National Assembly Standing Committee’s 20th session opens

NA Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan speaks at the meeting

In her opening remarks, NA Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan said the legislators will give opinions to contentious contents of three draft laws, including the revised Law on National Defence, the Law on Cyber Security and the Law on Special Economic-Administrative Units.

They will also discuss the committee’s draft resolution prescribing in detail a number of articles of the 2015 Law on State Audit, while mulling over adjustments to the use of Government bond capital managed by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development during 2017-2020, in the Ta Pao irrigation system project in central Binh Thuan province, and the upper Kroon Pach reservoir project in the Central Highlands province of Dak Lak, she said.

Preparations for the 26th annual meeting of the Asia-Pacific Parliamentary Forum (APPF-26) will also be put on the table, the top legislator added.

Right after the opening ceremony, the law-makers looked into the draft resolution prescribing in detail a number of articles of the 2015 Law on State Audit, showing their disapproval of the issuance of the document as the committee is not authorised to decide on administrative punishment of the sector.

Regarding adjustments to the use of Government bond capital during 2017-2020 in the two above-mentioned projects, NA Chairwoman Ngan affirmed the committee’s support for irrigation projects to serve people’s production activities and daily life.

However, she said, money allocated to the construction should not be spent on compensation, explaining that the adjustment could lead to the slow progress of the projects.

The committee asked the Government to abide by Articles 79 and 81 of the Law on Public Investment, and review the projects to make official adjustments and report total investment capital, scale and schedule of the projects to the committee at the next session.

At the same time, the Government was requested to review other irrigation projects which are also in need of capital for compensation. Outcomes of the re-examination are expected to be presented at the committee’s next meeting.

VNA