Investment to be unlocked

More than 90 per cent of participating National Assembly deputies recently voted in favor of the amended Law on Planning 2025. Can you tell us about the core of the amendments?

Following the direction of the Party Central Committee, the government developed a draft amended Law on Planning to ensure consistency and alignment with related legislation while safeguarding transparency, fairness, efficiency, and a balanced approach to the interests of the State, citizens, and businesses in planning activities.

The Law is grounded in the core principle of improving the legal framework so that planning truly becomes an effective State tool for managing development, shaping development space, and meeting the country’s needs in the “New era - The era of the nation’s rise.”

How does the Law on Planning 2025 address overlapping plans and align with the two-tier local government model?

The Law on Planning 2017 established a unified legal framework for planning nationwide. However, implementation revealed several difficulties, particularly conflicts between the Law and sector-specific laws. In addition, the restructuring of the administrative apparatus and the shift to a two-tier local government model have had a broad impact on the entire planning system.

To address overlapping plans and ensure compatibility with the two-tier local government structure, the Law on Planning 2025 introduces a number of new provisions related to the planning system, inter-plan relationships, conflict resolution, and enhanced decentralization and delegation of authority.

First, sector-specific detailed plans are incorporated into the planning system to ensure consistency and coherence. Second, new provisions clarify relationships among different types of plans, ensuring compliance, continuity, inheritance, stability, and hierarchy, and providing a legal basis for resolving conflicts. Third, the law sets out mechanisms to resolve conflict between plans approved at different levels; between regional or provincial plans and sectoral or sector-specific detailed plans; and between plans at the same level. These provisions are based on clearly identifying which plan is implemented and which must be adjusted (except for conflicts between sectoral plans), with adjustments carried out under simplified procedures.

Fourth, authority to approve provincial plans is delegated to the Chairs of Provincial-level People’s Committees. To balance greater local autonomy, the Law strengthens post-approval supervision, inspection, and accountability to detect overlaps and conflicts in a timely manner. The Law also allows plans to be prepared concurrently and clarifies approval sequencing to ensure coherence across the planning system.

Fifth, national, regional, and provincial plans are refined to focus on strategic orientation rather than detailed project listings, enhancing flexibility in implementation. Certain elements of provincial planning are also revised to align with the two-tier local government structure.

Many projects have been delayed due to legal obstacles. How will the Law help accelerate their implementation?

Several investment projects have faced delays in recent years due to insufficient legal grounds for handling conflicts between plans and a lack of clear criteria for assessing project compatibility with planning.

The Law on Planning 2025 reflects a shift in investment management thinking, by strengthening links between planning and development investment. Key reforms include removing project lists from planning documents to ensure flexibility, avoiding situations where “planning follows projects,” and simplifying procedures for assessing compatibility between investment decisions and planning.

This assessment is guided by three principles. First, approval of an investment policy only needs to be based on one plan within the planning system to assess project compatibility. Second, projects involving the repair, renovation, upgrading, expansion, or replacement of existing works - while maintaining the same objectives, location, and scale - are exempt from compatibility assessment. Third, for special or urgent public investment projects, or projects implemented under directives of the Politburo, the Party Secretariat, or the Party Government Committee, competent authorities may approve investments that differ from existing plans, provided they meet national development needs.

At the same time, projects may proceed immediately without waiting for planning adjustments in cases of conflicting plans. After an investment decision is made, any conflicting plans must be promptly reviewed and adjusted under simplified procedures.

These reforms are expected to resolve bottlenecks in project-planning compatibility, accelerate investment implementation, especially for major projects, unlock new development momentum, mobilize resources more effectively, and strengthen the role of the private sector.

Will the Law on Planning 2025 affect existing plans currently under implementation?

One key requirement set by the Politburo is that planning systems already operating stably, without changes arising from administrative mergers or boundary adjustments and without practical obstacles, may continue to be implemented.

At the same time, a fundamental principle of planning remains ensuring compliance, continuity, inheritance, stability, and hierarchy within the planning system.

Accordingly, the Law on Planning 2025 stipulates that national, regional, and provincial plans for the 2021-2030 period, including adjusted plans and approved technical and sector-specific plans, may continue to be implemented until the end of the planning period or until they are replaced under the Law.

Likewise, implementation plans that have already been issued will remain valid until their expiry or until revised plans are approved under the Law.

These provisions ensure continuity, prevent legal gaps, and avoid disruptions to planning and management activities during the Law’s implementation.