On December 8, the National Assembly discussed the draft Resolution amending and supplementing a number of articles on piloting specific mechanisms and policies for the development of Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang.
Delegate Duong Khac Mai (Lam Dong Delegation) said that if it is a specific mechanism and policy, it must be outstanding, so it is necessary to review whether the proposed mechanisms are strong enough, clear enough, and enough to create motivation to truly make a breakthrough or not.
Therefore, the delegate suggested studying and fundamentally amending the content that is a bottleneck in the implementation mechanism. In particular, the National Assembly has issued a Resolution setting the goal of building an international financial center in these two localities, so it must be "enough to understand, in addition to being open enough" to be able to effectively implement.
Commenting on the urban development mechanism under the public transport orientation (TOD) in Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang, delegate Thach Phuoc Binh (Vinh Long Delegation) expressed his support that this is not only an urban model but also a strategic financial mechanism.
He gave an example, Ho Chi Minh City is in need of stable resources to deploy 8 metro lines with a capital need of 25 to 30 billion USD. If it does not design a separate mechanism to retain 100% of the revenue from exploiting the TOD land fund, it will be difficult for the city to create a circular capital flow for public transport infrastructure.
However, the delegate suggested clarifying the scope of the TOD area, preventing the risk of border disputes, making it difficult to audit and implement synchronously.
At the same time, the city must zoning off TOD revenue. TOD revenue needs to be put into an independent fund, only spent on metro, urban railways and connecting infrastructure, ensuring no dispersed cash flow and creating a long-term sustainable financial foundation.
Delegate Nguyen Tam Hung (HCMC Delegation) proposed to add mandatory criteria for assessing social impacts for each TOD area, including impacts on social infrastructure, population density, access to public services and living space of existing residents.
However, to ensure publicity and transparency in public asset valuation, he proposed adding a TOD land valuation mechanism by an independent organization, along with announcing the auction starting price and valuation results.
"TOD is a land fund with great commercial value, so if not strictly controlled, it is easy to suffer losses and affect the reputation of the people", the delegate of the Ho Chi Minh City Delegation emphasized.
Explaining the exploitation of land funds according to the urban development model according to the public transport development orientation (TOD), Minister of Finance Nguyen Van Thang said that the permission to build combined houses near train lines and stations is to make the most of land use efficiency, avoiding waste of public land.
In addition, the draft Resolution stipulates that Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang are allowed to use 100% of their land fund revenue to unify the application of the law.
This regulation also creates conditions for localities to ensure resources to focus on implementing local railway projects and transport projects on the TOD route. The scope of land revenue is not expanded compared to the provisions of the Railway Law 2017.
