National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue: If we do not save money in difficult times, we are very guilty towards the people.

On the morning of September 22, the National Assembly Standing Committee commented on a number of contents of the draft supervision plan and the outline of the thematic supervision report on “Implementation of policies and laws on practicing thrift and combating waste in the 2016-2021 period”. This is one of the two supreme supervision topics of the National Assembly in 2022.

Sometimes the damage caused by waste is greater than the consequences of corruption.

Chairman of the Finance and Budget Committee Nguyen Phu Cuong (Deputy Head of the Standing Committee of the Supervisory Delegation) said that the scope of supervision is only implemented in the public sector from January 1, 2016 to December 31, 2021 and related periods before and after.

The monitoring content focuses on 5 areas. These are management and use of the State budget; management and use of other State capital; management of State assets; management and use of labor and working time; management, exploitation and use of resources. For each specific area, the draft plan specifies the key contents and key points of monitoring.

The subjects of supervision are the Government, ministries, branches, agencies managing and using State capital and State assets; the Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Procuracy; the State Audit; political organizations, socio-political organizations; State-owned enterprises; People's Councils and People's Committees of provinces and centrally-run cities.

Chairman of the Law Committee Hoang Thanh Tung basically agreed with the plan and outline of the supervision, but he expressed concerns about the scope of supervision.

“The delegation has chosen the key areas to ensure the feasibility of the monitoring scope, focusing on 5 problem areas, but I still feel it is too broad. If it can be narrowed down further, it should be carefully considered to ensure that the monitoring is in-depth, with enough time and resources to do it, pointing out the good aspects, shortcomings, and limitations, otherwise it will be too broad and spread out,” said Mr. Tung.

National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Huesaid that this topic is of most interest and expectation to the leaders of the Party, State and people. Every country pays attention to practicing thrift and fighting waste, especially countries with limited resources.

“Our country has food and property, but it is still a developing country, with low per capita income, a high poverty rate, and the lives of the people, workers, civil servants, and laborers, especially in remote areas, are still very difficult. Every penny we save is beneficial to the country. If we do not save in difficult conditions, it is a great sin to the people,” the National Assembly Chairman noted.

He also emphasized that sometimes the damage caused by waste and failure to practice thrift is even greater than the consequences of corruption. Therefore, the monitoring team needs to uphold a sense of responsibility and strive to become a "model monitoring team".

Considering that the scope of supervision is still wide, the National Assembly Chairman suggested that supervision should be focused, key and specific.

For example, in the management, exploitation and use of resources, land is a special resource, so the monitoring team must clearly state how much land area has been allocated nationwide but land use fees have not been collected, how much land area has been allocated but not used for the right purpose, where is the address, what is the responsibility, how many suspended projects?...

Planning is one step ahead, but without it, everything is helpless.

Also this morning, delegates gave their opinions on the second supreme supervision topic on “Implementation of policies and laws on planning since the promulgation of the Planning Law”. This thematic supervision report will be considered by the National Assembly at the 3rd session (May 2022).

The scope of supervision is the implementation of policies and laws on planning work according to the provisions of the Law on Planning and the management of construction planning and land use planning at the district level according to relevant legal provisions nationwide since the Law on Planning comes into effect (from January 1, 2019, except for regulations on the establishment and appraisal of national planning, regional planning, and provincial planning that come into effect from March 1, 2018).

The subjects of supervision are the Government, the ministries of Planning and Investment, Natural Resources and Environment, Construction, Transport, Industry and Trade, Agriculture and Rural Development; People's Councils and People's Committees at the provincial level.

Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Nguyen Khac Dinh said that it is necessary to limit the scope of this specialized supervision to the implementation of planning, not including the entire process of promulgating legal documents on planning work.

The National Assembly Chairman said that since the Law on Planning was enacted, the promulgation and implementation of guiding legal documents has been very slow, greatly affecting development. If the planning is one step ahead and there is no plan, everything is helpless. Therefore, the monitoring delegation must clarify the reason for the delay.

The monitoring team also needs to point out any shortcomings in the legal framework, if any, in order to promptly amend, supplement, and adjust. At the end of the monitoring, there should be recommendations on appropriate handling of organizations and individuals who violate, delay, or obstruct the enforcement of the law.

Concluding this content, Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Tran Quang Phuong said that the Standing Committee basically agreed with the draft plan and detailed outline and requested the monitoring delegation to absorb today's comments to continue to complete and submit for signing and promulgation.