Nearly 3,730 opinions and recommendations from voters nationwide were sent to the National Assembly.

In preparation for the 8th session of the 13th National Assembly, the Presidium of the Central Committee of the Vietnam Fatherland Front, in coordination with the National Assembly Standing Committee, has compiled 3,729 opinions and recommendations from voters and people nationwide sent to the National Assembly.

Scene of the 13th National Assembly session. Photo: VNA

In addition, the cultural and social fields continued to have positive changes, social security was ensured, national defense and security were maintained; foreign affairs were expanded; the great national unity bloc was consolidated and strengthened; people trusted the leadership of the Party, the administration of the Government, and the quality and effectiveness of the National Assembly's operations.

Voters and people highly appreciate the results achieved by the 7th session of the 13th National Assembly.

The laws, resolutions and other important issues passed by the National Assembly at the session; the Government's resolute management have contributed to the early implementation of the 2013 Constitution, creating a mechanism for socio-economic development; building a public, transparent and effective administration; creating an equal business environment according to the law; ensuring social security, protecting the environment; strengthening national defense, security, order, social safety, and maintaining national sovereignty.

Voters and people continue to pay attention to the situation in the East Sea; hope that state agencies, through mass media, will disseminate information more widely and promptly so that people can fully understand the situation, thereby raising their sense of responsibility and solidarity, and determination to protect the sovereignty of the sea and islands of the Fatherland.

Voters and people also hope that the State will have more preferential policies for fishermen; strengthen resolute measures to prevent foreign ships from threatening, illegally seizing fishing gear, and destroying fishing equipment of fishermen operating in Vietnam's traditional fishing grounds, causing confusion among fishermen in recent times.

Voters and people still have many concerns and worries about: The economy is not developing sustainably, purchasing power is increasing slowly, the mobilization of resources for development investment has not met the requirements; growth quality and labor productivity are low; economic restructuring and institutional reform are still slow; the poverty rate is still high in many mountainous provinces; unemployment, epidemics, food safety and hygiene, social evils, traffic accidents, corruption and waste.

Voters and people welcomed the success of the 8th National Congress of the Vietnam Fatherland Front; agreed to support the implementation of the monitoring activities of the Vietnam Fatherland Front. The opinions and recommendations of voters and people nationwide focused on 6 basic contents: People's lives, production, business and market management; agriculture, farmers and rural areas; transportation; education and training; prevention and fight against corruption and waste; management and protection of natural resources and the environment.

Strengthen inspection and control of counterfeit and poor quality goods

Voters and people believe that although the Ministry of Industry and Trade and localities have made many efforts to review and handle the situation of unreasonable planning of hydropower plants, the safety of reservoirs, hydropower dams, floods in the rainy season, and water shortages in the dry season are still concerns and frustrations of the people. Voters and people recommend that the Government direct relevant ministries, branches and localities to take measures to promptly overcome this situation.

Recently, businesses have faced many difficulties, and it is difficult to access capital; many businesses have had to dissolve, temporarily suspend operations, and reduce production, affecting the lives and jobs of tens of thousands of workers and reducing budget revenue. Voters and people request the Government to continue to have more appropriate solutions to resolve this situation.

Chairman of the Central Committee of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Nguyen Thien Nhan presents a report summarizing voters' opinions and recommendations. Photo: VNA

In addition, there are still many cases of enterprises violating labor laws such as: unpaid wages, social insurance, health insurance of employees... Voters and people request the Government to direct relevant ministries and branches to review, adjust policies and strengthen inspection and examination to resolve this debt situation of enterprises.

Voters and people continue to worry about the sale of fake, banned, and poor-quality goods, especially agricultural products, foods, and children's toys containing many toxic chemicals, which have a negative impact on the health of consumers and the domestic goods market; control and management of the quality and origin of pesticides are still lax, and handling of violations is not strict, leading to the sale of fake and poor-quality drugs in many places, causing damage to farmers and polluting the living environment.

Voters and people request the Government to direct ministries, branches and local authorities to clarify the responsibilities of leaders at all levels; further strengthen market management, inspection and examination, take measures to prevent and promptly and strictly handle violations of production and business establishments and publicly and periodically inform the people about the results of overcoming this situation.

Need effective support mechanisms and policies for farmers

After more than 3 years of implementing the National Program on New Rural Development, the face of rural areas in many places has changed, essential infrastructure has been built and upgraded; the economic structure has shifted to suit the conditions of each locality; the income and living conditions of the people have been improved and enhanced. However, to complete the goals of the New Rural Development Program, it requires the decisive participation of the entire political system at all levels and the active participation of the people.

Voters and people in many places suggested that it is necessary to review and specify the list and ceiling levels of people's contributions, to avoid localities requiring people to contribute too much, not commensurate with their actual income; continue to study and adjust some criteria of the Program to suit each region and locality to ensure practicality and feasibility.

The “Large Field” production model has created favorable conditions for farmers to develop production, ensure product consumption, reduce costs, bring higher income, and create a premise for farmers to actively participate in implementing the criteria for building new rural areas. Voters and people request the Government to increase investment in agriculture, have support policies for farmers and preferential policies for businesses associated with farmers, to cooperate and develop together.

Voters and people request the Government to further accelerate the implementation of agricultural restructuring; pay more attention to policy analysis and assess the impact of policies to be issued on farmers; and overcome the situation where policies are issued to support farmers, but the beneficiaries are other subjects, such as producers and traders of agricultural materials, and enterprises purchasing and exporting agricultural products.

Strictly handle violations of the law that cause disorder and traffic insecurity.

Voters and people highly appreciate the sense of responsibility as well as the efforts of the Ministry of Transport in recent times, which have achieved positive results; quickly implementing the equitization of state-owned enterprises; initially effectively using resources to develop and exploit transport infrastructure; reducing traffic accidents and congestion; and organizing public examinations for senior leadership positions under the Ministry's management.

However, the road traffic infrastructure in many places is degraded due to overloaded and oversized vehicles and lack of capital for renovation, repair and maintenance; vehicle load control has been implemented drastically but there is still a situation where many heavy trucks deliberately avoid weighing stations, causing damage to the road. There are still serious road traffic accidents, especially long-distance passenger vehicles, with a large number of casualties, mainly due to violations of the law by transport service businesses and vehicle drivers.

Voters and people request the Government to direct the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Public Security, relevant sectors and local authorities to continue to implement drastic, specific and regular solutions to handle violations of the law that cause traffic disorder and safety; strictly handle officials and civil servants assigned to inspect, examine and control but who are negative, indulgent and cover up for violators; further tighten the management of transport business and control of vehicle loads; continue to resolutely and strictly handle construction units that do not ensure the progress and quality of traffic works.

Need to prevent overcharging in schools

In recent times, the education and training sector has gradually implemented Resolution 29-NQ/TW dated November 4, 2013 "On fundamental and comprehensive innovation of education and training, meeting the requirements of industrialization and modernization in the context of a socialist-oriented market economy and international integration"; focusing on improving the quality and effectiveness of education.

Preparations for fundamental and comprehensive reform of general education are being actively implemented, education management has made positive changes towards standardization, promoting decentralization to localities and training facilities. Vietnamese student teams participating in regional and international Olympic competitions in 2014 continue to achieve excellent results.

However, voters and people in many places reflect that the quality of education and training is still low, not really linked to the needs of the labor market; not meeting the requirements of industrialization, modernization and international integration; not meeting the aspirations of the people.

Voters and people in many places also reflect that the current education system still has many shortcomings, the trend of commercialization of education has been affecting the quality of training. Recently, voters and people are very interested in the national high school graduation exam plan announced by the Ministry of Education and Training on September 9, 2014, but to date there are still no regulations for the national exam; regulations for admission to full-time universities and colleges.

There are suggestions that for major changes on a national scale such as high school graduation exams and university entrance exams, it is necessary to pilot them on a small scale first, gain experience, and then implement them nationwide.

Regarding the Project on universalizing preschool education for 5-year-old children in the 2010-2015 period, voters and people are concerned because although by May 2014, 87% of communes, wards and towns had completed universalization, at the provincial level, only 18 provinces and cities were recognized as meeting the standards for universalizing preschool education for 5-year-old children.

Voters and people expect that universalizing preschool education needs to receive strong attention and proper investment from the Government, sectors, and local authorities, especially in the provinces of the South Central Coast, Central Highlands, and Mekong Delta, and to accelerate the implementation of the Project in 2015.

Although the situation of overcharging in schools at the beginning of the school year has been controlled, it still occurs in many schools in the localities, causing difficulties for poor families. Voters asked the Ministry of Education and Training to have better solutions to effectively prevent overcharging in schools and inform the people about the results of the remedial measures.

Dealing with leaders when corruption and waste occur

Voters and people in many places commented that the work of preventing and fighting corruption in recent times has made efforts and achieved encouraging results, such as: Investigation, prosecution, and trial of a number of major corruption cases. However, the corruption situation is still complicated, occurring in many areas and at many levels.

On the other hand, petty corruption in the public sector is still widespread, manifested through bribery in the administrative and public service sectors, kickbacks, and lobbying to get things done when dealing with public authorities, especially in sectors and fields that regularly come into contact with and handle work related to people and businesses; a number of corruption cases have been discovered in the health sector, the implementation of regimes and policies for meritorious people and other social policies, in a number of local training institutions and public service enterprises, causing public outrage.

Voters and people believe that the limitations in corruption prevention and control work are still slow to be overcome, such as: Asset declaration is a formality; some corruption prevention solutions are not very effective; corruption detection through inspection, examination and auditing is still limited; recovery of corrupt assets is not very effective.

Voters and people recommend that the National Assembly, the Government and local authorities strengthen inspection, supervision and handling of responsibilities of leaders when corruption and waste occur; step up activities to supervise the practice of thrift and fight corruption, especially in the use of the state budget, investment in basic construction, and the restructuring of corporations and general companies managed by the state.

Need to be decisive in handling "suspended" projects

Voters and people welcome the Government's direction to relevant ministries and branches to promptly issue specific regulations to implement the Land Law (amended) so that the Law can soon come into effect; State management of the environment has had some positive changes such as resolutely directing the development of guiding documents to implement the Law on Environmental Protection 2014.

However, voters and people reflect that currently, many businesses are assigned land but leave it unused, while businesses that need production space have to wait for licensing or have to rent it, losing business opportunities.

In some localities, besides the reclaimed land area that is still vacant, land is being reclaimed to grant to new projects, causing resentment and complaints among the people. Voters and people request the Government to continue to direct localities to have more drastic solutions in handling "suspended" projects and using land effectively.

Environmental pollution in industrial zones, factories and untreated wastewater still occurs in many places. In rural areas, the problem of wastewater and waste is becoming more and more complicated because many production and processing facilities are moved to rural areas along with a large amount of untreated domestic waste. Meanwhile, in many provinces and districts, plans for domestic and industrial waste treatment are absent or implemented slowly.

The work of checking, examining and handling environmental violations still has many shortcomings, low efficiency and has not received due attention. Voters and people continue to petition the Government, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, and local authorities to review relevant policies, strengthen inspection, examination and strictly handle violating units; resolutely suspend or ban operations in cases of serious violations; and publicize the list of enterprises violating environmental protection laws.

In addition, voters and people recommended that the National Assembly and the Government continue to resolve within their authority; direct relevant ministries and branches to resolve and report more clearly on the results of resolving recommendations reflected at previous sessions of the National Assembly on: Riverbank and coastal erosion in many localities across the country, especially during the rainy, flood and storm seasons; resolving flooding in cities when there is heavy rain such as Ho Chi Minh City, Can Tho, and Hanoi; more tightly controlling the exploitation and export of raw minerals in some localities; illegal sand and gravel exploitation causing serious consequences in many places; the situation of complaints and denunciations still occurring complicatedly; rapidly increasing public debt; administrative reform.

According to Vietnam+