Ministry of Transport holds meeting to handle officials in case of purchasing old Chinese ships

This week, the Ministry of Transport will meet to clarify the individual and collective responsibilities of the Railway Corporation related to the investment in used Chinese train cars.

Speaking to reporters, Deputy Minister Nguyen Ngoc Dong said that the Ministry's leaders have received a report from the Board of Members of Vietnam Railways Corporation (VNR) on the investment in used freight cars. The Ministry will hold a meeting to review and make a disciplinary decision, if any.

According to Deputy Minister Dong, in March, the consideration of individual discipline in this case was slow because the Ministry of Transport and the Railway Corporation had to focus on dealing with the consequences of the Ghenh bridge collapse in Dong Nai.

The railway industry is investing in and renovating railway infrastructure. Photo: D.Loan

Previously, on March 10, the Vietnam Railways Corporation reported to the Ministry of Transport on the responsibility of the collective and individuals in purchasing old Chinese trains. The VNR document stated that the Board of Members did not violate the policies and regulations related to investing in used freight cars, so it did not propose disciplinary action against any leader of VNR.

On March 18, the leaders of the Ministry of Transport requested VNR to clarify the responsibility of the Board of Members in directing the purchase and import of old train cars that were not included in the train car investment portfolio of the Development Plan for the period 2012-2015. At the same time, VNR must review because it has not yet had a decision approving the investment policy of the Board of Members, but has established a delegation to survey and direct units to negotiate.

However, in the document dated March 21, the railway leaders still did not accept responsibility and did not propose any form of disciplinary action. The report stated that this enterprise was only conducting surveys and gathering information for market research, and had not yet reported on the effectiveness and proposed policies, so the VNR Board of Members had no basis to consider whether to invest or not.

Speaking to VnExpress, Mr. Tran Ngoc Thanh, Chairman of VNR admitted that in October 2014, the Planning and Business Board of the Corporation had submitted a proposal to the Chairman and General Director for their opinions on this issue. A day later, Mr. Thanh wrote a note on the document: "I agree to quickly implement the policy of investing in used freight cars from China. I request that they be organized and implemented."

However, he said that the purpose of writing is to grasp information, conduct a survey to see what types are available, what year, what quality, what price... then summarize and report back to consider and decide.

According to the initial plan, the railway industry will buy 160 old freight cars from China, of which 120 were built more than 20 years ago. After the incident was published in the press, the leaders of the Ministry of Transport requested the Railway Corporation to inspect and handle the relevant officials.

According to VNE