Too much planning, provincial chairman's hand trembles when signing investment

The Head of the Planning Management Department (Ministry of Planning and Investment) cited the story of Phu Yen province talking about the situation where there were so many plans that the provincial Chairman's hands trembled when signing the investment decision because 'the staff kept saying it was in accordance with the plan but I couldn't remember everything'.

In the documents prepared for the draft Law on Planning to be submitted to the National Assembly for discussion tomorrow, Mr. Vu Quang Cac, Director of the Department of Planning Management (Ministry of Planning and Investment), Head of the Drafting Team of this bill, pointed out 9 highlights, including the reduction from more than 19,000 to more than 11,400 plans.

Mr. Vu Quang Cac. Photo: Dan Tri

The draft law also adjusts from 4,362 national, regional and provincial planning to 110 planning (a 97% reduction).

This includes 1 national master plan, 1 national marine spatial plan, 1 national land use plan, 38 national sectoral plans, 6 regional plans and 63 provincial plans.

The draft law also eliminates 708 master plans at the district level because they are integrated into provincial planning.

Talking about the huge numbers of current planning, Mr. Cac quoted the story of Chairman of Phu Yen Province Hoang Van Tra speaking at the plenary session of the Economic Committee examining the bill. Specifically, Mr. Tra said that Phu Yen is a small land but has more than 200 planning documents overlapping it.

"There are too many plans, so I feel nervous when signing the investment decision, because the staff keep saying it's in accordance with the plan, but I can't remember everything," the Head of the Planning Management Department quoted the Chairman of Phu Yen province.

Investors "lead" planning

Former Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Dang Hung Vo stated: "Perhaps currently, except for Da Nang City, most urban areas are being 'chopped up'."

Former Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Dang Hung Vo

He pointed out four reasons: overlapping planning, constantly changing planning, planning based on tenure mindset, and planning being "led by the nose" by investors.

“Let me say it frankly, any investor with money can lead the planning by simply asking the competent authority to adjust the planning with many reasons, many beautiful words such as soft curves, urban space highlights, convergence points…”, he said.

He also pointed out that in reality, people do not see those beautiful words anywhere, they only see urban land being destroyed, and construction projects being haphazardly built...

The report of the Ministry of Planning and Investment stated that all sectors are assigned to make sectoral plans, and in some sectors, there are even cases where sectors coordinate with large enterprises to make plans.

"This is the loophole where some sectors insert beneficial provisions into planning and planning adjustments, leading to projects being 'entered and exited' from planning without basis or arbitrarily requesting and approving investment projects," Director of the Department noted.

Citing the hot issue of the Master Plan for the development of the Son Tra National Tourism Area in Da Nang, Mr. Cac said that this is a typical example of a single-minded approach made by the tourism agency, without the participation of the nature conservation agency.

“This leads to a lack of consideration and calculation of benefits between short-term tourism development and long-term conservation requirements,” Mr. Cac said.

According to the explanation of the Ministry of Planning and Investment, with specific regulations on conditions for planning adjustment, order and procedures for planning adjustment, the Planning draft law will overcome the current situation of fragmented management, sectoralism and local separatism; not creating opportunities for the mechanism of asking - giving and running projects into planning.

Changing the mindset from centralized subsidy to market economy

In addition, the bill also adjusts to only 38 industry, sector and product plans from nearly 3,400 existing plans.

“The Law on Planning will put an end to all types of product planning, as well as unique types of planning such as planning for rice exporters, planning for tobacco businesses, planning for notary organizations, planning for tilapia, planning for watermelons...”, Mr. Cac said.

According to the Planning Law, planning for sectors, fields and products will only be done for infrastructure, resource use and environmental protection sectors, completely eliminating product planning, changing management thinking from centralized subsidy to one suitable for a market economy.

“Reality shows that many management agencies want to deeply intervene in the market, command the market, orient the market and act on behalf of the market,” Mr. Cac said, citing the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s plan to set a maximum of 150 rice exporters that has caused much debate…

According to Mr. Cac, the Planning Bill will clarify and clearly distinguish the relationship between the State and the market. The State performs the function of creation and motivation; the market decides and regulates itself.

According to Vietnamnet