The government has issued a new decree on PPP projects.

Procedures for deciding on investment policies for PPP projects.

Specifically, Decree 243/2025/ND-CP stipulates that the dossier, procedures, and content for appraising pre-feasibility study reports of PPP projects under the authority of the National Assembly to decide on investment policies shall be implemented in accordance with the Government's regulations on the procedures for appraising nationally important projects.

The procedure for deciding on the investment policy for a PPP nuclear power plant project is as follows:

a) The unit preparing the PPP project shall prepare a pre-feasibility study report as a basis for ministries, central agencies, other agencies, and provincial People's Committees to submit to the Prime Minister;

b) The Prime Minister shall establish a State Appraisal Council or assign a lead agency to appraise the pre-feasibility study report in accordance with the law on public investment;

c) The State Appraisal Council or the lead agency appraising the pre-feasibility study report shall prepare an appraisal report and submit it to the Prime Minister for consideration and decision;

d) The Prime Minister shall decide on the investment policy for the project.

The procedure for deciding on investment policies for PPP projects falls under the authority of the Minister, the head of a central agency, other agencies, the Provincial People's Council, and the Provincial People's Committee.

a) The unit preparing the PPP project prepares a report proposing the investment policy and submits it to the Minister, head of the central agency, other agencies, or the People's Committee of the province for consideration and decision;

b) The Minister, head of the central agency, other agencies, or the Chairman of the People's Committee of the province assigns a subordinate unit to appraise the report proposing the investment policy;

c) The project appraisal unit prepares an appraisal report and sends it to the unit preparing the PPP project;

d) The unit preparing the PPP project completes the dossier and submits it to the Minister, head of the central agency, other agencies, or the People's Committee of the province;

e) The Minister, head of the central agency, or other agencies decides on the investment policy for the project within their scope of management as stipulated in Clause 3, Article 12 of the PPP Law;

e) The Provincial People's Committee shall submit to the Provincial People's Council for decision the investment policy for projects under its management as stipulated in Clause 4, Article 12 of the PPP Law, or decide on the investment policy for projects under its management as stipulated in Clause 5, Article 12 of the PPP Law.

The Decree clearly states that, for projects stipulated in Clause 3, Article 11 of the PPP Law, which require the procedure for deciding on investment policy to serve as the basis for deciding on the policy for changing the purpose of use of rice land according to the provisions of the land law, deciding on the policy for changing the purpose of use of forest land according to the provisions of the forestry law, and carrying out other procedures according to relevant laws, the preparation and appraisal of the investment policy proposal report and the decision on investment policy shall be carried out according to the regulations on the procedure for deciding on investment policy for PPP projects under the authority of the Minister, the head of a central agency, other agencies, the Provincial People's Council, and the Provincial People's Committee.

For PPP projects under the management of multiple competent authorities that require the use of state capital, the People's Committees of the provinces must report to the Provincial People's Councils before agreeing on assigning one locality as the competent authority as prescribed.

In cases where funds for compensation, land clearance, support, resettlement, and support for the construction of temporary structures are allocated from the local budget of each locality, the People's Committees of the provinces shall agree upon and report to the Provincial People's Councils on the division of the project into component projects for compensation, land clearance, support, resettlement, and support for the construction of temporary structures, so that each locality can implement them in accordance with the law on public investment.

Authority and procedures for approving PPP projects

Decree 243/2025/ND-CP stipulates that the approval of PPP projects falls under the authority of the head of the competent agency, including:

- Ministers, heads of central agencies, other agencies, and the Chairpersons of Provincial People's Committees approve PPP projects as prescribed in Clauses 1 and 2 of Article 21 of the PPP Law;

- The heads of agencies, organizations, and units specified in Clause 2 of Article 6 of Decree 243/2025/ND-CP approve projects for which their agency, organization, or unit is the competent authority.

The PPP project approval process is as follows:

a) The unit preparing the PPP project shall prepare a feasibility study report and an economic-technical report on the investment and construction as a basis for submission to the head of the competent authority for consideration and decision;

b) The project appraisal unit shall appraise the feasibility study report and send it to the unit preparing the PPP project;

c) The unit preparing the PPP project shall finalize the dossier and submit it to the head of the competent authority;

d) The head of the competent authority shall approve the project.

The above regulations are effective from September 11, 2025.

The Decree can be found in the attached file: Download