Information about the Viet Nhat High-Quality Vocational Training Center project reached Nghe An Newspaper through a document of Nghe An Tax Department, issued in June 2023, sent to a number of Departments and branches requesting clarification on preferential policies for the socialized sector.
In the Document of Nghe An Tax Department, there is a lot of information that really deserves attention. For example, in 2017 and 2021, the Viet Nhat High-Quality Vocational Training Center project was "visited" by the province's interdisciplinary inspection teams to inspect its progress. In the 2017 inspection, the Viet Nhat High-Quality Vocational Training Center project was "identified" as behind schedule, with the completion date extended to the end of November 2019, with the extension amount to be paid to the budget being 119,210,000 VND. In the 2021 inspection, the Viet Nhat High-Quality Vocational Training Center project continued to be a behind schedule project.
Contacting Quan Bau ward, the local officials confirmed that the Viet Nhat High Quality Vocational Training Center Project is located in the area, then bitterly said: “In our opinion, this is a type of project that takes advantage of education policy. The ward officials and people do not agree with the current activities of this project…”.
Quan Bau ward has archived some documents related to the project of Viet Nhat High Quality Vocational Training Center. In which, from January 29, 2005, Viet Nhat Vocational Training Center submitted a document to the People's Committee of Le Loi ward (at this time Quan Bau ward had not been established, the land currently has the project of Viet Nhat High Quality Vocational Training Center in Le Loi ward - PV) and Vinh city People's Committee regarding "Requesting to lease land to build Viet Nhat Vocational Training Center". In the submission, Viet Nhat Vocational Training Center expressed its good intentions for the land lease request: “Viet Nhat Vocational Training Center was approved by the Provincial People's Committee to lease land in Vinh City for the construction of a vocational school. In order for the center to expand its scale of high-quality training for the children of the province in the spirit of Decision No. 110/2003/QD-UB of the Chairman of Nghe An Provincial People's Committee dated March 18, 2003. With the Department of Construction's approval to survey the site, we have conducted a survey of the land in Block 20, Le Loi Ward. Now, we respectfully request the Ward People's Committee to create favorable conditions to help the Center lease the land in the above land. If approved, the Center will complete all necessary procedures and pay fees to the Block and Ward in full and on time in accordance with the provisions of law. For the future of our children. We sincerely hope that the People's Committee of Le Loi Ward and the Block will pay full attention and help.”
Then, from the time Viet Nhat Vocational Training Center submitted its proposal until November 2005, the People's Committee of Le Loi Ward, Vinh City People's Committee and the Department of Construction all sent documents requesting the Provincial People's Committee to consider and allow this unit to survey the construction planning and implement the project. From here, the detailed planning of the high-quality Viet Nhat Vocational Training Center project was appraised and approved by the competent authority in 2006. Accordingly, on the land area for implementing the project, which is 2,891m2 wide,2, the construction density is determined to be 25% with an area of 749.16m2, including 9 works: main entrance, security guard house, principal house, 8-classroom building, practice workshop, post-vocational product production area, sports field, side gate and garage.
On December 12, 2007, in Decision No. 599/QD-UBND.DC, the Provincial People's Committee officially allowed Viet Nhat Vocational Training Center to lease land in Quan Bau Ward, Vinh City for the purpose of "building a high-quality Viet Nhat Vocational Training Center for a period of 40 years". However, in Article 3 of Decision No. 599/QD-UBND.DC, the Provincial People's Committee required Viet Nhat High-quality Vocational Training Center to:“After twelve (12) months from the date of receiving land handover on site, if Viet Nhat High Quality Vocational Training Center does not put the allocated land into use or the land use progress is twenty-four (24) months slower than the progress recorded in the project without permission from the competent state agency, the Provincial People's Committee will reclaim the land in accordance with the provisions of law”.
Returning to the June 2023 document of the Nghe An Tax Department, here is information about the assessment of the competent authority after the 2021 inspection of the Viet Nhat Vocational Training Center Project. The full text is as follows:“The project operates in the field of education and vocational training, which the province encourages investment in according to the policy of socialization. However, during the construction process, there were many complaints from the people about the investor using the land for the wrong purpose to build a warehouse and yard for storing wood. The local government has notified and reminded many times but the investor has not yet corrected the problem; through actual inspection, the investor used the land for the wrong purpose (the current practice workshop is being used as a sawmill and wood cutting workshop. The post-training product production area is being used by staff)…”.
When asked to comment on this assessment, Quan Bau ward officials affirmed that this was an objective reality after the Interdisciplinary Inspection Team established by the Provincial People's Committee conducted a field inspection. "That was true in 2021. And it is still the same in this project up to now..." - an official said.
The land for the high-quality Viet Nhat Vocational Training Center Project is located on Xuan Thai Street, only a few dozen meters from the main Mai Hac De Street. Together with Mr. Tran Hoang Tuan and Mr. Pham Duc Tho, Chairman and Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Quan Bau Ward, they came to this land on August 3, 2023. Through observation, they saw that there was a fence system and an entrance gate, but it was old with a signboard of a business with a not-so-Vietnamese name: "Dong Kham Phou Company Limited". Looking deep behind the tightly locked gate, they saw a row of one-story houses with about five rooms painted yellow, with iron bars on top and a factory that had been used for many years. The space between the gate, the fence and the row of one-story houses and the factory was a fairly large dirt yard. After the rains in early August, the dirt yard was covered with water. Around the yard were several piles of round wood and clusters of waste such as wood chips, soil, and rocks, black and dirty.
On the opposite side of the Viet Nhat High Quality Vocational Training Center project, there is an industrial and civil glass business called Thien My Company. Perhaps curious to see a group of people stopping by to look around and spy on their “neighbors”, the owner of Thien My Company also came over to ask the reason for the visit. When he heard the purpose clearly, he seemed quite excited to say that the Viet Nhat High Quality Vocational Training Center project had existed here for quite a long time, about 20 years; then he assessed that this project was basically for the purpose of “zoning and leasing land”. In the presence of the leaders of Quan Bau ward, the owner of Thien My Company said: “At first, they also taught for a few days, but later they rented it out as a wood workshop. But I heard that they sold it to someone…”.
Vice Chairman of Quan Bau Ward People's Committee, Mr. Pham Duc Tho, came to work here in 2021. Therefore, Mr. Tho learned about the Viet Nhat High-Quality Vocational Training Center Project when the Provincial Interdisciplinary Inspection Team inspected slow-progressing projects in the area. Mr. Tho shared that at that time, Quan Bau Ward was invited to join the field inspection, then attended a meeting with the participation of the Department of Construction and the Department of Natural Resources and Environment. As a representative of Quan Bau Ward, at the meeting, Mr. Pham Duc Tho stated the ward's viewpoint, proposing that the Interdisciplinary Inspection Team recommend the Provincial People's Committee to consider revoking the project. “The reason why Quan Bau ward has such a proposal is because this project enjoys incentives of not having to pay land rent, but the investor leases it for production and business purposes that are not in accordance with the purpose, and after inspection, it is found to be a wood workshop. In addition, the project has been around for a very long time but has not been implemented, causing waste of resources, unsanitary conditions, environmental pollution, and affecting the urban beauty of the entire area…” – Vice Chairman of Quan Bau Ward People’s Committee shared.
Asked Mr. Pham Duc Tho, what is the opinion of Quan Bau ward at this time? The Vice Chairman of Quan Bau ward People's Committee replied: "Quan Bau ward's opinion is unchanged. We propose that the Provincial People's Committee consider and reclaim the land for the right purpose, as an educational facility. In recent years, Quan Bau ward has formed many more urban and residential areas, so education is under a lot of pressure regarding schools and classrooms. Therefore, we hope that the Provincial People's Committee will reclaim the project and use it to build schools and classrooms to serve future generations in the area...".
In the document of Nghe An Tax Department (mentioned above), it shows that the Viet Nhat High-Quality Vocational Training Center Project is exempted from land rent, the period is calculated from 2011 to December 2047 (implemented according to the policy of encouraging socialization for activities in the fields of vocational training, health, culture, sports, and environment as prescribed in Decree No. 69/2008/ND-CP dated May 30, 2008 of the Government; Circular No. 135/2008/TT-BTC dated December 31, 2008 and Circular No. 156/2014/TT-BTC dated October 23, 2014 of the Ministry of Finance). The information is fully recorded as follows:“2. Regarding the exemption of land rent for the Viet Nhat High-Quality Vocational Training Center Project: Based on the application for exemption of land rent of the Viet Nhat High-Quality Vocational Training Center with Submission No. 2994/CCT-KT3 dated November 17, 2014; 34/CCT-KT3 dated January 29, 2016 of the Vinh City Tax Department, the Nghe An Provincial Tax Department issued Decision No. 344/QD-CT dated March 7, 2016 on exemption of land rent for the Viet Nhat High-Quality Vocational Training Center, the exemption period is from January 2011 to the end of December 2047, the exempted land area is 2,887.0m2, according to socialization policy".
With this information, considering that when the locality lacks land to build school facilities, the fact that a high-quality vocational training center project is exempted from land rent but has not been implemented for many years, and has used the land for the wrong purpose is absurd and unacceptable. At the same time, we see that the officials and people of Quan Bau ward are completely correct when calling the Viet Nhat high-quality vocational training center project a "policy profiteering project". This project is truly a "bullet", causing resentment among the officials and people of Quan Bau ward in particular, and public opinion in general.
We request that the competent authorities, based on legal regulations and Article 3, Decision No. 599/QD-UBND.DC of the Provincial People's Committee on leasing land to the Viet Nhat High-Quality Vocational Training Center in Quan Bau Ward, Vinh City, advise the Provincial People's Committee to consider and decide to revoke the project!