Resolution No. 54/2017/QH14 on Pilot Mechanisms and Special Policies for the Development of Ho Chi Minh City

RESOLUTION

On the pilot mechanism and special policies for the development of Ho Chi Minh City

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OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY

On the basis of the Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam;

Pursuant to the Law on the Organization of the National Assembly No. 57/2014/QH13;

Pursuant to the Law on the Organization of the Government No. 76/2015/QH13;

Pursuant to the Law on the Organization of Local Administration No. 77/2015/QH13;

Based on the Law on Legislative Regulatory Acts No. 80/2015/QH13;

RESOLUTION:

Article 1. Scope of Regulation

This Resolution stipulates the pilot mechanism and special policies for Ho Chi Minh City (hereinafter referred to as the City) regarding land management, investment, financial and state budget management; it also stipulates the delegation mechanism among levels of administration and income of cadres, civil servants, and public officials under the City's management.

Article 2. Applicability

1. State agencies, political organizations, and socio-political organizations.

2. Socio-professional organizations, social organizations, socio-professional organizations.

MECHANISMS AND POLICIES REGARDING THE PRICE OF AUCTION SERVICES FOR ASSETS THAT MUST BE SOLD THROUGH AUCTIONS AS PRESCRIBED BY LAW

Article 3. Land Management

1. The People's Council of the City decides to change the purpose of using rice cultivation land from 10 hectares or more in accordance with the land use planning and plan already decided by the competent authority.

2. The decision to change the purpose of using rice cultivation land as stipulated in Clause 1 of this Article must be carried out publicly, soliciting opinions from the people and those affected by the change in land use purpose according to the laws on land.

3. The procedures and formalities for changing the purpose of using rice cultivation land from 10 hectares or more as stipulated in this Article shall be implemented in the same manner as the procedures and formalities for changing the purpose of using less than 10 hectares of rice cultivation land according to the laws on land.

Article 4. Investment Management

1. The People's Council of the City decides on the investment policy for group A projects funded by the City's budget in accordance with the Public Investment Law, except for projects specified in points a, b, c, and d of Clause 1 of Article 8 of the Public Investment Law No. 49/2014/QH13.

2. The procedures and formalities for deciding on the investment policy for group A projects funded by the City's budget as stipulated in Clause 1 of this Article shall be carried out as follows:

a) The preparation, review, and amendment of the Preliminary Feasibility Study Report according to points a, b, and c of Clause 2 of Article 23 of the Public Investment Law No. 49/2014/QH13;

b) The People's Committee of the City submits to the People's Council of the City for a decision on the investment policy according to point b of Clause 2 of Article 29 of the Public Investment Law No. 49/2014/QH13.

Article 5. Financial and State Budget Management

1. The People's Council of the City proposes to the Government for consideration and submission to the Standing Committee of the National Assembly for a decision to apply on the territory of the City a pilot increase in tax rates or tax rates for certain goods subject to special consumption tax and environmental protection tax. The increase in tax rate or tax rate shall not exceed 25% compared to the current tax rate or tax rate.

2. The People's Council of the City decides to apply on the territory of the City:

a) Fees and charges not yet specified in the List of Fees and Charges issued together with the Law on Fees and Charges;

b) An increase in the level or ratio of fees and charges that have been decided by the competent authority for certain types of fees and charges listed in the Fee and Charge List issued together with the Law on Fees and Charges.

3. The implementation of the policy on collecting the state budget on the territory of the City as stipulated in Clauses 1 and 2 of this Article must comply with the following principles:

a) Ensuring a suitable roadmap in line with the level and requirements for development of the City; creating a favorable production and business environment, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises and industries and professions with preferential investment;

b) Ensuring market unity, not hindering the circulation of goods and services; implementing reasonable regulation for certain goods and services and legitimate income sources of organizations and individuals within the City;

c) Transparency, administrative reform, including tax administration reform.

4. The City's budget shall benefit 100% of additional revenue from the collection measures stipulated in Clauses 1 and 2 of this Article compared to the current regulations to invest in socio-economic infrastructure within the City's budget expenditure responsibilities and shall not be used to determine the percentage share between the central government budget and the City's budget.

5. Based on the annual state budget estimate decided by the National Assembly, the Prime Minister's allocation, and the actual situation of the City, the People's Council of the City decides on the City's budget estimate and allocation ensuring consistency with the direction of restructuring the budget, socio-economic development, and important sectors as prescribed by the National Assembly and the Government.

6. The City implements the mechanism to create resources for salary reform as prescribed. After the City's budget ensures sufficient resources for salary reform and social welfare policies for the entire stable budget period as prescribed by the competent authority, the People's Council of the City may decide:

a) To use surplus resources from salary reform in the City's budget; allowing lower-level budgets to use surplus salary reform resources for investment in socio-economic infrastructure within their budget responsibilities and additional income spending based on compliance with Clause 3 and Clause 5 of Article 6 of this Resolution;

b) Adjusting the proportion of revenue retained according to regulations to create resources for salary reform for agencies and units under its management with significant revenue to be appropriate; ensuring the principle that these agencies and units can independently arrange resources for salary reform according to the schedule determined by the competent authority; the state budget will not supplement resources for salary reform for these agencies and units;

c) Allowing administrative state agencies, political organizations, political-social organizations, and public service units managed by the City to use surplus resources from salary reform to increase investment, procurement, and professional activities of the agency, organization, or unit and additional income spending based on compliance with Clause 3 and Clause 5 of Article 6 of this Resolution.

7. The City is allowed to borrow through issuing local government bonds, borrowing from domestic financial institutions, other domestic organizations, and foreign loans from the Government allocated to the City, with total debt not exceeding 90% of the City's budget revenue according to the budget classification. The total amount borrowed and the annual budget deficit of the City shall be decided by the National Assembly according to the State Budget Law.

8. Annually, the Government shall submit to the Standing Committee of the National Assembly for a decision to supplement the targeted budget of the City from the central budget corresponding to seventy percent of the increase in revenue collected by the central budget from shared revenue sources between the central budget and the City's budget compared to the Prime Minister’s approved estimate (the remaining amount after implementing the excess revenue bonus as stipulated in Clause 4, Article 59 of the State Budget Law No. 83/2015/QH13) and the increase in revenue from central budget sources specified at Points b, c, d, g, h, i, and q of Clause 1, Article 35 of the State Budget Law No. 83/2015/QH13 compared to the Prime Minister’s approved estimate; the targeted supplement amount shall not exceed the increase in central budget revenue on the territory compared to the previous year's collection.

9. The City's budget shall benefit fifty percent of the land use fee revenue from the sale of state-owned assets attached to land, as provided for in the Law on Management and Use of State Assets (after deducting relocation costs and construction expenses at new locations) generated by agencies, organizations, and units under central management within the City (excluding agencies and units in the defense and security sectors) to invest in economic and social infrastructure within the City's public investment tasks.

10. The City's budget shall benefit from the revenue from the privatization and divestment of state capital in state-owned enterprises managed by the People's Committee of the City and the revenue from the divestment of state capital in economic organizations represented by the People's Committee of the City as the owner.

The City shall utilize this revenue and its own budget to invest in developing economic and social infrastructure, including projects to combat flooding in the City; the central budget shall not supplement the City's budget with ten trillion VND to implement these projects as initially planned in the mid-term public investment plan for the period 2016-2020.

The City's budget shall undertake to refinance the entire additional capital exceeding the total investment amount (if any) of projects funded from foreign sources that have been approved by competent authorities.

11. For important infrastructure projects included in the mid-term public investment plan already approved and falling within the spending responsibilities of the central budget on the City's territory, the City is permitted to use its own budget, other legitimate financial resources of the City, borrow within the limits stipulated in Clause 7 of this Article, or mobilize through Public-Private Partnership (PPP) methods to expedite project completion. The central budget shall be responsible for reimbursing the City for the portion of the approved expenditure budget under the central budget's responsibility, excluding interest on loans within the current mid-term public investment plan or the subsequent mid-term public investment plan.

Article 6. Delegation Mechanism and Income of Officials, Civil Servants, and Employees Managed by the City

1. The Chairman of the People's Committee of the City may delegate some of his duties and powers to the Chairmen of the People's Committees of districts.

2. The People's Committee of the City shall specify the duties and powers that the Chairmen of the People's Committees of districts may delegate to the Chairmen of the People's Committees of communes within their scope of duties and powers, without delegating those duties and powers already delegated by the Chairman of the People's Committee of the City as stipulated in Clause 1 of this Article.

3. The People's Council of the City has the right to decide on allocating the City's budget to provide additional average income for officials, civil servants, and employees under the management of the state administration, political organizations, political-social organizations, and public service units managed by the City based on work performance, in addition to the increased income paid according to the current legal provisions on the self-financing mechanism for administrative agencies and public service units, with a maximum level not exceeding 1.8 times the salary grade and position. The income level for experts, scientists, and special talents of the City shall be determined by the People's Council of the City.

4. The People's Committee of the City has the right to adjust the names and functions of departments under specialized agencies under the People's Committee of the City to suit the characteristics of the City.

5. The implementation of the provisions in Clauses 3 and 4 of this Article must be linked to the restructuring of organizational structures, reduction of staff quotas, and salary reform in accordance with the Party and State's policies.

Article 7. Application of Law

1. The management of land, investment, state finance-budget; the delegation mechanism among levels of authority and income of cadres, civil servants, and public officials under the management of the City shall be implemented in accordance with the provisions of this Resolution. In cases where this Resolution does not provide for such matters, the current laws shall apply.

2. Where there are different provisions on the same issue between this Resolution and other laws or resolutions of the National Assembly, the provisions of this Resolution shall apply. In cases where other regulatory legal documents have more favorable or advantageous mechanisms and policies than those stipulated in this Resolution, the application thereof shall be decided by the People's Council of the City.

3. For matters related to the mechanisms and policies prescribed in this Resolution that are currently being submitted to competent authorities for consideration and decision, the current legal procedures shall continue to be followed.

Article 8. Implementation clause

1. This Resolution takes effect from January 15, 2018.

The Government shall conduct a mid-term review of the implementation of this Resolution after three years and report to the National Assembly at its final session in 2020, conduct a comprehensive review of the implementation of this Resolution and report to the National Assembly at its final session in 2022, and propose improvements to the legal system regarding the mechanisms and policies that have been piloted.

2. The Government shall have the following responsibilities:

a) Organize the implementation of this Resolution; direct relevant agencies to cooperate with the City to streamline procedures and shorten the time required to handle issues not yet delegated or devolved to the City;

b) Study and improve the mechanism for budget decentralization; decentralize revenue sources and expenditure responsibilities; establish principles, criteria, and budget allocation standards suitable for rapid and sustainable economic and social development requirements; implement reasonable mobilization policies; ensure the leading role of the central government budget; restructure the state budget and manage public debt to ensure the safety and sustainability of the national financial system; determine a reasonable ratio for the redistribution of shared budget revenues, creating conditions for the City to have resources for rapid and sustainable development in line with the guidelines of the Party and State;

c) Direct the City to conduct mid-term and comprehensive reviews of the implementation of this Resolution and report the results to the National Assembly;

d) Draft and submit to the National Assembly for promulgation the Law on Property Tax to be uniformly applied throughout the country.

3. The People's Council and People's Committee of the City, within their respective duties and powers, shall have the following responsibilities:

a) Implement this Resolution and other related laws;

b) Inspect and supervise the implementation of tasks and powers delegated as provided for in Clause 1, Article 6 of this Resolution and the implementation of provisions concerning tasks and powers permitted to be delegated as provided for in Clause 2, Article 6 of this Resolution;

c) Conduct mid-term and comprehensive reviews of the pilot implementation of mechanisms and policies prescribed in this Resolution, report to the Government so that the Government can report to the National Assembly for consideration and decision as provided for in Clause 1 of this Article.

4. The National Assembly, the Standing Committee of the National Assembly, the National Ethnic Council, the Committees of the National Assembly, the Delegation of National Assembly Members of the City, and National Assembly deputies shall supervise the implementation of this Resolution.

This Resolution was adopted by the National Assembly of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, the 14th term, fourth session, on November 24, 2017.