The Department of Finance responded to voters' opinions on free entrance tickets to Khe Kem tourist area and budget arrangement for Party activities at the grassroots level.

Voter Nguyen Cong Ngu, residing in Trung Chinh village, Yen Khe commune, Con Cuong district, proposed to exempt local people in the vicinity of Khe Kem waterfall from the fee when visiting Khe Kem waterfall, because in reality, the people here live adjacent to and in the tourist area, regularly clean and clear the road to Khe Kem waterfall, so charging local people is not appropriate.

Reply:According to the provisions of Resolution No. 05/2018/NQ-HDND dated July 20, 2018 of the Provincial People's Council regulating the collection rates, collection, payment, management and use of entrance fees at Pu Mat National Park, Nghe An province, the subjects exempted from the entrance fee to Kem waterfall as prescribed in Article 3 do not include local people in the vicinity of Kem waterfall.

Therefore, regarding the above proposal, we respectfully request the Provincial People's Committee to assign Pu Mat National Park to review and report to the Provincial People's Committee to submit to the Provincial People's Council to consider amending and adjusting the subjects eligible for exemption or reduction of entrance fees at Kem waterfall to suit the actual situation at the unit and locality.

Voters of Anh Son district proposed to arrange enough budget for Party activities at the grassroots level in communes and towns every year to ensure operations, because in 2022 and 2023, only 75% of the budget was allocated to grassroots Party Committees.

Reply:In 2022 and 2023, the Department of Finance advised the Provincial People's Committee to submit to the Provincial People's Council a decision to allocate all central budget funds to support the activities of party organizations at the grassroots level in communes, wards and towns according to the provisions of Decision No. 99-QD/TW dated May 30, 2012 of the Party Central Committee on regulations on the regime of spending on Party activities of grassroots party organizations and Party Committees at the grassroots level directly for localities to implement (funds are arranged in a balanced manner in the regular expenditure estimates of the commune-level budget, but only meet about 75% of the policy needs in 2022).

In the context of the difficulty in balancing the provincial budget and to ensure stability in the management and operation of local budget finances (during the budget stabilization period of 2022-2025, the Central Government will not provide additional funding for localities), the Department of Finance proposes to maintain the level of funding to support the activities of grassroots party organizations during the budget stabilization period of 2022-2025.

In the coming years, if the central budget supports additional funding to implement the above content, the Department of Finance will submit to competent authorities to supplement funding for localities to support the activities of grassroots party organizations according to regulations.