Colonel Nguyen Huu Cau: 'The procedure may not be wrong, but the officer did it wrong'

(Baonghean.vn) - As the first member to answer questions from National Assembly deputies in the morning session of November 15, the 2nd session of the 14th National Assembly, Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh was 'asked' to address a series of hot issues from the appointment of officials to projects with trillions of losses, market management, and automobile industry development...

'Hot' issue of appointing officials and market management

Delegate Nguyen Huu Cau (Nghe An) said that the process of appointing officials and their relatives in the recent past was explained by the Ministry of Industry and Trade as following the correct procedure, and the issue of flood discharge was also considered following the correct procedure. However, according to this delegate, the procedure may not be wrong, but the main factor is that there are corrupt officials and civil servants who have caused the procedure to be wrong. Mr. Cau asked, will the Minister have strong measures to deal with these corrupt officials in the near future?

In addition, delegate Nguyen Huu Cau also requested that the Ministry of Industry and Trade, as the governing body of many large enterprises, will have solutions to increase the efficiency of state projects in the coming time?

National Assembly delegate Nguyen Huu Cau questioned the Minister of Industry and Trade about the process of appointing officials.

Participating in the question and answer session, Delegate Nguyen Thanh Hien (Nghe An) said: In 2007, the Ministry of Industry and Trade approved the strategy for the development of the supporting industry until 2010 and vision to 2020, but so far the supporting industry is very limited and has not met the development requirements. Mr. Hien asked the Ministry of Industry and Trade to clarify what level the supporting industry has reached compared to the requirements and the next development plan.

Mr. Hien also proposed clarifying the responsibility of the Ministry of Industry and Trade in allowing the retail market to be manipulated by foreign enterprises.

Due to limited time, the Minister of Industry and Trade "postponed" the urgent issues raised by the delegates by responding in writing.

Delegate Nguyen Thanh Hien questioned the possibility of foreign enterprises manipulating the retail market.

Criminal proceedings may be considered for loss-making "super projects"

NRecalling Minister Tran Tuan Anh's previous explanation of the causes of losses and weaknesses of mega projects invested in by state-owned enterprises under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Minister frankly said that he did not rule out intentional violations of the law.

The National Assembly member believes that this can be understood as violations in corporate governance and management at enterprises by State management agencies. The member requests further clarification of these violations and clearly states the responsibility of the administrative apparatus and the responsibility of the State agency in charge of enterprise management. Does the Minister have any recommendations for the Government to overcome the situation of "elephants passing through the eye of a needle" like the large projects in recent times?

The Minister of Industry and Trade said that all five projects were approved from around 2003 to 2008 and have been affected by fluctuations in the world market, including fluctuations in oil prices. The plunge in oil prices has made the projects economically ineffective, and even unable to settle their investments even though they have been put into operation (such as the Ninh Binh Fertilizer Project). Regarding the above ineffective and loss-making projects, the Minister said that after consideration, the project may be sold or even declared bankrupt.

Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Tuan Anh answers questions

These projects have backlogs and even violations in administration, management, and limited capacity of investors. According to the hierarchy, when the investment policy is approved, the corporations and general companies are in charge, so they are responsible for the investment decision and the feasibility of the project as well as other issues. In addition, there are also limitations in the capacity of contractors and project management boards; capacity in negotiating and signing contracts...

Regarding handling responsibilities and lessons learned to avoid recurrence, it is necessary to be careful and follow legal regulations. Each stage has legal regulations, changes and adjustments, and the responsibilities of organizations and individuals in each stage must be considered; the objective and subjective causes, whether intentional or unintentional, must be clarified.

“We do not rule out intentional wrongdoing,” Minister Tran Tuan Anh emphasized. Different projects have different characteristics, so some projects have conclusions from the Government Inspectorate, while others only have conclusions from audits, inspections from the Ministry of Finance, inspections from the Ministry of Industry and Trade, etc., and will be reported to the National Assembly. But if there is responsibility or intentional wrongdoing, criminal prosecution may even be considered.

Do not develop hydropower at all costs

Regarding the issue of hydropower flood discharge that many National Assembly delegates are concerned about, Minister Tran Tuan Anh reiterated the State and Government's guiding viewpoint of "not developing hydropower at all costs".

The leader of the Ministry of Industry and Trade said that, basically, Vietnam has exploited all the large hydropower potential of the whole country. The Ministry of Industry and Trade has reviewed and re-evaluated to remove from the planning small hydropower plants that do not meet the requirements. Currently, there are more than 336 hydropower plants, the State management function is allocated to ministries and branches, in which the Ministry of Industry and Trade as the State management agency plays a leading role alongside the Ministry of Construction and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.

National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan opens the question and answer session.

Through inspection, the Ministry of Industry and Trade found a number of problems: There are procedures but the implementation of the procedures is mechanical and principled. The dam owner must notify the locality before releasing flood water, but the regulations do not clearly state in what form, so there are notifications but there may be problems such as the alarm bell is rung but no one hears, phone calls are cut off, no one answers...

In addition, the local exercises are not guaranteed, so when problems arise, the response is not guaranteed to be effective. The proactive coordination between the dam owner and the locality is not guaranteed. During the implementation, the weather forecast and hydropower monitoring system are also not up to standard.

Therefore, the Ministry of Industry and Trade will conduct a general review of the flood discharge process and the participation in flood and storm prevention coordination, clarifying the responsibilities of the parties to strictly implement sanctions. Enterprises that do not comply with regulations will be handled; in addition, it will also clarify the responsibilities of local authorities in flood and storm prevention.

Fertilizer market management is "fragmented"

Responding to questions from National Assembly deputies about the current situation of counterfeit goods, especially fake fertilizers flooding the market, seriously affecting the lives of farmers, the Minister of Industry and Trade admitted that this issue is the responsibility of the State management agency for fertilizers.

Contributing to the explanation, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Xuan Cuong said that the use of 9-10 million tons of chemical fertilizers makes agricultural products unclean and of low quality. Mr. Cuong also suggested that there should be a unified management of fertilizers and a focus on amending legal documents on fertilizer management to be more suitable to reality. In addition, it is necessary to issue a set of standards on fertilizer quality management.

Although the question and answer session of Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh was extended by about 30 minutes in the afternoon session, at the end, there were still nearly 20 delegates who registered in the early afternoon and 9 delegates who asked questions from the morning session that had not been answered. The issues raised by the delegates will be answered in writing by the Minister.

Duong Gim - Anh Tuan