Waste of public vehicles and user responsibility

Mr. Nguyen Tan Thinh - Deputy Director of the Department of Public Asset Management emphasized that public vehicles and other public assets are wasteful. In the future, the new sanctions will force those who cause waste to compensate the State.

Wasteful use of public vehicles or public assets in general is still a burning issue in public opinion when recently there have been cases of surplus, shortage, and misuse.

Mr. Nguyen Tan Thinh, Deputy Director of the Department of Public Asset Management, Ministry of Finance, shared about this issue.

The number of public vehicles is still increasing rapidly and the cost is very high (illustrative photo).

Sir, recently, the press has been full of information about 7,000 surplus public vehicles but local ministries and agencies still bought 600 new vehicles. Could you please clarify the truth of this story?

- The number of 7,000 surplus vehicles is based on the old and new standards. At the end of 2015, the Prime Minister issued Decision 32, regulating standards and norms for the use of public vehicles, accordingly, the car quota is specifically regulated in the direction of tightening the vehicle quota. Therefore, the number of existing vehicles when based on the new standards and norms is 7,000 surplus vehicles.

That means, it is not because local ministries have purchased and managed more than the standard. We took the old standard and transferred it to the new system, so we have the number of 7,000 vehicles.

In 2015, the purchase of more than 600 cars was because at that time, we had not yet reviewed and re-determined the issue of public vehicles according to the standards and norms of Decision 32. Therefore, the purchase of more than 600 cars was still carried out according to previous regulations of the law.

However, in the actual management process, we also see the phenomenon of improper use of public vehicles. For example, using public vehicles for personal purposes, attending weddings, engagements... or the number of vehicles in each unit exceeds the permitted limit.

The waste in public vehicles is clear, so how does this similar phenomenon occur in public assets in general?

- Our public assets have a very wide scope. According to the provisions of the Constitution, land, natural resources, and assets invested and managed by the State are considered public assets, owned by the entire people, with the State acting as the representative owner and uniformly managing them.

In addition to public vehicles, we also have offices, business facilities, machinery, equipment, infrastructure assets, reserve assets... There are 8 groups of assets that are public assets.

The story of public cars can also happen to other public assets. For example, the phenomenon of misuse and waste such as agencies and units using headquarters to arrange accommodation for staff, using headquarters for leasing, lending, joint ventures, and associations with other organizations and individuals in cases where it is not permitted.

The Government has assigned the Ministry of Finance to study and preside over the development of the Law on Management and Use of Public Assets. So how will this draft Law address this waste?

- We determine that the Law on Management and Use of Public Assets is a fundamental measure to overcome the situation of wasteful use of assets.

The story of loss and waste depends on standards and norms. This is what we base on to determine effective, economical or wasteful use, so first of all, we must perfect the system of norms.

According to this bill, the norms for the use of public assets for large assets will be issued by the Government, instead of by the Prime Minister as at present. We have prepared a draft Decree on the norms for the use of assets under the Government's authority to submit with the bill.

In addition, in the draft law, there are many other solutions such as in terms of procurement, there will be centralized procurement for large, commonly used assets... In particular, we have provided regulations on the regime of responsibility to publicize public assets, regulations on the responsibility of community supervision of public assets, in which the Fatherland Front will preside over this.

Regarding sanctions, we also propose a new sanction: first of all, for violations of the law on public property, the violator must compensate the State for the value of the waste and damage caused. At the same time, there will be criminal proceedings, or administrative and disciplinary proceedings in accordance with relevant regulations. These are the fundamental solutions that have been shown in this draft Law to ensure the economical management and use of assets to prevent waste.

You emphasized the element of publicity and transparency. So how will local ministries and branches be responsible for implementing this?

- What is publicized will be at different levels, such as what is publicized at the Government level, what is publicized at the Ministry of Finance level, what is publicized at the provincial level, what is publicized at the ministerial level? So, according to regulations, from investment and procurement, estimates for investment and construction procurement to the results, all must be made public.

Currently, according to regulations, there are many ways to publicize, such as posting on mass media, announcing at meetings at agencies, and reporting in writing to superior management agencies. At the end of the year, in addition to financial disclosure, agencies and units that use public assets must annually disclose this matter.

The specific content of this disclosure and the corresponding form of disclosure will be shown in the Government's Decree. We will try to make this information timely and complete.

According to Vietnamnet.vn