Decree No. 120/2018/ND-CP dated September 13, 2018 of the Government on amendments to a number of articles of the Government’s Decree No. 77/2015/ND-CP dated September 10, 2015 on annual and medium-term public investment plan, No. 136/2015/ND-CP dated December 31, 2015 guiding the implementation of a number of articles of the Law on Public Investment and No. 161/2016/ND-CP dated December 02, 2016 on stipulating a special mechanism for construction investment management of a number of projects under national target programs during 2016-2020

THE GOVERNMENT

Decree No. 120/2018/ND-CP dated September 13, 2018 of the Government on amendments to a number of articles of the Government’s Decree No. 77/2015/ND-CP dated September 10, 2015 on annual and medium-term public investment plan, No. 136/2015/ND-CP dated December 31, 2015 guiding the implementation of a number of articles of the Law on Public Investment and No. 161/2016/ND-CP dated December 02, 2016 on stipulating a special mechanism for construction investment management of a number of projects under national target programs during 2016-2020

Pursuant to the Law on Government Organization dated June 19, 2015;

Pursuant to the Law on Public Investment dated June 18, 2014;

Pursuant to the National Assembly’s Resolution No. 100/2015/QH13 dated November 12, 2015 on approving the investment policy for national target programs during 2016-2020;

At the request of the Minister of Planning and Investment;

The Government hereby promulgates a Decree on amendments to a number of Articles of the Government’s Decree No. 77/2015/ND-CP dated September 10, 2015 on annual and medium-term public investment plan, No. 136/2015/ND-CP dated December 31, 2015 guiding the implementation of a number of articles of the Law on Public Investment and No. 161/2016/ND-CP dated December 02, 2016 on stipulating a special mechanism for construction investment management of a number of projects under national target programs during 2016-2020.

Article 1.To amend some Articles of the Government’s Decree No. 77/2015/ND-CP dated September 10, 2015:

1. To repeal points a, b and g Clause 7 of Article 3.

2. To add point c to Clause 2 Article 13 as follows:

“c) Regarding the project included in the target program for sustainable forestry development: time for providing capital for project completion is determined according to the silviculture cycle”.

3. To amend Article 27 as follows:

“Article 27. Conditionsfor providing capital for a program/project under an annual public investment plan

1. The program/project satisfies the conditions prescribed in Article 56 of the Law on Public Investment.

2. In addition to the conditions specified in Clause 1 of this Article, the new project needs to satisfy the following conditions:

a) Its investment guidelines must be approved by a competent authority by October 31 of the year preceding the plan year, except for emergency project, project funded by state budget reserves, surplus or increase in budget revenue and other cases decided by the Prime Minister;

b) Capital sources and capacity for balancing such capital sources shall be clearly identified and capital shall be provided in full according to the progress specified in the medium-term investment plan;

c) Capital shall be provided in full according to the progress approved by the competent authority during the first year of project execution.

3. The emergency project and newly-generated necessary project included in the list of medium-term public investment plans shall be provided with capital from the budget reserve in the medium-term public investment plan as prescribed in Article 7 of this Decree and have their investment guidelines and investment decision approved by a competent authority.

4. Regarding capital for investment preparation or project at the stage of investment preparation, it is required to obtain a decision on permission for investment preparation and investment preparation estimate decided by the competent authority by October 31 of the year preceding the plan year”.

4. To amend Clause 2 of Article 45 as follows:

“2. The capital advanced from next year’s budget estimate must not exceed 20% of the estimated capital expenditure and must not exceed the total capital for projects that is specified in the 5-year plan provided. Rules, criteria and conditions for deciding and power to decide on advancing next year’s budget estimate shall comply with the Law on State Budget.”

5. To amend Article 46 as follows:

“Article 46. Implementation of public investment plan and disbursement of capital therein

1. Time for implementation of the annual and medium-term public investment plan and disbursement of capital therein shall comply with Article 76 of the Law on Public Investment.

2. Regarding the project funded by the state budget, sovereign bonds, government bonds, local government bonds or revenues which are retained but not recorded in the state budget balance, time for disbursement of capital specified in the annual public investment plan shall be extended by December 31 of the year succeeding the plan year.

In special case, the Prime Minister shall decide to extend the time for disbursement of capital specified in the annual public investment plan to each project to the subsequent years, but not exceeding the time specified under Point a Clause 1 Article 76 of the Law on Public Investment.

3. Regarding the project funded by ODA and concessional loans of foreign sponsors:

a) The foreign capital specified in the annual public investment plan and recorded as debts of Vietnamese Government but not yet disbursed, the time shall be extended by December 31 of the year succeeding the plan year.

b) The foreign capital specified in the annual public investment plan but not yet recorded as debts of Vietnamese Government but disbursed, upon the end of the time limit for adjustments to the final statement of state budget, capital which have been estimated but not yet disbursed shall be cancelled.

In special case, the Government shall request the Standing Committee of National Assembly to adjust the next year s budget estimate, not exceeding total foreign capital specified in medium-term investment plan decided by the National Assembly.

4. Procedures for extending the time for implementation of the annual public investment plan and disbursement of capital for central government budget, sovereign bonds, Government bonds, ODA and concessional loans of foreign sponsors therein according to Point a Clause 3 of this Article:

a) Upon the end of the time limit for adjustments to the final statement of state budget, ministries and local governments shall direct investors to follow procedures at the State Treasury to transfer the remaining capital that has not been disbursed to the subsequent year as prescribed.

b) By March 31, ministries and local governments shall consolidate all lists of projects and aggregate capital that is transferred to the subsequent year for disbursement and submit them to the Ministry of Planning and Investment and Ministry of Finance.

c) After March 31, cancel or return the previous year’s remaining capital that has not yet been disbursed and aggregated or reported as prescribed in Point b Clause 3 of this Article to the central government budget”.

5. The capital specified in the investment plan of the previous year with the extended time for disbursement as prescribed in Clause 2 and Point a Clause 3 of this Article shall be recorded in the subsequent years’ budget by the actual disbursement for each year.”

Article 2.To amend a number of Articles of the Government’s Decree No. 136/2015/ND-CP dated December 31, 2015 guiding the implementation of a number of articles of the Law on Public Investment:

1. To amend Clause 4 of Article 3 as follows: “Emergency project refers to the investment project required to be executed immediately to serve the purpose of protecting national sovereignty, assuring national security; preventing any serious harm to human life, health and property of the community and the state or avoiding serious effect on adjacent works, promptly mitigating or responding to or preventing any potential consequences resulting from disasters, force majeure events or emergencies or responding to extremely serious environmental emergencies and other emergencies decided by the Prime Minister”.

2. To amend Article 10 as follows:

“1. Procedures for issuing decision on group A project investment guidelines (including the emergency project prescribed in Point b Clause 3 Article 33 of the Law on Public Investment) shall comply with Article 23 of the Law on Public Investment.

2. Procedures for issuing decision on public–private partnership project investment guidelines shall comply with regulations of the law on public–private partnership investment.”

3. To amend Article 14 as follows:

“Article 14. Procedures for issuing decision on guidelines for investment in group B and group C emergency projects funded by the central government budget

1. Regarding the project under the management of ministries, heads of ministries shall decide on the emergency and have the responsibility to:

a) Assign the unit licensed to carry out surveys and prepare a report on proposed investment guidelines;

b) Assign the unit licensed to appraise projects;

c) Direct the unit specified in Point a of this Clause to submit a complete report on proposed investment guidelines to the Prime Minister, Ministry of Planning and Investment, Ministry of Finance and central government ministries related to the emergency project.

2. Regarding the project under the management of a province, the People’s Committee of the province shall decide on the emergency and have the responsibility to:

a) Assign a specialized agency or the People’s Committee of the district to prepare a report on proposed investment guidelines;

b) Assign the Department of Planning and Investment to take charge and cooperate with relevant departments and ministries in appraising the report on proposed investment guidelines;

c) Direct the agency specified in Point a of this Clause to submit a complete report on proposed investment guidelines according to the appraised report specified in Point b of this Clause to the Department of Planning and Investment, which will submit a consolidated report to the People s Committee of the province, which will submit it to the Prime Minister, Ministry of Planning and Investment, Ministry of Finance and central government ministries related to emergency projects.

3. The Ministry of Planning and Investment shall take charge and cooperate with the Ministry of Finance to consider the possibility of providing additional funding from the annual state budget to execute emergency projects or works to be completed during the plan year, and request the Prime Minister to issue a decision on investment guidelines and provision of additional funding from the annual central budget.

4. The Prime Minister shall issue a decision on the emergency project investment guidelines, including objectives, scope, total investment, location, progress, capital structure with particular attention paid to the capital provided by central government budget for investment in these projects.”

4. To amend Article 15 as follows:

“Article 15. Procedures for issuing decision on guidelines for investment in group B and group C emergency projects funded by balanced local government budget

1. Regarding the project under the management of a province, the People’s Committee of the province shall decide on the emergency and have the responsibility to:

a) Assign a specialized agency or the People’s Committee of the district to carry out a field survey and prepare a report on proposed investment guidelines;

b) Assign the Department of Planning and Investment to take charge and cooperate with relevant departments and ministries in appraising the report on proposed investment guidelines and submit it to the People’s Committee of the province for decision on investment guidelines and provision of capital.

c) Issue a decision on emergency project investment guidelines, including objectives, scope, total investment, location, progress, capital structure; notify the People s Council of the province in the latest meeting of the decision on guidelines for investment in group B emergency projects and group C key projects under the management of the province.

2. Regarding the project funded by the balanced local government budget of the district or commune, according to emergency order or emergency decision issued the competent authority, the President of the People’s Committee of the district or commune shall:

a) Assign a specialized agency of the district or commune to prepare a report on proposed investment guidelines;

b) Assign the investment management authority or establish an appraisal council responsible for appraising the report on proposed investment guidelines and submit it to the People’s Committee at the same level for decision on investment guidelines and provision of capital;

c) Issue a decision on emergency project investment guidelines, including objectives, scope, total investment, location, progress, capital structure; notify the People s Council at the same level in the latest meeting of the decision on guidelines for investment in group B emergency projects and group C key projects under management.”

5. To amend Clause 3 Article 16 as follows:

“3. The emergency project or emergency project’s item that needs to be immediately executed to take remedial actions against disasters, floods, erosion of dykes or embankments to such an extent that it leads to breach of these dykes, lakes, dams, or erosion of roads or railroads resulting in traffic congestion, or other emergencies related to national defense and security shall be allowed to be executed upon receipt of the emergency order or emergency decision issued by the competent authority. Documents required for investment stated in Clause 2 of this Article must be prepared and completed during the process of project execution.

6. To repeal Clause 2 of Article 17.

7. To repeal Clause 6 of Article 19.

8. To amend point dd Clause 1of Article 20 as follows:

“dd) Emergency order or emergency decision issued the competent authority (applicable to emergency projects);”

9. To repeal Clause 8 of Article 24.

10. To repeal Clauses 2, 3 and 4 of Article 31.

11. To repeal Article 33.

12. To amend point b Clause 4 of Article 45 as follows:

“b) The authority that has the power to decide on investment in projects under the emergency order or emergency decision issued by a competent authority as prescribed in Point a of this Clause may authorize the investor to make a decision and assume responsibility for project management and execution from the stage of formulation of projects, survey, design and construction to the stage of completion and operation of projects, and for such authorization.”

13. To add Clause 10 of Article 60 as follows:

“10. Do not apply regulations on decision on public investment in group A projects and authorization specified in Clause 3 and regulations specified in Clause 4 of this Article to state groups and corporations.”

Article 3.To repeal regulations concerning theStanding Committee of People s Council specified in Articles 19, 20, 25, 33, 34, 39 and 55 of the Decree No. 77/2015/ND-CP dated September 10, 2015 and Article 21, Article 61 and appendices promulgated together with the Decree No. 136/2015/ND-CP dated December 31, 2015”.

Article 4.To amend a number of Articles of the Government’s Decree No. 161/2016/ND-CP dated December 02, 2016:

To amend Article 2 as follows:

“A project that meets all of the following criteria shall be eligible for application of procedures for appraising funding sources and capital balancing capacity prescribed in Article 3 of the Decree No. 161/2016/ND-CP:

- It is included in a national target program during 2016-2020;

- The total investment is under VND 15 billion and techniques required are not sophisticated;

- It is partially funded by the state budget and partially funded the people’s contributions and other sources with the participation and supervision by the people. The people’s contributions may be in cash, in kind or their working days converted into cash.”

Article 5.Effect

1. This Decree takes effect on the signing date.

2. This Decree applies to all of the cases specified in the Government’s Resolution No. 70/NQ-CP dated August 03, 2017 on major tasks and solutions for accelerating the provision and disbursement of public investment capital in accordance with this Decree.

3. Ministers, heads of ministerial agencies, heads of Governmental agencies, heads of other central government agencies and Presidents of People’s Committees of provinces and central-affiliate cities are responsible for the implementation of this Decree./.

For the Government

The Prime Minister

Nguyen Xuan Phuc.