The Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee is seeking comments on a draft resolution of the city People's Council covering the cases, authority, process and procedures for implementing emergency and urgent projects and works. One provision would allow the investor of an emergency project to advance up to 50% of the signed contract value to the contractor, instead of the current 30% limit.
The People's Committee said the city had encountered obstacles affecting schedules while implementing emergency and urgent projects. Such projects often require construction and the completion of legal paperwork at the same time, while current rules allow contractors to receive an advance of only 30% of the contract value.
At some construction sites, completed work may reach 50–70% while the contractor's advance remains at 30%. The city said this gap makes it harder for contractors to mobilize resources and keep work going, and also affects project schedules. It therefore proposed raising the maximum advance to 50% to better reflect the conditions of emergency works.
The draft resolution says the 50% maximum advance would apply only to emergency works, not urgent works. To control the risks of a higher advance, contractors would have to provide an advance-payment guarantee equal to the amount received.
Investors would also have to manage the funds so they are used for the correct purpose, by the correct recipients and effectively. Advancing money without using it, or using it outside the purpose of the signed contract, would be prohibited.
Authority to decide on emergency and urgent works
The draft resolution divides the works into two groups. An emergency work is a new construction project, or a project being repaired or renovated, that starts immediately after an authorized person issues a construction order to prevent or remedy the consequences of a natural disaster, catastrophe or epidemic.
Urgent works must be carried out quickly to meet the city's defense, security, foreign-relations and political needs, and to address pressing issues involving energy, water supply, sanitation, food safety and urban order. The category also covers technical infrastructure, transport and economic development directed by competent authorities.
The chair of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee would decide on emergency works from Grade II upward. Decisions on Grade III and lower works would be assigned to the chairs of people's committees of wards, communes and Con Dao special zone.
The chair of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee would decide on urgent works under the city's authority. Projects that require consultation with the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee's Executive Committee, Standing Committee or Standing Board under its working regulations must receive that opinion before an investment decision is made.
Sources: Thanh Niên
