General Information
Under the One UN Plan and UN-Habitat mandate on sustainable development, UN-Habitat in collaboration with the Department of Planning Management, Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) and the Economic Committee of the National Assembly organise a workshop on "Develop Planning Law: International best practices and lessons for Vietnam".
The workshop will be an opportunity for the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) and other Ministries, governmental agencies, national and international experts, international organizations, non-governmental organizations and representatives of other stakeholders, to exchange opinions and discuss development planning in Vietnam, thereby giving comments on the draft Law on Planning.
Background Information
For many years, planning is an important management tool for Vietnam national and local governments. It contributes for forming 5 year and annual social economic development plans, which are basic materials for calling domestic and foreign investment. However there are many insufficiencies in planning issues. During 2011-2020, the country has so far formulated 19,283 master plans for the development of the national economy which, unfortunately, are overlapping and therefore questionable.
The huge and overlapping planning system, unclear management bodies can lead to wasting resources and decrease efficiency of planning. In addition, sometimes the quality of planning is not very high with short term visions and infeasibility because with many planning projects, the demands came from subjective desires instead of market demand.
Another problem in planning issue also come from lack of coordination in planning development process among ministries and departments, among local sectors and among ministries, departments and local sectors. The institutionalized of planning is not very high showing in some aspect such as being easy to adjust and complement, there is no system to monitor planning implementation, monitor evaluation and assign responsibility for implementing agencies.
Globally, more people live in urban areas than in rural areas, with 54 per cent of the world’s population residing in urban areas in 2014. In 1950, 30 per cent of the world’s population was urban, and by 2050, 66 per cent of the world’s population is projected to be urban. Vietnam itself is already 32.3% urban, with an urban population set to reach 50% before 2040.
Well-managed urbanization generates economic growth, social harmony, political advances, and scientific progress while poorly managed urbanization generates social exclusion, poverty, uncontrolled urban sprawl, pollution, and unsustainable consumption of land, water and other natural resources. As the world continues to urbanize, sustainable development challenges will be increasingly concentrated in cities where the pace of urbanization is fastest. Integrated policies to improve the lives of both urban and rural dwellers are needed.
Understanding the meaning of having a planning law in fast urbanization context, Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) have prepared a draft which codifies the system of legal documents on planning, inheriting effective regulations while abolishing or revising inappropriate ones so as to make master plans serve as an effective tool for administering socio-economic development.
The draft law, composes of 68 articles arranged in six chapters, covers all kinds of mater plans, including national, regional, provincial, special territorial and sectoral master plans.
Objectives
The workshop aims at creating a forum for all stakeholders to discuss:
- Challenges and opportunities in the development, implementation and management of planning in Vietnam;
- International best practices in development planning, especially with participatory community, from other developing countries;
- The content of Draft Planning Law and contributions to the draft by realizing lessons needed focusing in the context of Vietnam;
- Recommendations on developing and institutionalizing participatory community in national plans, regional and territorial plans and urban plans.
The outcomes and collected opinions during this workshop will be consolidated and delivered to the National Assembly, MPI and other ministries, other relevant government agencies as well as all participants and public. Also, find out more about International Guidelines on Urban and Territorial Planning.
Participants
Number of participants: 150 people including
- Representatives of committees of the National Assembly;
- The Office of the Government;
- The Central Economic Commission;
- Representatives from Ministries: MPI, MOC, MARD, MONRE and others;
- Representatives from local governments at the provincial level
- Representatives from international organizations: UNDP, UNFPA, World Bank, ADB, AFD, BTC, SECO, etc.
- National and international experts on development planning
- CSO, NGO such as ACVN, VUPDA, Habitat for Humanity, ISET, etc.
- Representatives from academia, research institutes: AMC, VIUP, CIEM, DSI-MPI, HUPI, etc.
- Mass media