BOT Supervisor: 'Very good report but very light responsibility'

How come the supervision report only has 5 and a half lines for collective and individual responsibilities? This question was raised by Vice Chairwoman of the National Assembly Tong Thi Phong when the National Assembly Standing Committee conducted supervision of the implementation of policies and laws on investment and exploitation of traffic works under the form of BOT (build-operate-transfer) contracts on the morning of August 15.

Vice Chairwoman of the National Assembly Tong Thi Phong speaks at the supervision session.

The monitoring report, with 36 pages and nearly 24,000 words, pointed out many limitations, shortcomings, and violations. However, the responsibility of the collective and individuals was stated very briefly.

The original text of the five and a half lines of this section is: “According to the Ministry of Transport, the competent State agencies (ministries, branches, localities) have issued documents directing relevant agencies and organizations to overcome the shortcomings stated in the conclusions of the inspection and auditing agencies, and all deductions have been recorded and deducted by relevant agencies in the settlement records. Regarding the handling of responsibilities of ministries, branches, localities, and investors for the shortcomings and errors stated in the conclusions of the inspection agencies”.

Commenting that the report was very good but the responsibility was very light, Vice President of the National Assembly Tong Thi Phong said that the above 5 and a half lines did not mention the collective and individual responsibility in the field of supervision. "Is there any favoritism, is there not enough said?", the Vice President asked.

"This is a report of the National Assembly Standing Committee, so we suggest that we speak correctly about responsibilities. We need to supplement and evaluate this part more carefully," she said.

According to the Vice Chairman of the National Assembly, it is also necessary to clarify the role of inspection and auditing in the supervised field, because this is a dual supervision to see if the competent authority has done the right thing.

Agreeing with this view, Vice President Dang Thi Ngoc Thinh said she did not agree with the proposal to strengthen inspection and supervision by people and professional social organizations... Because this is a very complicated field, requiring deep expertise, it is necessary to strengthen specialized inspection.

Emphasizing that inspection, examination, and auditing are very important tools because BOT projects are all places where "no duty is allowed", Chairwoman of the Judiciary Committee Le Thi Nga said that the specialized monitoring tool must be the competent authority.

Ms. Nga also agreed with Vice President Tong Thi Phong's comment that the part defining responsibility in the monitoring report was very limited, with less than 6 lines.

"In addition to providing macro value, monitoring results need to include praise and criticism, and must point out the responsibility of those who do not perform well," Director Nga suggested.

Paying more attention to people's concerns was also an issue mentioned by many opinions at the discussion session.

"How can we build roads for people to travel on but people do not accept and have no sympathy?", Chairman of the Finance and Budget Committee Nguyen Duc Hai asked.

The Prime Minister requested publicity and transparency at BOT toll stations. Illustrative photo.

Immediately after that, Mr. Hai indirectly gave a partial answer to this question, that is, behind the projects are banks, and the capital is mainly from banks, leading to pressure on interest rates, leading to high fees, causing many people to react.

“Our management is not good, people complain a lot about toll stations, these need to be carefully analyzed, we need to ensure harmony of interests of the State, investors and people,” said Vice Chairwoman of the National Assembly Tong Thi Phong.

Also mentioning the cause from management, Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee Nguyen Van Giau said that if the bank loan interest is more than 10% and the fee is collected for 20 years, the price increase is right.

Mr. Giau gave an example of a BOT road that is only 30 km long, but only by adding asphalt, it cannot be widened much.

“They talk a lot,” he said.

“There are many concerns about BOT toll collection, but we have not done a good job of listening to the opinions of the people and those who regularly use the route, and have not created consensus,” commented National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan.

According to Nguyen Le/vneconomy