for road transport projects

National Assembly session approving the resolution piloting a number of specific mechanisms and policies on investment of road transport works on Tuesday. — VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — The National Assembly (NA) passed on Tuesday afternoon a resolution piloting a number of specific mechanisms and policies on investment of road transport works after 464/467 delegates voted in favour.

Previously, the NA heard the report on explaining and revising the draft resolution presented by the NA Economics Committee’s Chairman Vũ Hồng Thanh.

According to Thanh, many opinions agreed with the need to promulgate the resolution, however, some suggested a review of relevant laws for comprehensive amendments.

In recent times, the State has paid attention to road transport infrastructure and spent large sums on investment, but for many different reasons, implementation has still been limited and could not meet the needs of socio-economic development, while investing in synchronous and modern construction of infrastructure systems is one of the strategic breakthroughs, Thanh told the NA.

To strive to successfully implement the Resolution of the 13th Party Congress, the 5-year socio-economic development plan for the period 2021-25 of the National Assembly, prioritising resources and offering specific policies to accelerate the construction of modern road infrastructure systems are essential.

A number of pilot policies in the draft resolution are inherited from policies that have been applied by the National Assembly in recent years achieving positive results, Thanh said.

However, if the resolution is approved by the NA, the Government has to conduct an assessment and summary of relevant legal regulations to propose amendments, he added.

The Government has established criteria for selecting pilot projects and reviewed and submitted to the National Assembly project lists based on proposals from localities.

In addition, in order for the pilot implementation to be effective and avoid spreading out investment, the committee recommended that the NA consider and decide the pilot projects submitted by the Government and does not supplement the list of pilot projects after the NA votes for approval. The Government is fully responsible for the list of projects proposed to the NA.

Many comments suggested adding principles and criteria on commitments to ensure progress and co-ordination responsibilities of localities in compensation, support and resettlement of projects, and local management capacity.

Explaining the issue, Thanh said that according to current legal regulations, compensation, support and resettlement to implement projects are the responsibility of localities.

The draft resolution stipulates that the provincial People’s committees are assigned as the governing body responsible for ensuring the capacity and experience of agencies and organisations designated to implement the projects in accordance with construction law.

Reporting and explaining the ratio of State capital in projects invested in the form of public-private partnership (PPP), Thanh clearly stated that HCM City is a special urban area, so the costs of compensation, support and resettlement are very big.

The committee suggested the NA allow the city People’s Council to consider and decide on increasing the proportion of State capital in PPP projects to not more than 70 per cent of the total investment.

However, for projects passing through difficult socio-economic areas, site clearance costs may not be high but due to low vehicle traffic, if applying specific mechanisms as HCM City, they will not be able to guarantee a financial plan for the projects.

There were suggestions to increase the proportion of State capital in the projects to no more than 70 or 80 per cent of the total investment to ensure the participation of private sector in promoting road infrastructure development in difficult areas with low vehicle traffic, Thanh said.

Regarding the agency in charge of investing in road projects, the chairman said that according to the provisions of the Construction Law, the Ministry of Transport evaluates the basic design and total investment of projects, and assigns the locality as the managing agency. — VNS