I met the Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Fatherland Front, Head of the Nghi Thai Commune Community Investment Supervision Board, Mr. Nguyen Xuan Van, in a rather unexpected situation and in a short period of time. At that time, in early June 2022, information was spread on social networks about the poor quality of the Nghi Thai Commune Kindergarten construction project. According to a colleague working at the Vietnam News Agency, since mid-May, the Nghi Thai Commune Community Investment Supervision Board inspected and discovered that the project construction was not technically correct, thanks to which the investor suspended construction and disciplined the contractor... Hearing that, I was skeptical. Because it was assumed that the Commune-level Community Investment Supervision Board was mostly part-time officials, few of whom had expertise, low responsibility allowances, while the supervision work was complicated, delicate, and sensitive... To say it was a formality, or like "a vase on the conference table" was a bit too much, but it was very difficult to get good supervision results?
To prove it, the colleague presented the Report "Results of supervising the construction of a 2-storey, 8-room school building and the campus of Nghi Thai Commune Kindergarten". It was indeed correct. Report No. 02-BC/BGS, established by the Community Investment Supervision Board of the Nghi Thai Commune Fatherland Front Committee on May 14, 2022, was very fiery. It presented clearly and specifically the violations of the contractor who built the kindergarten.
The contents of Report 02-BC/BGS are as follows:"In order to ensure that the construction of works in the commune in general and the project "Construction of a 2-storey, 8-room school building and the campus of Nghi Thai Commune Kindergarten" in particular is carried out in accordance with the approved design estimate report, on the morning of May 14, 2022, the Community Investment Supervision Board of the Nghi Thai Commune Fatherland Front Committee conducted actual supervision of the construction of the project "Construction of a 2-storey, 8-room school building and the campus of Nghi Thai Commune Kindergarten". After supervision, the Board held a meeting and agreed on the report, and at the same time proposed the following contents:
1. Regarding the structure of the project: According to the approved design drawing, the first floor roof steel of the 2-storey school building is steel phi 10, woven in 2 layers, A150. However, through actual inspection and supervision, it shows that: The first floor steel is woven in A200; in addition, at some joints, the placement is not suitable for the estimate, the steel path is not enough D.
2. Regarding formwork: At the time of supervision, the formwork was erected and supported improperly. The formwork support piles were supported on sand, not on hard ground. The piles were crooked, not vertical, without horizontal or diagonal bracing. Many piles had damaged toes.
Therefore, to ensure that the project is carried out in accordance with the design estimate, to avoid loss and waste of investment capital, and to affect the quality of the project, the Community Investment Supervision Board reports the results, requests the Commune People's Committee - Project Investor to conduct inspections and direct the contractor to promptly correct the above errors before implementing the next items.
Contacting the Nghi Thai Commune Party Committee and the Nghi Loc District Fatherland Front, from there, I grasped the situation thoroughly, and met with the Head of the Nghi Thai Commune Community Investment Supervision Board, Mr. Nguyen Xuan Van, for more than an hour. My first impression of him, to be honest, was not very impressive. Born in 1971, this 25-year-old Party member has a tall, thin figure, dark skin, looks a bit austere, and has a sad face. But when talking, with his unmistakable Nghi Loc accent, Nguyen Xuan Van sincerely poured out his heart about the supervision work, the difficulties and his own experience gained from the actual work.
Nghi Thai Commune Community Investment Supervision Board was established on January 12, 2022 with 7 members who are officers of the Front, Farmers' Association, Women's Union, Youth Union, and Veterans' Association of the commune. In supervising the construction of the Kindergarten project, the Head of the Front Committee of Thai Tho hamlet, the construction site, was invited. To carry out supervision work, the members of the Committee regularly carry out the work, right from when the contractor organizes the construction of the project; the implementation time is at the end of the day, after the end of administrative working hours.
The violations in the project were discovered by the Community Supervision Board when inspecting the construction of formwork and steel for pouring the first floor. The members of the Board found that the contractor did not comply with the design and did not ensure the technical standards. Immediately after that, they reminded the people directly performing the construction, but instead of accepting, they showed an unpleasant attitude and used challenging words. Realizing that the situation was not stable, leading to the poor quality of the project, the Board recorded it in pictures and then prepared a report to send to the Party Committee and the People's Committee of the commune. Immediately after that, the People's Committee of Nghi Thai commune and the People's Committee of Nghi Loc district stepped in to organize an inspection, determined the exact supervision contents, and forced the contractor to correct the mistakes to ensure compliance with the design and technical standards.
“Supervising the construction of investment projects is a difficult job, with a lot of pressure, even temptation. Therefore, each time we carry out supervision, we assign specific tasks, and there must be 3 members participating. Fortunately, the Party Committee, the government and the people in the area are very supportive and sympathetic, so the members of the Supervisory Board are aware of their responsibilities, and are more determined to complete the task…” – Mr. Nguyen Xuan Van confided at that time.
On June 5, 2022, the article “What is seen through a community monitoring" published in Nghe An Newspaper.
Receiving a message on the night of September 12 from Nguyen Xuan Van, I followed the 2023 Community Investment Supervision Competition organized by the Provincial Fatherland Front Committee. Then I learned that the Nghi Thai Commune Fatherland Front Team won a high prize, and for the script and the skit "Trust from a supervision", they were both awarded the Excellent Prize by the Organizing Committee. The actors in the above skit were officers of the Community Investment Supervision Board. Therefore, although they were non-professional actors, they fully portrayed the authenticity of the supervision work. What made the Jury and the audience excited was that the skit "Trust from a supervision" did not avoid sensitive issues, which are the main reasons why the supervision of public investment projects is difficult; and at the same time, it incorporated good situation handling plans, to become a lesson in community investment supervision work.
Ms. Vo Thi Minh Sinh - Member of the Provincial Standing Committee, Chairman of the Provincial Fatherland Front Committee, after the awarding day for the winning teams at the Contest, discussed that community investment supervision is a matter of great concern for the Front organization. From this contest, the Provincial Fatherland Front has discovered many new issues to innovate more effective monitoring methods in the future. And Chairman of the Provincial Fatherland Front Committee Vo Thi Minh Sinh shared: "I am very happy that the Contest received the support of the grassroots...".
A few days after the contest, I met Mr. Nguyen Xuan Van again. Still the same tall and thin figure, dark skin. His face still looked ascetic and thoughtful. Mr. Van said that after supervising the investment in building the Kindergarten, the Nghi Thai Commune Community Investment Supervision Board had conducted 12 more supervision rounds. These were the drainage ditch projects from Thai Phuc to Thai Loc; irrigation ditches for Bien fields in Thai Binh and Thai Hoc hamlets; the fence and concrete road project in front of Duc Thanh Tu Temple; the road, fence and gate project of Dong Mo Cemetery; the project to upgrade the road at the intersection of the Commune People's Committee to Hung Loc, the project to upgrade the road from Thai Binh to Thai Cat and some projects being implemented in the area. In these projects, they were basically implemented according to the design and technique; only one more project was found to have violated the regulations, the Community Investment Supervision Board had to make a report to the Party Committee and the Commune People's Committee.
He said, specifically at the project "Construction of Dong Cam bridge and road in Thai Tho hamlet, Nghi Thai commune" organized by the Community Investment Supervision Board to supervise at the construction site on March 30, 2023, based on the approved design drawings, the members of the Supervision Board discovered violations during the construction process. There were sections of road surface with a width of 4.7m/5m, the 4×6 crushed stone section only reached 26/29 cm, the curbs on both sides were not joined with curb stones, the molds were dug deep, in some places only 8-10cm/14 cm, the curbs had not been weathered... Or as for the quality of materials, there were sections using 4×6 crushed stone mixed with mud and soil, negatively affecting the quality of the project. “In light of this reality, the Supervisory Board requests the investor to request the contractor to temporarily stop construction, conduct inspections and promptly correct violations to ensure the project is in accordance with the design, and avoid loss and waste of investment capital…” – Mr. Van said.
As the direct superior of Mr. Nguyen Xuan Van, Chairman of the Fatherland Front of Nghi Thai commune, Mr. Dang Van Phuong highly appreciated his colleagues and the Community Investment Supervision Board. In Mr. Phuong's opinion, infrastructure investment projects must be of guaranteed quality. Because if the project does not ensure quality and is damaged, his own children will suffer the consequences, and the people will lose faith in the Party Committee and the government.
The Chairman of the Fatherland Front of Nghi Thai commune also acknowledged that the supervision work is difficult, "to please the saint is to displease the gods". Therefore, he said: "I am old, so when Van from the Inspection Committee took over as Permanent Vice Chairman, I felt very secure and entrusted him with almost all the work. He fulfilled the requirements of the task very well, especially in the supervision work, not giving in to wrongdoing..."
Listening from many different channels, Nghi Thai Commune Community Investment Supervision Board and its Head Nguyen Xuan Van are highly trusted. Nghi Thai Commune Party Secretary - Mr. Nguyen Van Thong said that in the 2020 - 2025 term, Nghi Thai Commune Party Committee proposed in the Congress Resolution the determination to strive to reach the advanced new rural area goal by 2025; infrastructure investment is a focused content. Therefore, the Party Committee, the government and the Fatherland Front are very interested in the community investment supervision work, considering it an extension to complete the task. And Nghi Thai Commune was lucky to have Nguyen Xuan Van, who has a lot of experience in supervision, dares to do, dares to take responsibility before the Party Committee and the government to take on the position of Head of the Board.
In 2022 - 2023, in Nghi Thai commune, many technical infrastructure projects and works were implemented. As Head of the Board, Nguyen Xuan Van built a very clear monitoring plan, assigning specific tasks to the members of the Board. When problems were detected during the monitoring process, there were timely and detailed reports to the Party Committee and authorities for inspection and handling. For example, the incident that happened at the Kindergarten, thanks to the Community Investment Monitoring Board detecting violations, the commune promptly inspected and handled them, ensuring the quality of the project. Party Secretary Nguyen Van Thong said: "Comrade Van is one of the very dedicated and honest cadres, especially having the high trust of cadres, party members in the political system and people throughout the commune. After the monitoring at the Kindergarten, there were no more errors in most other project works in the area. The Party Committee, authorities and people are very assured...".
Nghi Quang Commune Party Secretary, Mr. Dang Khac Than, formerly Vice Chairman of Nghi Loc District Fatherland Front Committee, Mr. Than mentioned Nguyen Xuan Van in a simple way, "He is a cadre with the character and ethics of a farmer. Very good, very dedicated...". Evaluating the work of community investment supervision, Mr. Than said: “First of all, it must be affirmed that the Party Committee and the government of Nghi Thai commune see the importance of community investment supervision, thereby uniting and supporting the Front organization and socio-political organizations to carry out their tasks. However, it must be recognized that the members of the Nghi Thai commune Community Investment Supervision Board are knowledgeable, united and very responsible people. Whatever is beneficial to the community, they are determined to do. As for Mr. Nguyen Xuan Van, he only transferred to the Front work at the beginning of 2022. But he is a person with good ethics, dedication, responsibility, and willingness to learn. With those qualities, and being willing to stick to the grassroots and listen to the people's thoughts, the Front work of Nghi Thai commune has achieved high efficiency…”.
According to Vice Chairman of the Provincial Fatherland Front Committee Nguyen Duc Thanh, in the work of community investment supervision, there are still some cadres who are afraid of conflict and do not dare to express their opinions; in addition, the coordination mechanism between the supervisory subject and the supervised subject does not bind specific responsibilities, so implementation after supervision is still very difficult. However, in the province, there are localities that have done a good job of community investment supervision, of which Nghi Thai commune is an example. Vice Chairman of the Provincial Fatherland Front Committee Nguyen Duc Thanh commented: "The Nghi Thai commune community investment supervision board has proven its role with specific supervision results, becoming one of the bright spots of community investment supervision activities...".