Quyết định 1144/QD-TTg

DECISION

ON URGENT MEASURES TO OVERCOME FLOOD CONSEQUENCES, RESTORE AND DEVELOP PRODUCTION AND STABILIZE THE PEOPLE’S LIFE IN THE MEKONG RIVER DELTA REGION

THE PRIME MINISTER

Pursuant to the Law on Organization of the Government of September 30, 1992;
Pursuant to Resolution No. 15/2000/NQ-CP of October 6, 2000;
At the proposals of the ministries, the central branches and the People’s Committees of the Mekong River delta provinces at the conference on overcoming flood consequences, restoring production and stabilizing the people’s life, organized in Dong Thap province on November 10 - 11, 2000,

DECIDES:

Article 1.- The People’s Committees of the flood-hit provinces in the Mekong River delta region and the concerned ministries as well as branches shall have to take the following urgent measures:

1. To concentrate efforts on restoring and repairing dwelling houses, schools and health stations, daily-life water treatment and environmental sanitation and well organizing the returning of people from the evacuation places back to their old residential places according to the Prime Minister’s Directive No. 23/2000/CT-TTg of November 1st, 2000.

2. To mobilize the army, police and militia forces, the self-defense forces of agencies and enterprises, the young volunteers’ brigades’ to participate in helping the people repair their houses, preventing and combating epidemics and maintaining security and order.

3. To expeditiously restore key traffic and irrigation works in service of production; ensure sufficient quantities of capital, rice seeds, petrol and oil, electricity, water pumps, essential agricultural supplies’ so as to achieve a successful Winter-Spring rice crop; to tend, rehabilitate, transform and expand orchards, industrial plants, husbandry and aquaculture.

4. To carry out well the aid and hunger relief work, with attention being paid to the life of the families which are entitled to social policies or have rendered meritorious services to the revolution, ethnic minority people, and people coming from other places and meeting with difficulties. The local administration at different levels shall coordinate with the Fatherland Front and mass organizations in continuing to mobilize the people to help one another in the spirit of mutual assistance so that the people living in the flooded areas can soon stabilize their life and develop production.

5. To use with efficiency various capital sources: Financial support from the central Government, local budgets, relief money and goods of organizations and individuals inside and outside the country, capital contributions by people and other resources in order to implement well the social relief work and overcome soon the flood consequences.

6. To consider and implement as soon as possible the tax reduction and exemption policies towards households and production establishments suffering from damage caused by the floods in accordance with the tax laws; to reschedule, freeze debts and provide new loans for people to develop production.

7. The ministries and the central branches shall take initiative in revising and adjusting plans, give priority to allocating their 2000 and 2001 budgets to the Mekong River delta provinces to assist them in overcoming the flood consequences.

Article 2.- In 2000 VND 960 billion shall be additionally allocated from the central budget for the performance of a number of urgent tasks:

1. To supplement VND 150 billion to the provinces’ regular expenditures on supporting the people’s life, restoring and developing production (including: hunger relief, support for repair of damaged houses of the people; repair of hospitals, health stations, schools; treatment of environmental sanitation, prevention and fight of epidemics’ support for crop strains, water drainage…), which shall be distributed as follows:

- Dong Thap: VND 32 billion;

- An Giang: VND 30 billion;

- Long An: VND 28 billion;

- Kien Giang: VND 17 billion;

- Tien Giang: VND 15 billion;

- Can Tho: VND 14 billion;

- Vinh Long: VND 9 billion;

- Ben Tre: VND 4 billion;

- Tra Vinh: VND 1 billion;

The Ministry of Finance shall immediately guide the localities on how to use this funding.

2. To spare VND 810 billion for restoring key infrastructural works:

a/ VND 125 billion for restoring traffic and irrigation works which need to be immediately repaired and restored, of which VND 80 billion for restoring traffic works managed by the Ministry of Communications and Transport, VND 45 billion for restoring irrigation works managed by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

b/ VND 685 billion for supplementing the 2000 capital construction investment capitals of the localities to restore and build works under the local management, such as: traffic and irrigation works, schools, hospitals, health stations and other infrastructural works.

The Ministry of Planning and Investment shall reach agreement with the Ministry of Finance on promptly allocating this funding to each of the provinces and guiding the localities in using it.

Article 3.- For flood consequence-overcoming works which must be built immediately to serve the production and the people�s life in the Mekong River delta provinces, the investment and construction order and procedures shall be simplified as follows:

- The making and approval of their investment projects or investment reports shall not be required; the People’s Committees of the provinces, the specialized ministries or the authorized levels shall approve the technical designs and total cost estimates of such works according to the current regulations.

- On the basis of the approved technical designs and total cost estimates, the specialized ministries and the People’s Committees of the provinces are permitted to designate bidders for flood consequence-overcoming works and take responsibility for their decisions. After making investment in overcoming the flood consequences, the People’s Committees of the provinces or the specialized ministries shall have to make sum-up reports thereon and send them to the Ministry of Planning and Investment, the Ministry of Finance and the Prime Minister.

- The payment and settlement of flood consequence-overcoming works may continue till the end of the first quarter of 2001.

- The State treasuries shall consider and disburse capital according to the construction tempo.

Article 4.- The Ministry of Finance shall consider and allocate funding to make up for the decrease in 2000 budget revenues to the localities suffering from damage caused by the floods; together with the Ministry of Planning and Investment consider the 2001 budgetary revenue and expenditure plans and allocate sufficient funding to the localities for overcoming the flood consequences and developing production.

Article 5.- To organize the implementation of the Government’s Resolution No. 15/2000/NQ-CP of October 6, 2000 on ensuring the requirements on the quick and sustainable socio-economic development in the Mekong River delta region and the stabilization of the people’s life under the conditions of frequent floods.

1. The development of infrastructural works in the Mekong River delta provinces, especially the traffic and irrigation works, and the construction of residential clusters and lines must be closely inter-connected in the overall planning, ensure the prevention of salinization, containment of fresh water, the quick water drainage and minimize the flood damages.

The ministries, branches and localities should organize the serious evaluation of the actual flood situation in 2000 so as to reach a consensus on the views and policies on investment and construction; continue to improve the existing infrastructural works and build new ones so as to form a synchronous system with practical and lasting effectiveness, suitable to the flood development, the traditional practices and the socio-economic development potential of the region.

2. The People’s Committees of the provinces shall have the responsibility:

- Together with the support of the State, the relief from organizations and individuals inside and outside the country, to mobilize every local resource as well as the people’s contributions so as to overcome soon the flood consequences, stabilize the people’s life and develop production;

- To examine and identify the construction items and works to be urgently restored in 2000 and early 2001 and the works with a large repair volume (which cannot be immediately settled) for inclusion in the 2001 plan.

- To review the plannings of the industrial, service and fishery sectors, to readjust the agricultural structure and rural economy, and reschedule the agricultural production time in an appropriate manner.

To report to the provincial-level Party committees so as to incorporate the content on overcoming flood consequences, stabilizing the people’s life, restoring and developing production into the agendas of the provincial-level Party organizations’ congresses, which shall serve as basis for determining the socio-economic development orientation for each province.

3. The ministries and the central branches shall have the responsibilities:

The General Department of Meteorology and Hydrology shall sum up and assess all data on the floods occurring in 2000 in the Mekong River delta provinces so that the ministries, branches and localities can have grounds for deciding the flood prevention and fight solutions, building infrastructural works and planning the residential quarters in an appropriate manner.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development shall:

- Assume the prime responsibility and coordinate with the concerned ministries and branches, the scientific research institutions in revising the whole region’s irrigation planning; evaluate the efficiency of the already constructed works; propose follow-up measures and combine the construction of irrigation works with the construction of communications lines, residential clusters, lines and quarters so as to prevent salinization, freshen water and soil, ensure quick flood drainage, control floods, avoid floods and protect the durability of infrastructural structures, and ensure the stable and normal life of the people during the flooding season.

For those works in line with the planning and scientifically grounded, promptly complete the relevant procedures and submit them for soon approval and implementation right from 2001.

- Direct the scientific research institutions under the Ministry to assist the People’s Committees of the Mekong River delta provinces in planning the orchards, build up establishments to produce and supply sufficient amounts of high quality crop strains suitable to each region’s concrete conditions to the people, transform mixed orchards and take measures to protect the orchards frequently affected by floods.

- Coordinate with the Ministry of Communications and Transport, the Ministry of Construction and the localities in expanding and deepening the existing canal lines so as to increase the flood drainage capacity while raising the road beds with earth, arranging the residential lines and clusters, organizing programs to plant forests along the roads, canal lines, residential quarters and around the families’ homes, creating a sustainable ecological region and stabilizing the people’s life in the flooding season.

The Ministry of Construction shall:

- Assume the prime responsibility and coordinate with the provinces in studying and planning the residential lines, clusters and quarters in a way suitable to the flood characteristics and the traditional practices of each region in order to gradually stabilize the residential places and ensure normal daily-life activities of the people in the flooding season;

- Direct the construction of public welfare works like schools, clinics, market places and post offices close to the residential quarters’

- Study different types of residential houses suitable not only to the flood-stricken areas but also to the economic conditions of the people; encourage well-off families to build multi-storey houses so as to limit the evacuation of people when floods occur; coordinate with the People’s Committees of the provinces in directing the implementation of the housing programs in the Mekong River delta region in the five-year (2001-2005) plan.

- Assume the prime responsibility and coordinate with the Ministry of Planning and Investment, the Ministry of Finance and the General Land Administration in formulating the policies on investment in the development of residential quarters as well as on the development of dwelling houses, the mechanism of exemption of land use levy and land use right transfer tax for the construction of residential quarters in flood-prone areas, then submit them to the Prime Minister at the end of 2000.

The Ministry of Communications and Transport shall:

- Assume the prime responsibility and coordinate with the People’s Committees of the provinces in scrutinizing and reviewing the planning on the traffic system in the flood areas, including national highways, provincial roads and rural communication; determine the works’ height and structure as well as proper materials in order to ensure their durability, the sufficient clearance of bridges, sluice gates, to minimize damages and ensure the smooth traffic flow on important communication lines during the flooding season.

The Ministry of Aquatic Resources shall:

- Consider the planning on the areas suited for aquaculture in the flood region, direct and guide the localities in restructuring the aquaculture and rescheduling the exploitation and breeding time in close association with the application of new technologies so as to limit damage when floods occur.

The Ministry of Education and Training and the Ministry of Health shall:

- Guide and take measures to support the localities in restoring the damaged schools and clinics and build new ones along the direction of solidification and being higher than the 2000 flood level so as to maintain normal education and medical activities in the flooding season.

The State Bank of Vietnam shall:

- Direct the Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development and other commercial banks in providing sufficient loans for people to restore production.

The Ministry of Finance shall:

- Calculate and allocate the budgets to the localities and the draft budgets of the ministries and the central branches for further overcoming the flood consequences in 2001, project the decrease in the 2001 budget revenues in the Mekong River delta provinces so as to balance and supplement the budgets for the localities.

- Assume the prime responsibility and coordinate with the concerned ministries and central branches and the People’s Committees of the provinces in determining the capital sources as well as the mechanism of lending capital from the development support fund to the Mekong River delta provinces, submit them to the Prime Minister before December 15, 2000.

The Ministry of Planning and Investment shall:

- Assume the prime responsibility and coordinate with the Ministry of Finance and the concerned ministries, branches and localities in considering and allocating capital for the restoration and upgrading of works for inclusion in the 2001 plan for submission to the Prime Minister for decision.

- The ministries and the central branches shall, depending on their respective functions and tasks, have to assist the localities in the floodprone Mekong River delta region in formulating options and plans on restoring, upgrading and building infrastructural works as well as health, education and cultural works under their management in compliance with the planning, and ensuring safety during the flooding season.

- In preparation for the Government’s conference to review the implementation of the Prime Minister’s Decision No. 99/TTg of February 9, 1996, the People’s Committees of the Mekong River delta provinces and the concerned ministries and branches shall prepare their respective topical reports to concretely assess the implemented work, constraints and propose measures to continue the implementation of this program.

Article 6.- This Decision takes effect after its signing.

Article 7.- The ministers, the heads of the ministerial-level agencies and the agencies attached to the Government and the presidents of the People’s Committees of the Mekong River delta provinces shall have to implement this Decision.