The National Assembly Standing Committee continues its session to give opinions on seven draft resolutions on Thursday. VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI – HCM City’s People’s Committee on Thursday proposed the National Assembly (NA) approve the extension of the new draft resolution on the city's development, which currently had a fixed duration of five years.

Alternatively, they suggested adopting a flexible approach without a specific five-year timeframe.

The proposal was outlined in a document sent to the NA Chairman Vương Đình Huệ with the aim of seeking guidance to enhance the draft resolution on piloting certain mechanisms and policies for the development of HCM City, which replaced Resolution 54.

In the document, the city also sought the NA Chairman’s opinions on matters related to mechanisms for attracting strategic investors, international bond issuance, and the effective period of the new resolution.

According to the draft provision, the new resolution would take effect from August 1, with an implementation period of five years. However, during plenary discussions and group sessions, many delegates expressed their concern that the draft resolution’s five-year timeframe was too short for strategic projects in HCM City.

To ensure consistency with the overall planning for the 2021-2030 period, the city’s People's Committee asked the NA Chairman Huệ to consider extending the effective period of the new resolution until the end of the planning period.

It said that the five-year implementation period of the new resolution was relatively short to achieve the goals set by 2030 with a vision by 2045, as stated in Resolution 31 of the Political Bureau. This was particularly challenging considering the large number of tasks that needed to be implemented.

Moreover, many mechanisms and policies would require time for implementation and a comprehensive evaluation of their effectiveness. Some policies also required long-term stability to attract investors, it said.

Therefore, the city proposed that it could conduct periodic reviews, assessments, and reports to the NA for guidance and adjustment.

Regarding the mechanism for raising bond capital, the draft resolution has already included certain flexible mechanisms for the city. However, the city stated that although the proposed total debt level in the draft resolution has increased compared to the ceiling of 90 per cent, the effectiveness of bond issuance has not been fully realised under the existing mechanisms.

The city proposed the NA consider and support the addition of a mechanism that allowed the issuance of local government bonds in the international market to complete the urban railway network. HCM City Finance and Investment State-owned Company was the authorised organisation for bond issuance under the management of the city People's Committee.

Regarding the priority industry and profession mechanism for attracting strategic investors to the area, the city stated that during the discussions, some delegates expressed concerns about using the city's budget from regular expenditures to partially support the costs of investment projects.

Explaining this mechanism, the city said it had missed out on many opportunities to attract large-scale high-tech investment projects due to the lack of an authority to apply preferential mechanisms proposed by investors.

If the selection of strategic investors followed the usual procedures, it would be difficult for large corporations to participate. Therefore, the city expressed the desire to have a special and flexible mechanism to better attract investors.

It said it was currently collaborating with the Ministry of Planning and Investment to study the support from the city's budget, which would not exceed 10 per cent of the total investment capital of the project, in order to avoid shortcomings in the implementation process.

NA Chairman Huệ highly appreciated the draft resolution and the preparation work of relevant agencies, and suggested further clarification should be provided regarding the political foundation and legal basis.

Based on that, further research, review, and improvement of the draft resolution should be carried out, he said.

Also on Thursday morning, the NA Standing Committee provided opinions on major issues that required clarification and adjustments regarding draft resolutions to be adopted by the legislature in its fifth plenary session.

NA Chairman Huệ said the report of explanation and acceptance should further clarify the political and legal basis, thus further studying and reviewing and finalising the draft resolution. He added that regulations on BT contracts must ensure consistency with the legal system.

Members of the NA Standing Committee basically agreed with the report on some issues that requested opinions of the NA Standing Committee regarding the general draft resolution of the meeting; and the draft resolutions on the question-and-answer session at the 15th NA’s fifth sitting, and the establishment of an NA supervision delegation for 2024.

They also commented on the draft resolution on implementing the 2 per cent value-added tax reduction policy.

NA Chairman Huệ requested the agencies of the NA and the NA Standing Committee to closely coordinate with ministries and government agencies to finalise the draft laws and resolutions as soon as possible for submission to the NA Standing Committee. – VNS