Decision No. 556/TTg Adjusting and Supplementing Decision No. 327/CT dated September 15, 1992 of the Chairman of the Council of Ministers Regarding Program 327

Pursuant to …;

REGARDING THE AMENDMENT AND SUPPLEMENTATION OF DECISION NO. 327/CT DATED SEPTEMBER 15, 1992 OF THE CHAIRMAN OF THE STATE COUNCIL OF MINISTERS 

PRIME MINISTER

Pursuant to the Law on the Organization of the Government dated September 30, 1992;

To implement the concentrated Program 327 effectively and in accordance with reality;

Considering the proposal of the Central Steering Committee for Program 327 and the Ministers of Forestry, Agriculture and Food Industry, Finance, Labor - War Invalids and Social Affairs, Construction, Head of the State Planning Commission, and the Committee for Ethnic Minorities and Mountainous Areas at their meeting on June 13, 1995;

DECISION:

A- OBJECTIVES, SCOPE, AND TARGETS OF PROGRAM 327

Article 1. From 1996 onwards, Program 327 will be essentially a national program for creating new protective forests and special-use forests. The program will be implemented through projects, mainly through combined forestry-agriculture methods, with household project participants serving as the driving force, and project sponsors acting as service providers to households at both ends, aiming to ensure the country's sustainable protective capacity; contribute to environmental protection, mitigate natural disasters, strengthen national defense and security, utilize land effectively, gradually improve living standards, and align household interests with national interests.

- Afforestation of barren hills and mountains to create new protective forests and special-use forests, primarily through planting, with only effective regeneration areas being fenced off for natural regeneration, must be carried out thoroughly and decisively to form contiguous protective forest patches and regions.

- Forest protection mainly targets special-use forests; protective forests will be protected selectively, particularly in vulnerable areas where forests are being cut down for shifting cultivation. For existing forests generally, the Ministry of Forestry and People's Committees of provinces have the responsibility to direct and utilize inspection forces, other sources of funds... to protect them.

- Planting new production forests and scattered forests not falling under Program 327.

- Afforestation of barren hills and mountains primarily with industrial trees, fruit trees, and grasslands for large livestock breeding does not fall under Program 327. Agricultural-forestry-industrial projects that have approximately 30% forest protective area and 50% or more of the project area covered by industrial trees, fruit trees, and other canopy-forming plants still qualify for investment under Program 327.

- Regarding settlement stabilization, a major socio-economic issue in mountainous areas, using separate funding not included in Program 327. Starting from 1996, all independent settlement stabilization projects currently funded by Program 327 resources will be separated from Program 327.

- For households of ethnic minorities practicing shifting cultivation and burning forests for slash-and-burn agriculture within the boundaries of existing forestry-agricultural projects located in protective and special-use forests, these households will still be managed by the projects and implemented according to the regulations of other Program 327 projects.

B- SCALE, STRUCTURE, DENSITY, AND POLICIES FOR PROTECTIVE FORESTS AND SPECIAL-USE FORESTS

Article 2. The Ministry of Forestry and Provincial People's Committees will plan and clearly define the forest compartments of protective and special-use forests of each province and nationwide as follows:

- Protective forests, with a total area exceeding 8 million hectares, including approximately 4.5 million hectares of existing natural forests, focusing on upstream protective forests of major rivers, national water conservancy and hydroelectric projects, coastal protective forests (transferred from Decision 773/TTg), and some concentrated barren hills and mountains with significant ecological protective importance in the plains.

- Special-use forests, with a total area ranging from 1 to 1.2 million hectares, mainly consisting of existing natural forests, including national parks, nature reserves, and some important historical relic conservation areas.

From 1996 to 2010, efforts will be made to create new forests to afforest most of the barren hills and mountains planned for protective and special-use forests, averaging about 250,000 hectares of new planting and regeneration annually; simultaneously implementing necessary policies to protect existing protective and special-use forests.

Article 3: The structure and density of tree planting for upstream protective forests will be mixed according to multi-layered ecological conditions, including many native valuable timber species, mainly sourced from primary forests, with an average density of 1,600 trees per hectare. Among them, about 40% are native forest trees and 60% are supplementary trees, including industrial trees, fruit trees, and long-term specialty crops such as lychee, mango, longan, cardamom... Or planted in an interwoven ecological pattern: bands of forest and grass; bands of forest and industrial trees, fruit trees, bands of forest and food crops... For coastal protective forests, mangrove forests..., the planting density is higher (but the cost of planting forests is lower). For some special-use forest projects, planting will be carried out according to approved economic and technical feasibility studies.

To ensure the state's interests align with those of the forest leaseholders, the Ministry of Forestry will develop and submit to the Government policies for the protection and creation of new protective and special-use forests as follows:

- New tree planting: all native forest trees belong to the state; for supplementary forest trees when harvested, the forest grower receives two-thirds of the product and the state one-third, but the harvesting of supplementary trees must be carried out strictly according to technical procedures.

- Protection and regeneration of forests: the leaseholder receives a reasonable proportion of the increased value of the forest due to protection and care.

Additionally, the leaseholder protecting, regenerating, and planting forests benefits from products grown under the forest canopy and enjoys the entire flowers and fruits on forest trees (if any).

C- CAPITAL STRUCTURE, CAPITAL DISTRIBUTION MECHANISM, AND CAPITAL SETTLEMENT PROCEDURES:

Article 4: The State allocates funds from domestic budget, foreign aid, and foreign loans (if available) for Program 327 and coordinates these funds reasonably for each sector and locality; provinces with substantial foreign aid for forests will reduce or cease investment using Program 327 funds; funds from related programs shall not be combined into this Program. The sources of funds for the national program on protective forests and special-use forests include: investment capital, loans, relocation expenses, and management fees for forestry and agriculture promotion, all of which are centralized at a single point to allocate plans and disburse through the State Treasury system. All sources of funds for Program 327 projects across sectors, including defense, internal affairs, youth organizations, etc., are uniformly assigned to the province, except for certain projects directly under the Ministry.

Depending on specific conditions, the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee and the Minister of relevant sectors are responsible for assigning appropriate plans for each project as follows:

- Direct investment funds for forests and loans to households for supporting production of combined forestry and agriculture account for approximately 74% of the program funds. Among this, funds for contracted forest protection, encirclement and regeneration, care, and new planting of protective and special-use forests amount to 60%; costs for three stages: temporary land measurement for allocating forest planting areas, encirclement and regeneration, and forest protection; design according to procedures on-site, and inspection of newly planted forests are about 1.5-2% of the loan interest-free funds provided to households to support planting industrial trees, fruit trees, garden economy, and large livestock breeding: 12%.

In addition to state investment and loans, project households must save, utilize labor and their own capital to strongly develop family economy.

Preparing seedlings, especially native forest species, is extremely important and decisive for afforestation goals; therefore, annually, the State prioritizes a reasonable proportion of investment for research on seeds, establishing some primary forests as seedling sources; directing the cultivation of diverse high-quality native tree seeds suitable for each micro-region. The State pre-funds seed preparation for the first year of forest planting; from the second year onwards, the project leader must allocate seed costs within the unit price of forest planting for that year to prepare seedlings for the following year.

- Investment support for infrastructure construction and public welfare facilities averages 12% of the program funds.

- Expenses for transferring and relocating people according to the specific requirements of each project average around 6% of the program funds.

- Management expenses: 8% of the program funds, of which central ministries account for 0.8%, provincial and district-level sectors directly guiding 1.2%, and the project leader must not be less than 6%.

Article 5: Annually, responsible agencies and project leaders must determine and publicly disclose the unit cost per hectare for planting, caring, encirclement and regeneration, and protecting protective and special-use forests. Specifically for new forest planting: seedling preparation costs and native forest fertilization costs should not exceed one-third of the unit cost; labor costs for planting and caring in the first year should be allocated two-thirds to households. Project leaders must create conditions for households to cultivate seeds and provide fertilizers so they can fully benefit from the unit cost. Costs for the three stages: temporary measurement, on-site design according to procedures, and inspection have been calculated separately and are not included in the planting unit cost. Higher-level specialized agencies mainly perform planning, guidance, budget review, and implementation monitoring functions; delegating project leaders to use their own forestry extension engineers to design planting and encirclement and regeneration of forests according to on-site procedures and implement them.

Article 6: The Ministry of Finance and State Treasuries at all levels must ensure sufficient funding, monthly disbursement of encirclement and regeneration, care, and protection funds, management and forestry promotion expenses; disburse and lend according to seasonal needs and project leader requests for seed preparation, planting, and interest-free loans to households for planting industrial crops, garden economy, and large livestock breeding.

Article 7. Chapter on the National Program for Protective Forests and Specialized Forests shall be direct investment and loans to households, thus not fully applying Article of the Regulation on Basic Construction Management accompanying Decree No. 177/CP, but shall be implemented according to specific provisions as follows:

- For forest investment items, the main project proponent bases on approved projects and annual plans, unit prices to prepare budgets; after the budget is approved by the immediate superior authority of the proponent, it is allocated to households for implementation. The State Treasury system only bases on the approved forest planting budget to provide capital in time for the season about 70%; after receiving the acceptance results from specialized agencies, the remaining 30% is provided and the capital is settled.

- For infrastructure and public welfare works of the project with investment capital under VND 150 million per work such as rural roads, small irrigation systems, classrooms, commune health stations, the proponent may use standard designs, prepare budgets, and submit them to the immediate superior authority of the project for approval. For works requiring complex technical requirements and investment capital over VND 150 million per work, they must be implemented according to Decree No. 177/CP.

- The Ministry of Finance and State Treasuries at all levels must strictly comply with Article 10 of Decision No. 327, without deducting savings; strictly implement the recovery of program 327 loans according to the crop cycle from when products are available, recovered loan funds in a given year must have a plan for use and be replenished into the program's loan fund.

D. IMPLEMENTATION ORGANIZATION.

Article 8: Based on the contents of this Decision, new guidance on management organization of the sector, and based on existing projects, without causing disruption, the relevant ministries and provincial People's Committees must review, appraise, and rearrange projects within protective forests and specialized forests according to the direction of taking the district as the planning unit for projects. The scale of each protective forest project in a district ranges from 10,000 to 50,000 hectares. Districts with protective forest areas exceeding 50,000 hectares may have two projects, exceptionally three projects - In cases where adjacent districts have a total protective forest area less than 10,000 hectares, they can form one project under a district or province.

After rearranging projects according to the district as mentioned above, small-scale projects scattered among forestry, agriculture sectors or managed by the Ministries of Defense, Interior, Youth Union, Vietnam Farmers' Association, funded by program 327, will be converted into points of projects within the district.

The People's Committee of the district has the responsibility to manage state affairs for all projects within the district, including those belonging to central ministries, provinces, and simultaneously bears the responsibility for organizing the implementation of projects directly under the district.

Forestry-agricultural or agricultural-forestry industrial projects in protective forests and specialized forests shall operate under the economic service system, but shall not use program 327 funds for depreciation of fixed assets, social insurance, health insurance, and other expenses unrelated directly to program 327.

Strengthen project management boards with lean staffing; select the right project leaders, forestry and agricultural extension teams consisting of young engineers and officers with expertise and dedication, allocate necessary funding and means for the project to operate down to household level.

Summarize and evaluate model projects to continue refining and expanding new models.

Article 9: Forestry and agricultural sectors, along with land administration, guide the allocation of land and forest contracting to households in protective forest and specialized forest projects according to the structure: forestry land (including grassland), industrial tree planting land, and garden economy land... to ensure households stabilize their production investments from the outset.

Article 10. Enhance the responsibilities and authorities of relevant sectors and levels regarding the national program for protective forests and specialized forests:

- The Forestry Sector, in collaboration with the Agriculture Sector, leads the national program for protective forests and specialized forests, and is responsible before the Prime Minister and the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee for planning, application of advanced technology, procedures, project appraisal, policies, and monitoring the implementation of the program.

- The Agriculture Sector collaborates with the Forestry Sector, and is responsible before the Prime Minister and the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee for planning, policies, application of advanced technology, appraisal, and monitoring the implementation of afforestation with industrial trees, fruit trees, grass, and large livestock breeding in agricultural-forestry industrial projects. Direct the mobilization agencies of the Ministry and the province to plan, build policies for relocation and dispersion of residents to projects under program 327 and monitor their implementation.

- Other related sectors such as transportation, water resources, construction, energy, health, education... must use the state budget allocated to their sectors to prioritize investment in infrastructure and public welfare works within the project area under their jurisdiction.

- The Planning Sector bases on proposals from sectors and localities and opinions of the Steering Committee of program 327 to compile and report to the Government and Provincial People's Committees on the five-year and annual plans and budgets of this program. After the plan is approved, according to the proposal for capital distribution by the relevant ministry, the State Planning Commission will consolidate and notify the sectors and provincial level, and oversee its implementation. At the provincial level, based on proposals from specialized departments on capital distribution for projects, the Provincial Planning Commission will consolidate and report to the Provincial People's Committee to assign plans to individual projects.

- The Finance Sector and State Treasuries at all levels base on state plan indicators, manage capital for program 327 promptly and sufficiently; implement the issuance of investment and loan capital to each project and project households accurately according to the target, ensuring requirements and timing, and bear responsibility for monitoring, inspecting the implementation, settling accounts, and recovering program loans as stipulated in Articles 4, 5, 6, and 7 of this Decision.

The provincial People's Committee plays a decisive role and is fully responsible before the Government for managing, consolidating, and directing Program 327, and coordinating and integrating other related programs within its jurisdiction; it shall properly exercise the authorities and responsibilities of relevant departments, strengthen specialized units to assist the province in effectively guiding and implementing the program.

Article 11.

- The Program 327 Steering Committees at all levels shall only perform functions of inter-sectoral coordination and harmonization; they shall conduct focused inspections on project appraisals and program implementation.

The Central Program 327 Steering Committee is headed by a Deputy Prime Minister responsible for the overall management; the composition of the Steering Committee remains largely unchanged, with only two members reduced: the National Ethnic Minorities Commission and the Ministry of Labor, Invalids, and Social Affairs.

The special envoy of the Government assists the Government and the Prime Minister in inspecting and supervising the implementation of the program and directing certain key provinces and projects.

The provincial Program 327 Steering Committee is chaired by the Chairman or Vice-Chairman of the provincial People's Committee responsible for the sector; members of the Steering Committee include relevant provincial sectors designated by the Chairman of the provincial People's Committee.

Article 12. The State Planning Commission and relevant Ministries shall provide proper guidance on the content of this decision to ensure timely preparation and implementation of plans starting from 1996.

Article 13. This Decision takes effect from the date of issuance; other provisions in Decision 327 and related documents that do not conflict with this Decision remain valid for implementation.

Article 14. The Ministers, Heads of ministerial-level agencies, and provincial People's Committee Chairmen directly under the Central Government are responsible for enforcing this Decision./.