07 principles for management, use, and exploitation of irrigation infrastructure assets in Vietnam

07 principles for management, use, and exploitation of irrigation infrastructure assets in Vietnam​ (Image from Internet)

On January 09, 2025, the Government of Vietnam issued Decree No. 08/2025/ND-CP regulating the management, use, and exploitation of hydraulic infrastructure assets.

07 principles for management, use, and exploitation of irrigation infrastructure assets in Vietnam

The principles applied in the management, use, and exploitation of hydraulic infrastructure assets are specifically stipulated in Article 4 of Decree No. 08/2025/ND-CP as follows:

(1) All hydraulic infrastructure assets invested by the State, managed under the scope of Decree No. 08/2025/ND-CP, shall be entrusted by the State to managing entities in accordance with legal regulations.

(2) State management of hydraulic infrastructure assets is to be implemented uniformly, with clear delegation of authority and responsibilities among state agencies and cooperative responsibilities between state agencies.

(3) Hydraulic infrastructure assets must be fully inventoried and accounted for in terms of corporeal items and value.

(4) The management, use, and exploitation of hydraulic infrastructure assets must ensure transparency and openness; be supervised, inspected, audited; and any violations of the law regarding the management, use, and exploitation of assets must be promptly, strictly handled according to legal regulations.

(5) The management and use of land within the scope of hydraulic infrastructure assets are carried out in accordance with land laws and related laws; the exploitation of hydraulic infrastructure assets must conform to regulations of water resource laws, land laws, and related legislation.

Entities entrusted with the assets are responsible for completing legal land documentation according to the land laws.

(6) For hydraulic infrastructure assets that were transferred to enterprises for management through the form of state capital investment in enterprises before Decree No. 08/2025/ND-CP took effect, contents in Section 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 of Chapter II Decree No. 08/2025/ND-CP are not applied; for the cases of asset handovers according to state capital investment in enterprises as stipulated in Decree No. 08/2025/ND-CP, contents in Section 2, 3, 4, and 5 of Chapter II Decree No. 08/2025/ND-CP are not applied.

The management, use, and exploitation regarding assets handed over to enterprises in the form of state capital investment in enterprises as prescribed in Clause 6 Article 4 of Decree No. 08/2025/ND-CP shall be implemented in accordance with laws concerning the management, use of state capital investment in production, business at enterprises, irrigation law, related legislation, and the following regulations:

- The execution of rights and obligations of enterprises related to hydraulic infrastructure assets must ensure the state's ownership rights over the infrastructure assets entrusted to enterprise management.

- The determination of maintenance costs for hydraulic infrastructure assets shall be carried out as per regulations on construction maintenance law, irrigation law. Maintenance costs for hydraulic infrastructure assets are included in the pricing of water service products according to the law on water service pricing and State’s support policies in managing, exploiting hydraulic works and related legislations.

- Enterprises are responsible for fully implementing policy reports on the management status, usage of hydraulic infrastructure assets in accordance with Section 6 Chapter II of Decree No. 08/2025/ND-CP.

- For hydraulic structures not needed for irrigation purposes anymore and enterprises voluntarily return the land linked to those structures to the locality, the land acquisition and compensation, support upon state retrieval is implemented in compliance with land laws.

- Enterprises are responsible for completing legal land documentation, managing and using land associated with structures according to land, irrigation laws, and relevant laws.

(7) The use of land resources to create capital for hydraulic infrastructure development is implemented according to land laws.

More details can be found in Decree No. 08/2025/ND-CP effective from January 09, 2025.

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