Why should we not abuse 'planning funding'?

Planning one step ahead

It can be affirmed that never before has planning work received such public attention as it does today.SinceLaw on Planning No. 21/2017On November 24, 2017, planning work was legalized, so it has an increasingly wide impact on social life. In the fields of environmental resource management, investment attraction, construction, and urban management, planning work is increasingly important and planning must be one step ahead, so it is very necessary.

In the field of urban construction and management, planning is built 5-10 years in advance, even 20-30 years, and is presented at 3 levels: general planning, scale 1/2000 and scale 1/500. Based on these plans, investors submit to the State agency for approval of investment projects. In each period, the competent authority establishes and submits to the competent authority for approval of the planning, but because each period has different socio-economic development plans, the competent authority often considers to change and supplement. In addition, if the planning in rural areas is not yet complete, mainly at the overall level and many areas have not been planned for the purpose of use, then in urban areas and areas about to become urban areas, the planning work needs to be more rigorous and systematic.

Overall perspective of Vinh - Cua Lo Avenue. Photo: Nghe An Newspaper

In reality, there is a situation where despite efforts, because the planning work was not done well in the past and each sector and locality had its own planning, not integrated into the overall plan, there was an overlap.

According to engineer Nguyen Hong Son - Head of Planning Department, Department of Construction: If planning is built according to the new Planning Law, the above situation will no longer exist because during the construction process, the sectors and localities will send to the province to compare, cross-check and integrate into a common version of the province. Planning does not only take into account the scope of each district and commune but must aim at inter-regional and national levels. For the above reasons, the planning of the provinces will be commented and appraised by ministries and sectors; any inconsistent data will be sent back for explanation and correction.

Previously, when there was no Planning Law, investors or landowners could only plan and make projects, but now they have to do it more strictly. In order to get approval for investment in that location, investors and the approval agency must first see what the previous authorities planned for that location, what projects and constructions were there around? Is the birth of a specific project or construction consistent with the cluster of constructions and the overall planning?

The representative of the Department of Construction also said.

Vinh - Cua Lo Avenue, the section starting from Cua Lo town, seen from the sea. Photo: Document

According to a construction expert, the planning issue is not new, but because it was not done systematically in the past and had a low legal basis, and was not transparent, it was very easy to adjust and change. Moving to a new stage, due to other mission requirements, it must be updated and supplemented; at the same time, the planning is built systematically from the bottom up and top down, so once approved, it is rarely changed in a negative direction, because of the impact of a certain interest group.

Similarly, in the field of socio-economic development, each locality must have specific plans and schemes for 5-year, 10-year periods, and a 20-30-year vision to allocate resources for implementation. Thanks toLaw on Public Investmentand especially the Law on Planning, planning work is prepared and one step ahead, so the passive situation in implementation has been greatly reduced.

Planning funding: Encourage but not abuse

Sharing about the issue of planning funding, engineer Nguyen Hong Son - Head of Planning Department,Department of ConstructionFrankly: This is a mechanism permitted and encouraged by the Planning Law. For localities that have not yet balanced their budgets, such as Nghe An, planning funding is extremely necessary to ensure that the planning progress is covered. Currently, according to regulations, planning must be done first, but the state budget does not provide enough, so there is no source to approve planning, as a basis for implementing investment projects and socio-economic development.

This is very different from localities such as Hai Phong, Da Nang, Nha Trang, where revenue exceeds expenditure, so they are independent and autonomous in planning, and even after the planning is completed, they allocate the budget to compensate and clear land to attract investment. As for businesses that want to sponsor, because they want to "score points", even though they sponsor, they must present the best planning for the locality to evaluate, and if approved, they will have a project that contributes to socio-economic development and urban beautification.

Passivity and confusion in planning the urban drainage system is one of the causes of flooding in Vinh City every time there is heavy rain. In the photo, heavy rain causes flooding in the Cua Tien - Vinh market area in October 2020. Photo: Nguyen Hai

The representative of the Department of Construction added that in Nghe An, some large planning projects have recently been sponsored by enterprises. A typical example is Vinh - Cua Lo Boulevard sponsored by BRG Group. This enterprise did not participate in the investment, so it ensures independence and objectivity. In addition to the above case, some planning projects have also been sponsored, but in general, they have not caused any major impact or influence, causing people to react.

Through research, it is found that while at the provincial level, objectivity can still be maintained when assessing and approving planning documents, this is very difficult at the district and commune levels. A local representative is buildingAdvanced New Rural Planningin Quynh Luu district (name withheld) shared: Because the district did not support and the commune did not have resources to do planning, it was very difficult. Recently, there were also some real estate businesses that asked for funding to do planning, but in return, the businesses wanted the best land locations in the planning to do land fund exploitation projects and new urban areas. Realizing that "the benefits do not outweigh the disadvantages", local leaders refused.

The province has planned Tho Loc Industrial Park (Dien Chau) and built infrastructure for N2 road, but due to lack of investors to invest in infrastructure, the investment progress is too slow. Photo: Nguyen Hai

However, the above situation puts the locality in a difficult position because there is no planning to promptly add to the registration for building new advanced rural areas. Not only that, the beautiful and profitable locations are wanted by enterprises, but the locations far from the new roads are left to the locality, so it is very difficult to exploit the land fund to create a source of economic development.

Realizing this phenomenon in planning funding in many localities, recently, at forums, National Assembly delegates have proposed that if there are enterprises funding planning, it must be done in the spirit of voluntary and public planning, transparency to avoid group interests; agencies appraising and approving planning must ensure independent objectivity; if enterprises sponsor planning, they must ensure regulations on green tree ratio, construction ratio and social infrastructure conditions... according to the provisions of the Law on Planning, not because of the funding enterprises arbitrarily or abuse in allowing adjustments.

The North-South Expressway planning section Dien Chau - Bai Vot has a fairly high foundation, so the construction process must take into account the current infrastructure. Illustrative photo

At the working session with the Ministry of Construction last May, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh also emphasized the spirit of Resolution No. 19, 5th Central Conference, 13th tenure on land policy innovation, that "planning work must be controlled by the State", the state budget ensures resources for this work, strengthens supervision to gradually reduce and limit the situation of widespread planning funding.

In particular, in the field of urban construction and management, planning is built 5-10 years in advance or even 20-30 years in advance and is presented at 3 levels: general planning, then 1/2000 scale and 1/500 scale. On the basis of these plans, investors will submit their investment projects to the State agencies for approval.

In each period, the socio-economic development plan is different, so the competent authority often considers to change and supplement. In addition, according to the admission of the Department of Construction's leaders, while the planning work in urban areas or soon-to-be-urban areas is done closely, many rural and mountainous areas of Nghe An, despite efforts, have not yet covered and clearly defined many planning areas.