Waste of trillions, where is the responsibility of the leader?
According to the Government's report, there are still many problems in the use of budget, public assets, planning quality, investment, etc., causing great waste.
Regarding the work of practicing thrift and combating waste, it can be affirmed that the Government has closely directed and achieved certain results. However, at the 49th session of the National Assembly Standing Committee that just ended on the afternoon of June 15, when presenting the Government's report on the results of practicing thrift and combating waste, Minister of Finance Dinh Tien Dung also pointed out many shortcomings and limitations.
"Not a small waste"
First of all, in the management and use of the state budget, there is still a lack of strict compliance with the law and financial discipline. Violations of legal regulations, standards, norms, and regimes that cause waste of the state budget; the use of state budget funds for the wrong purposes, not in accordance with standards, norms, and regimes still occurs in agencies, organizations, and units.
 | |
|
In the management and use of state assets, the head of the Finance sector also pointed out that the use of public assets in some places is still wasteful, failing to achieve the set investment targets; the situation of leasing, contributing capital to joint ventures and associations that are not in accordance with regulations has not been ended.
Another issue that has long been of great concern to the public is the lack of strict implementation of regulations on public investment management in some places. The Government has identified that there is still a widespread situation of approving investment policies and decisions, which are not linked to investment efficiency, causing considerable waste. In particular, slow project implementation progress and poor quality still occur in most localities; low efficiency of public investment causes waste of capital.
In the management, exploitation and use of resources, it goes without saying that violations of the law and waste of land occur in many places...
The shortcomings and limitations were also pointed out in the audit report of the National Assembly's Finance and Budget Committee. Chairman Nguyen Duc Hai said that through monitoring, it can be confirmed that budget spending still shows signs of poor financial discipline, causing loss and waste.
In the management and use of regular funds of agencies and units, there is still "use of the budget for the wrong purpose, exceeding the prescribed norms, standards and regimes". The figure that this Committee mentioned is that in 2015, the State Treasury system discovered 32,000 expenditures that did not comply with the prescribed procedures and regimes and refused to pay many expenditures that did not meet the prescribed conditions for payment with the amount of tens of billions of VND.
“Waste and loss in the management and use of capital for basic construction investment are still widespread and are slow to be resolved. Violations in the management and use of capital for investment from the state budget occur in almost all stages of the investment process without effective solutions, causing loss and waste of the state budget,” said the Chairman of the Finance and Budget Committee.
Trillion-dollar project "shelved", what is the responsibility?
It is worth noting that the Government's report mentioned that some ministries, branches and localities have not been really determined in implementing and carrying out the work of practicing thrift and fighting waste.
It is understandable but we cannot help but worry when “many agencies and organizations” make sketchy assessments, without specific data on savings results as well as cases of waste within the scope of responsibility of ministries, branches, localities and according to the assigned specialized management fields. Because, when the report is not clear, it is naturally difficult to point out responsibility, especially the responsibility of the head.
However, according to Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Uong Chu Luu, there are issues of waste that need to be clearly identified in the report, avoiding just mentioning some localities or places in general, leading to unclear responsibilities.
The inspection report of the responsible agency of the National Assembly frankly pointed out a number of projects using state budget funds wastefully and ineffectively, according to the reflection of voters and public opinion.
 | |
|
Accordingly, the Cat Linh - Ha Dong high-speed railway is being constructed slowly compared to the original target, the construction cost is higher than the estimate, causing waste of money and state assets. Or the Hanoi Museum after nearly 5 years of operation has very low efficiency; the Thai Nguyen Iron and Steel Plant Phase 2 expansion project of over 8,000 billion VND is still "shelved" after nearly 10 years of implementation...
As for the Chairwoman of the Judicial Committee, Le Thi Nga, after mentioning a number of other projects with signs of waste such as the Ninh Binh Nitrogen Plant; Dinh Vu Fiber Factory; Ethanol Biofuel Factory, etc., she also proposed to list and request reports on these projects and "in the promotion and appointment of officials, where have those responsible and those working at the above units been transferred to, and what are they doing when there are signs of such loss and waste?"
From the above situation, the Finance and Budget Committee recommends that "it is necessary to clearly and specifically report to the National Assembly organizations and individuals who have done well as well as those who have committed violations, causing loss and waste in order to promptly commend and reward them and strictly handle cases of violations of the Law on Practicing Thrift and Combating Wastefulness, especially the responsibility of the head"./.
According to VOV