Late submission of final settlement report: No new project bidding

(Baonghean.vn) -Currently, in Nghe An province, there are still about 1,000 projects that have not been settled, affecting the management of State investment capital, causing long-term debt in basic construction...

As a large province with many administrative units, benefiting from many capital sources from the Central programs and projects, the number of projects and works in Nghe An is very large. According to the report of the State Treasury, as of April 30, 2014 - the time before implementing Directive 27, the total number of unsettled projects was 3,380 projects. Implementing Directive 27 dated December 27, 2013 of the Prime Minister on strengthening the settlement of investment capital for completed projects in the province, by the end of April 2015, the whole province had approved the settlement of 2,199 projects, the number of completed projects remaining unsettled was 1,039 projects.

Headquarters of People's Committee of Nghia Binh Commune, Nghia Dan - project has completed payment and settlement documents

Currently, the project settlement work has been directed by all levels and sectors; in the first 6 months of 2015, the Department of Finance has settled 180 projects, reaching 109.1% compared to the same period in 2014, with the total proposed settlement cost of 1,297.9 billion VND. In the first 6 months of 2015, a number of large projects have been reviewed and approved, such as: Flood drainage system in Dien Chau district; Construction of Lach Van storm shelter area, Dien Chau district; Bidding packages under the GTNT3 project in Nghe An province, so the investment cost settled is quite large, 1,278 billion VND, reaching 211.2% compared to the same period in 2014, the savings after appraisal are 19.5 billion VND, reaching 1.58%.

Currently, the Department of Finance is continuing to urge departments, branches, districts, cities, towns, and investors to continue to speed up the settlement of completed projects according to Directive No. 27/CT-TTg dated December 27, 2013 of the Prime Minister and Decision No. 1738/QD-UBND dated April 25, 2014 of the Provincial People's Committee. Up to now, 3 districts have completed directing the preparation of documents to submit to the appraisal agency for approval of settlement, namely Ky Son, Quynh Luu, and Quy Chau.

Mr. Hoai - Head of the Finance Department of the People's Committee of Quy Chau district said: Before Directive 27, there were 155 projects, including projects that were backlogged since 1995 and 1996. Implementing Directive 27, the direction of the Provincial People's Committee, the Department of Finance, the People's Committee of Quy Chau district strongly directed the Finance - Planning Department, investors, and specialized departments. As a result, the first phase resolved 63 projects, the second phase resolved 92 projects. Up to now, projects completed before 2013 have been finalized. Projects completed in 2014 under the settlement authority of the district have also been basically completed. "We request the Provincial People's Committee to arrange capital to repay debts for projects that have been finalized. Regarding the capital arrangement mechanism in the coming time, it is necessary to focus on projects that have been unfinished for many years to complete the settlement in a timely manner" - Mr. Hoai suggested.

Construction of Quynh Bang - Quynh Luu market

In Quynh Luu, according to the list announced by the Provincial People's Committee and the review and statistics in the district, the total number of unfinished projects is 192. Mr. Nguyen Van Quy - Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Quynh Luu district said: There are currently 32 projects under construction, 6 projects under the authority of the Provincial People's Committee to approve the final settlement (the investors have submitted complete settlement documents to the Department of Finance), the number of projects that have been reviewed and approved for final settlement is 154 projects, reaching 100%. The total proposed settlement value is over 259 billion VND, the total approved settlement value is over 249 billion VND, the reduction value is nearly 10 billion VND (accounting for 3.84%).

Of the 607 projects that have not yet prepared settlement records to submit to competent authorities, up to 510 projects were completed from 2012 or earlier, violating the time limit for submitting settlement reports by more than 24 months. For example, the People's Committee of Que Phong district has 39 projects, the People's Committee of Nam Dan district has 13 projects, and the People's Committee of Tuong Duong district has 13 projects. At the commune level, the People's Committee of Hoa Hieu ward (Thai Hoa town) has 9 projects, the People's Committee of Hung Loc commune (Vinh city) has 8 projects... Mr. Nguyen Xuan Hai - Director of the Department of Finance said: The current difficulty is that the work of grasping and synthesizing the names and addresses of contractors whose works violate the settlement time of districts and departments is not yet complete, affecting the proposal of forms of handling violations according to regulations. Of the total 510 projects completed before 2012 that have not yet been settled, the units have only reported the names of the contractors for 311 projects (by 294 contractors); for 199 projects, the units have not yet reported the names of the contractors.

In fact, through reviewing the list of unsettled projects between districts and sectors with the State Treasury, it is shown that many problems still exist. Many projects have been reviewed and approved for settlement, but the settlement review agencies of the districts have not sent the settlement approval decisions to the State Treasury. The leaders of the State Treasury said that this inadequacy has made it impossible for the State Treasury to close the investment capital allocation account and monitor the list of unsettled projects. Meanwhile, there are 142 projects under construction, not yet completed and put into use, but still listed in the list of completed and unsettled projects, and some projects are listed twice. Because these projects are behind schedule according to the signed contract, while there is no document extending the construction time. Therefore, the State Treasury agency bases on the completion time in the contract to monitor completed and unsettled projects.

Inadequacies in the settlement work affect the management of State investment capital, causing long-term outstanding debts in basic construction, and failure to close project accounts... Therefore, to speed up the preparation of settlement reports and review and approval of completed project settlements according to Directive 27 of the Prime Minister, Decision 1738/QD-UBND of the Provincial People's Committee, districts and cities need to innovate the work of reviewing the settlement of completed projects. For investors and construction contractors whose projects are late in submitting settlement reports for more than 24 months, it is recommended that the Department of Planning and Investment not advise on investment policies, not appraise new investment projects; not approve bidding plans, and award contracts for new projects...

Thu Huyen