RESOLUTION

ON SOME MECHANISMS, SPECIAL POLICIES ON INVESTMENT IN CONSTRUCTION OF NINH THUAN NUCLEAR POWER PROJECT

THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY

Pursuant to Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam;

Pursuant to Law on Organization of the National Assembly No. 57/2014/QH13 amended by Law No. 65/2020/QH14 and Law No. 62/2025/QH15;

Pursuant to Resolution No. 174/2024/QH15 dated November 30, 2024 of the National Assembly on the 8th National Assembly’s session of the 15th National Assembly;

In consideration of  the Proposal No. 74/TTr-CP dated February 08, 2025 of the Government, Report No. 3247/BC-UBKHCNMT15 dated February 13, 2025 of the Committee for Science, Technology, and Environment of the National Assembly on reviewing the Proposal of the Government on some mechanisms, special policies on investment in construction of Ninh Thuan nuclear power project and opinions of National Assembly deputies;

HEREBY RESOLVES:

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This Resolution regulates some mechanisms, special policies on investment in construction of Ninh Thuan nuclear power project including Ninh Thuan 1 nuclear power plant, Ninh Thuan 2 nuclear power plant, and associated component projects (hereinafter referred to as “Project”) and some mechanisms, special policies for Ninh Thuan province to carry out the Project.

Article 2. Regulated entities

1. State authorities, authorities of Ninh Thuan province;

2. Investors, units assigned to prepare for the Project;

3. Other relevant organizations and individuals.

Article 3. Some mechanisms, special policies

The Project shall apply the following mechanisms, special policies:

1. During the process of revision of investment guidelines and approval of investment project, negotiate with partners who have signed international treaties or with other partners to sign international treaties on cooperation in construction and extending credit for Project implementation.

2. Select investors and contractors

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b) Apply direct contracting under simplified procedures for turnkey contract packages for contractors building the main power plants under international treaties. The scope of work of the turnkey contract includes works in accordance with laws on construction and other works including formulation of application for location approval, purchase of insurance for the entire contract scope (it is allowed to purchase insurance from foreign insurance companies without branches licensed to operate in Vietnam), provision of nuclear fuel, operation, maintenance of the plant within 05 years from the date of acceptance and operation of the project;

c) Apply direct contracting under simplified procedures for important contract packages for consulting services during the preparation for investment and implementation of the project including formulation, assessment of pre-feasibility study report; provision of consultation to the investor on negotiating, signing, and managing the implementation of the turnkey contract; assessment of application for location approval; assessment of feasibility study report on construction investment of works, technical design, construction drawing, specialized reports in accordance with relevant laws; provide consultation on management of the project and construction supervision;

d) Apply direct contracting under simplified procedures for efficient use of domestic and international experts and organizations for assessment of technology, safety, security, review of regulations on nuclear in different phases of construction investment of the Project;

dd) The procedures for direct contracting under simplified procedures shall comply with laws on bidding.

3. Implementation procedures

a) The following tasks shall be carried out simultaneously with negotiation of international treaties and turnkey contracts:

i) Formulate and assess the pre-feasibility study report;

ii) Inspect, review, update, and complete the application for location approval, documentation for formulation of construction investment pre-feasibility study report, and specialized reports in accordance with relevant laws;

b) Complete the following works before deciding investment in construction of the Project:

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ii) Conduct clearance of landmines, explosives and hazardous chemicals;

iii) Conduct land grading in the main power plant construction site including inspection, formulation, assessment, appraisal, approval of construction drawing by one-step design method and construction estimate; selection of contractors, implementation of construction. The investor shall assess and approve construction drawing and construction estimate;

iv) Build infrastructures including electricity, water for construction, and the management and operation building of the investor at the construction site; systems for monitoring, surveying, communication, and connecting roads to the plant.

4. Apply technical regulations, standards, legal norms and technical guidelines proposed by partners to the Project, ensure their conformity with Vietnamese requirements, and that they are not less stringent than Vietnam's technical regulations and standards (if any) and in conformity with safety standards and security guidelines of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

5. The Prime Minister shall decide whether to permit application of norms, unit prices based on negotiations with partners implementing the Project.

6. The investor is not required to submit the following contents to the owner’s representative agencies for approval: contents related to the investment project, the plan for capital mobilization, mortgaging assets to secure loans in accordance with the Law on Management and utilization of state capital invested in enterprises’ manufacturing and business activities.

7. Financial plan and capital arrangement

a) Negotiate with the Government of  the partners to arrange capital for the Project in conformity with the project's capital needs and the commitment of the foreign donor; apply regulations of foreign donors in case where Vietnamese law does not have regulations or has regulations that differ from those of the foreign donor. The investor eligible for loan or on-lent loan without the onlending authority bearing credit risks is not required to propose programs, plans for using ODA and concessional loans. During the Project implementation, the Prime Minister shall make decision on the use of funds obtained from the increase in revenues and decrease in expenses of the central government budget and other legal funds for the Project in cases where a loan agreement is not successfully negotiated or the loan amount is insufficient;

b) The investor may arrange the counterpart funds from loans, issue corporate bonds, capital from on-lending government bonds, project bonds issued by the Government, government-backed bonds with on-lending requirements in accordance with loan requirements of the bond issue, creditworthiness of the Project and in accordance with the Law on Public Debt Management;

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d) The loan balance, bond debt related to the Project (including construction investment phase and the operation phase) are not accounted for when calculating the debt-to-equity ratio to avoid affecting the arrangement of capital for other constructions and investment projects of the investor.   

dd) The Prime Minister shall decide the guidelines on increase of charter capital of the investor from the revaluation of fully-depreciated assets of BOT power plants that have been handed over and multi-purpose hydropower plants to implement the Project with an additional capital equivalent to the capital level of a project of national significance.

e) The competent authorities, authorized intermediary lenders are not required to appraise the investor’s eligibility to take on-lent ODA loans or external concessional loans as prescribed in clause 3 Article 36 of the Law on Public Debt Management;

g) Guarantee obligation is exempt in accordance with the Law on Investment.

8. Approval for repurposing of forest land is not required, but the repurposing of forest land, especially that of natural forests, shall be minimized in accordance with the Law on Forestry.

9. Ninh Thuan province

a) Annually, the dedicated additional funding of the state budget for the provincial budget is 70% of the increase in revenues from the Project implementation but it shall not exceed the previous year’s increase in revenue of the central government in the province, and the central budget must not be in deficit;

b) The province may take on-lent ODA loans and external concessional loans with a total outstanding debt not exceeding 90% of the budget revenue  retained by the province. The total loan and provincial budget deficit each year are decided by the National Assembly in accordance with the Law on State Budget.

c) The province shall allocate an additional 40% of the expenditure based on the population norm when formulating the forms for recurrent state budget expenditures;

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dd) Grant of licenses for extraction of minerals for common construction materials included in the application for the survey of construction materials to serve the Project:

- The provincial authority may grant licenses for extraction of minerals for common construction materials without organizing bidding for the right to extract minerals. For common construction material mines that have been included in the plan for bidding for the right to extract minerals, the provincial authority may adjust or remove them from the bidding plan to issue license for  mineral extraction without bidding for mineral extraction rights;

- For common construction material mines (excluding sand and gravel in riverbeds) having unexpired mining licenses, their extraction capacity may be increased by no more than 50% of the capacity specified in the mining license (without increasing the licensed reserves) without the need of submitting to the state authority with competent to decide or approve the investment guidelines to adjust, appraise and approve the results of the environmental impact assessment report, issue environmental license; or environmental registration. However, they must ensure compliance with occupational safety requirements and environmental protection during extraction. Once the enterprises have provided enough materials for the construction of the Project, they may continue to mine at the capacity specified in the issued mining license.

- In cases where a new mining license is required to meet the needs for common construction minerals of the Project, a special licensing mechanism similar to the mining of Group IV minerals (as prescribed in point a clause 2 Article 72 and points c and d, clause 2, Article 73 of the Law on Geology and Minerals) may be applied;

e) The provincial budget may retain 100% of the revenue from carbon credit transactions. These revenues are not used to determine the percentage of allocation between the central budget and the provincial budget;

g) The provincial authority may apply the recompense, support, and resettlement policies when repossessing land for Project implementation at the highest rate as prescribed multiplied by 1.5 times;

People who are using land without the Certificate of land use rights and ownership of property affixed to the land (hereinafter referred to as "certificate of title") but are eligible for issuance of the certificate of title are also eligible for the same recompense, support, and resettlement policies upon land repossession by the State for Project implementation applicable to holders of the certificate of title.

i) The provincial authority may carry out recompense, support, and resettlement policies while adjusting the relocation and resettlement of the Project.

10. The provincial authority is not required to adjust the area of ​​national mineral reserves and the duration of national mineral reserves, as well as the master plans on mineral exploration and mining approved by the competent authority in cases where the Project area overlaps with the national mineral reserve area or the planned area for mineral exploration and mining.

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12. Mechanisms and policies for anti-corruption, anti-misconduct, anti-wastefulness:

a) The Prime Minister shall establish a working group including representatives from the Ministry of National Defense, Ministry of Public Security, Ministry of Finance, Government Inspectorate, State Audit Office of Vietnam and relevant ministries, central authorities to supervise the implementation of contract packages as prescribed in points b, c and d, clause 2 of this Article;

b) The investors of the Ninh Thuan 1 nuclear power plant, Ninh Thuan 2 nuclear power plant shall submit the draft turnkey contracts on construction of the main power plants to the State Audit Office of Vietnam for auditing as a basis for contract conclusion. The State Audit Office of Vietnam shall submit the auditing result to the authority having the power to sign the draft turnkey contract within 30 days from the receipt of the written request for auditing attached with the contract to ensure the progress of the Project;

c) Heads of authorities, units, officials, public employees participating in formulation, issuance of mechanisms, policies prescribed in this Resolution shall be considered for exemption or reduction of criminal responsibility in accordance with regulations of the Communist Party of Vietnam and the law.

13. The general contractor and other contractors shall prioritize the use of domestic products, goods, services in conformity with the packages; for contract packages open to international bidding, the bidding documents shall include requirements for foreign general contractor, contractor to transfer technology, develop human resources for Vietnamese partner to take charge of management, operation; gradually take control of technology.

14. During the time the National Assembly is not in session, the National Assembly shall authorize the Standing Committee of the National Assembly to:

a) Consider, decide adjustment of the investment guidelines of the Project, except for increasing the total investment in the Project;

b) Supplement, adjust mechanisms, special policies for projects.

Article 4. Implementation

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a) Implement and manage the investment of projects in accordance with this Resolution and relevant laws; ensure the progress and quality of projects; report at the request of competent authorities; urgently implement the Project;

b) Manage, use the fund and resources, manage relevant activities to ensure efficiency, prevent corruption, wastefulness, misconduct, national defense and security, social order and safety, radiation safety, and environmental safety in accordance with this Resolution and other relevant laws; provide sufficient information for the public to understand and agree on the investment guidelines of the Project;

c) Negotiate international treaties with partners on the basis of respect for each other’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, non-interference in each other’s internal affairs, and equality and mutual benefit; in accordance with the Constitution, laws of Vietnam, and treaties to which the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is a party;

d) Direct the management, operation, exploitation and maintenance, ensure safety and quality;

dd) Implement this Resolution within the jurisdiction; conduct preliminary review of 03 years of implementation of this Resolution, and report the National Assembly at the session at the end of 2028; review the implementation of this Resolution and report the National Assembly at the nearest session after the Project is put in operation.

2. During the implementation, if any issue related to the mechanisms, policies arises or existing mechanisms and policies are not appropriate, the Government shall consider, adjust, supplement them within its jurisdiction or research, report to the competent authorities for consideration and decision.

3. The authorities of Ninh Thuan province and the Project investor shall be accountable to the Government for the progress and quality of assigned projects.

4. The Vietnamese Fatherland Front and members of the Front shall carry out a publicity campaign to obtain the people’s support for the Project and supervise the implementation of this Resolution within their jurisdiction.

5. The Standing Committee of the National Assembly, the Committee for Science, Technology, and Environment, the Ethnics Council, other Committees of the National Assembly, the National Assembly deputies’ delegations, National Assembly deputies shall supervise the implementation of this Resolution within their jurisdiction.

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Article 5. Effect

This Resolution comes into force from the day on which it is ratified by the National Assembly.

This Resolution was ratified in the 9th unexpected National Assembly’s session by the 15th National Assembly of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, on February 19, 2025.

PRESIDENT OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY




Tran Thanh Man

Nghị quyết 189/2025/QH15 về Cơ chế, chính sách đặc biệt đầu tư xây dựng dự án điện hạt nhân Ninh Thuận do Quốc hội ban hành