The Government Inspectorate has just issued a Notice of Conclusion of the Inspection of a number of projects with difficulties and problems at the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) and the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology (Northwest University Completion Investment and Construction Project).
The announcement said that after the project was approved, the Ministry of Education and Training and Tay Bac University have tried to focus on project implementation; the initial project implementation period was 7 years (2004-2010) and had to be extended to 20 years (2004-2023), by the end of 2023, the project had disbursed 533.72 billion VND, equivalent to 85.05% of the total investment, the value of the completed acceptance volume was 547.118 billion VND, equivalent to 87.19% of the total investment; 21/25 works had been started, 4 works had not been started; the new site clearance volume reached 44.8% compared to the adjusted area according to the plan.
The inspection showed that the main difficulties and problems of the project are as follows:
Slow site clearance, low compensation results: After more than 20 years, the project's compensation and site clearance work has not been completed.
The occurrence of principal construction backlogs during the project implementation (including before and from January 1, 2015) has not been handled yet. Meanwhile, the project implementation period until the end of 2023, the total medium-term capital for the 2021-2025 period of the project has been fully allocated; although the Ministry of Education and Training has proposed that the Prime Minister supplement medium-term capital for the project, according to the provisions of the law on public investment, only public investment plan capital is allocated to pay for basic construction arrears arising before January 1, 2015, there are no regulations on handling arrears arising from January 1, 2015.
"Among the causes of shortcomings, defects, and violations leading to project delays, and the occurrence of basic construction backlogs but not yet handled, the main subjective causes are: Tay Bac University lacks responsibility in the management and implementation of investment projects; the Ministry of Education and Training lacks responsibility in performing the duties and tasks of the investment decision maker, loosening the monitoring, inspection, supervision, and evaluation of investment projects" - the Conclusion Notice of the Government Inspectorate clearly stated.
The Government Inspector General recommended that the Prime Minister direct the Ministry of Education and Training to organize a review of responsibilities and take strict handling of responsibilities according to the provisions of law for Ministers and Deputy Ministers assigned to be in charge of projects (depending on each period) related to violations mentioned in the Inspection Conclusion, and report to the Prime Minister.
Notably, the Government Inspectorate transferred information to the Ministry of Public Security for consideration and handling according to the provisions of law for the following contents: Tay Bac University violated the organization of preparation, approval, project adjustment, construction drawing design and estimate, design examination, causing damage to the Government bond capital with an estimated amount of about 971.17 million VND, showing unusual signs of the implementation time of 4 design contents, examination, appraisal, and design approval (4 contents were completed in 1 day).
