The third session of the National Assembly Standing Committee opened in Hanoi on Oct 3, under the control of National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Sinh Hung.
The key objective of the session was to prepare for the upcoming second session of the National Assembly, scheduled for October 20.
"Charging individuals and organizations for water usage will raise their sense of responsibility regarding its use and reduce unnecessary water-dependent activities," said Nguyen Van Giau, Head of the Economics Committee of the National Assembly.
Majority of the members of the NA Standing Committee agreed to the draft policy yesterday, which will be introduced at the next NA meeting later this month.
Some members, however, expressed their concerns of the draft.
"The draft document lacks details on regulations of water usage and charges," said Truong Thi Mai, Head of NA Committee for Social Affairs.
Mr. Phung Quoc Hien, Head of NA Committee for Finance and Budget agreed with Ms. Mai, saying specific regulations were needed to stipulate who and under what circumstances entities will have to pay for usage of a water resource.
He stressed on the need to have a regulation whereby those who used underground or surface water for business purposes in areas facing water shortage will be charged for usage.
However, hydropower plants should not be charged for using water, according to a report by the NA Economics Committee.
The report shows that many organizations believed that hydropower plants did not alter the quality of water resources, besides they were already paying a natural resources tax.
Mr. Phung Quoc Hien raised the question of whether ownership of water resources could be transferred, in the same way that many other ownerships can.
The Law on Water Resources, which took effect in 1999, has some weak points, such as in river bed management, appropriate water resources allocation, maintenance of minimum river water flow, limits on underground water exploitation and efficient use of water.
During this NA session, deputies will comment on 10 draft laws such as law on Measurement, Water Resources (revision), Labour Code (revision), Trade Unions (revision), Anti Money Laundering, Deposit Insurance, Denunciations, Complaints, Administrative Litigation and the Law of the Sea.
They will also discuss the implementation of the National Program on planting 5 million hectares of forests and issues relating to salary of people working in the social insurance sector.
For the remainder of today and tomorrow, the committee members are expected to stay over time for drafting, reviewing and correcting the details of the law on Measurement as discussed and decided during the NA session.
The draft of the law on Measurement will cover at least 9 chapters to discuss in detail 57 essential topics.
N.D