Members of the National Assembly Standing Committee spent the entire morning yesterday, August 17, to discuss a draft on Capital Law.
Ha Hung Cuong, Minister of Justice, said preparations for compiling the law began in 2009. Since then the draft on Capital Law has been discussed several times by the NA Standing Committee and at the National Assembly full house meeting.
The draft on Capital Law has four chapters and 33 articles and lists 16 specific policies and mechanisms for Hanoi, as the nation's political and administrative centre. These focus on seven areas, namely, planning; culture; education and training; science and technology; environment and land; economics and finance; and security, social law and order.
The NA Legal Committee, acting as the appraisal body of the law, agrees on the necessity of issuing the Capital Law. They say that once it is approved by the National Assembly, it will become a solid legal foundation for the construction, development, and management of Hanoi-Capital of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
Remarkably, the contents of the general planning and construction of capital management plan is designed with more stringent regulations than the provisions of the Urban Planning Law in force.
Accordingly, the Prime Minister submitted the law to the National Assembly for comments on the draft master plan of Hanoi as a political and national administration center, for approval.
Related to financial mechanisms, Phung Quoc Hien, Chairman of the Finance Committee of National Assembly, noted the provisions of the draft are reasonable and do not conflict with existing legal regulations.
Hien agreed with regulations allowing Hanoi to collect higher charges than other provinces but he reminded that there should be strict regulations to manage this income.
Discussing fees levied on certain services in Hanoi as written in Article 23, the NA deputies agreed that the fees could be up to twice the amount regulated by the government and the Ministry of Finance. The higher fees will only apply to the fields of environment and transport.
Regarding Article 21 that deals with resident management, participants agreed on the need to introduce tough administrative measures to reduce immigration into the city. These measures should differ from provision 1 of Article 20 of the Residence Law.
Ksor Phuoc, Chairman of the Ethnic Council, said that the draft could get the consent of a majority of MPs. However, Mr Phuoc is still concerned with the regulation ‘Government to prioritize the allocation of ODA for the Capital’, and he wanted to make clear the concept of ‘priority’, since according to him, ODA is essential for the poor provinces, the provinces that often face more difficulties than Hanoi.
Relating to the proposal to take ‘Khue Van Cac’ (Pavilion of the Constellation of Literature in the Van Mieu Temple of Literature) as Hanoi's symbol, Dao Trong Thi, Chairman of the Committee on Culture, Education, Youth and Children and Phung Van Hien, Chairman of the Committee on Finance and Budget expressed support for the proposal. However, Truong Thi Mai, Chairwoman of the Committee for Social Affairs, asked for a more convincing explanation for the selection of Khue Van Cac over other places.
Concluding the discussions, the National Assembly Vice Chairman Uong Chu Luu said that the Law was eligible for submission to Congress for consideration and approval. He reminded the drafting and coordination agency to focus on the explanations of the problem causing different opinions at the 12th National Assembly.
