Building extravagant headquarters: Wasting money is a crime against the people.

We shouldn't chase after achievements or follow a short-term mindset; instead, we should focus on getting things done, as that is very wasteful. Wastefulness is a major mistake.

The People's Committee of Hai Duong province has recently requested the Prime Minister's approval for the investment and construction of a centralized administrative complex for the province. The proposed Hai Duong administrative complex will cover 19.15 hectares in the new urban area east of Hai Duong city, with a total investment of approximately 2,060 billion VND.

Regarding the idea of ​​building an administrative center for Hai Duong province to concentrate state management agencies, National Assembly Deputy Nguyen Thi An (Hanoi) emphasized in an interview that careful planning is necessary, and that the construction of the headquarters must be based on functionality and planning.

Especially during this difficult time for the country, when the budget is tight and there's no way to allocate funds for salary increases for workers, building large, grandiose public administrative offices would be distasteful.

Many provinces and cities are following the trend of building grandiose public administrative headquarters.

Everyone wants to build a big, beautiful headquarters, but Ms. An questioned the feasibility, the budget, and the local government's ability to balance the funds, because ultimately, it's the taxpayers' money.

According to Hai Duong province, the construction of a new office building for the province's government apparatus will cost approximately 2,060 billion VND, of which the provincial budget has already contributed about 1,000 billion VND.

In addition, there are other sources of funding such as capital from the sale of assets on the land and the transfer of land use rights from former government offices, amounting to approximately 200 billion VND, land use revenue from several projects in the province, and capital supported by the central government.

Analyzing the pros and cons of building a grandiose headquarters, National Assembly Deputy Tran Ngoc Vinh – Deputy Head of the Hai Phong Delegation, Member of the National Assembly's Law Committee – suggested that Hai Duong province should learn from the experiences of other provinces and cities that have built administrative centers.

Recounting his monitoring trips with the National Assembly delegation, Representative Vinh sighed, noting the stark contrast in some localities: on one hand, the massive, magnificent, and imposing buildings of government agencies, and on the other, the impoverished laborers struggling to make ends meet.

"This is a truly offensive picture, causing people to lose faith. Therefore, we must consider each locality's position; if it's beneficial, we should do it. Otherwise, we shouldn't blindly follow trends," said Representative Vinh.

Representative Vinh's viewpoint also received agreement from many other National Assembly deputies. Even Ms. Nguyen Thi An stated frankly, "Hai Duong must reconsider whether building a new headquarters is necessary. A tall, grandiose building in the context of limited budget, scattered public investment… and with an unreasonable function and a focus on formality… is unnecessary and should not be built."

National Assembly Deputy Nguyen Thi An's concerns are entirely justified, as public debt is approaching the "red light" threshold (by 2015, the public debt ratio was around 64% of GDP, while the safe threshold is 65% of GDP), and each citizen has to bear an additional burden of debt…

"We shouldn't chase after achievements or focus on short-term gains; we should prioritize getting things done, as that's wasteful. Wastefulness is a major mistake. The people are still poor and burdened with taxes and public debt... if public investment isn't effective, it should be stopped," said Representative An.

Prior to Hai Duong, several provinces and cities had already invested large sums of money in building grandiose and magnificent administrative headquarters. Most recently, in September 2014, Da Nang city also inaugurated a 37-story administrative building with a total investment of over 2,000 billion VND.

According to Infonet