National Assembly delegates have not agreed to adjust investment capital levels for important projects.

Continuing the program of the National Assembly's full-time delegates' conference, on April 5, delegates discussed the contents of the draft Law on amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Public Investment. At the conference, delegates disagreed with the adjustment of the investment capital level of important national projects to increase compared to current regulations, up to 20,000 billion VND and proposed regulatory solutions to speed up the disbursement of ODA capital.

One of the contents that many delegates are interested in giving their opinions on the draft Law on amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Public Investment is the criteria for classifying important national projects into groups A, B, C. According to delegates, adjusting the investment capital of important national projects to increase compared to current regulations, up to 20,000 billion VND is too high, leading to difficulty in control.

Conference of full-time National Assembly deputies.

Delegate Hoang Quang Ham, Phu Tho delegation, commented that if there are no specific criteria, it is recommended to keep the current regulation of 10,000 billion VND. The capital level of 10,000 billion VND is not inappropriate because there are 2 projects in the 2016-2020 period, and implementation will not be hindered.

“For a developing country, having only two projects in the entire 5-year development period is too little. During that time, there were no changes according to the Law. The Law stipulates that only major price changes can be adjusted. In practice, if the National Assembly decides to have capital immediately, have specific policies immediately and receive comments from delegates, it will be better. On the other hand, we currently consider the capital level of 10,000 billion VND unreasonable, then calculate inflation and growth, and project for the future like that, which is unreasonable,” said delegate Hoang Quang Ham.

Agreeing with this view, delegate Phan Thai Binh, Quang Nam delegation analyzed that if the investment capital of important national projects is adjusted to increase compared to current regulations, to 20,000 billion VND, the National Assembly may not be able to decide on any projects in the next 5 years.

“The important thing is the feasibility of the project and how it is implemented in practice? Why was it initially 35,000 billion VND, then reduced to 20,000 billion VND and 10,000 billion VND, there were only 2 projects. If it was raised to 35,000 billion or 20,000 billion VND, the National Assembly might not decide on any project for the entire period, it would not be feasible. It is necessary to consider what urgent problem the project solves, what important problem the country is facing, not how much money, so keep the regulation that the National Assembly decides on projects from 10,000 billion VND or more,” delegate Phan Thai Binh pointed out.

According to the delegates, if the National Assembly decides that 10,000 billion VND is still a large number, the regulation should be lower to ensure feasibility. Delegate Nguyen Thanh Xuan, Can Tho delegation; Delegate Nguyen Tien Sinh, Hoa Binh delegation also pointed out the fact that recently there has been a division of capital for projects so that they do not have to be submitted to the National Assembly. Delegate Nguyen Tien Sinh said that the situation of projects lacking capital while investors have surplus capital but cannot disburse. Therefore, there should be regulations to speed up the process of disbursing ODA capital.

Ha Long - Hai Phong Expressway. Illustration photo

“A project is thirsty for capital while the investor has surplus capital. If only because of regulations, capital is not allocated to implement the project, to ensure progress and commitments to contractors and foreign sponsors. This is an ongoing reality, so we need a set of principles on capital allocation, especially ODA capital. State capital under the authority of Vietnam has signed commitments, so we request to respect those commitments to organize good implementation to ensure the prestige of the country with sponsors,” delegate Nguyen Tien Sinh stated.

Also at the conference, delegates expressed their opinions on project criteria related to environmental impacts, use of forest land, rice land, impacts on residents, etc. These are important national issues that need to be carefully considered before deciding on investment policies, and at the same time to ensure consistency in policies stipulated in other laws./.