Joint Circular No. 10/1996/TTLT/BKHĐT-BNNPTNT-BTC guiding the implementation of Decision No. 556/TTg dated September 12, 1995 of the Prime Minister on amending and supplementing Decision No. 327/CT.

 

 

JOINT CIRCULAR

Issued by the Ministry of Planning and Investment, Ministry of Finance, and Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Decision No. 10/1996/TTLT/BKHĐT-BNNPTNT-BTC dated December 11, 1996 guiding the implementation of Decision No. 556/TTg dated September 12, 1995 of the Prime Minister on amending and supplementing Decision No. 327/CT dated September 15, 1992

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To unify the organization and direction for implementing Program 327 in accordance with the spirit and content of Decision No. 556/TTg dated September 12, 1995 of the Prime Minister "Regarding amendments and supplements to Decision No. 327/CT dated September 15, 1992 of the Chairman of the Council of Ministers (now the Prime Minister)" and Announcement No. 71/TB of the Government Office dated September 16, 1996 "conclusions of Deputy Prime Minister Tran Duc Luong on the implementation of Program 327." The Joint Ministries of Planning and Investment, Finance, and Agriculture and Rural Development hereby provide guidance on the following main contents:

I. OBJECTIVES, TARGETS, METHODS, AND DENSITY OF FOREST PLANTING

1. Objectives and Targets:

1.1. Creating new protective forests and special-use forests: This includes two aspects, afforestation and regeneration of natural forests through enclosure and protection.

- Regarding afforestation: Program 327 prioritizes afforestation as the central task, which must be carried out intensively to form contiguous protective forest areas. Project leaders must plan annual afforestation according to the project's master plan, completing afforestation in each small watershed before moving on to other areas, avoiding even distribution across the entire project area.

Protective forests must be planted with mixed species to create multiple canopy layers, not monoculture plantations. For areas already planted with monoculture tree species (such as eucalyptus), still in the care period, starting from 1997, plans should include supplementary planting of native large timber trees.

In national parks and nature reserves, only ecological restoration zones should be planted with native species to form mixed-species forests or rich botanical gardens.

- Regarding regeneration through enclosure and protection: Detailed investigations must be conducted to identify areas suitable for recovery. If the density of regenerating trees exceeds 250 trees/hectare, only enclosure and protection are required to allow natural regeneration. If the density is below 250 trees/hectare, additional planting must be done to meet the required density and protect ground vegetation. Areas without specific investigation designs should not be included in annual plans as they would incur unnecessary costs and lack effectiveness.

1.2. Forest Protection: The primary responsibility for forest protection lies with local authorities at all levels, organizing forest rangers, local people, and nearby military forces to implement it through economic, administrative, educational, legal, and policy measures. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, in collaboration with relevant ministries, will study and soon submit to the Prime Minister mechanisms and policies for long-term forest protection contracts. In the short term, Program 327 will invest in protecting protective forests, special-use forests, key areas, and regions where ethnic minorities have the custom of clearing forests for shifting cultivation, particularly in critical upstream areas of major projects such as hydropower and irrigation facilities, coastal dike protection, and sand control.

2. Methods and Density of Afforestation:

Projects under Program 327 mainly need to implement the Forestry-Agriculture Integration method, allocating forest land to households on a contractual basis. Only in remote areas where it is impossible to settle people, labor can be hired for planting, caring, and protection, but this must be closely supervised to ensure good growth and development of planted forests. Depending on the land fund of each project, a reasonable area should be allocated to each household, clearly defining the land and forest structure when assigned. Land allocation and forest contracting should be carried out simultaneously and for the long term, including:

- Protected forest area.

- Area for creating protective forests (new planting and regeneration through enclosure).

- Agricultural land for planting perennial and short-cycle crops (about 1-2 hectares per household).

- Residential land and household garden (about 0.5 hectares per household).

From the first year, efforts should be made to encourage households to utilize land for short-cycle crops (corn, beans, peanuts, etc.) to generate income, stabilize their lives, gradually improve living standards, and focus on the principle of forestry supporting agriculture and agriculture maintaining forestry over the long term, ensuring ecological sustainability, environmental stability, and economic benefits, enhancing the effectiveness of forest conservation and development, and increasing national protective capacity.

Planting protective forests on bare hills, steep slopes, and barren lands must involve mixed-species planting with native and supportive tree species to form multi-layered forests for long-term protective effects. In areas with steep slopes, high rainfall, and vulnerability, priority should be given to planting to quickly achieve protective effects.

Regarding planting density and structure: Depending on soil conditions, topography, and tree species, provinces should set appropriate planting densities: For headwater protective forests and concentrated barren hills in plains and midlands, the general density is about 1,600 trees/hectare, with approximately 40% being long-term protective trees such as native large timber trees with dense canopies and deep roots, long growth cycles. Depending on local conditions, some long-term fruit trees like lychee, mango, avocado, jackfruit, pomelo, wax apple, cinnamon, etc., can be planted, considered equivalent to large timber trees and counted as native trees. The remaining 60% are fast-growing supportive trees (economic trees) that improve soil, prevent erosion, and increase moisture for better growth of protective trees. Specific conditions may allow for planting various fruit trees, specialty trees, acacia varieties, etc., providing flowers, fruits, oil, resin, wood, serving both as supportive trees and contributing to household income. The framework for planting density and structure is set, with provinces determining appropriate densities and structures based on specific tree species and soil conditions, but native large timber trees, including long-term fruit trees, must not be less than 400 trees/hectare.

For coastal protective forest planting: Mangrove forests, dike protection, windbreaks, sand barriers, etc., should be planted with traditional species at appropriate densities according to forestry regulations.

In summary, to achieve these objectives during the process of provincial, district, and grassroots organization and direction, it is necessary to thoroughly understand and implement:

- Shift from scattered afforestation across various projects to concentrated afforestation in contiguous areas based on reorganizing forestry-agriculture projects.

- Shift from planting single-species protective forests to mixed-species forests combining native tree groups with supplementary economic trees.

- Implement creative and prudent integrated forestry-agriculture methods.

- It is essential to allocate forest land to individual households on a contractual basis, using households as the driving force for development.

II. REORGANIZING PROJECTS UNDER PROGRAM 327

Provincial People's Committees and Ministries shall base their plans on overall planning to determine forest compartments for different types of forests: upstream protective forests along rivers, water conservancy and hydropower projects, coastal protective forests (to protect dikes, against wind, and sand drift), barren hills in concentrated areas with significant ecological importance in plains, suburban areas, and industrial zones. Special-use forests mainly consist of national parks and nature reserves. Based on this, they should arrange and organize projects as follows:

- For ongoing projects, review and rearrange them according to the appropriate categories of protective and special-use forests. Depending on specific circumstances, the scale of protective forest projects should range from 10,000 to 50,000 hectares to reduce management levels, allowing centralized direction, with counties serving as the basis. Counties with two to three forestry-agricultural projects, including natural conservation and cultural-historical projects under 10,000 hectares, or projects located in different counties but contiguous (protecting the same watershed of large reservoirs, hydropower, and water conservancy projects...) should be merged into one project and assigned to a forestry station as the main project.

- National parks should remain unchanged and be invested according to approved feasibility studies; nature reserves should be determined as separate projects or merged into forestry-agricultural projects on the local area based on their scale and characteristics.

- Forestry projects primarily managed by the Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Public Security, and the Central Committee of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union must be reviewed and rearranged to reduce management levels according to the above categories and scales. For defense projects, which include those directly under the Ministry, Military Regions, Armed Forces branches, and provincial military commands closely related to national defense and security, if within one province, they should be consolidated into one project. Smaller points not directly linked to national defense and security, purely for economic purposes, should be transferred to local authorities for direct provincial management and investment.

- Reorganized projects must accurately define on-site areas for protected forests, areas for encirclement and regeneration, and areas requiring protective forest planting. Thereafter, the provincial People's Committee will issue a decision to approve, appoint project leaders, and establish management boards.

- Forestry-agricultural projects specializing in planting industrial crops and fruit trees, as per Decision 556/TTg, do not fall under Program 327, but if they have been long-term investments in industrial crops since previous years, depending on specific circumstances, households genuinely facing difficulties may continue to receive interest-free loans to care for the crops throughout the basic construction period, without indiscriminate lending.

III. INVESTMENT POLICY, MECHANISMS FOR GRANTING AND LOANS FROM THE STATE BUDGET

1. Investment policy:

The State budget will invest in projects under Program 327 for the following work categories:

1.1. Grant funds:

a) Investment capital for the following subjects:

- Afforestation, protection, encirclement, and regeneration of protective and special-use forests, establishment of nurseries, and preparation of seedlings, including fruit tree seedlings for the next year. Actively creating diverse and standard-compliant seedlings is crucial for the quality of planted forests. Capital for next-year seedlings is revolving capital, allocated only to projects tasked with afforestation, with project leaders responsible for organizing implementation, recovery, and preservation for reinvestment.

- Costs for surveying, allocating contracted forest land, site investigation and design (for planting, encirclement, and protection areas), and acceptance, these costs are calculated separately outside the household contract unit price.

Regarding the unit price for forestry production investment: The Ministry of Planning and Investment and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development will provide guidance annually, but to allow provinces and ministries to take initiative, the following common points are now stipulated:

+ Forest protection: Approximately 50,000 VND/ha/year, directly provided to households.

+ Encirclement and regeneration: Two levels exist: Only encirclement and regeneration (without replanting) is considered forest protection. If additional planting is required, the design will be used to calculate the unit price based on the number of replanted trees.

+ Planting and caring for forests: The Central Steering Committee only sets an average general unit price, while the provincial People's Committee bases decisions on specific land conditions, terrain, tree species, density, distance, difficulty level... to determine the unit price for each type of tree in each region. The forest planting unit price only includes two stages: Seedling production cost and first-year planting and care costs.

+ For nursery seedling prices, the provincial People's Committee needs to set a framework price for each tree species to prevent arbitrary unreasonable price increases.

- Program 327 only supports infrastructure and public welfare construction, mainly investing in drinking water, irrigation, rural roads, prioritizing new settlement points, essential facilities, and areas where ethnic minorities face many difficulties. Water conservancy, transportation, school projects... are funded by specialized sector budgets.

- For special-use forest projects (national parks, nature reserves...), investment according to approved feasibility studies is required, but consideration should be given to completing forest protection-related works first, followed by other works.

- From 1997 onwards, forest resource taxes, proceeds from standing timber sales (after paying obligations), and other forest revenues (penalties and proceeds from confiscated forest products...) are centralized into the state budget and fully allocated to local budgets. These revenues are reinvested in forests and managed according to state financial and budget regulations, not to be used for other purposes. This capital is solely for enriching forests, contracting protection, encirclement and regeneration, and afforestation. It is balanced in annual plans.

b) Operational funds:

+ Capital for population relocation projects is state capital provided to the project owner to distribute to households being relocated to the project area, mainly within the same province, district, and commune. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development shall guide and supplement the regulations in accordance with the spirit of Notification No. 71/TB dated September 16, 1996, issued by the Government Office. Specifically regarding management capital for population relocation, it will be allocated from the general management capital at 8% of the program, without setting a different rate as stipulated in Circular No. 15/LĐTBXH of the Ministry of Labor, Invalids, and Social Affairs.

+ Management capital: 8% of the total capital of the program is allocated as follows:

- Central sectors: 0.8%, including the State Treasury, the Central Steering Committee for Program 327, and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. - Higher levels above the project: 1.2%, comprising the Steering Committee for Program 327 at the ministry, provincial, district, and specialized department levels managing the project, and related departments.

- Project owner: 6% to pay salaries (if applicable) and allowances for directly managing and directing staff, forestry and agricultural extension workers, purchasing office supplies, and necessary equipment for project guidance work. At all levels, the Steering Committee for Program 327 will base their decisions on actual conditions for each project, considering additional income sources or regular expenses such as forest farms, stations, forest protection offices, national park management boards, protective forests, and special-use forests with existing welfare funds. Projects without other income sources besides management capital, or located in remote and difficult areas, may have higher allocations, not necessarily evenly distributed. Therefore, management capital should be specifically arranged to facilitate the project owner's implementation.

1.2. Interest-free loans:

The state provides interest-free loans to households in the project area, primarily for purchasing seeds, seedlings, and essential materials for long-term industrial crops, fruit trees, household gardens, etc. From 1997 onwards, loans will only be provided to households relocating to new production sites tied to afforestation and forest protection tasks. Households remaining in old locations facing genuine difficulties may continue to receive loans for long-term industrial crop care, but at varying rates, not uniformly. Households not involved in forest protection, regeneration, and protective forest planting (unrelated to forests) will not be eligible for planting or caring for industrial crops or household gardens.

2. Mechanism for loan issuance, recovery, and settlement:

Loan issuance and lending still follow Circular No. 80 TC/KBNN dated November 9, 1995, issued by the Ministry of Finance.

The principle for loan recovery and handling recovered loans is as follows:

- Loans due for repayment must be fully returned by the project owners and households to the State Treasury. In cases where project owners and households deliberately delay repayment, the State Treasury will classify these as overdue loans, subject to the same late interest rates as job creation loans under Resolution 120.

- Recovered loans can be reused for lending to project owners according to plans proposed by higher-level authorities and agreed upon by the Ministry of Planning and Investment and the Ministry of Finance.

- In cases where project owners and households face unforeseen risks, extensions or debt write-offs may be considered.

The Ministry of Finance will provide detailed guidelines for handling recovered loans from Program 327 projects.

IV. IMPLEMENTATION

1. Reviewing and restructuring projects and establishing new projects:

Ministries and provincial People's Committees shall base their actions on Decision No. 556/TTg dated September 12, 1995, issued by the Prime Minister, and relevant circulars from ministries, adapting to local realities to reorganize and merge projects in line with the scope of protective and special-purpose forests.

Establishing new projects: Following the content outlined in Section II, but before initiating new projects, approval from the Ministry of Planning and Investment and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development is required. For model projects, a review by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development on key contents is necessary.

2. Strengthening the Provincial Steering Committee for Program 327 and consolidating project management boards.

2.1. Provincial Steering Committee for Program 327:

Led by the Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee responsible for agriculture, members include the Department of Planning and Investment as the permanent body, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development as the direct management agency for forestry and agricultural projects, and the Provincial State Treasury Office. The provincial People's Committee is responsible for state management of Program 327 projects within its jurisdiction. At the provincial level, there must be a dedicated team assisting the Steering Committee as the central point for quickly and timely processing necessary procedures for project owners such as design approval, cost estimates, etc. Regular inspections and prompt corrections of deficiencies are required, along with monthly and quarterly reports to the provincial People's Committee and higher authorities as prescribed.

2.2. District-level Steering Committee:

For districts with large areas of protective forests and Program 327 projects, the provincial People's Committee may decide to establish a district-level Steering Committee led by the Deputy Chairman of the district responsible for the sector, tasked with state management of provincial or central projects within their jurisdiction based on specific circumstances.

2.3. Consolidating project management boards:

After reviewing and restructuring projects, the provincial People's Committee and the central government need to select capable and enthusiastic project owners and staff, particularly the role of the project owner, which is crucial for project success. Provincial People's Committees should promptly reorganize forest farms, converting those primarily engaged in forest management and protection into public service enterprises or economic institutions starting from 1997.

3. Developing and assigning plans:

3.1. Developing and consolidating plans:

The provincial People's Committee, relevant ministries shall base on the State’s guidelines, the implementation situation of projects, be responsible for compiling and building their own plans under Program 327, to submit to the Ministry of Planning and Investment, the Ministry of Finance, and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

The Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Planning and Investment shall balance the budget for Program 327 in the annual budget draft to be submitted to the Government and the National Assembly for decision.

3.2. Allocation Plan:

After the National Assembly approves the annual plan, the Ministry of Planning and Investment and the Ministry of Finance shall present to the Prime Minister for allocation of the total investment capital of the program to provinces and centrally-administered cities, and the Minister of Planning and Investment, authorized by the Prime Minister, shall allocate detailed targets to provinces, centrally-administered cities, and ministries (including tasks, capital structure, project list, while informing the overall sector plan to related ministries for monitoring, guidance, and inspection). Thus, the total capital of Program 327 (allocated capital, loan capital, resettlement and management fees) will be centralized at one point, allocated by the Ministry of Planning and Investment to provincial People's Committees and ministries.

The Chairman of the provincial People's Committee and the Minister shall allocate targets to project leaders (directly managed), who are responsible for integrating and coordinating the contents of programs within their jurisdiction, organizing concentrated guidance, ensuring effective use of state funds and people's contributions, including:

- Tasks: Reforestation, forest protection, encirclement and regeneration, forest care, seed preparation for the next year, planting and caring for long-term industrial trees and specialty trees, infrastructure and public welfare works...

- Number of households relocated to the project.

- Total capital and capital structure: Allocated budget, interest-free loans, resettlement and management fees.

The allocation documents from the ministries and provincial People's Committees to project leaders (directly managed) shall be sent to the Ministry of Planning and Investment, the Ministry of Finance, and relevant ministries for monitoring and inspection. For projects directly under central management, ministries must send the project allocation documents to the local province. The provincial Steering Committee for Program 327 is responsible for monitoring and managing central projects from a national perspective. Central project leaders within the province must maintain regular relations with the locality and submit periodic reports as stipulated by the province.

- The Ministry of Finance and the State Treasury of Vietnam shall base on the allocation documents from the Ministry of Planning and Investment and the registration plans of ministries and provinces to transfer capital, and the State Treasury of the province shall proactively organize timely capital disbursement and lending to project leaders and households.

4. Reporting System:

To ensure that steering committees at all levels can regularly and promptly grasp the implementation of project plans, the following points are hereby unified:

- Project leaders shall submit monthly quick reports on preliminary results of key indicators and capital usage to the supervising authority (upper-level Steering Committee) from the 25th to the 30th of each month.

- The supervising authority (Steering Committee for Program 327) shall compile quarterly, semi-annual, and nine-month reports, and annual summaries to the central Steering Committee, the Ministry of Finance, and relevant ministries.

- The Ministry of Planning and Investment (the permanent office of the central Steering Committee for Program 327) shall compile semi-annual and annual summaries to the Prime Minister.

5. General Provisions:

- This Circular takes effect from January 1, 1997.

- Previous documents conflicting with this Circular are no longer in force.

- Relevant ministries shall provide specific guidance based on the situation regarding issues within their functional management.

In the course of implementation, if there are any difficulties, the provincial People's Committee shall send documents to the Ministry of Planning and Investment, the Ministry of Finance, and relevant ministries for consideration and resolution.