The National Assembly Standing Committee began phase two of the 45th session in the morning of Monday.

At the session, Minister of Finance Dinh Tien Dung presented a report on piloting some financial and budget mechanisms and policies, affirming the need to develop a resolution suitable to the city.

According to a verification report, most of the members of the NA’s Committee for Finance and Budget agreed with the proposals.

Chairman of the committee Nguyen Duc Hai said the Government drafted the contents of the resolution.

The ceiling of debts would be increased from 70 per cent to 90 per cent on the principle that the capital city must ensure its solvency.

The city would be allowed to use the financial reserve fund to invest in infrastructure. It must ensure the recovery of money within 36 months.

It would also be allowed to use the remainder of the salary reform source to spend on development investment projects and implement social security regimes and policies.

The city could use regular funding of several units for investment purposes in small and capital construction projects.

Regarding the authority to decide on supplementation and increase on charges and fees, the Committee for Finance and Budget agreed with the Government’s proposal on allowing the city to increase charge rates but not exceeding 1.5 times compared to current levels for all types of charges.

The specific increase on charges and fees would be decided by the city People's Council based on the practical demand and consent of the people.

Agreeing with the Government's proposal, National Assembly Vice Chairman Uong Chu Luu pointed out the main goal was not to increase revenue but to strengthen State management and ensure the financial security of the city.

He proposed not imposing a fixed ceiling of 1.5 times as long as the new level caused no negative impacts on the market and society.

The committee also agreed with the proposal of allowing the city to keep half of the revenue from land use tax when selling public assets attached to land under the Law on Management and Use of Public Property.

Sale of public assets has faced many difficulties due to complicated procedures. Therefore, the committee recommended the city People's Committee should have a master plan to assess the revenue and submit to authorities for approval.

This would help ensure the regulation is feasible, it said.

Chairman of the NA Economic Committee Vu Hong Thanh expressed his concern that many ministries and branches did not hand over old buildings after moving to new headquarters.

Therefore, Thanh said the Government should take measures to handle it instead of assigning the task to the city.

Also at the morning session, lawmakers approved the draft resolution on principles and criteria for the allocation of public investment capital from the State budget in 2021-25.

Chairman of the NA Finance and Budget Committee Nguyen Duc Hai said the resolution would prioritise disadvantaged areas and be synchronised with the national target programme of socio-economic development in ethnic minority and mountainous areas in 2021-30.

The projects on prevention and control of natural disasters, climate change, coastal erosion, and water security would be taken into consideration, he added.

Hanoi proposes two more urban railway projects

Hanoi People's Committee Chairman Nguyen Duc Chung proposed to build two more urban railway projects and some special policies for Hanoi during a National Assembly meeting on June 1.

Chung said Hanoi had about VND25trn (USD1bn) from the equitisation of enterprises. He proposed to let the city keep the money instead of contributing to the Committee for the Management of State Capital at Enterprises since this was the city's investments. All of the revenues from privatising state-owned firms and divesting from firms that have the city people's committee as the representative owner of state capital will go to the city budget.

According to the NA Committee on Finance and Budget, the privatising and investing process occurred before 2017 and many revenues are still managed by Hanoi People's Committee which can be used to improve the infrastructure. Chairwoman of the National Assembly Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan also approved of the proposal.

According to Chung the money will be used to build more urban railway projects. Two projects will be submitted to the government and National Assembly this October. The first one is Hanoi-Hoang Mai stations route that costs VND40trn (USD1.7bn) and the other is Van Cao-Hoa Lac route that costs VND66trn.

The money will come from city government bonds, the city's public investment for five years and equitized capital. Chung said Hanoi could totally complete the two projects on its own.

Minister of Finance Dinh Tien Dung said a new decree was being drafted about privatising and divesting from state-owned firms that have people's committees of cities, provinces as representatives.

Vice-Chairman of the National Assembly, Phung Quoc Hien said Hanoi can use the money based on the decision of the city people's council.

"If the project scale is larger than a national key project then it must be submitted to the NA," he said. VNS/Dtinews