Circular No. 01/2007/TT-BKH guiding the implementation of certain provisions of Government Decree No. 92/2006/NĐ-CP dated September 7, 2006 on the establishment, approval, and management of comprehensive socio-economic development planning.

CIRCULAR

Guidelines for Implementing Certain Provisions of Decree No. 92/2006/NĐ-CP

dated September 7, 2006 of the Government on the Preparation, Approval, and Management of Comprehensive Development Planning for the Economy and Society

and managing the overall planning for economic and social development

Pursuant to Decree No. 61/2003/NĐ-CP dated June 6, 2003 of the Government stipulating the functions, tasks, and powers of the Ministry of Planning and Investment;

Based on Decree No. 92/2006/NĐ-CP dated September 7, 2006 of the Government on the preparation, approval, and management of overall socio-economic development planning;

Pursuant to Decree No. 99/2006/NĐ-CP dated September 15, 2006 on inspection work regarding the implementation of policies, strategies, planning, and plans;

The Ministry of Planning and Investment issues guidelines for implementing certain provisions of Decree No. 92/2006/NĐ-CP (hereinafter referred to as the Decree) concerning the content, procedures for preparation, review, and management of comprehensive development planning for the economy and society as follows:

I. GUIDELINES FOR GENERAL PROVISIONS

1. Subjects Required to Prepare Planning (guidelines for implementing Article 4 of the Decree)

a) Major industries, fields, and products nationwide that need to prepare planning for development shall be decided by the Prime Minister. Annually, the Ministry of Planning and Investment will consolidate proposals from relevant ministries and sectors and submit them to the Prime Minister for decision on the list of industries, fields, and products that need to prepare planning.

Major industries, fields, and products at the provincial level that need to prepare planning shall be decided by the Chairman of the People's Committee of the province or centrally governed city. Annually, the Department of Planning and Investment will consolidate proposals from relevant departments and sectors and submit them to the Chairman of the People's Committee of the province or centrally governed city for decision on the list of major industries, fields, and products that need to prepare planning.

b) Areas required to prepare planning: In addition to the subjects specified in Decree No. 92/2006/NĐ-CP, the planning subjects also include sea islands, economic corridors, economic belts, economic zones, and regions spanning multiple counties or communes with the function of being key economic areas of provinces.

2. Timeframe for Preparing and Adjusting Comprehensive Development Planning for the Economy and Society (guidelines for implementing Articles 5 and 7 of the Decree)

a) Period for preparing planning:

All comprehensive development planning for the economy and society is prepared for the period up to 2020 towards the goal of building Vietnam basically into a modern industrialized country. Depending on the nature of the planning subject (for example, planning for the development of airport systems, deep-water port systems, expressway systems, 220KV and 500KV power grid networks... or planning for key industries such as oil and gas, coal, electricity...), the planning may have a longer vision: about 10, 15, or 20 years beyond 2020.

b) Adjustment of planning:

Adjustment of planning involves adjusting goals, tasks, or contents already approved in the planning but found during its implementation to no longer be suitable with actual conditions, while supplementing planning for the next five years.

In cases where it is necessary to adjust planning, a report must be submitted to the competent authority for approval of the decision to implement the adjustment of planning.

3. Basis for Preparing Planning and Consistency of Planning (guidelines for implementing Points 1 and 2, Article 6 of the Decree)

The basis for preparing comprehensive development planning for the economy and society is:

- For comprehensive development planning for the economy and society at lower territorial levels, it is based on planning at higher territorial levels. For national comprehensive development planning for the economy and society, it is based on the national economic and social development strategy and the implementation situation of comprehensive development planning for the economy and society of territorial regions in the previous period.

- Planning for the development of key industries, fields, and products is based on comprehensive development planning for the economy and society at the same level and planning for the development of industries, fields, and products at higher levels. Construction planning, urban development planning, and land use planning are based on comprehensive development planning for the economy and society and planning for the development of industries and fields at the same level.

- Agreements and cooperation arrangements between Vietnam and other countries, international organizations, or between provinces of Vietnam and provinces of neighboring countries that have been officially signed.

In cases where comprehensive development planning for large territorial regions has not yet been newly prepared, provinces and centrally governed cities must closely coordinate with the Ministry of Planning and Investment (the agency responsible for preparing planning for regions) to obtain information on reviewing and adjusting large regional planning.

4. Procedures for Preparing Planning (guidelines for implementing Articles 14, 18, 21, 24, and 28 of the Decree)

All projects for comprehensive development planning for the economy and society at the national, regional, provincial, county levels, and projects for planning the development of industries and fields must seek advisory opinions from relevant agencies managing the industry and territory from the beginning of project preparation until submission for approval of the planning project.

5. Funding for Preparing and Adjusting Comprehensive Development Planning for the Economy and Society (guidelines for implementing Article 8 of the Decree)

- Funding for preparing and adjusting comprehensive development planning for the economy and society, planning for the development of key industries and products is guaranteed by state budget investment funds and allocated in the annual plan.

- Frameworks and standard cost estimates for constructing and adjusting comprehensive development planning for the economy and society at the national, territorial, provincial, and county levels; standard cost estimates for planning the development of key industries, fields, and products at the national level and planning the development of key industries and products at the provincial level are issued by the Ministry of Planning and Investment with the participation of the Ministry of Finance and related functional ministries. While there is no new decision on frameworks and standard cost estimates for planning, the preparation of project funding budgets is carried out according to Decision No. 519/2002/QĐ-BKH dated August 26, 2002 of the Minister of Planning and Investment.

6. Consulting Agencies for Preparing Planning (guidelines for implementing Point 2, Article 10 of the Decree)

Domestic and foreign research organizations with planning functions and sufficient capacity and experience to meet the requirements of planning projects can be invited by the state agency responsible for preparing planning to provide consulting services for planning construction.

The selection of consulting organizations to prepare planning projects shall be carried out through bidding or direct assignment (as stipulated in Articles 1, 2, 3, Article 20 of the Bidding Law; Article 101 of the Construction Law and Article 35 of Decree No. 111/2006/NĐ-CP guiding the implementation of the Bidding Law). The organization and conduct of bidding to select and decide on consulting organizations for preparing planning projects shall be conducted in accordance with the current provisions of the Bidding Law.

Organizations participating in bidding for planning projects must have legal status for planning activities, possess appropriate professional qualifications for planning in accordance with the nature of the planning project, and have sound financial conditions.

The tenderer's proposal for the winning bid or direct assignment must ensure the following conditions:

- Possess sufficient capacity and experience as per the request for proposal.

- Have technical proposals that meet the requirements of the request for proposal according to the evaluation criteria agreed upon by the investor.

- Propose a price not exceeding the budget estimate of the planning project within the current framework of planning development cost standards.

II. REGARDING THE STATE MANAGEMENT OF PLANNING

1. Planning work for planning (guidance for implementing Point 1, Article 11 of the Decree)

The Ministry of Planning and Investment is responsible for compiling plans to implement planning work nationwide. Central ministries, sectors, provinces, and centrally-administered cities are responsible for developing annual plans for planning work according to their state management functions, while also submitting them to the Ministry of Planning and Investment and the Ministry of Finance. The time for preparing and submitting reports on planning work plans should coincide with the time for preparing the state budget estimates annually to compile plans for submission to the Prime Minister for decision.

2. Reviewing planning projects for economic and social development

The process of reviewing planning projects for economic and social development as specified in Clause 1, Article 29 of the Decree is guided as follows:

- Requirements for maps in the review dossier: Depending on the scale of the planned territory, the maps required under Item d), Point 1, Article 29 of Decree No. 92/2006/NĐ-CP need to be designed and presented in A3 format along with the comprehensive planning report. The quantity and content of large-scale maps will be determined based on the requirements for managing and directing the implementation of the plan by leaders at various levels.

- Within no more than 7 days from receiving the review dossier of the planning project, the agency conducting the review must notify in writing the proposing agency if the dossier is incomplete.

- The review period for the planning project is 45 days from the date the reviewing agency receives a valid review dossier.

- The reviewing agency bears legal responsibility for the review results in accordance with current laws as recorded in Decree No. 92/2006/NĐ-CP.

Authority to review overall planning projects for economic and social development as specified in Article 31 of the Decree is guided as follows:

In addition to the authority to review as stipulated in Article 31 of the Decree, planning for special economic regions such as economic corridors, economic belts, border zones, and economic zones spanning multiple provinces shall be reviewed by a State-level Review Board established by the Prime Minister, involving relevant ministries and sectors, and submitted to the Prime Minister for approval.

Planning for border economic zones, inter-district or inter-commune areas with key economic functions of provinces shall be reviewed by provincial Planning and Investment Departments and submitted to the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee for approval.

3. Reporting system (guidance for implementing Point 6, Article 11 of the Decree)

All levels are responsible for reporting the results of planning project preparation, review, and approval to the planning management agency and the directly superior administrative agency within 15 days from the date of publication in the Official Gazette for compilation and reporting to the Ministry of Planning and Investment, which manages planning work nationwide.

Reports on the implementation of planning by agencies managing overall economic and social development planning at all levels shall be prepared at the end of the third quarter each year and submitted to the higher-level planning management agency.

4. Publicizing approved planning (guidance for implementing Point 7, Article 11 of the Decree)

Within no more than 10 days from the effective date of the Decision approving the plan, planning management agencies at all levels are responsible for publishing in writing the plan within their management function (excluding those requiring confidentiality) to relevant sectors and levels; simultaneously publicizing the plan through media channels to businesses, citizens, domestic and foreign investors.

5. Regarding inspection, audit, and supervision of planning (guidance for implementing Point 9, Article 11 of the Decree)

- Inspection of planning work shall be carried out in accordance with Government Decree No. 99/2006/NĐ-CP dated June 15, 2006, on inspection of policy, strategy, planning, and plan implementation.

- During the inspection, audit, and supervision process, if unreasonable aspects are found in planning projects, they should be reported to the approving authority; if violations are discovered during the implementation of the plan (activities not in accordance with the approved plan), they should be reported to the competent authority for consideration and resolution, and notified in writing to the Ministry of Planning and Investment.

- Agencies authorized to inspect and audit planning must report the results of the inspection and audit to the directly superior level within no more than 15 days from the final conclusion date of the audit and inspection according to the requirements of the competent authority.

III. REGARDING THE CONTENT OF PLANNING

OVERALL ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

1. Regarding environmental protection content in overall planning projects for economic and social development (guidance for implementing Points 8 of Articles 12, 16, 19, 22)

Strategic environmental assessment for planning at the stages of drafting, reviewing, approving plans, as well as implementing the contents of this assessment during the implementation of the plan must comply with the provisions of Decree No. 140/2006/NĐ-CP on environmental protection in the stages of drafting, reviewing, approving, and organizing the implementation of strategies, plans, programs, and development projects.

2. Regarding the content of the industry, sector, and product development planning project (guidance on implementing Article 26 of the Decree)

The content of the industry, sector, and product development planning will be guided by relevant ministries and sectors in conjunction with the Ministry of Planning and Investment (as stipulated in Point 3, Article 11 of the Decree).

IV. IMPLEMENTATION

1. This Circular shall take effect fifteen days from the date of publication in the Official Gazette.

2. In the course of implementation, if there are any difficulties or issues requiring discussion, please contact the Ministry of Planning and Investment directly for consideration and resolution./.