Strong decentralization for ministries, branches and localities to manage and use electricity projects

The Ministry of Finance has submitted to the Government to promulgate Decree No. 02/2024/ND-CP dated January 10, 2024 on the transfer of power projects as public assets to EVN. Source: Internet

According to the petition sent by voters of Lao Cai province to the Ministry of Finance before the 6th session of the 15th National Assembly, currently, the majority of project management boards assigned by the province to be power grid investors with the state budget capital haven’t performed the work of handing over assets to the electricity industry for management.

Many power grid projects have degraded, but EVN is not allowed to invest in repairs and renovations because they are not assets of the power industry, leading to insecurity, affecting the reliability of power supply and meeting regularly and continuous demand of supplying electricity to customers.

Voters of Lao Cai province requested to consider adjusting and supplementing a number of contents in Decision No. 41/2017/QD-TTg dated September 25, 2017 of the Prime Minister stipulating the order and procedures for transferring electricity works which are invested with state capital to be managed by EVN.

At the same time, he expressed his desire to allow the Provincial People's Committee and EVN to authorize units directly managing and using assets to carry out the entire process of handing over assets and reporting the results of handover to the superior managers; Allows the Provincial People's Committee to approve the value of transferred assets, etc.

In response to this recommendation, the Ministry of Finance stated that, implementing the Government's program to develop legal documents and the tasks assigned by the Prime Minister, the Ministry of Finance has submitted to the Government for promulgation Decree No. 02/ 2024/ND-CP dated January 10, 2024 on transferring power projects as public assets to EVN. This Decree replaces Decision No. 41/2017/QD-TTg dated September 15, 2017 of the Prime Minister regulating the order and procedures for transferring power projects invested with state capital to EVN.

Recently, the Ministry of Finance coordinated with EVN to organize an in-person and online conference to implement this Decree. At the Conference, Mr. Nguyen Tan Thinh, Director of the Department of Public Asset Management (Ministry of Finance) said that Decree No. 02/2024/ND-CP has strongly decentralized ministries, branches, localities and units that are directly managing power projects.

Accordingly, agencies, organizations and units directly managing power projects, ministries, branches and localities decide on the transfer of power projects to EVN to ensure the handover of power projects to EVN to be fast, timely.

One of the other new points of Decree No. 02/2024/ND-CP is that it specifically regulates the determination of the value of transferred power projects simply, using maximum available information to determine the price; Specify the responsibilities of ministries, central agencies, People's Committees of provinces and municipal cities, State Capital Management Committee, and EVN in implementing some contents in this Decree.

Along with the proposal to relocate the power projects, voters in Lao Cai province also proposed additional content related to regulations on tourists entering the border area.

According to voters' recommendations, Lao Cai has over 182km of border, including many border areas that are well exploited and promoted for tourism activities. In particular, Lao Cai golf courses located close to the border will be places that attract tourists, especially foreigners.

Therefore, Lao Cai voters request the Government to soon issue instructions on the regulation that tourists entering border areas must be controlled and pay fees in Circular No. 25/2021/TT-BTC of the Ministry of Finance to attract foreign visitors.

Regarding this issue, the Ministry of Finance said that recommendations related to the management of tourists on exit and entry belong to the state management functions of the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of National Defense and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (specializing in issuing visas or other valid documents for exit, entry, and residence for foreigners); No problems with fees policies in the fields of exit, entry, transit, and residence in Vietnam prescribed in Circular No. 25/2021/TT-BTC dated April 7, 2021 of the Ministry of Finance.