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Chairman of the National Assembly’s Economic Committee Vu Hong Thanh answered questions |
The National Assembly has just passed a resolution on piloting special mechanisms and policies for the southern metropolis’ development. Chairman of the National Assembly’s Economic Committee Vu Hong Thanh answered questions from a reporter of the SGGP newspaper about specific mechanisms and policies.
The new Resolution will replace, expand and supplement the National Assembly Resolution 54.
In his opinion, after the Resolution 54 was trialed for a short time in the southern largest city, some specific mechanisms and policies of the National Assembly for Ho Chi Minh City have come to life. However, due to the Covid-19 epidemic, Ho Chi Minh City has not fully made use of mechanisms and policies to create more motivation for its development.
Through evaluation, Ho Chi Minh City is currently a bit "short of breath"; so although its contribution to the country’s GDP growth and the state budget is still high, the proportion value has been decreasing.
So far, Ho Chi Minh City has been the driving force of growth for the country; accordingly, there should be special mechanisms and policies for its further development.
During the implementation process, the Government and Ho Chi Minh City are expected to take advantage of the opportunity for effective promotion of the mechanisms and policies in the resolution.
For example, when members of the Standing Committee of the National Assembly discussed urban planning, they talked about the transport-oriented urban development (TOD) model - a type of urban development that maximizes the amount of residential, business and leisure space within walking distance of public transport - that needs further expansion so there has been already mechanisms and policies to expand the area for land acquisition, compensation, support and resettlement in the draft Land Law (amended).
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Chairman of the National Assembly’s Economic Committee Vu Hong Thanh |
Therefore, in addition to the points connecting traffic works by elevated railway and the Ring Road 3, Ho Chi Minh City needs to consider adding other construction items to expand and exploit this space for harmonizing the interests of the State, investors and residents according to the Central Government’s Resolution 18.
According to him, Ho Chi Minh City should take advantage of available resources to create a driving force for development for the country generally and for Ho Chi Minh City particularly. Because Ho Chi Minh City has good land rent disparity; thus, if it expands the scope of implementation of mechanisms and policies, more resources will be available.
In particular, Ho Chi Minh City can conduct auctions and tenders to implement urban development projects, develop tourism and trade services, create jobs, and increase budget revenue in the coming time.
Regarding many BT contracts have been signed before the PPP Law, but the State has not so far completed the payment to investors. The government needs to remove and handle the BT contract signed before the effective date of the PPP Law.
The Politburo’s Resolution 31 has also created a political basis for the implementation of previously contracted BT projects in Ho Chi Minh City. There are a number of projects that have identified the land fund for HCMC to handle this problem. In some cases where the land fund has not been determined, the land fund must be determined in the near future so that the city can pay back to businesses.
He said that it is important to determine the value of the land fund to pay back to investors to ensure the correct value and avoid damage to the State.
He revealed that no more investment in traffic works on existing roads is included in the National Assembly Standing Committee’s Resolution 437 and in the PPP Law. Because the state resources are limited while the need for investment in existing roads is huge; subsequently, the new resolution has allowed Ho Chi Minh City to implement the form of BOT with the aim of attracting social contributions.
