State Audit "names" a series of projects with sky-high capital increases

Not only did the investment capital increase by thousands of billions of VND, many construction projects were also approved without clearly identifying the capital source, not in accordance with the master plan or even lacking bidding procedures.

These are the assessments of the inspection and supervision of investment projects that the State Audit has just officially announced today (July 25) in the 2013 audit report.

Illustration photo: VNA

Specifically, according to the audit report, a number of transport projects are having their total investment adjusted quite significantly. Notably, the transport sector credit project to renovate the national road network phase 1 had to adjust the total investment 3 times, from 2,293 billion VND to 6,961 billion VND.

In the same situation, the Ho Chi Minh Road project from Pac Bo to Cao Bang and Chon Thanh to Duc Hoa also had to adjust the capital increase by more than 302.9 billion VND. The project to upgrade National Highway 3 from Bo Dau to Ta Lung border gate increased from 544.69 billion VND to more than 1,291 billion VND.

As for Hanoi city, statistics from the State Audit also show that the provincial road 420 project had to adjust its capital by more than 69.69 billion VND, equivalent to a rate of 180%. Even the project to renovate the technical infrastructure in sync with undergrounding lines and cables on Tran Hung Dao street also had to be adjusted and supplemented immediately after the total capital was approved.

According to Mr. Ngo Van Quy, Chief Auditor of State Audit Department 4, this capital increase of up to hundreds of billions of VND is due to the poor quality of survey and project design in the past, leading to the need to adjust the scale when implementing.

In addition, according to Mr. Quy, construction time is often prolonged due to many localities having problems with site clearance, leading to skyrocketing costs for many projects and works. This makes many localities lack initiative in capital allocation as well as State management.

Pointing out the current situation, the audit industry report said that many projects are not consistent with the master plan, detailed plan and investment is not synchronous.

Among these, the Ho Chi Minh road project, Pac Bo-Cao Bang section, according to the audit sector, has not coordinated with the locality in terms of planning, leading to adjustments in the direction and structure of some routes. The project to upgrade the Km0-Km15 section of National Highway 47 in Thanh Hoa province is also in a similar situation when it was approved in a synchronous manner, leading to failure to ensure continuous connection with existing routes. The State audit results show that this is also a significant cause of increased investment costs.

On the other hand, the State Audit's assessment emphasized that many investment projects were approved without clearly identifying the capital source, without approving the bidding plan, and without selecting contractors with guaranteed capacity.

The State Audit representative gave examples of a series of projects with unclear funding sources such as 47 provincial-level projects in Phu Tho, the Ha Tien town hospital project in Kien Giang province, the Can Gu residential area infrastructure investment project in Hai Phong, etc.

The selection of contractors that do not ensure capacity is shown in a number of projects such as: the transport sector credit project to renovate the national road network phase 1, the Phu Ly-My Loc road project or a number of resettlement packages invested by the People's Committees of Dien Bien, Son La, Lai Chau provinces,...

From this situation, the State Audit representative recommended that the Government direct ministries, central and local agencies to review all projects to clearly assess the reasons for increased investment capital and outstanding debt for each project.

Adding his opinion, Mr. Ngo Van Quy, Chief Auditor of State Audit Sector 4, said that the authorities need to increase their responsibility in consulting and surveying projects, avoiding implementation and then having to change and adjust.

According to Vietnam+