Spreading out public investment: Waiting for a solution?

(Baonghean) - As is known, the dispersion of State investment capital for infrastructure construction investment projects has led to slow progress, waste, and inefficiency, affecting the socio-economic development of the locality and people's lives. In almost every meeting with voters of People's Council deputies at all levels and National Assembly deputies, voters have made recommendations on this issue, especially in mountainous ethnic minority areas,...

In Con Cuong district, a series of traffic and urban infrastructure projects are currently being implemented. Among them, the Con Cuong - Binh Chuan Town Road Project, passing through the communes of Mau Duc, Don Phuc, and Thach Ngan, with a length of over 28 km, was implemented in 2006, using government bonds. Eight years have passed, but the construction volume has only reached 60%. The project has been prolonged, affected by escalating market prices, along with other costs, so the total investment must be increased, from 128 billion VND to more than 215 billion VND. The construction period is too long without completion, making people even more frustrated.Mr. Luong Van Linh, in Xieng village, Don Phuc commune, Con Cuong district, said: “This is the lifeline of the people in our communes. This road has been built for a long time, but it is still not completed. We, the villagers, just hope that the government will finish it so that people can travel and our children do not have to drop out of school when the flood comes.”

Due to lack of capital, the road connecting National Highway 7A to the State Treasury of Con Cuong district has been unfinished for many years.

Binh Chuan is a particularly difficult commune of Con Cuong district, located nearly 40 km from the district center. If the road is convenient, it would take more than 1 hour to travel from Binh Chuan to the district center, but now it takes twice as much time because many sections of the road are still under construction, especially the section from Hong Thang and Hong Dien villages of Don Phuc commune to Bu Luu village of Binh Chuan commune. Because the foundation has been poured, the road is muddy and messy when it rains. Mr. Nguyen The Manh - Chairman of Binh Chuan Commune People's Committee said: "When the project was implemented, people were very excited, but now the unfinished construction has lasted for years, traveling is still difficult and dangerous, especially in the rainy season, the agricultural products of the people are very difficult to sell because of the traffic barriers. Through meetings with voters, meetings of People's Councils at all levels, local people have recommended that the superiors pay attention to speeding up the progress of the project. If we do not build asphalt roads, there is a plan to pour graded stone for people to travel less muddy".

Khe Tang bridge project (Ky Son) is under construction.

Minh Ngan Construction Joint Stock Company is the unit undertaking the largest package (package number 2) of the road project from Con Cuong District Town to Binh Chuan Commune, from km10 to km15, which according to schedule should be completed in 2010. However, up to now, this road section has had to extend the construction time for the third time. Currently, the province has directed the company to complete the bridge section for people to travel, and when there is money for the road section, construction will continue. Mr. Lam Van Phac - Deputy Director of Minh Ngan Construction Joint Stock Company suggested: "We hope that the investor will soon have money to pay us the amount we spent on construction of the items, which is 14 billion VND, to continue the construction. Currently, we have completed all the foundation and stone gathering, with capital we will speed up the progress, within only 3 months we can complete the road surface to help people travel conveniently".

In 2010, Con Cuong district planned to separate Con Cuong Town into Tra Lan Town, and requested investment policies for a series of traffic and urban infrastructure projects such as: stadiums, traffic roads from National Highway 7A to high-rise residential areas (to the district State Treasury), Con Cuong urban roads from National Highway 7A to small industrial parks, traffic roads from National Highway 7A to Tay Nam General Hospital, etc. When the project to separate administrative boundaries and upgrade to Tra Lan Town was not approved by the Prime Minister, many projects were implemented but remained unfinished. On the other hand, due to the impact of the country's economic recession in recent years, many public investment projects had to be temporarily suspended according to Resolution 11 of the Government.

However, the unfinished situation like Con Cuong district cannot be overlooked as subjective reasons because the investor is responsible from the time of project arrangement and design to the stage of project management and exploitation. The role of local authorities in advising and selecting investment projects is still weak, leading to massive and over-spread investment, causing loss of State money and affecting people's lives. Talking to us, Mr. Tran Anh Tuan - Head of the Management Board of Construction Investment Projects of Con Cuong district said: "The biggest difficulty is that the demand for investment capital for projects in the area is too large, but the annual investment rate of the provincial and central budgets is too low, or there is no capital allocation for site clearance, leading to slow progress in project implementation, some projects have been delayed for years and cannot be implemented. The district has directed the sectors to survey and adjust the scale of the projects, specifically, previously the project planned the road from National Highway 7A to Tay Nam General Hospital was 36m wide and to the district State Treasury was 19m wide, now both are reduced to 12m... On the other hand, we request the policy to extend the progress of the projects. The district also proposed to the Central and the province to consider allocating enough capital to complete the unfinished projects according to the approved goals, addressing the expectations of the locality and the people".

A common situation in the province today is that very few road and bridge projects in the western districts of Nghe An province have been implemented and completed on schedule. All reports from investors of road and bridge projects also give a key reason for the delay, which is lack of capital. The road and bridge project to the center of Phu Son commune, Tan Ky district, invested in and built with government bond capital by the People's Committee of Tan Ky district, started construction in 2009, is an example. The project includes many items: bridge, spillway and asphalt paving of 17 km of road through Nghia Hanh commune to Phu Son commune; the total cost is 162 billion VND. If the committed schedule had been followed, the project would have been completed in 2012, solving the traffic difficulties for this poor commune.

However, the construction project has been overdue for more than 2 years, and some remaining bridge piers have not been concreted, making people disappointed. "We are very upset because the construction is unfinished, making travel more difficult than before. Now, to go from the commune to the town, people have to take the bypass road, which is nearly ten kilometers further away." - Mr. Tran Van Hoa, a resident of Phu Son commune, petitioned. According to Tan Ky district authorities, the reason for the delay in the construction of the road and bridge to the center of Phu Son commune is that the capital allocated for the project has been very small over the past few years. In 2014, the locality received an additional 10 billion VND. Therefore, every item of the project is in a state of disarray and unfinished. Now the locality can only wait for capital and has no other solution. In Ky Son district, one of the issues that voters are particularly concerned about and recommend during meetings with voters of People's Councils at all levels and National Assembly deputies is the unfinished Khe Tang bridge project. Construction started in 2011, with a total investment of 29 billion VND, and has been underway for 3 years, but the lower part of the bridge has not yet been completed due to lack of capital (the province has only allocated 12 billion VND/29 billion VND)...

Since 2008, the Nghe An Department of Transport has been assigned to be the investor in the construction of 8 roads and bridges in the western region of the province, but it is not known when these projects will be completed. The main reason is that the capital allocation is too limited, and the model of one place providing a small amount of capital does not ensure the project progress. Mr. Nguyen Duc An - Director of the Traffic Project Management Board - Department of Transport, said: "In the plan for the period of 2014 - 2016, the Ministry of Planning and Investment and the Government added a number of projects, the Department as well as the Project Management Board continued to call for and attract capital from the Central Government to arrange the project to be completed in 2016. However, some projects such as the Western Nghe An route phase 2, the allocated capital is still short of more than 200 billion VND; the Chau Thon - Tan Xuan road phase 2 is still short of 80 billion VND, so the progress must be extended to after 2016".

The phenomenon of many unfinished projects from the state budget due to the spread of investment in basic construction is common in many localities. Some projects have to be "shelved", including projects that were planned and designed elaborately and grandly but could not be implemented. There are still many projects that have not been allocated capital and will take many years to be approved. Nghe An is a locality with many difficulties and great investment needs, especially infrastructure in mountainous districts. A series of issues for the province need to be focused on to overcome difficulties, carry out the work of hunger eradication and poverty reduction, gradually stabilize and improve the lives of mountainous areas and ethnic minorities. Investment in the construction of transport infrastructure is considered the foundation for economic development, or any other field. But with the recent widespread investment in construction, every locality is "granted a project" and allocated capital to build roads, bridges, etc., causing capital to not be concentrated to complete a specific project on schedule as committed. Meanwhile, people are both hopeful and anxiously waiting for the project to be completed and put into effective use, contributing to promoting socio-economic development.

The above wishes have been proposed by voters of the province to the National Assembly and People's Council delegates. The problem is that the authorities at all levels need to have resolute measures to overcome weaknesses in the public investment sector, especially to push back the situation of scattered investment, avoid the "project running" phenomenon, and everyone doing their own thing. At the same time, enhance the responsibility of those who make decisions and appraise public investment projects, creating people's trust in the guidelines, policies and strategies of the Party and the State. The current solution, according to the directive speech on the content of the development of the 2016-2020 medium-term public investment plan at the National Conference of the Planning and Investment sector, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung also stated that the Law on Public Investment passed by the National Assembly and effective from January 1, 2015 has created a solid legal basis for the implementation of this plan. The Prime Minister said: “The medium-term plan will help ministries, sectors and localities proactively develop investment plans, proactively prepare for investment; choose investment priorities, avoid spreading, asking for and even being negative.”

Article and photos:Le Thanh