Lessons from projects with over budget and behind schedule

It is time to put an end to and strictly handle relevant groups and individuals who let projects run out of capital and progress, causing waste and loss of budget resources.

There are currently many public investment projects nationwide that have increased capital, are behind schedule, have poor investment efficiency, and are wasting resources, causing great public outrage. These projects are estimated to have increased capital by several billion, several hundred billion, and up to thousands of billions of VND. In addition, in the past, relevant agencies were slow in resolving and handling these projects, and did not strictly handle the groups and individuals who committed violations, only stopping at reviewing and drawing lessons.

It can be seen that the common characteristics of projects with increased capital and delayed progress are problems from the bidding stage, design consultancy, construction supervision, progress urging as well as transparency and responsibility in supervising project implementation... The consequences are that the project is behind schedule, the construction quality is not guaranteed, the investment capital is increased, causing loss and waste of the budget. In addition, it will also reduce people's trust in state management agencies, the damage is difficult to measure in numbers.

However, recently, the Ministry of Public Security, as well as related ministries and branches, have taken many "strong and decisive actions"; a wake-up call has sounded, it is time to put an end to the situation of many projects with huge capital increases and serious delays.

Recently, on October 31, 2024, the Ministry of Public Security's Investigation Police Agency (Department of Investigation Police for Crimes of Corruption, Economic Crimes, and Smuggling) initiated a case and prosecuted 8 defendants for allowing the Ban Mong Reservoir Project (Nghe An Province) to be delayed for a long time, requiring the total investment to be adjusted many times, causing great waste to the state budget.

Accordingly, the Ban Mong Reservoir Project, invested by the Irrigation Investment and Construction Management Board 4 - Board 4 under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, is built in the districts of Quy Hop, Quy Chau and Nghia Dan, Nghe An province and partly in Nhu Xuan district, Thanh Hoa province, with a capacity of 225 million m3 of water, serving irrigation for more than 18,800 hectares of agricultural land.

The project was approved in 2009 with a capital of more than 3,700 billion VND, then adjusted to increase by 1,808 billion VND to a total capital of 5,552 billion VND. However, the construction has lasted for 15 years without being able to come into operation, causing great consequences for local people as well as the economic and social development of the area.

In addition to the above-mentioned Ban Mong Reservoir Project, there are countless groups of traffic and civil construction projects across the country, listed as projects with public investment capital that are behind schedule, over budget, and whose completion date cannot be determined.

The headworks of Ban Mong reservoir in Nghe An. Photo: Thanh Duy

In order to overcome and end the situation of projects with increased capital and delayed progress, state management agencies need to change the process of public investment right from the project establishment stage, increase transparency, responsibility and supervision in project implementation; especially monitoring the progress and costs of the project.

In addition, it is necessary to have specific sanctions and strictly handle violations in public investment projects to avoid projects with increased capital and delayed progress. At the same time, it is necessary to make the investment process transparent, conduct periodic inspections, and publicly handle violations. This is a solution that will help deter related organizations, units, and individuals who cause public investment projects to increase capital and delay progress for a long time.

For projects that are behind schedule and over budget, it is necessary to carefully review and evaluate, identify difficulties, problems, and causes of problems; the authority to resolve and propose specific solutions to remove difficulties and promote project progress.

Investors and state management agencies, when clearly identifying the work to be done, must have high determination, great effort, decisive action, focused leadership, methodical direction, unity, transparency and objectivity. In the implementation process, the interests of the nation and people, and socio-economic development must be put first. In particular, it is necessary to limit waste and loss of state assets, along with preventing and combating corruption and negativity.

At the meeting of the Central Steering Committee on preventing and combating corruption, waste and negativity on October 30, 2024, General Secretary To Lam directed the review and strict handling of major waste cases that the public is concerned about, in accordance with the spirit of handling one case to alert the whole region and the whole field; clearly defining the responsibilities of relevant organizations and individuals. At the same time, it is necessary to review and thoroughly handle the long-standing problems of important national projects, key projects, low-efficiency projects, causing great loss and waste...

Also at the 8th Session of the 15th National Assembly, when discussing the draft Law on Public Investment (amended), some delegates said that it is necessary to add to the law regulations to tighten management and strictly handle units and individuals related to slow-progressing public investment projects, in order to combat waste and improve the efficiency of using public investment capital.

With the determination of the Party and State in tightening the management of public investment projects, individuals and groups that deliberately prolong the progress of key projects and projects using public investment capital for personal gain will be strictly handled before the law.

Source: https://congthuong.vn/bai-hoc-nhin-tu-nhung-du-an-doi-von-cham-tien-do-356606.html