Government Inspectorate points out unusual fees at BOT Phap Van - Cau Gie project

The Government Inspectorate affirmed that the project to upgrade the Phap Van - Cau Gie route, phase 1, only repaired and renovated geometric elements and paved the old road surface, but the toll fee was equivalent to the fee for the newly built Cau Gie - Ninh Binh expressway (1,500 VND/km), which was unreasonable and unusual. It is necessary to clarify the responsibilities of the collective and individuals.

Photo Internet.

The Government Inspectorate has just concluded on the investment and management of BOT and BT projects of the Ministry of Transport. In particular, many irregularities were discovered in the BOT Phap Van - Cau Gie project.

According to Article 9 and Article 10 of Decree 108/2009 of the Government, the Ministry of Transport must develop and publish a list of BOT and BT projects in January every year. However, for the investment project to upgrade the Phap Van-Cau Gie route, the Ministry of Transport has not implemented it in accordance with regulations. The publication was only carried out after approving the list of projects to carry out the investor selection process, which is incomplete and lacking in rigor.

Not in accordance with the Capital planning approved by the Prime Minister

The inspection conclusion clearly stated that the Ministry of Transport had established and approved the project divided into 2 implementation phases: Phase 1 to renovate and upgrade the old 4-lane road surface; Phase 2 to complete the construction of the 6-lane highway. The reason for the investment phase is the urgency due to road degradation and traffic demand.

However, the project does not have a specific assessment process or basis for determining whether it is an urgent project and has not been identified by the competent authority as an urgent project.

On the other hand, the Hanoi People's Committee has not yet had a specific agreement on dividing the investment into two phases because of concerns that it will not ensure synchronous connection of existing traffic infrastructure and technical infrastructure items and the investment scale is not consistent with the capital planning approved by the Prime Minister.

“The approval and implementation of the project did not fully anticipate the shortcomings of the toll collection system, leading to unreasonable connections with the Cau Gie-Ninh Binh expressway, causing inconvenience to road users and serious local congestion at times of high traffic density. Now it is necessary to replace it with an automatic toll collection method and remove the Dai Xuyen toll station,” the conclusion stated.

Regarding the toll collection plan, the Government Inspectorate affirmed that the Ministry of Transport's approval of the toll collection plan according to the 2-phase investment phase is unreasonable. Collecting tolls immediately after completing the investment phase 1 of resurfacing the existing road with an investment capital of only 1/3 of the total project capital, but the toll price is equivalent to the new Cau Gie-Ninh Binh Expressway Project is unreasonable and does not comply with the principle of ensuring the interests of investors, traffic participants and the State as stipulated in Decree No. 108/2009.

Only resurface the road but collect tolls like a new highway

The implementation of the approval procedure for total investment and basic design is still not strict, not fully anticipating the influencing factors, leading to large adjustments and changes in a short time. Specifically, after issuing the third request for proposals to select investors, the Ministry of Transport approved the adjustment to reduce the total investment from nearly VND 8,500 billion to VND 6,700 billion.

Immediately after implementing the project, the Ministry approved fundamental changes to the basic design of phase 1, removing the base compensation layer and replacing it completely with asphalt concrete to strengthen the road surface, leading to an increase in cost of 25 billion VND.

Applying the wrong land price for the area according to the price announcement led to the total investment being approved incorrectly increasing by over 21 billion VND. The total investment approved for some cost factors, although following the guidance, was not suitable for reality and was not realistic, so when implemented, there was no increase or too large a difference.

The Government Inspectorate believes that the Ministry of Transport's determination of the urgency of the project lacks a basis for submitting to the Prime Minister a plan to appoint an investor and that it has not fully implemented the process of building and announcing the BOT project investment portfolio according to the guidance in Decree 108/2009 of the Government.

Selecting an investor is complicated, has many stages, and takes a lot of time: 3 times of selection from designation, bidding, and then designation again to select an investor.

Regarding toll prices, the inspection conclusion affirmed that before implementing the project, the Ministry of Finance had issued a document stating that "toll stations on BOT roads to collect fees to recover capital for investors can only be collected when the project is completed and put into use".

However, the project contract signed between the Ministry of Transport and the investor agreed to collect fees to recover capital for the investor immediately after completing the first phase of investment. The Ministry of Finance then approved and issued a circular to collect fees at the request of the Ministry of Transport and the investor.

“Thus, the project has just invested in phase 1 (repairing and renovating geometric elements and paving the old road surface), the investment capital is only 30% of the project but the toll price is equivalent to the toll price of the newly built Cau Gie-Ninh Binh expressway (1,500 VND/km) which is unreasonable and unusual, it is necessary to clarify the responsibility of the collective and individuals” - the conclusion affirmed.

According to Dan Tri