Bill clarifies legal authority for in-principle approval of PPP projects

Hanoi (VNA) – Legal authority for approving in principle a Public-private Partnership (PPP) project would be given to the National Assembly (NA) or the Prime Minister, according to the bill on PPP investment being crafted by the Ministry of Investment and Planning.

Accordingly, the NA would have legal authority to grant in-principle approval to PPP projects with public investment of 10 trillion VND (430.34 million USD) or more; those having or potentially having detrimental impacts on the environment, including nuclear power plants; those requiring conversion of land use of national parks, nature reserves, landscape protection areas, and forests for scientific research and experiment of 50 hectares or more; and those requiring land use conversion of protective forests of 50 – 500 hectares or more and production forests of 1,000 hectares or more.

Legal authority would also be given to the NA for approving projects requiring conversion of paddy growing land of 500 hectares upwards or those requesting relocation of 20,000 people or more in mountainous regions or 50,000 people or more in non-mountainous regions.

A PPP project would be approved in principle under the authority of the Prime Minister if it requires the relocation of 10,000 people or more in mountainous regions or 20,000 people or more in non-mountainous regions; uses central budget and has total investment equivalent to an A-class project stipulated in the Law on Public Investment; or uses ODA and soft loans provided by foreign sponsors.

The Prime Minister would also have the authority to approve projects to construct airports as well as airport’s runways, passenger and cargo terminals and first-class seaports.

The draft law is set to be submitted to the ninth sitting of the 14th National Assembly for review./.