700 days in the 'hot seat' of Inspector General and Minister of Transport

The leaders of the Inspectorate and Traffic sectors have been in office since April 2016 and will be dismissed today.

This afternoon, the Prime Minister introduced the new Minister of Transport and Inspector General.

Today, October 25, the National Assembly approved the dismissal of Mr. Truong Quang Nghia from the position of Minister of Transport and Mr. Phan Van Sau from the position of Government Inspector General.

Mr. Truong Quang Nghia and Mr. Phan Van Sau joined the Government in April 2016 and are in their first term. In both areas, they are considered "hot seats".

"Heavy responsibility"

Upon taking over the assignment from his predecessor Huynh Phong Tranh, the new Government Inspector General Phan Van Sau said, "This is a great honor, but also a heavy responsibility that forces me to try my best." He also commented, "The inspection sector has had many joys but also many difficulties and hardships."

In the first year that Mr. Phan Van Sau took office, the entire inspection sector carried out a large amount of work with 6,586 administrative inspections and 252,592 specialized inspections and checks.

In particular, the Government Inspectorate directly conducted many inspections that attracted public attention, such as the inspection at the Petroleum Construction Joint Stock Corporation (PVC) - where Mr. Trinh Xuan Thanh used to be the General Director and Chairman of the Board of Directors and committed many violations, resulting in losses of more than VND 3,298 billion (2011-2013).

Government Inspector General Phan Van Sau (left cover) during a working session with the Anti-Corruption Department. Photo: Ba Do

Also in 2016, the Government Inspectorate announced the conclusion of the inspection of investment in Biofuel projects with capital contributions from the Vietnam Oil and Gas Group and its member units; the conclusion of the inspection of investment in the construction of the Dinh Vu Polyester Fiber Factory project... Regarding the Dinh Vu project, the inspection agency stated that the project was not economically effective, with a loss of more than 1,400 billion VND.

At the 2016 inspection sector review conference, Deputy Prime Minister Truong Hoa Binh acknowledged that there have been positive changes in all aspects of the sector's work. However, the Government leader also pointed out shortcomings, such as: The development and implementation of inspection plans are slow and not close to the actual situation; the quality of conclusions from some inspections is not high; the detection and handling of corruption through inspection work, and the settlement of complaints and denunciations, although there has been progress, are still limited...

For his part, in many working sessions of the industry, Mr. Phan Van Sau always thoroughly grasped and directed his subordinates to conduct planned inspections in conjunction with surprise inspections when there were signs of violations; focusing on areas prone to negativity, corruption, public concern and many complaints and denunciations.

During a meeting with the Central Committee of the Vietnam Fatherland Front on the supervision of the public disclosure of inspection conclusions in April 2017, Mr. Sau requested that this agency "give opinions" so that in the future, amendments and supplements to the Inspection Law will help enhance the role, position and effectiveness of the Inspection sector.

In June 2017, when receiving a question from a National Assembly delegate about the responsibility of the inspection sector related to the incident that occurred in Dong Tam commune (Hanoi), Mr. Phan Van Sau responded in writing. Accordingly, Mr. Sau affirmed that upon receiving the citizen's petition, the inspection agency requested Hanoi to take appropriate measures to stabilize the situation and avoid hot spots; and assigned the Local Department to closely coordinate with the city in handling the incident.

"Upon receiving information that Dong Tam commune citizens were upset and detained 38 officials to carry out their duties, the Government Inspectorate sent a Deputy Director and professional officials to closely coordinate with Hanoi City; together with the Chairman of Hanoi People's Committee, they had a dialogue with citizens in My Duc district on April 20 and in Dong Tam commune on April 22," Mr. Sau informed.

In 2017, the Government Inspectorate undertook many large-scale inspections, especially the responsibility of coordinating with the State Bank to inspect credit and financial investment activities at financial institutions and commercial banks with high bad debt ratios and risks of losing capital and assets; inspecting the Ministry of National Defense, the Ministry of Public Security and related units in land management and use, focusing on the conversion of land use from defense and security land to other purposes in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Can Tho, Da Nang, Khanh Hoa.

In addition, the Government Inspectorate has been continuously assigned by competent authorities to investigate many "hot spots", specifically inspections related to the project on Son Tra peninsula (Da Nang); the VN Pharma case; the equitization process of Vietnam Feature Film Studio; the "mansion" of the Department Director in Yen Bai...

In the past 9 months, under the direction of Mr. Phan Van Sau, the Government Inspectorate has also announced many inspection conclusions that have attracted public attention, including pointing out a series of violations in investment and construction of transport projects under the BT and BOT forms in Ho Chi Minh City and the Ministry of Transport.

Before entering this National Assembly session, National Assembly Secretary General Nguyen Hanh Phuc said "Mr. Phan Van Sau has submitted a request to the Politburo to resign and transfer to another suitable job."

With the approval of the competent authority, Mr. Phan Van Sau's responsibilities will be transferred from the inspection agency to Soc Trang province.

From left: Head of the Central Organization Committee Pham Minh Chinh talks with Secretary of the Da Nang City Party Committee Truong Quang Nghia in the hallway of the National Assembly. Photo: Vo Hai

"Soldier" Truong Quang Nghia

When receiving the decision to leave the Ministry of Transport, Mr. Truong Quang Nghia said "he never thought he would return to Da Nang to be Secretary", but accepted this task "like a soldier".

Mr. Truong Quang Nghia's working process started in the army and he had 16 years of training in this environment, followed by an equivalent period of time at Vinaconex Corporation.

From 2008 to now, “soldier” Truong Quang Nghia has been regularly assigned new tasks by his superiors. He has held 6 different positions and none of them lasted a full 5-year term, from Deputy Secretary of the Da Nang City Party Committee to Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of the Central Enterprises Bloc, then Secretary of the Party Committee of this Bloc; Secretary of the Son La Provincial Party Committee; Deputy Head of the Central Economic Commission; and now Minister of Transport.

When he first took office in the transport sector, Mr. Truong Quang Nghia affirmed that in investment work, he would maintain the principle that every penny of the people's money must be spent carefully, responsibly, and with quality and efficiency guaranteed.

For nearly two years, Mr. Nghia has faced many difficulties, especially the need for capital to implement important infrastructure projects, such as: Long Thanh International Airport; North-South Expressway project... In addition, he also had to deal with many issues related to BOT projects; problems in expanding Tan Son Nhat airport.

According to observations by the press, Mr. Nghia is considered quite discreet compared to his predecessor Dinh La Thang.

Today, the National Assembly dismissed Mr. Truong Quang Nghia from the position of Minister of Transport and Mr. Phan Van Sau from the position of Government Inspector General.

Inspecting the construction site of the new Ghenh bridge project in mid-April 2016, hearing the report that "money has reached the treasury" but cannot be spent, Mr. Nghia requested that units create favorable conditions for each other, absolutely not having the mindset of "having envelopes, this and that will be done".

Reporting to the National Assembly at the end of May 2017, Mr. Nghia frankly admitted that Vietnam's railways have gone from modern to outdated.

Regarding the incident of drivers paying in small change when passing through the toll station at the Cai Lay BOT project (Tien Giang), Mr. Nghia said, "Many people only think about investors, I suggest looking at it more objectively."

At this session, the Minister of Transport, authorized by the Prime Minister, presented the North-South Expressway project to the National Assembly. However, this work was transferred by Mr. Nghia to the new Minister. From today, he will leave his position at the Ministry of Transport.

According to VNE