A draft appraisal report on a bill revising legislation on capital construction investment was presented last Friday by the National Assembly’s Committee on Economic Affairs.

The bill is expected to be approved at the NA’s upcoming meeting late this month.

The proposed changes are aimed at tackling burning issues in capital construction investment.

They are considered temporary measures while overall revisions of relevant laws have not been made yet.

The changes will focus mainly on pertained articles in the laws on construction, on tender and on environmental protection, and Article 170 of the Law on Enterprises.

The majority of participants agreed with the proposed changes as they indirectly responded to requirements under existing administrative reforms and created a better legal environment for law enforcement.

Relating to the law on tendering, Le Quoc Dung, vice chairman of the Committee, said he didn’t agree with the rules relating to conditions to select or appoint tenders, particularly regarding the requirement that the bidding price must be the lowest.

“With such a requirement, the project owner might not be able to select the most competent contractor to undertake the job,” Dung argued.

He also asked the drafting committee to come up with more specific requirements on the side of the project owner to ensure the project is of high quality.

Regarding the construction law, Nguyen Thi Nguyet Huong, Chairwoman of the Management Board of the Viet Nam Development Investment Group, said she was worried about Article 40a on monitoring and evaluation (M&E), of tenders in a construction investment project.

“What is written in the article is not specific enough,” she said.

“M&E is vital in any project, particularly those using the State budget,” Huong said.

Regarding changes to the law on environmental protection, most participants asked the lawmakers to include a requirement on environmental impact assessment before lodging proposal documents for authorities to assess for granting a licence.

While the meeting of the National Assembly’s Economic Committee was being held in Ha Noi, Deputy Minister of Finance Nguyen Cong Nghiep said in Ho Chi Minh City that the Government planned to mobilise various social resources in capital construction investment while reducing the state budget spending on this domain.

Nghiep said starting from next year the Government would gradually reduce the budget allocation for infrastructure construction.

“To fill that gap the Government will mobilise the funding from different stakeholders” said Nghiep.

For projects on the construction of highways, sea ports and harbours, the Government would apply the model of build-operate and transfer (BOT) or build and transfer (BT).

The Government would encourage the private sector to participate in capital works while it only retains the role as a manager.

“The government does not need to spend money on investment, but still has infrastructure,” said Nghiep.

By introducing the new models, the Government would have more money to spend on social security, education and health.

VietNamNet/VNS