Delegates from Nghe An proposed to specifically legislate the issue of water circulation to ensure water security.
(Baonghean.vn) - On the afternoon of June 5, continuing the working program, the National Assembly discussed in groups the draft Law on Water Resources (amended) and the draft Law on Credit Institutions (amended). The Nghe An National Assembly delegation discussed in Group 3 with the delegations of National Assembly deputies from Bac Kan and Bac Lieu provinces.
Regarding the draft Law on Water Resources (amended), delegate Hoang Thi Thu Hien - Permanent Vice President of the Women's Union of Nghe An province commented that although groundwater and seawater are not within the scope of this Law, scattered in the provisions of the Law, issues related to groundwater and seawater are regulated. Therefore, the delegate requested the drafting agency to clarify this issue.
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Overview of the discussion session of Group 3 on June 5. Photo: Nam An |
According to the delegate, when the Law was promulgated, issues related to propaganda and dissemination of the law were regulated in many documents, so it was proposed to remove the regulation on dissemination of water resources education in the draft Law.
In particular, according to the delegate of Nghe An, water circulation is a very important issue; one of the urgent solutions in the current period to solve challenging issues related to water security.
Therefore, the delegate suggested that the drafting agency should stipulate a separate article on this issue, which mentions the following contents: Which areas are required to regenerate and use water resources? What activities will the regenerated water be used for? At the same time, there should be a mechanism to encourage and invest in technology systems to circulate and reuse water resources.
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Delegate Hoang Thi Thu Hien speaks at the discussion on the draft Law on Water Resources (amended). Photo: Nam An |
Agreeing with the viewpoint of regulating minimum flow, however, according to the delegate of Nghe An, in reality, the application of minimum flow is depleting the flow of rivers, affecting aquatic life, as well as affecting water use downstream. Many organizations when managing and operating dams also often violate the minimum flow regulations.
Therefore, Ms. Hoang Thi Thu Hien suggested that the drafting agency, for the components determining the minimum flow, must be representative; at the same time, must be objective. In determining the minimum flow, it is necessary to ensure fair use of water resources in the upstream and downstream; must publicize the minimum flow level to the people and encourage people's supervision.
Delegates also agreed that replacing “minimum flow” with “natural flow, environmental flow” would be fairer to the current environment. In addition, according to Ms. Hoang Thi Thu Hien, Vietnam is one of the countries located downstream of rivers, so regulating appropriate minimum flow will facilitate agreements with neighboring countries in sharing benefits of water resources.
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National Assembly delegates from Nghe An at the discussion session in Group 3 on the afternoon of June 5. Photo: Nam An |
Regarding the draft Law on Water Resources (amended), delegate of Nghe An delegation Hoang Minh Hieu - Standing member of the National Assembly's Law Committee said: A huge problem is that the price of domestic water has not been calculated correctly and fully compared to the actual cost of water. According to preliminary calculations, the cost of water is only about half of the actual cost.
According to the delegate, this existence leads to many consequences, especially the quality of domestic water is almost not guaranteed. Meanwhile, in reality, each household is having to pay a much higher price for clean water than the cost because of the additional costs of investing in water filtration systems, buying more water from outside;...
Water prices that are too low also do not encourage people to save water; at the same time, they do not encourage companies to invest in developing domestic water systems in rural areas. Therefore, delegate Hoang Minh Hieu suggested that specific regulations on domestic water prices should be considered in the draft Law.
Standing member of the National Assembly's Law Committee Hoang Minh Hieu also said that it is necessary to clearly define the relationship between the Law on Water Resources (amended) and the Water Supply and Drainage Law project that the National Assembly has assigned the Government to study; to calculate and determine appropriate domestic water prices and also encourage improving the quality of domestic water supplied to households.
“I think this regulation needs to be assessed very carefully because if it is reduced like this according to the law, major shareholders will have to withdraw capital from credit institutions immediately. This will have a big impact on the stock market,” the delegate of Nghe An analyzed.
Mr. Hoang Minh Hieu also expressed concern about whether reducing the share ownership ratio as stipulated in the draft law will have an impact on preventing cross-ownership or not? Because many studies have shown that the current ownership ratio as stipulated by the current Law on Credit Institutions has ensured compliance with international practices.
According to the delegate, the important issue is that we do not have inspection and supervision mechanisms between the people involved. Therefore, we must strengthen regulations on inspection and examination in the organization and operation of credit institutions.
In the case of still reducing the ownership ratio of organizations and individuals in credit institutions as in the draft Law on Credit Institutions (amended), delegate Hoang Minh Hieu agreed with the proposal of the National Assembly's Economic Committee that it should not be applied retroactively to current companies and credit institutions, to ensure the stability of the market, especially the stock market and to ensure the rights of investors.
