BOT management in Vietnam is very 'problematic'

Professor Vo Dai Luoc believes that instead of being a driving force, BOT projects are hindering the development of other economic sectors.

Regarding the current shortcomings in BOT toll collection, Prof. Dr. Vo Dai Luoc, former Director of the Central Institute for Economic Research, said he has spoken out about this issue many times.

BOT focuses too much on roads

Professor Vo Dai Luoc affirmed: "I have not just said this now, but since the BOT model was first invested in and built in Vietnam, I have also spoken out to warn about the issue of state management of this model.

The way the government is managing the BOT model now cannot develop the economy. Management is too loose, creating conditions for the formation of self-governing interest groups.

The problem of BOT project development management in Vietnam currently has many shortcomings.

According to Professor Vo Dai Luoc, reality in the world shows that the BOT form of transportation is making a great contribution to economic development because the private sector "shares" the responsibility with the state in developing public transport infrastructure, but the world's management and operation mechanisms are strict and scientific, unlike Vietnam.

"Currently, BOT capital for road investment is too much while other forms of transportation are limited. Currently, the total BOT investment capital in Vietnam accounts for 42% of the total investment capital in transportation, which is too large, too terrible and the highest in the world, because many countries in the world only have 10%.

Why is Vietnam so big? With so much capital investment and incredibly high fees, I think this is an issue that needs to be seriously reviewed. It is necessary to clarify the responsibilities of the parties involved here, from management to exploitation and operation," Professor Vo Dai Luoc raised the issue.

According to Professor Vo Dai Luoc, BOT fees are putting a burden on businesses and hindering the development of many industries.

Mr. Luoc said: "BOT fees are clearly negatively affecting development. High fees will naturally kill businesses and exhaust the state economy. Then why are BOT projects focusing too much on roads, and who benefits? Clearly we have a problem here.

Vietnam has a long coastline and dense rivers, why don't we do BOT on sea and rail transport but only on roads? Is there any benefit to roads?

"In fact, instead of being a driving force, BOT is hindering the development of other economic sectors. This responsibility belongs to the Ministry of Transport," said Professor Vo Dai Luoc.

BOT management "has problems"

Mr. Truong Dinh Tuyen, former Minister of Trade, said that BOT is essentially very suitable for Vietnam today and this is also the common trend of many countries in the world when investing in infrastructure development. However, the recent problems with this type are due to lax management.

Mr. Truong Dinh Tuyen analyzed: "We need to have a broader view that BOT is still the main trend that many countries in the world have been implementing. Mobilizing investment capital for BOT in combination with the private sector and then recovering capital through people paying fees is normal. People have contributed to building infrastructure, so we have to balance and put BOT in relation to the people.

However, the problem here is that our current management is too loose, leading to uncontrolled planning and rampant BOT construction, and then the exploitation enterprises also set sky-high fees, these are major limitations."

According to Mr. Tuyen, it is necessary to balance the development of this infrastructure with the development of other infrastructure to avoid imbalance and economic risks between loans and lending. Because when the state cannot do this, it will lead to macroeconomic instability, increasing risks for the economy.

"The State needs to consider how to develop BOT so that it is truly effective because currently, BOT investment enterprises are mainly contractors, with little capital investment, little risk, and the general economy has to bear the consequences," Mr. Tuyen recommended./.

According to VOV