Improve project management for slow progress

(Baonghean) - The existence of many "suspended" and slow-progressing projects has been causing many consequences, affecting socio-economic development, investment environment, wasting land resources and causing resentment among the people. The important issue is to have a decisive solution to contribute to improving land use efficiency, improving the investment environment, promoting socio-economic development...

One of the important contents before granting investment certificate to investors is to verify financial capacity. However, currently, the verification of financial capacity of investors is still inadequate, not close to actual capacity.

The Song Hong resort project in Nghi Hoa ward (Cua Lo town) has been a cow grazing ground for nearly 10 years.

According to the provisions of the 2013 Land Law, investors only need to prove 15% to 20% of their own capital in the total investment to implement the project, the rest can be mobilized from bank loans or other legal sources of capital. Meanwhile, according to the provisions of current law, the examination of financial capacity and conditions for project implementation is based on the records and documents provided by the investor.

It is worth mentioning that the actual capacity of some investors is weak, but they invest in trends, investing in many projects, so when there are fluctuations in the market, interest rates will be difficult to mobilize capital or change investment strategies and goals. According to comrade Vo Viet Thanh - Secretary of Vinh City Party Committee: "There are investors who are really in difficulty, but there are also cases where enterprises have not really done it, refused to implement investment but deliberately "kept land" to transfer projects for profit. Besides, the investment procedures as prescribed in legal documents are still lengthy, the number of procedures is still large, carried out at many different agencies, so it also affects the progress and investment opportunities of enterprises".

Another reason is that due to problems in site clearance, more than 80% of projects are behind schedule, making both local authorities and investors tired. The above situation is partly due to unstable land, planning, and compensation policies that change frequently. Many regulations are not suitable to reality and have many different interpretations, so it is very difficult to apply, especially in handling compensation transition between old and new policies.

Located in a prime location in the center of Cua Lo town, the BMC Cua ​​Lo Palaza Project was approved by the Provincial People's Committee for detailed planning in 2008 and is still vacant.

Meanwhile, the regulations on compensation prices for site clearance have changed a lot, not keeping up with developments and requirements, leading to the project having to be adjusted and approved many times. The coordination between the investor and the local government has not been tight; the People's Committees of wards and communes are still slow in verifying the origin of land within the project scope... This is also one of the basic reasons leading to the situation where people complain and petition not to agree to hand over the site for project implementation.

Many investors cited the reason of land acquisition and clearance problems as the reason for not being able to implement the project on schedule. “The delay in implementing the project by the company is due to objective reasons, especially the difficulty in negotiating compensation prices with households with land in the project area. The company commits that within 6 months (November 1, 2016 - May 1, 2017), the company will conduct compensation, land acquisition, site clearance and prepare conditions to start the project on May 1, 2017” - representative of Nanjing Construction Investment Joint Stock Company - investor of Nghi Phu Commune Car Service Center Project (Vinh City) explained the delay in implementing the project.

Thus, to ensure compliance with regulations, it is necessary to clearly define with investors the deadline for future processing, and then extend it according to regulations of 24 months. Therefore, many investors take advantage of the regulations to "circumvent the law" and continue to request project extensions. A member of the interdisciplinary inspection team also said, "There are projects where, when inspected, the investor presents an extension just a few days before the inspection date", there are cases where the investor does not cooperate (absent, does not provide documents related to the project; does not send staff to work with the Inspection Team, there are cases of "circumvention" by transferring, changing the purpose of use)...

Determined to recover, prioritize potential investors

To speed up the progress of project implementation and at the same time rectify violations in land use management, the Provincial People's Committee has directed the establishment of inspection teams to monitor the project implementation situation to promptly have solutions to handle problems; revoke projects that are behind schedule or unable to continue implementation; have a plan to handle projects with low compensation and site clearance levels for a long time, causing public outrage and have been handled in the form of terminating the legal validity of documents approving investment locations, revoking, canceling decisions on land reclamation and allocation, land lease, and changing land use purposes.

40 hectares of land of Van Xuan University of Technology Project is overgrown with weeds.

From 2012 to present, the Provincial People's Committee has established 5 interdisciplinary inspection teams to inspect 271 projects. In 2016, the number of projects inspected by the Interdisciplinary Inspection Team and the Department of Construction's specialized inspection team inspected 86 projects. In 2016 alone, the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee and Vice Chairmen together with leaders of relevant departments and branches directly inspected 23 projects in Vinh city and Cua Lo town and issued documents directing the handling of violations. Up to now, the province has issued decisions to terminate operations, revoke investment certificates, cancel planning, and revoke land use rights certificates of 97 projects, accounting for 35.79% of the number of inspected projects. In 2016 alone, the Provincial People's Committee issued decisions to revoke 13 projects; directed to continue reviewing to withdraw 10 projects and assigned relevant departments and branches to review the conditions to decide to extend the remaining projects.

However, with the desire to share difficulties and show goodwill to investors in difficult conditions (economic recession, sluggish real estate market, reduced investment capital, etc.), the province has extended the progress of a number of projects and requested investors to implement them according to their commitments. "For investors who have difficulty in capital but still want to continue investing and implementing projects, the Provincial People's Committee and the Department of Planning and Investment always pay attention and create conditions for businesses to cooperate in investment. In the coming time, the Department of Planning and Investment will coordinate with localities to review projects that have been licensed for a long time but have not been constructed, and there will be a plan to revoke them; and projects that continue to be constructed but have financial difficulties will be adjusted more appropriately or have solutions to support businesses" - said Mr. Nguyen Van Do, Director of the Department of Planning and Investment.

It can be said that the government's handling is reasonable with the desire to support and create conditions for investors to soon implement projects, thereby contributing to the development of the province. However, if it is prolonged, it will cause frustration among the people and may affect the investment opportunities of other investors. Therefore, localities need to coordinate with functional branches to proactively review projects that are behind schedule, have serious violations or are not implemented according to regulations in the area; classify projects with specific criteria, propose clear and specific handling forms for each type of project; advise and propose more drastic solutions to overcome suspended projects, reclaim land to transfer to other more effective and potential projects or hand over to people to serve production. At the same time, perform the function of state management, closely monitor and supervise the implementation of projects by investors according to the agreement (progress, implementation capital, etc.); performance of financial obligations to the State from the time of being granted an investment certificate (or investment policy decision, planning approval), land allocation...

According to Mr. Vo Duy Viet - Director of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment: "To overcome the situation of suspended planning, the important step is to appraise projects, strengthen the appraisal of financial capacity to check and determine the capacity of investors before granting investment certificates. This is the most effective and least expensive measure while ensuring the investment environment. On the other hand, it is necessary to implement measures to deposit funds to ensure the implementation of investment projects for projects that are allocated land by the State, leased land, and allowed to change land use purposes to "bind enterprises in the process of implementing projects in the area".

PV Group