‍Introduction

The Law on Planning, Investment, PPP and Bidding plays a key role in the implementation of construction investment projects in Vietnam, especially infrastructure projects such as energy and transport works. Amendments and supplements to the provisions of these laws will significantly affect the implementation of projects in practice. Let's take a look and learn about the impact of the amended and supplemented regulations on investment and infrastructure activities in Vietnam in the coming time.

Important amendments

On amending the Law on Planning 2017

The amended law supplements Article 54a on simplified procedures for adjusting planning. Instead of requiring adjustment procedures to follow the same steps as creating a new plan, the simplified process includes only the steps of preparing documentation, seeking opinions, and submitting to the competent authority. The simplified procedures are applicable under one of four bases: emergency projects that change certain planning details; conflicts with higher-level plans; conflicts within the same level of planning; and the implementation of resolutions related to national defense, security, administrative reorganization, or national projects that change certain planning contents. For example, adjustments under simplified procedures can be applied to implement National Assembly Resolutions, such as those effective for the 2021–2030 period concerning implementation phases, parameters, and planning information—like Resolution 172/2024/QH15 on the investment policy for the North-South high-speed railway project. If the adjustments do not alter fundamental elements such as the project's objectives and viewpoints, the simplified procedures can be fully applied.

These procedures also apply to national-level plans (such as maritime, land use, and national sector plans), regional plans, and provincial plans. The Government will issue detailed regulations on documentation, steps, and procedures for simplified adjustments, contributing to reducing time and costs, as provided in the new Clause 7 of Article 54a. This amendment is expected to have a positive impact in the future on adjustments to important plans, such as Power Development Plan VIII (energy sector) and the National Land Use Plan, ensuring sufficient land for the North-South high-speed railway project.

On amending the Law on Public-private partnership investment 2020

A notable amendment and supplement to the Law on Investment under the public-private partnership method (Clause 2a and 2b, Article 45) is the restoration of the BT contract, allowing payment by state budget or payment by land fund. This form of contract was abolished in the 2020 PPP Law due to concerns that the State does not actually "hire" the investor to construct, but only buys back the project at the price set by the investor, leading to the risk of budget loss, poor management and cost control due to the fact that BT projects cannot control the total investment and the corresponding land price (the State can only oversees the land fund expected to be paid for the BT contract). To overcome the issue on corresponding land price, the provisions in the amended document have determined the expected land price of the land fund for payment of the BT project, accordingly, the corresponding land price is calculated based on the land price list at the time of project preparation and bidding documents preparation. Payment is made according to the mechanism of offsetting the difference between the value of the BT project and the value of the land fund for payment.

Regarding investment capital for PPP projects, the Law amends and supplements Clause 2, adding Clauses 2a and 2b after Article 69.2 on the use of state capital in PPP projects. Accordingly, the state capital ratio can be up to 70% of the total project investment compared to the previous maximum of 50% when the project meets one, some or all of the conditions such as compensation costs for site clearance, support, resettlement; support for temporary construction exceeding 50% of the preliminary total investment, total investment of the project, the project is implemented in an area with difficult or especially difficult socio-economic conditions and needs additional state capital to ensure financial feasibility, the project requires the transfer of high technology, new technology from private investors and needs additional capital to ensure financial feasibility.

This regulation solves capital problems for large infrastructure projects with high capital needs, attracting private investors to participate in component projects with "bankability" and belong to the investor's strengths.

On amendding the Law on Bidding 2023

The notable addition is the provision on “bidding in advance” in Article 42. Bidding in advance is the implementation of a number of procedures before an international treaty or foreign loan agreement is signed for a project using ODA capital or foreign preferential loans or before the project is approved for investment in order to accelerate the project implementation progress. Contract packages that can be bidded in advance include procurement packages for goods with clearly defined scope of supply and technical requirements, service provision packages including works such as compensation, site clearance, relocation of infrastructure works, mine clearance, planning and resettlement, project management consultancy packages for works performed after the project is approved, such as preparing technical design documents, designing construction drawings, and supervising construction.

With this change, the implementation of public investment projects or projects using State capital at enterprises can be proactive and significantly shorten the investment preparation time while waiting for project approval. In particular, the regulation on pre-bidding for bidding packages for compensation and site clearance work updates the procedures to support the implementation of compensation and resettlement projects, which are separated into independent projects when deciding on investment policies.

The changes in the above three laws hold significant meanings, especially in the investment preparation phase and mostly focus on shortening the investment preparation time, creating conditions for investors to promptly implement and complete investment projects, which is especially important for energy and infrastructure projects that are growth-promoting projects in Vietnam in the coming years.

In addition, the reform of administrative procedures and investment procedures is clearly demonstrated in the private sector through the "special investment" procedure in the amended contents of the Law on Investment 2020 as stated below.

On amending the Law on Investment 2020

A notable addition is Article 36a on special investment procedures after Article 36 on Procedures for approving investment policies by Provincial People's Committees. Article 36 of the old Law and Article 36a of the new Law both stipulate procedures for approving investment policies, but there are clear differences in the process and implementation time. According to Article 36, after receiving the dossier from the investor, the investment registration agency has 35 days to notify the results. The dossier must also go through appraisal steps, in which relevant agencies have 15 days to give their opinions, and the investment registration agency has 25 days to synthesize and submit a report to the Provincial People's Committee. Finally, the Provincial People's Committee will approve the investment policy within 7 working days. Meanwhile, Article 36a shortens the process for investment projects in industrial parks, export processing zones, high-tech zones, and economic zones. Specifically, for these projects, the process from the time of evaluating the dossier, approving the investment policy to granting the investment registration certificate will be within 15 days, shortening the steps of assessing the opinions of relevant agencies, preparing reports and submitting them to the Provincial People's Committee, which the Management Board of industrial parks, export processing zones, high-tech zones, and economic zones will directly carry out. This helps increase efficiency, reduce administrative procedures and create more favorable conditions for investors in implementing investment projects in these special areas.

The Law amending 04 laws takes effect from January 1, 2025, except for the content related to BT contracts which takes effect from July 1, 2025. With these positive changes, we expect positive results and impacts in energy investment, infrastructure and production and business activities in the near future.

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