Passing "1 law amending and supplementing 8 laws", solving many loss-making BOT projects

On the morning of June 25, the National Assembly passed the Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Bidding; the Law on Investment under the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model; the Customs Law; the Law on Value Added Tax (VAT) and the Law on Export and Import Tax; the Investment Law; the Law on Public Investment; the Law on Management and Use of Public Assets (1 law amending and supplementing 8 laws) with 432/434 delegates present in favor.

The National Assembly passed the Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Bidding; Law on Investment under the public-private partnership model; Law on Customs; Law on Value Added Tax, Law on Export Tax and Import Tax; Law on Investment; Law on Public Investment; Law on Management and Use of Public Assets (1 law amending 8 laws). Photo: QUANG PHUC

This law is expected to help resolve the problem of reduced revenue for BOT projects in the road sector signed before January 1, 2021, through the addition of provisions of the PPP Law on the mechanism for handling the risk of reduced revenue for BOT projects with contracts signed before the PPP Law takes effect.

In a summary report on the reception, explanation, and revision of the draft law amending eight laws before the National Assembly votes to approve it, Minister of Finance Nguyen Van Thang said that according to government statistics, there are 11 BOT transport projects with declining revenue. These projects are all ineffective projects, and the State must be responsible for handling them because most of the problems are due to objective reasons or the fault of state agencies, not the fault of investors.

President Luong Cuong and delegates expressed their approval of the bill. Photo: QUANG PHUC

In the near future, the Government will issue a decree detailing the ratio that the State shares with investors and PPP project enterprises on the difference between revenue in the financial plan and actual revenue; at the same time, it will specify the sharing responsibilities of investors, project enterprises and lenders to ensure the principle of "harmonized benefits and shared risks", the Minister added.

There are 11 BOT traffic projects that have seen a decline in revenue. These projects are all ineffective projects, and the State must be responsible for handling them because most of the problems are due to objective reasons or the fault of the State agencies, not the fault of the investors.

Minister of Finance Nguyen Van Thang

Regarding the amendment and supplementation of a number of articles of the Investment Law, this law has strongly decentralized the Prime Minister's authority to approve investment policies to the provincial People's Committees for 7 groups of investment projects. The reduction of conditional investment and business sectors and investment and business conditions will be comprehensively reviewed to be reduced and abolished during the overall amendment of the Investment Law at the October 2025 session of the National Assembly.

MR. PHUONG

Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/thong-qua-1-luat-sua-doi-bo-sung-8-luat-thao-go-cho-nhieu-du-an-bot-thua-lo-post800966.html