Workshop "Assessment of the current situation and proposing policies in the Law on adjustment of urban management and development"

Ministry of Construction cooperated with German Development Cooperation (GIZ) to organize a workshop on "Assessment the current situation and proposing policies in the Law on adjustment of urban management and development” on June 23^rd 2023. There were leaders of the Department of Construction, Department of Planning and Architecture of the Northern Midlands and Mountainous regions, Red River Delta, North Central Coast, managers, domestic and international experts at the workshop. Deputy Minister Nguyen Tuong Van chaired the workshop.

Deputy Minister Nguyen Tuong Van spoke at the workshop

Speaking to open the workshop, Deputy Minister Nguyen Tuong Van said that Vietnam's urban system is now developing rapidly in both quantity and quality. The appearance of urban areas nationwide has undergone many changes in the direction of civilization and modernity; the living quality of urban people has been gradually improving and promoting social-economic development in the region and the whole country.

These results have the influence and coordination of many policies and legal regulations such as the Law on Urban Planning in 2009; Law on Construction 2014, amended and supplemented in 2020 and Law on Investment; Decree No. 11/2013/ND-CP dated January 14^th, 2013 of the Government on urban management and development and a group of Decrees on urban technical infrastructure.

However, the process of organizing and implementing the legal provisions on urban management and development over the past time has shown a number of limitations and inadequacies that need to be studied, revised, supplemented and perfected. In addition, many legal regulations on urban management and development, including regulations on urban technical infrastructure, are not at the legal level, so the effectiveness and legal effect application have a lots of restrictions. Moreover, new trends in urban development models in respond to climate change, green growth and smart cities have not been widely applying; the management and use of underground space have not been exploiting. According to Deputy Minister Nguyen Tuong Van, the unification of legal regulations on urban management and development, improving the effectiveness of State management, urban development towards sustainability, the actual assessment and policy proposals in the Law on adjustment of Urban Management and Development are especially necessary to serve as a basis for making a proposal to develop the  Law on adjustment of Urban Management and Development.

A representative of the Urban Development Department (Ministry of Construction) said that, in general, there is no legal document regulating comprehensively and systematically in the field of urban development. Therefore, the Urban Development Department proposed a number of contents in the Law project  such as: the need to develop a Law; scope of regulation and subjects of application; guiding provisions in the Law draft. In particular, the content of the regulations would adjust a basic group of issues including: management and development of the urban system; manage the development of newly formed areas in urban areas; management of urban infrastructure development and urban underground space; management of urban renovation, embellishment and urban redevelopment; State management of urban development.

GIZ expert spoke at the workshop

Speaking at the workshop, Mr. Patric Rolf Schlager (GIZ) said that the current urban legal system of Vietnam still needs to continually agree on contents; develop an adjustment law on urban management and development, create conditions for socio-economic development, integrate international economic, and improve the effectiveness of state management. GIZ has been actively cooperating with the Ministry of Construction and many provinces and cities to contribute to bringing about positive changes in the process of technical infrastructure development, urban and rural system planning. In the coming time, GIZ will continue to support the Ministry of Construction in the process of developing the Law on urban management and development; supporting researching and drafting of other relevant laws.

The whole workshop

At the workshop, experts, scientists and localities discussed and proposed contents of the Law on adjustment of urban management and development: creation synchronization between urban infrastructure and social infrastructure; assessment of inadequacies of the policy system; increasing the responsibility of State agencies; having a clear concept of multi-urban, multi-center cities and urban classification for practical implementation; focusing on smart cities, clarification the legal basis and orientation... According to the Organizing Committee, the ideas exchanged and discussed at the workshop will be an important basis for the Ministry of Construction and other relevant agencies to research, develop and perfect the system of legal documents and mechanisms and policies in the field of urban management and development.

Delegates took a photo at the workshop