National Assembly Delegate Doan Nghe An: 'We should not let salary reform be delayed, causing a brain drain in the public management sector'

On the morning of October 31, at Dien Hong Hall, National Assembly House, under the direction of Senior Lieutenant General Tran Quang Phuong - Vice Chairman of the National Assembly, the National Assembly discussed in the hall the implementation of policies and laws on practicing thrift and combating waste in the period 2016-2021.

Overview of the discussion in the hall about the implementation of policies and laws on practicing thrift and fighting waste in the period 2016-2021. Photo: Quochoi.vn

NOT ALL LESS MONEY IS SAVING

Speaking at the discussion, basically agreeing with the "Report on the results of implementing policies and laws on practicing thrift and combating waste in the period of 2016-2021" of the monitoring delegation, Major General Tran Duc Thuan - Standing member of the National Assembly's Committee on National Defense and Security, delegate of Nghe An Delegation assessed that the activities of the monitoring delegation have many innovations.

Accordingly, experts and scientists were invited to join the monitoring delegation; monitoring was focused on examining reports of the Government, ministries, branches, localities, and monitoring results of National Assembly delegations, and only going to the grassroots level in necessary cases.

"This method not only saves the state budget, but also limits causing trouble for localities while still achieving the purpose of monitoring activities," he said.

Senior Lieutenant General Tran Quang Phuong - Vice Chairman of the National Assembly delivered the opening speech at the discussion session. Photo: Quochoi.vn

However, through studying the report of the monitoring delegation, the delegate of Nghe An delegation recognized that the implementation of legal policies on practicing thrift and fighting waste in the past time has achieved many important and positive results, but there are also limitations, problems and inadequacies; Waste still occurs a lot in both public and private sectors, especially in the field of management and use of the State budget, assets, national resources and use of human resources...

There are many reasons for waste, both objective and subjective, but the main one is subjective; notably, norms, standards, and regimes in many fields are slow to be revised and supplemented; some norms, standards, and regimes are too outdated, not suitable to reality, especially in the current situation of rapid development in many aspects of our country.

Surveys and estimates are not accurate, so the scale of projects and works exceeds the needs and is not close to reality, so the efficiency is low; the slow progress of implementation or prolonged construction of projects and works is also one of the causes of great waste.

Chairman of the National Assembly's Finance and Budget Committee, Deputy Head of the National Assembly's Supervisory Delegation Nguyen Phu Cuong presented the report of the delegation supervising the implementation of policies and laws on practicing thrift and combating waste in the 2016-2021 period. Photo: Quochoi.vn

Agreeing with the solutions and recommendations to the Government and the Prime Minister of the monitoring delegation, Major General Tran Duc Thuan said that in order to have a basis for assessing savings or waste, it is still important to establish norms, standards, regimes; authority and responsibility of organizations and individuals with authority in managing and using the budget, assets, minerals, human resources, etc.

This responsibility according to Article 13 of the Law on Practicing Thrift and Combating Wastefulness belongs first to Ministers, Heads of ministerial-level agencies, Heads of Government agencies; Heads of other central agencies and Chairmen of provincial People's Committees.

Therefore, he recommended that the Government direct members of the Government and Chairmen of provincial People's Committees to regularly review norms, standards, regimes and policies in their areas of responsibility to promptly propose amendments, supplements or amend and supplement them appropriately; ensure that they have a scientific basis, are consistent with the capacity of the State budget and assigned functions and tasks; are consistent with the country's development situation; have a strategic, long-term vision, and do not let them quickly become outdated.

"We should not think that: Anything cheap is economical, anything small is economical, but we must consider the immediate and long-term effectiveness," Major General Tran Duc Thuan stated his opinion.

Major General Tran Duc Thuan - Standing member of the National Assembly's Committee on National Defense and Security, delegate of Nghe An delegation, spoke at the discussion. Photo: Quang Khanh

He also said that there should be solutions to enhance the responsibility of organizations and individuals involved in advising on the establishment of norms, standards, regimes and policies; project establishment and project appraisal; and continuing to strictly handle cases of violations of legal regulations and lack of responsibility causing great waste.

In particular, according to the delegate of Nghe An Delegation, it is necessary to quickly complete the employment project to arrange cadres, civil servants, public employees, and workers in accordance with the requirements of the task, to avoid the situation where there is a shortage of people in places where there is a need, and too many people in places where there is little work, or where the arrangement is not in the right expertise.

“Arrange the budget to implement the salary reform policy according to Resolution 27 of the Party Central Committee, to pay decent salaries to cadres, civil servants, public employees, and workers, in accordance with their intelligence and efforts. We should not let salary reform be delayed, causing a brain drain in the public management sector,” said Major General Tran Duc Thuan.

EARLY ARRANGE CAPITAL TO COMPLETE BAN MONG RESERVOIR PROJECT

Citing the report of the monitoring delegation, in the period of 2016-2021, the whole country had 52 public investment projects and ineffective use of State capital. Among them, the Ban Mong Reservoir Irrigation Project invested by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in Quy Hop district (Nghe An) and Nhu Xuan district (Thanh Hoa), has been under construction for more than 10 years but has not yet been completed.

Delegates of Nghe An delegation at the discussion session. Photo: Quang Khanh

According to the Monitoring Results Report of the National Assembly's Committee on Science, Technology and Environment on October 17, 2022: To date, the project has completed 98% of the construction items, only waiting for the lake bed to be cleared to block the flow, accumulate water, and promote the effectiveness of the project.

However, over the past 10 years, the site clearance and resettlement of people in the flooded area of ​​Thanh Hoa commune, Nhu Xuan district, Thanh Hoa province has not been carried out due to problems in capital arrangement and related to the authority to approve adjustments and additional project funding.

Delegates at the discussion session on the morning of October 31. Photo: Quochoi.vn

“I agree with the Committee on Science, Technology and Environment, requesting the Government to urgently remove difficulties, determine the authority to approve project adjustments and supplements, and promptly arrange capital to continue construction and complete the project as soon as possible, to minimize waste of State assets and difficulties for people living around the project,” emphasized delegate Tran Duc Thuan.

Expanding on the issue, he suggested continuing to review slow-progressing projects and works, assessing the effectiveness of each project to find solutions, not to prolong key national projects, serving socio-economic development; especially projects in rural, mountainous and ethnic minority areas, causing both waste and difficulties for people around the project area.