This is a note from Vice-Chairman Phung Quoc Hien when he wrapped up the afternoon session of the National Assembly on the Draft Law amending and supplementing the laws that regulate planning.
Mr. Phung Quoc Hien, Vice-Chairman of National Assembly
According to the Deputy Standing Committee of the Economic Committee, Phung Van Hung, representing the Law Enforcement Agency, among the amended Laws, there are only two laws, - Law on Construction and Law on Urban Planning - in the construction field that have not narrowed the differences between the drafting agency and the investigating body, although the two sides have discussed several times since the fifth session.
Cannot be half revolutionary
Regarding the amendment of some articles of the Construction Law, differing opinions focus on the essentials of provincial construction planning. According to Mr. Hung, many opinions suggest that after the promulgation of the Planning Law, provincial construction planning is no longer necessary. The provincial construction plan in the draft law is renamed from the provincial construction plan in the current Law on Construction and equivalent to the provincial planning in the Law on Planning.
Immediately, Hoang Van Cuong (Hanoi), and other members of the National Assembly pushed to make provincial construction planning a specialized technical plan to detail the spatial development of the planning. However, the majority of members said that this type of planning is unnecessary.
Do Van Sinh, Member of the Economic Committee of the National Assembly, said that the Law on Planning approved by the National Assembly is a great revolution and a bright spot in planning activities.
"But if the current provincial construction planning still exists, it is a half-revolution, a dark spot, not only overcoming the duplication of overlap but forcing localities to do unnecessary works. The wastefulness is so great that we tolerate the deliberate refusal to let go of power, the benefits of a group of people who want to continue to maintain its mechanism, abuse subordinates, people and enterprises, inhibiting the economic development of the country", Sinh emphasized.
According to Minister of Planning and Investment, Mr. Nguyen Chi Dung, after a period of working with the Ministry of Construction, the drafting committee found provincial planning is available to integrate all kinds of articles, but to a very general extent, spatially distributed, functional areas or socio-economic development. Provincial construction must be at a more granular level to materialize, as a management tool in the construction industry for sector planning.
Contradiction on the land policy issue
Furthermore, members are also anxious to correct some of the provisions of the Land Law.
Deputy Chairman of the Law Committee, deputy Tran Thi Dung, analyzed that the current Land Law on land use planning and land use at the provincial level, land use rights are 10 years. However, in regards to planning use of land at provincial levels, Article 39 of the Land Law is expected to be amended and supplemented, so the land use right are 20 years.
At the same time, Article 2 and Article 8 of the Planning Law stipulates that the planning period under the national planning system is 10 years. Whereas Clause 4, Article 6 of the draft law amending Article 38 of the Land Law does not specify the duration and direction of national land use, but only that the area of land categories in the planning period is 5 years. Therefore determining the direction of land use in 20-year is contradictory, Dung stressed.
Discussing other opinions on whether there should be land planning options in the provincial planning, Hoang Van Cuong said the master plan is the allocation and selection of options for using resources for development goals. In the country's resources, land resources are a very basic and finite resource, so it must always be focused, managed, distributed and used in the most economical and effective way.
Therefore, in all planning schemes from national to provincial levels, it is impossible to disregard the content of the law on land use planning as a means of selecting alternative uses for land as development goals. If we do not have a provincial land plan, we obviously have no grounds to perform the function of state management of land in the province, which is assigned to the People's Committees at all levels, Mr. Cuong said.
Requesting the Government to issue a written explanation, clarifying two more topics related to the amendment of some articles of the Law on Construction and the Land Law, Deputy National Assembly Chairman, Phung Quoc, said the National Assembly will discuss the second round on the afternoon of 9/11/2018 before finalization at this session.
