The Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) has recently held consultation conference in Ho Chi Minh City to gather expert comments on the draft Planning Law, which is expected to improve planning quality and solve overlapping planning issues in the near future.
Addressing the conference, Vu Quang Cac, director of MPI’s Planning Department, said Vietnam had too many master plans but none of them were comprehensive, so that even after being revised time and again, they were still not ready to be put into action.
The country has so far formulated 19,283 master plans for the development of the national economy during 2011-20,
which, unfortunately, are overlapping and therefore questionable.
To tackle these issues, the draft Planning Law would codify the system of legal documents on planning, inheriting effective regulations while abolishing or revising inappropriate ones so as to make master plans serve as an effective tool for administering socio-economic development.
The draft law, composed of 67 articles arranged in six chapters, covers all kinds of mater plans, including national, regional, provincial, special territorial and sectoral master plans.
Accordingly, the State would conduct socio-economic activities based on approved master plans, provide mechanisms and policies to promote and improve development, and create conditions for organizations and individuals to involve in the formulation of master plans in economic sectors and do business.
Additionally, international cooperation in planning would further be encouraged by the State.
The draft also specifies that the State would regularly inspect the implementation of master plans and strictly punish violations.
Commenting on the draft law, former Deputy Minister of Construction Pham Sy Liem said that it was necessary to ensure three factors in formulating a master plan, making clear what authority is responsible for the plan, ensuring there is no overlap between it and existing ones, and creating a reasonable balance of costs and benefits.
“Master plans should also be divided into three levels, national, regional and provincial, to make them more feasible,” he added.
The draft law would be submitted to the 9th session of the XIIIth National Assembly for discussion.-
