Seven BOT projects violated regulations, increased investment capital by hundreds of billions of dong

The main violations were merging two projects into one and setting up two toll stations; wrong approvals increased unit prices...

The Government Inspectorate has just issued a conclusion on investment projects, managed under the form of build-transfer (BT) contracts, build-operate-transfer (BOT) contracts in the transport and environment sectors at the Ministry of Transport. Seven projects were found to have committed violations, such as: investors approved incorrect increases in unit prices, salary regimes, allowances or other factors that were not true to reality with the amount of 316 billion VND.

The Government Inspectorate pointed out that over 70 transport projects under the BOT and BT forms were all designated bidders because there was only one investor participating or because of the urgency of the project. Illustration photo: Hoang Nam

At the Hoa Lac - Hoa Binh road projectand upgrading National Highway 6Xuan Mai - Hoa Binh section, the Government Inspectorate pointed out,According to the traffic development plan until 2020, National Highway 6, Xuan Mai - Hoa Binh section, must be upgraded to a class II road with four lanes. However, the Ministry of Transport has decided to approve the investment to upgrade the road that does not meet the planning standards.

Specifically, the Xuan Mai - Hoa Binh section is a class III road (plain and mountainous areas), two lanes and the Hoa Lac - Hoa Binh section is a class III road (plain), two lanes. The Ministry of Transport hasCombining the upgrading of National Highway 6 with the investment in the construction of the new Hoa Lac - Hoa Binh road into one project and setting up toll stations on both routes is unreasonable.

The approval of the total investment amount applied unit prices of wages, contingency costs for inflation, dumping distance and excavation stone level, which were not in accordance with regulations and reality, leading to an increase in over 51 billion VND in incorrect expenditure.

The results of the budget inspection show that some approved contents are incorrect and unreasonable.The approved estimated value increased by 33.7 billion VND (Hoa Lac - Hoa Binh road 16.4 billion VND and Xuan Mai - Hoa Binh road over 17.3 billion VND).

Phuoc Tuong - Phuoc Gia Pass Tunnel Construction Investment ProjectThe Ministry of Transport applies the form of bidding, selecting investors according to the management mechanism and implementing investment projects on National Highway 1, Hanoi - Can Tho section and Ho Chi Minh Road, through the Central Highlands.The investor is a consortium of BOV Hung Phat Company Limited, Ha Thanh International Trade Investment Joint Stock Company, Viet Thanh Investment and Construction Joint Stock Company, with a total investment of over VND 1,740 billion, and a toll collection period of 19 years and 2 months.

The Government Inspectorate determined that the Ministry of Transport's approval to move the toll station north of Hai Van Tunnel when there was no parallel road at that time resulted in the 2016 revenue value remaining unchanged without being reduced by 60%; the adjustment to reduce investment capital according to the results of the total investment inspection caused an incorrect increase of over 44 billion VND...

Through checking the budget, the Government Inspectorate discovered that some contents were prepared and approved in violation of current regulations with a total value of nearly 51 billion VND.

Thai Nguyen - Cho Moi Project (Bac Kan)28 km long, but according to the Government Inspectorate, in the investment decision, the Ministry of Transport approved a much larger scale than planned, with a length of up to 40.7 km.The approved project includes upgrading and expanding Km93 to Km100 of the old National Highway 3.

Many drivers protested against the toll collection at the Thai Nguyen - Cho Moi BOT station. Photo: Pham Du.

The upgrading of National Highway 3 must be done with the Road Maintenance Fund, but the Ministry of Transport approved it as a BOT project, which is not in accordance with regulations.The inspection agency affirmed that the decision to combine the investment in renovating and upgrading seven kilometers of National Highway 3 with the investment in building a new Thai Nguyen - Cho Moi road and to collect tolls in two places is unreasonable.

In addition, the preparation and approval of the total investment, including some items and expenses with incorrect norms, unit prices, or unreasonable options, increased the total investment by over 100 billion VND.

Some contents of the budget preparation and approval for applying plastic content were not suitable and did not follow the instructions of the Ministry of Transport, which led to the approved budget having a difference in value increase of over 73.5 billion VND.

With the project to upgrade Phap Van - Cau Gie road phase 1, The Government Inspectorate said that in this phase, the project only repairs and renovates geometric elements and spreads the old road surface, but the toll fee is equivalent to the toll fee for the newly built Cau Gie - Ninh Binh expressway (1,500 VND/km).This is "unreasonable and unusual", it is necessary to clarify the responsibility of the collective and individuals.

The approval and implementation of the project did not fully anticipate the shortcomings of the toll collection system, leading to unreasonable connections with the Cau Gie - Ninh Binh expressway, causing inconvenience to traffic participants and serious congestion at times of high traffic density."Up to now, the project has been forced to replace it with an automatic toll collection solution and remove the Dai Xuyen toll station," the conclusion stated.

The inspector also pointed out, vThe implementation of the approval procedure for total investment and basic design is still not strict, not fully anticipating influencing factors, leading to large adjustments and changes in a short period of time.In this project, the Ministry of Transport approved fundamental changes to the basic design of phase 1, removing the offset base aggregate layer and replacing it with asphalt concrete to strengthen the road surface, leading to an increase in cost of 25 billion VND.

The application of the land price for the wrong area according to the price announcement led to the approval of the total investment increasing by more than 21 billion VND.

At the project to upgrade National Highway 38 through Bac Ninh and Hai Duong provinces,The Government Inspectorate stated that the investor approved a number of design contents that were not in accordance with regulations (total value of 28 billion VND), and did not fully inherit the value of the work items transferred by the previous project investor, which was nearly 7 billion VND. The adjustment to reduce the volume of roadbed excavation was not in accordance with regulations, increasing the value to 9.5 billion VND.

The unfounded investment costs include: Material quality inspection and construction quality inspection fees as required by the investor, which is over 3.8 billion VND; costs for inspection and certification of eligibility for load-bearing safety and certification of construction quality compliance, which is nearly 7.8 billion VND.

At the investment project to build and restore National Highway 20(BT investment form),The Government Inspectorate pointed outThe investor did not have a project implementation registration. The contract's provisions on capital structure were not in accordance with regulations. The contract did not mention the recovery of value added tax refunds calculated on the total investment of over 287 billion VND (10%).

The enterprise did not prepare a bidding plan for the entire project in accordance with the provisions of the Bidding Law. The bidding plan for the project approved by the General Director of Cuu Long CIPM (the investor in the consortium) was not within its authority.

Through checking the estimated cost of the bid packages (contract value), it was found that the approved construction plan was unreasonable, increasing the cost compared to the technical design by nearly 62 billion VND.

Investment project to construct and restore National Highway 20(in the form of BOT) was pointed out by the Government Inspectorate that the Ministry of Transport did not comply with regulations. The announcement was only made after the project list was approved to carry out the investor selection process, which is incomplete and lacking in rigor.

In addition, the establishment and approval of the total investment, including the unstable production allowance cost calculated at over 10% of labor costs without prescribed regimes with a value of over 11 billion VND.Land clearance costs are determined without basis and are inaccurate.

The project approved inappropriate labor costs, increasing the estimate to 4.7 billion VND. The estimate for package 18 for road maintenance was approved at nearly 4 billion VND, while the total approved investment did not include this cost item.

According to VNE