Vietnam could see rare changes made to its Constitution as amendments are being discussed for the final session of the 12th National Assembly (NA).
At a recent meeting of the NA\'s Standing Committee that followed the 7th session of the 12th NA, the possible removal of the people’s councils and the bullet train project were among the main topics discussed.
Some people’s councils at the commune and ward levels have been removed under a pilot model. People’s councils are a supervisory body that do not govern directly, but only elect and oversee people’s committees that act as executive bodies and carry out local administrative duties.
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| A National Assembly session. |
Chairman of the NA’s Legal Committee, Nguyen Van Thuan said that if the NA decided to officially remove the people’s council body at these levels, an amendment to the Constitution should be made in the last session of the 12th Assembly, in order to serve as a foundation for the National Party Congress at all levels in 2011.
“Making amendments to the Constitution is a long and complicated process. Therefore, the NA should, as early as possible, ask for the Politburo’s (the body that determines Vietnamese government policy) opinions and that of the public so that the changes can be made in time,” Thuan warned.
In the final session of the 12th National Assembly that takes place at the end of this year, the NA Office will spend a considerable amount of time focusing on legislative work. Nine bills and one draft resolution will be submitted for approval, while 10 other bills reviewed at the session.
Also noteworthy, Deputy Minister of Justice, Dinh Trung Tung, said that his ministry will serve as the agency for two important laws: Anti-Human Trafficking Law and Capital Law (legal standards for the development of Hanoi as a capital city).
Express train project put on hold
At the meeting, the NA Standing Committee also agreed that the North-South bullet train would be a a massive-scale project which has diverse impacts on many different levels and that it has drawn a great amount of interest from both the voters and the public.
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| After 3 votes, the express train railway project still hasn’t received the support it needs to be approved. Photo: Viet Hung |
After having thoroughly and seriously discussed, evaluated and considered all aspects of the project, the NA assigned the Government to continue reviewing it including finalising plans should the project be approved. The Government was also asked to finalise the transport development master plan for the whole nation as well as for each region of the country.
Le Quang Binh, Chairman of the NA’s National Defense and Security Committee, disagreed with this saying that the NA would have to approve the bullet train project first before assigning it to the Government for final plans.
The consensus opinion of voters, as collected by Nguyen Van Pha, Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Central Committee after the last NA session, gave high praises to the NA for not approving the express railway project, and thought that it was an extremely responsible decision by the NA for the people.
Nguyen Xuan Phuc, Chairman of the Government Office, retorted that the NA did not reject the project, it’s just that they have not yet approved bullet train proposal, fearing that Vietnam may end up with huge debts. Opinions from the NA will be put into consideration and the Government will continue to amend the proposal for it to be reviewed again by the NA at a later date, Phuc affirmed.
