Addressing​ difficulties and obstacles for BOT and BT Projects in Vietnam

Addressing​ difficulties and obstacles for BOT and BT Projects in Vietnam (Internet image)

Addressing Difficulties and Obstacles for BOT and BT Projects in Vietnam

On August 14, 2024, at the headquarters of the Government of Vietnam, the Prime Minister of the Government of Vietnam chaired a meeting with the Standing Committee of the Government of Vietnam to give opinions on the drafting of the Public Investment Law (amended) and laws amending and supplementing several articles of the Law on Planning, Law on Investment, Law on Investment in the form of public-private partnerships, and the Law on Bidding.

According to Announcement 397/TB-VPCP dated August 22, 2024, the Standing Committee of the Government of Vietnam basically agreed with the proposal of the Ministry of Planning and Investment regarding the anticipated amendments and supplements to the laws: Planning, Investment, Investment in the form of public-private partnerships, especially the Bidding Law, ensuring substantive and non-formal changes. The Ministry of Planning and Investment is assigned to incorporate the opinions from the meeting, prepare the draft law dossier, and ensure the following requirements:

- Thoroughly review the recommendations of ministries, central authorities, and local authorities regarding difficulties and obstacles in implementing the Laws: Planning, Investment, Investment in the form of public-private partnerships, and Bidding; correctly identify the urgent issues that need immediate amendments in each Law to help stabilize the macro-economy, mobilize all resources to promote growth; unresolved issues among ministries, central authorities, and local authorities shall be addressed through meetings chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Le Thanh Long to avoid bottlenecks. Ministries and central authorities should not monopolize the work and are required to decentralize, liberate resources, and create flexibility, autonomy, and responsibility... Besides the aforementioned Laws, the Ministry of Planning and Investment shall continue to cooperate with relevant agencies to review and evaluate the regulatory obstacles and issues in the Enterprise Law, Law amending and supplementing several articles of 37 Laws related to planning, Construction Law..., and propose necessary amendments and supplements in this draft Law.

- Strengthen communication activities regarding the amendments and supplements of the draft Law, especially challenging, sensitive content that significantly impacts society, investment activities, and the production and business activities of citizens and enterprises or content with differing opinions to create consensus in society; increase consultation with experts, scientists, associations, enterprises, citizens, and affected stakeholders during the drafting process of the Law.

- Regarding the continued implementation of Build-Transfer (BT) projects: The Ministry of Planning and Investment shall review regulations on the BT mechanism (payment in cash and land funds) in the Capital Law 2024, Resolution 98/2023/QH15, Resolution 137/2024/QH15; clarify the inadequacies in implementing this type of contract in the past to study and propose amendments to this mechanism in the draft Law. Amendments and supplements related to the implementation of BT projects must be thoroughly assessed to ensure strict, feasible regulations that meet practical requirements.

- Regarding addressing difficulties and obstacles for BOT and BT projects: The Ministry of Planning and Investment shall continue to review and fully identify cases requiring transitional regulations related to BOT and BT projects in accordance with the Politburo's directives on addressing difficulties and obstacles related to projects and land in several provinces and cities; ensure uniform application of the Law, without generating additional obligations for related parties, and avoid legal gaps in implementing the investment laws.

- Regarding the proposal to supplement regulations on contractor selection in some special cases: This is practically necessary; the Ministry of Planning and Investment shall compile the difficulties and obstacles of ministries, central authorities, and local authorities, thoroughly assess the necessity and impact of supplementing cases eligible for special contractor selection, ensuring principles of competition, fairness, transparency, and preventing corruption and negativity during the contractor selection process.

The Ministry of Planning and Investment of Vietnam shall take the lead, in cooperation with relevant ministries and agencies, to maximally incorporate the opinions of the Standing Committee of the Government of Vietnam, opinions of Government Members, and opinions of attending delegates; urgently complete the dossier requesting the drafting of the Law in accordance with the Law on Promulgation of Legal Documents; no later than August 20, 2024, submit the dossier to the Ministry of Justice for appraisal; present the draft law dossier to the Government of Vietnam at the August 2024 special session on law-making to report to the National Assembly Standing Committee to consider adding this draft Law into the 2024 law and ordinance building program, and request the National Assembly to allow applying abbreviated procedures and approve it at the 8th session according to the one-session process.

The Ministry of Justice shall conduct the appraisal and send the appraisal report to the Ministry of Planning and Investment of Vietnam no later than August 22, 2024.

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