DECISION

ON APPROVING PLAN ON RESTRUCTURING INLAND WATERWAYS BY 2020

THE MINISTER OF TRANSPORT

Pursuant to the Law on Inland Waterway Transport 2004 of Vietnam and the Law on amendments to it;

Pursuant to the Decree No. 107/2012/NĐ-CP dated 20/12/2012 by the Government defining the functions, tasks, entitlements and organizational structure of the Ministry of Transport;

Pursuant to the Decision No. 1210/QĐ-TTg dated 24/7/2014 by the Prime Minister approving the Plan on restructuring Transport and Communication sector for the industrialization, modernization and sustainable development by 2020;

Pursuant to the Decision No. 3177/QĐ-BGTVT dated 20/8/2014 by the Minister of Transport promulgating Action Program carrying out the Plan on restructuring Transport and Communication sector for the industrialization, modernization and sustainable development by 2020;

At the request of Head of Department of Planning and Investment,

DECIDES:

Article 1. Approve Plan on restructuring inland waterways sector to 2020 with main contents as follows:

I. VIEWPOINT, TARGET

1. Viewpoint

- Restructuring of inland waterways is a component of general restructuring of Transport and Communication sector according to the Decision No. 1210/QĐ-TTg dated 24/7/2014 by the Prime Minister approving the Plan on restructuring Transport and Communication sector for the industrialization, modernization and sustainable development in the period of up to 2020;

- Restructuring public investment shall be associating with the mobilization of resources to create a breakthrough in the development of inland waterways transport infrastructure, improve capacity and market share of inland waterway transport. Key works shall be concentrated on to ensure the connection between the major economic centers, important harbors, routes with great demand for transport by a consistent transport system; inland waterways transport infrastructure in regions shall be invested for economic development.

- Development of inland waterways transport shall be consistent with development of other kinds of transport; focus on developing advantages of geography and natural conditions of canal network, especially coastal shipping potentiality so as to create an inland waterways connection between regions in nationwide.

- Capacity and effectiveness in manufacturing and trading activities of enterprises involving inland waterways transport shall be improved so as to increase market share of inland waterway transport and reduce the burden on road transport system.

- Vital and urgent targets and basic and long-term targets shall be harmoniously combined in the orientation of sustainable development; infrastructure shall be developed effectively and concurrently with the investment in new infrastructure works to increase the effectiveness and resource-saving; ensure the traffic safety, protect environment, actively cope with change of climate, rise of sea level and use energy economically and effectively.

- Restructuring and improvement of managerial capability of Vietnam Inland Waterway Administration shall be carried out so as to satisfy the requirements and targets of development of inland waterway transport.

2. Targets

a) General targets

Satisfy the demand for socio-economic development, serving the industrialization and modernization; create a breakthrough in infrastructure; innovate comprehensively and thoroughly as well as improve the capacity and quality of State management of Vietnam Inland Waterway Administration , fulfill the allocated functions and tasks; complete the target of restructuring inland waterway approved by the Prime Minister in the Decision No. 1210/QĐ-TTg dated 24/7/2014 in the orientation of being sustainable, effective and satisfying the environment protection, coping with the climate change.

b) Specific targets

- Promote the advantages of inland waterway transport, focus on bulk cargos (mineral, cement, building materials...) and oversize load cargos, transport cargos to rural areas; increase the market share of inland waterway transport, multi-purpose transport

- By 2020, percentage of interprovincial transport of goods by inland waterways will be 32.28%, strive for reaching 17.8 to 19% by the 2015-2017 period, reaching 19% to 27% by the 2018-2019 period and reaching 32.38% by the 2019-2020 period; percentage of interprovincial transport of passengers by inland waterways will be 0.17%, particularly 0.15% by the 2015-2018 period and 0.17% by the 2018-2020 period.

- Develop inland waterway vehicles in an orientation of reasonable restructuring: the percentage of tugboat will be 30% and the percentage of self-propelled vessel will be 70% in the total amount of inland waterway vehicles; prioritize the development of container ships.

- Build up a synchronous infrastructure system on the basis of using effectively the resource for investment, concentrate on innovating, improving main inland waterways routes; prioritize improving the lines connecting the Mekong Delta with Ho Chi Minh City; the lines on Tiền river, Hậu river, Red river and Thái Bình river. Improve the effectiveness of investment in the development of inland waterways infrastructure.

- Improve the State management functions, innovate the policy to create a transparent and flexible law system, reform the administrative procedures in the orientation of facilitating, reduce difficulties, provide motivation to encourage all economic sectors to invest in inland waterway infrastructure.

- Differentiate between State management, infrastructure management of Vietnam Inland Waterway Administration and the manufacture, maintenance of inland waterways of the enterprises in charge of ensuring inland waterway traffic safety.

- Restructure the organization of Vietnam Inland Waterway Administration to improve the effectiveness of State management, satisfy the requirement of inland waterways restructuring.

II. ORIENTATION OF INLAND WATERWAY RESTRUCTURING

1. Develop inland waterway transport in the orientation of modernity and sustainability; promote the advantages of inland waterway transport

- Develop the inland waterway transport in the orientation of transporting high mass of bulk cargo including coal, mineral other than coal, cement, sand, gravel, stone, agriculture product, food; transporting oversize load products, increase the market share of inland waterway transport and multi-purpose transport.

- Connect the seaports with industrial and service centers with main inland waterway routes; improve the potentiality of coastal lines and ensure the traffic safety.

- Increase the capacity of service provision assisting transport at important inland ports, especially the capacity of loading and unloading the cargo and supporting service to container transport by inland waterways.

- Scientifically organizane the transport, increase percentage of two-way transport vehicles, Increase the effectiveness of business.

- Facilitate and promote the establishment of large-scale transport organizations that have high competitiveness.

- Update, put forward amendments to the Agreement on cross-border transport between Vietnam – Cambodia, break the barriers, facilitate the cross-border transport; promote the negotiation process with China on the Transport agreement and Agreement on free maritime transport in Bắc Luân estuary area.

- Carry out the project on building up incentive policy and structure and developing inland waterway transport enable waterway transport enterprises to develop sustainably.

2. Develop inland waterway vehicles

- Develop inland waterway vehicles in the direction of ensuring the conformity to national technical regulations and standards.

- Develop, select vehicles suitable for each line, prioritize container ships and multi-purpose vehicles.

3. Develop inland waterway transport infrastructure

- By 2015: strive to complete 253 km of waterway corridor passing the Plain of Reeds and Long Xuyên Quadrangle; 148 km of coastal corridor in the South of the Mekong Delta; strive to complete 250 km waterway corridor in Quảng Ninh – Việt Trì passing Đuống river; 180 km waterway corridor passing Ninh Cơ river.

- Increase the management of canal routes serving inland waterway transport without management. Complete the upgrade of important waterway routes to satisfy the technical requirement, ensure the transport safety.

- Cooperate with local governents in management of local inland waterway routes.

4. Manage the development of inland waterway infrastructure

- Manage the inland waterways in the direction of systematic modernization; complete the database system.

- Increase the effect of State management in the management of inland waterways corridor, control and prevent the violations of corridor. Cooperate with local governments in managing development planning, construction planning to protect inland waterway corridor.

- Increase the safety measures for inland waterway transport; organize a sensible system of transport to improve the development condition.

5. Maintain inland waterways in the direction of being advanced, scientific and effective, gradually satisfy the requirements of society, ensure the traffic safety

- Speed up the socialization to mobilize the resources for managing and maintaining inland waterways, strive to increase the funding for annual maintenance; promptly maintain the swallow sections.

- Increase the effectiveness in State management to manage consistently means of transport to improve the capacity so as to satisfy the demand on inland waterway transport.

6. Traffic safety activities

- Build up a suitable and safe network of transport; increase conditions for transport safety.

- Strictly manage helmsman, inland watercraft and inland waterway transport safety.

- Strive to reduce the quantity of traffic accident and its victims by 5% to 10% in 2014 and the next years.

7. Organization of Vietnam Inland Waterway Administration

- Based on the Decision No. 4409/QĐ-BGTVT dated 31/12/2013, reform the advisory division according to the new functions, tasks; specify clearly task for each division, avoid getaway and overlap in tasks.

- Immediate retain 02 regional departments of inland waterways; assign tasks and areas under their management; manage the maintenance of inland waterway after the Section Manager switch to operate in the form of joint-stock companies.

- Organize Inspectorate affiliated to the 2 branches in the first quarter of 2015 as prescribed in the regulation.

- Waterway Transport Vocational College No. 1 and Waterway Transport Vocational College No. 2 are operated in the model of autonomy and self-responsibility in order to improve training quality.

- Strengthen the capacity of the inland waterway management board affiliated to the Inland Waterway Administration to manage the project invested by such administration.

- Study plan for putting Inland Waterway Journal to a unit directly under the sole management of the Ministry of Transport Direct.

III. MAIN SOLUTIONS AND POLICIES

1. Reform the regulation, policy and speed up the reform of administrative procedures to satisfy the requirement of inland waterway development

- Review the published legislative documents, inspect and modify the regulations that are no longer conformable, promulgated new documents to regulate new issues; ensure quality, oriented development, breakthrough mechanism and management.

- Reduce the arisen administrative procedures; dealt with difficulties, facilitate enterprises, organizations and individuals participating in the development of inland waterway transport; increase the effectiveness of State management; attract investment in infrastructure construction and transport service; ensure the safety, prevent disasters and protect environment.

- Concentrate on completing the guiding documents to the Law providing amendments to a number of articles of the Law on Inland Waterway Transport. By 2015, finish the promulgation of guiding documents on the implementation of the Law on Inland Waterway Transport and the Law on amendments to it, especially the regulation on search and rescue in inland waterways transport.

- Review the regulations on fees and charges, the regulation on costs of inland waterways transport, cooperate with the Ministry of Finance in modifying the unconformable regulations that block the development of inland waterways transport; research the incentive policy applied to the transport enterprises and cooperatives to adopt in 2015, 2016.

- Speed up the administrative reformation, implement adequately the current procedures concurrently with updating and reviewing to shorten the procedures so that by 2020, the number of procedures will reduced by 25 to 30 (compared with 89).

- Speed up the activities of propagating and guiding on the implementation of legislative documents, concentrate on popularizing new documents. The propagation and popularization of laws shall be performed regularly, consistently, conformably and shall be easy to remember, understand and carry out, especially the popularization to specialist officials and officials of local administrative agencies.

2. Raise the quality of the development and the implementation of projects, plannings, plans and policies on the development of inland waterways.

- Carry out adequately and periodically review and provide amendments to the planning on inland waterway transport development to satisfy the demand on socio-economic development in nationwide that is conformable with socio-economic development conditions in the 2016-2020 period.

- Carry out adequately and effectively the approved projects and plannings; conduct more inspections to promptly adjust and amend the plannings to satisfy the demand for development and increase their feasibility.

- Increase the cooperation between the organizations affiliated to the Ministry of Transport and local government in developing, managing and carrying out the plannings. By 2015, review and adjustment of planning on inland routes and ports will have finished; in 2016, planning on local inland waterways and inland wharves will be drawn up and adjusted. Inspect the national inland waterway route that is possible to transform into local waterway route.

3. Increase the effectiveness of management and use of invested capital

- Concentrate on important works in the orientation in the Resolution No. 13-NQ/TW dated 16/01/2012 by the 11th Central Executive Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam, Project on Vietnamese Transport development and approved plannings; avoid unfocused investment. Implement strictly the Resolution No. 11/NQ-CP dated 24/02/2011 by the Government on solutions mainly focusing on containing inflation, stabilizing the macroeconomic, guaranteeing social security and the Instructions of the Prime Minister on increasing the management of the State investment and Government bonds to gather the capital, increase the effectiveness of investment.

- Prioritize the allocation of capital to inland waterways plans; strive to increase the amount of funding to the annual management and maintenance of inland waterways by 25% - 30%.

- Concentrate on investing in main routes according to the planning in the Decision No. 1071/QĐ-BGTVT dated 24/4/2013 by the Minister of Transport; prioritize the upgrade of routes connecting the Mekong Delta and Ho Chi Minh City, routes passing Tiền river, Hậu river, Red river and Thái Bình river in the 2015-2017 period; invest in constructing ports, inland wharves and dredging, mainly from socializing capital; draw up investment project in important ports, strive for constructing Phù Đổng port on Đuống river in 2016.

- Concentrate on speeding up the process of works in WB5 and WB6 plans to comply with the process and quality in the plans to soon bring the works into use.

- Intensify investment attracting and allocate effectively the funding for maintenance. Research the methods for the socialization of maintenance and provision of services derived from inland waterway transport infrastructure.

4. Encourage, attract non-budgeted investment

a) Develop and complete mechanisms, policies and legal system of management, capital mobilization, create an investment environment that is equal, fair and effective and concurrently ensure the interests of the state and the investors participating in the construction of inland waterway transport infrastructure.

b) Carry out the project "Socializing capital mobilization for inland waterway transport infrastructure", focusing on the following key contents:

- Create a great resource to invest in constructing synchronously infrastructure between the waterways between key economic regions, between regions and connect with other means of transport.

- Use reasonably and effectively the state budget for construction of infrastructure and maintenance of inland waterway works (because of the socialization of inland waterway routes).

5. Manage the development of inland waterway infrastructure

- Construction, issued the documents: the Joint Circular replacing the Joint Circular No. 75/2011/TTLT-BTC-BGTVT providing for setting and management of product prices, public services in the field of road and inland waterway maintenance according to the orders and targets funding from the State budget.

- Strengthen the implementation of the "Project on Evaluation of the reality of inland waterway transport and measures to promote the development of inland waterway transport" was approved by Minister of Transport in the Decision No. 4120/QĐ-BGTVT dated 16/12/2013.

- Regularly review, update and complete the norm system, unit prices, process of managing and maintaining inland waterways.

- Maintain the inland waterway transport infrastructure in order to ensure project quality, increase transport capacity, punctually repair shallow areas.

- Strengthen the protection of the waterway safety corridor as well as the management and maintenance of these works; fully install signal system, ensuring navigable depth, vertical clearance, horizontal clearance for smooth and safe transport.

- Cooperate closely with relevant agencies, local governments in ensuring traffic safety, protect inland waterway transport infrastructure.

- Actively research and apply advanced technologies in the management of inland waterway transport infrastructure.

- Enhance the connection with other means of transport, focusing on developing logistics services.

- Review the entire system of training crews, helmsman, classrooms, equipment, facilities for teaching and practice.

- Regarding the management and maintenance: Develop a plan and organize the bidding or order the maintenance of waterway traffic lines; inspect, supervise, accept and settle the maintenance of inland waterways; make annual revenue estimate for the management of traffic lines.

6. Promote the application of science – technology and international cooperation

- Intensify the application of science - technology in the design, construction, development and maintenance of inland waterway transport infrastructure, contribute to the development of process and the quality and reduce the cost of the works; protect environment, cope with the change of climate and the rise of sea level.

- Review, develop and finalize the national standards, national technical regulations, economic – technology norms in the field of inspection, design, construction, acceptance and maintenance of inland waterways.

- Modernize, develop the waterway vehicles in the direction of diversification, structure reasonably the vehicles in shallow draught coastal so that they can get inland, the container ships, self-propelled vessels, tugboats: tugboats (800 - 1000) tonnes, self-propelled vessels (400-600) tonnes, multi-purpose vessels (1000 - 3000) tonnes, the container ships 16.24 and 32 TEU applying advanced transport technology, especially multimodal transport and logistics services; modernize cargo handling equipment; intensify the application of information technology in management, administration and development of inland waterways.

- Strengthen international cooperation to attract ODA; invest reasonably in studying science – technology application.

- Build up the Project on Information technology management in the management of vehicles that will be carried out in 2016; Project on Construction management software to manage the vehicles in ports and inland wharves that will be completed in 2016.

- Complete and carry out effectively the project "On the development of transport capacity and logistics services" in 2015.

- Apply new science - technology, and new materials in the direction of sustainable improvement, low energy consumption and reasonable cost.

7. Human resource development

- With regard to crew and helmsman: Research for training innovation; retrain, update the contents of training, increase time for practicing, and training handling skills.

- With regard to staff, officials, civil servants, employees: Review and determine the location of employment, ensure requirement of quantity and quality; have plans for regular training of awareness, professional proficiency, working style and behavior skills.

- Recruitment and appointment of staff shall comply with the process; people who are employed or appointed shall have sufficient knowledge to perform the task, shall be ethical and confidential in work.

- Train port authorized staff for steady proficiency, not troubling to owners of ports, wharves, vehicle owners, crews, helmsmen.

- Speed up care for the living of officials, civil servants and employees; punctually motivate, encourage the contributive entities and concurrently raise the role of discipline in the operation.

8. Strengthen the inspection, testing and handling of violations

- Build up inspection plans, inspect annually or irregularly with the focus is on passenger transport and extraction of sand and gravel, dredging, management and prevent collision.

- Cooperate with the waterway Police Department and the Vietnam Register in promoting the interdisciplinary collaboration in ensuring the safety of inland waterway transport; organize review and evaluation of the pilot model in restore traffic safety in Hàn river, Phi Liệt river to gain experience as a basis for further deployment.

- Handle strictly, thoroughly and intra vires the violations, especially the violations of putting vehicles with insufficient quality into operation, letting vehicles overload; the violations that crews, helmsmen do not have professional certificates or degrees or have professional certificates unconformable with the vehicles.

- Strengthen the implementation of urgent measures to ensure inland waterway transport safety. Strictly dealt with violations against laws, especially the violations causing traffic accidents.

IV. ORGANIZATION OF IMPLEMENTATION

1. Departments affiliated to the Ministry of Transport

- Departments affiliated to the Ministry of Transport shall advice the Ministry to promulgate within their competence or request the Prime Minister to provide new regulations or policies; provide amendments to relevant regulations to satisfy the requirement of restructuring inland waterway sector.

- Departments affiliated to the Ministry of Transport shall cooperate, expedite, guide Vietnam Inland Waterway Administration and relevant organizations to comply with the requirements of contents and progress of the project.

- Head of Subcommittee of Restructuring of Ministry shall carry out, monitor and inspect the implementation of the Project according to assigned tasks.

2. Vietnam Inland Waterway Administration

- Vietnam Inland Waterway Administration shall promptly complete the Project on Job positions and structure of civil servant ranks for administrative units affiliated to Vietnam Inland Waterway Administration; the Project on Job positions, number of employees sorted by job positions and structure of officials sorted by titles and professions for public service units affiliated to Vietnam Inland Waterway Administration. In 2014:

- Draw up projects and carry out the State management of inland waterways after equitizing the management of inland waterway sector.

- Reorganize the inland waterway inspectorates to be conformable to the provisions of the Decree No. 57/2013/NĐ-CP dated 31/5/2013 by the Government on organization and operation of Transport inspectorate.

- Preside over the implementation of the Project, draw up specific plan for each period.

Article 2. Implementation

1. This Decision comes into effect on the day it is signed.

2. The Chief of the Ministry Office, the Chief Inspector of the Ministry, Heads of the Departments, Director of Transport engineering construction and quality management bureau; Director of Vietnam Inland Waterway Administration and heads of relevant organizations are responsible for the implementation of this Decision./.

ANNEX

LIST OF DOCUMENTS AND PROJECTS THAT NEED AMENDMENT OR REPLACEMENT
(Enclosed with the Decision No. 4910/QĐ-BGTVT dated 24/12/2014 by the Minister of Transport)

 [A1]To socialize = to communicate

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