Authority to issue decisions on policies for investment in PPP projects in Vietnam

Authority to issue decisions on policies for investment in PPP projects in Vietnam (Internet image)

Regarding this issue, LawNet would like to answer as follows:

1. What is PPP project?

According to Clause 9, Article 3 of the Law on Public – Private Partnership Investment 2020, PPP project is a set of proposals related to the investment to provide public products and services through the implementation of one or the following activities:

- Construction, operation and business of infrastructure works and systems;

- Renovation, upgradation, expansion, modernization, operation and business of available works and systems;

- Operation and business of available infrastructure works and systems.

2. Authority to issue decisions on policies for investment in PPP projects in Vietnam

Authority to issue decisions on policies for investment in PPP projects in Vietnam is prescribed as follows:

(1) The National Assembly shall be vested with authority to issue decisions on policies for investment in PPP projects that meet one of the following criteria:

- Using public investment capital worth 10,000 billion dong or more;

- Having substantial environmental impacts or posing potential risks in making serious environmental impacts, including nuclear power plants; using land subject to the requirement for conversion of uses from land for cultivating specialized forests, upstream protection forests or border protection forests which covers an area of 50 hectares or more;

From land for protective forests used as wind or sand screens, wave breakers, or sea reclamation land, which covers at least 500 hectares; from land for production forests which covers a minimum area of 1,000 hectares;    

- Using land subject to the requirement for conversion of uses from arable land covering an area of 500 hectares or more for growing wet rice during at least two cropping seasons;

- Resettling at least 20,000 inhabitants in mountainous areas or at least 50,000 inhabitants in other regions;

- Requiring special legal frameworks or policies subject to the National Assembly's decisions

(2) Except for projects specified in (1), the Prime Minister shall be accorded authority to grant decisions on investment policies for PPP projects satisfying one of the following criteria:

- Resettling at least 10,000 inhabitants in mountainous areas or at least 20,000 inhabitants in other regions;

- Having total investment equivalent to that in Group A projects in accordance with the law on public investment and using one or certain sources of funds as follows: central budget capital managed by ministries or central agencies or using ODA loans and preferential loans from foreign sponsors;

- Investment in new construction: airports and airfields; runways of airports and airfields; passenger terminals of international airports; cargo terminals of airports and airfields with an annual cargo handling performance of 1 million tonnes or more;

- Investment in new construction: harbors or port areas inside special seaports; wharves and port areas inside grade-I seaports with total investment equivalent to that in Group A projects in accordance with the law on public investment.

(3) Ministers, Heads of central authorities and other agencies shall be authorized to grant decisions on investment policies for PPP projects under their management, except for the projects specified in (1) and (2).

(4) Provincial People’s Councils shall be accorded authority to make decisions on policies for investment in PPP projects under their jurisdiction, except for the projects specified in (1) and (2).

(5) In case of adjustment in policies for investment in PPP projects, authority to make decisions on policies for investment in PPP projects shall be subject to regulations laid down in Clause 2 of Article 18 of the Law on Public – Private Partnership Investment 2020

(Article 12 of the Law on Public – Private Partnership Investment 2020 (amended in Article 2 of the Law amending the Law on Public Investment, the Law on Investment under the mode of public-private partnership, the Law on Investment, the Law on Housing, the Law on Procurement, Law on Electricity, Law on Enterprises, Law on Special Excise Duties and Law on Civil Judgment Enforcement 2022)

3. Contents of state management of PPP investments in Vietnam

According to Article 8 of the Law on Public – Private Partnership Investment 2020, the contents of state management of PPP investments in Vietnam include:

- Promulgate, propagate, disseminate and direct the implementation of legislative documents on PPP investments.

- Review, evaluate and report on the implementation of PPP investments.

- Examine, inspect and supervise the implementation of legal provisions on PPP investments.

- Settle complaints, denunciations and sanction violations related to PPP investments; address any petitions or recommendations related to the investor selection process.

- Organize and carry out investment promotion and international cooperation activities regarding PPP investments.

- Provide instruction or support related to, and address any issue arising from, administrative procedures for carrying out PPP investment activities at the request of PPP project investors and enterprises.

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