Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Phan Quy Phuong asserted that, regarding the plan to implement the Resolution No. 38 by the National Assembly on piloting a number of specific mechanisms and policies for Thua Thien Hue development

Mr. Phan Quy Phuong, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee

Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee said that in order to implement the Resolution No. 38 by the National Assembly (NQ 38) on piloting a number of specific mechanisms and policies for Thua Thien Hue development, on May 13, 2022, the Provincial Party Committee issued the Program on the implementation of this resolution. Currently, the Provincial People's Committee is developing the Program of the Provincial Party Committee; focusing on directing the sectors and levels, involving the people and enterprises to pool efforts and determine to successfully implement the resolution.

In the short run, what are the solutions the province focus on directing for the fruitful implementation of the Resolution 38, sir?

In the short run, the province will focus on directing the implementation of solutions for recovering the post-COVID-19 economic development. Through that, it concretizes the orientation to develop Thua Thien Hue into a centrally-run city grounded on preserving and promoting the value of the Ancient Capital heritage and Hue cultural identity through planning.

It concentrates on mobilizing and effectively using resources for development investment, prioritizes resources for synchronous and modern building of urban institutions; prioritizes investment in key urban development projects.

Additionally, the province perfects the infrastructure of economic zones (EZs), industrial zones (IZs), and industrial clusters (ICs). It prioritizes investment and development of Chan May-Lang Co EZ; increases occupancy rate in IZs and ICs. It supports investors in launching the key, large-scale projects. It forms the Provincial Innovation Startup Center, oriented to developing into the National Innovation Center - Hue Branch and gradually forming the National Hi-Tech Park in Hue.

The province is also drastic in administrative reform, improving the business investment environment; promulgates the policies to attract investment in the open and transparent direction; renews the investment promotion and post-investment support to attract non-budget investment resources, especially strategic partners and foreign investors. It continues to maintain the top position in the country in terms of PCI, PAPI, ICT-index...

Concurrently, the province in close coordination with the central ministries and sectors proposes that the Government and the Prime Minister soon issue the concretized documents, serving as a basis for organizing the implementation of Resolution 38.

Among the specific mechanisms and policies, there are 2 groups on preserving, restoring and promoting the values of monuments and heritage. Could you please be more specific about the resources brought from these mechanisms?

These are seen as a group of specific, long-term and sustainable mechanisms and policies for stable, balanced, harmonious development based on the principle of preserving and promoting heritage values in association with creating the driving force behind the socio-economic development.

First, the monument entrance fees in the province are fully remitted to the State budget; 100% of the entrance fees mentioned above are used to invest in the restoration of historical - cultural monuments in the province.

As stipulated by the Law on Fees and Charges, the revenues from fee are used to pay for activities related to the fee collection; the rest must be remitted to the State budget and aggregated into the budget balance as stipulated to spend on various tasks of the State.

However, when carrying out this mechanism, the province is permitted by the National Assembly and the Government to use 100% of the entrance fee revenue remitted to the budget for the sole purpose of investing in the restoration of historical and cultural monuments in the province.

100% of the revenue from the entrance fees remitted to the budget is used for investment in the restoration of historical and cultural monuments

The second is the permission to establish Hue Heritage Conservation Fund. The Fund is formed from the Cultural Development Target Program, organizations, enterprises, communities and UNESCO aid funds, governmental and non-governmental organizations for protecting, renovating, embellishing and restoring monuments.

The National Assembly's permission to establish the Hue Heritage Conservation Fund will help remove difficulties and create favorable conditions for mobilizing and managing resources, accelerating the progress of cultural heritage restoration while ensuring the publicity and transparency of expenditures, creating long-term trust for capital-donating organizations and individuals... Currently, the Provincial People's Committee is actively coordinating with the Ministry of Finance to submit to the Government for approval of the Decree on the establishment of the Heritage Conservation Fund.

What is the impact of these two policies on the restoration of monuments, sir?

Amid the mobilization of socialization and allocation of local budgets to carry out the restoration of monuments facing many difficulties and limitations, the two aforesaid policies of the Central Government are essential and suitable for Thua Thien Hue Province so that the locality can have resources to restore, renovate, embellish and promote the value of the monuments in the province.

These are also the policies that local people, domestic and international organizations and businesses, through buying tickets to visit monuments in the province or contributing directly to the Hue Heritage Conservation Fund, can contribute their effort and sentiment, alongside the provincial government and people, to protecting and preserving Hue monuments and cultural heritage for the present and future generations.

Regarding the financial and budgetary management group consisting of 3 mechanisms, could you please tell us how much resources the province will have if this mechanism is applied?

Regarding the mechanism of loan balance rate not exceeding 40%, the local loan balance reaches nearly VND 2,400 billion; the increase of VND 1,200 billion enables the province to continue to implement the ongoing ODA projects and launch a number of new projects.

The mechanism allocates an additional 45% according to the percentage of expenditure in accordance with the population norm when the norm of recurrent expenditure is set. With this mechanism, Thua Thien Hue receives an increase of about VND 1,300 billion compared with before.

The additional Central budget mechanism sets a target of 70% of the increase in revenue from import and export activities vis-à-vis the Government estimate assigned. By some calculations, the province will benefit from the policy of VND 140 billion, at an average of 28 billion VND per annum.

The provincial budget enjoys 50% of the revenue from arranging and handling housing facilities managed by agencies, organizations and units under the Central Government. This revenue source will be a substantial resource to meet the investment objective and step by step perfect the infrastructure.

Which spheres do the resources prioritize? How can the changes of Thua Thien Hue be expected and visualized in time to come when the effectiveness of specific mechanisms and policies is brought into play?

The application of these specific mechanisms and policies will make it possible for Thua Thien Hue to mobilize resources to preserve and promote heritage values. The investment in infrastructure construction will give an impetus to recovery and economic development while the current balance source from the local budget remains limited, unable to meet the requirements.

The province is implementing the combination of making the most of specific mechanisms and policies, which will offer a precondition and a new appearance for Hue in order to achieve the target of developing the province into a centrally-run city with Hue City as a core - Festival City, National Green City, ASEAN Cultural City.

Concurrently, it aims to hit the target of becoming "one of the major and distinctive centers of Southeast Asia in terms of culture, tourism and intensive health; one of the country's major centers for science and technology, multi-disciplinary, multi-field, high-quality education and training" in accordance with the target set  in the Resolution 54 by the Politburo.

Thank you, sir

By Thai Binh

Photos: Thai Binh – Bao Minh – Phan Thang