Some tax refund and collection management tasks have not been implemented in accordance with regulations
The audit results clearly show that the value-added tax refund dossier of the Nguyet Hoa Water Plant project of Senco Tra Vinh Water Supply Company Limited has not yet completed all legal procedures (lack of confirmation of clean water business conditions) but was still refunded VND 5.814 billion in taxes by the Tax Department of the XVIII region, which was not in accordance with regulations. Some enterprises have incorrectly declared the amount of corporate income tax (CIT) that has been exempted and reduced, the State Audit determined that the amount of corporate income tax payable has increased by 688 million VND; the loss that must be adjusted down has decreased by 922 million VND.
In the management of land-related revenues, a number of problems were also discovered, specifically: Mekong Trade Development Joint Stock Company was leased land plot No. 372 by the People's Committee of Tra Vinh province to implement the Mekong Center for Entertainment - Shopping Service Center Project (abbreviated: Mekong Center project): Up to now, the project is behind schedule, after 4 adjustments to the investment policy, the project completion time has been extended to August 2023. In July 2024, the Provincial People's Committee issued a decision to reclaim land plot No. 372, compensate the investor with land plot No. 539, the project completion time at plot No. 539 was adjusted to January 2028.
Through the audit, the lease, land acquisition, compensation for land, exemption and reduction of land rent to implement the Mekong Center project has issues that need to be further clarified and specifically: The provincial People's Committee leases land to implement the Mekong Center project not through the form of auction of land use rights in contravention of regulations; The investor has not strictly complied with regulations on extension of land use time, adjusting the progress of investment projects but the provincial People's Committee still decides to compensate the land when land acquisition; Unit price for land lease and land price when recovering land plot No. 372 lower than the land rent unit price for annual land rent in 2018 (Land valuation certificate No. 24/CT-DC dated May 31, 2024 and certificate No. 25/CT-DC dated May 31, 2024 is not in compliance with the law on price and law on land); Risk of land waste: After recovering the land parcel No. 372 and compensation by land parcel No. 539 for investors, the Provincial People's Committee continues to issue a decision to adjust the investment policy to extend the completion time until the month. The Government stipulates the collection of land rent, water surface rent and Clause 1, Clause 2, Article 12 of Circular No. 77/2014/TT-BTC of the Minister of Finance.
There is still waste in investment in basic construction
The audit results show that the settlement of public investment capital for completed and accepted projects put into use is at risk of waste in investment. These include:
The first is the project of the Concentrated Wastewater Treatment System for the residential area of Dinh An town, which was approved by the People's Committee of Tra Cu district to settle the project's investment capital with an investment cost of VND6.706 billion, but there is no approved construction planning documents. At the time of the audit, the project was not operating because it was not allowed to invest in a wastewater collection system to connect to the wastewater treatment system. The investment in construction of works that are not synchronous and the wastewater treatment system is not put into operation is at risk of wasting investment capital;
Second is the Provincial Road 915B Project, phase 2, Tra Vinh province is invested in upgrading and expanding the dike and old salinity prevention sluices with a permitted load of 13 tons. However, the bridge load design on the route is HL93, a level IV traffic route that does not limit vehicle load; during the project preparation, design and construction, acceptance and use, the Investor and related units have not yet re-determined the actual allowable load of the old salinity-prevention sluices but still placed warning signs of the allowable load through the gate at 13 tons.
Investors have established, appraised and approved a number of errors in volume, and through audits, they have discovered and reduced investment costs, amounting to VND10.976 billion.
Notably, at the Co Chien River embankment project in the Long Tri hamlet embankment area, Long Duc commune, Tra Vinh city (Phase 2): During the construction process, a landslide occurred in the embankment section from K0+374 to K0+425 but the Investor has not yet requested the insurance consulting unit to fulfill its obligations according to the insurance contract No. CCX/02013835 dated March 5, 2021, increasing the investment cost of VND 11,014 billion. The Provincial People's Committee, investors and related units have not fully complied with the provisions of Articles 44 and 45, and 46 of Decree No. 06/2021/ND-CP (not fully determined the subjective and objective causes of the landslide incident; not clearly defined the responsibilities of organizations and individuals and handled the responsibilities of relevant parties according to the provisions of law;...). The project consultancy unit has not conducted a geological survey; has not assessed the impact of the flow to the embankment foot, flow flow flow, flow speed, mud and sand dynamics (erosion, silting)...; the survey dossier has not shown the location of the geological drill hole on the overall map; the design consultancy unit has not clearly stated the basic load complex and the most particularly unfavorable load complex that may occur during the construction and exploitation period.
Regarding the management and operation of regular expenditure estimates: According to audit results, the salary reform fund (CCTL) to be set aside for the year increased by VND 19.978 billion, due to: The Department of Finance determined that the 10% of regular expenditure savings set aside for CCTL were not fully the amount of VND 7.367 billion; Incorrectly determined that the 50% of the State Budget (NSNN) reduction for regular operations in the administrative sector and public service units only supported the amount of VND 7.233 billion; Not fully compiled CCTL sources in some units in the amount of VND 5.378 billion.
In addition, it was determined that it was not correct to calculate 40% of the remaining revenue after deducting expenses related to service provision and fee collection to supplement the source of CCTL implementation, leading to an excess CCTL cost of VND9.419 billion; determining the cost of implementing CCTL for over 40% of the revenue not in accordance with regulations according to the financial autonomy plan, leading to the State budget granting operating expenses to units exceeding VND46.681 billion.
The source for implementing CCTL until December 31, 2024 must continue to be monitored and allocated to move to 2025 for use according to regulations, with the amount of VND 52.633 billion.
Regarding public asset management, the People's Committee of Tra Vinh province has not yet completed the approval of the plan to rearrange and handle real estate facilities according to the provisions of Decree No. 167/2017/ND-CP and Decree No. 67/2021/ND-CP of the Government. The total number of houses and land not used or used inefficiently or not used for the right purpose is 43 houses and land with a land area of 45,508.87 m2, a house area of 13,557.95 m2. In addition, the People's Committee of Tra Vinh city, Cau Ke district, and Cang Long district has not yet completed the approval of the plan to rearrange and handle state-owned houses and land for units in the area; Tra Vinh city has 77 units, Chau Thanh district has 44 units, and Tra Cu district has 223 facilities that have not been granted land use right certificates as prescribed in Clause 1, Article 95 of the Land Law No. 45/2013/QH 13. Some unused public assets show signs of serious deterioration and have not yet fully functioned.
In land management and use: Tra Vinh Lottery One Member Co., Ltd. currently manages two facilities of houses and land that are no longer suitable for use needs, but the Provincial People's Committee has not approved the plan to rearrange and handle houses and land according to the provisions of Decree No. 167/2017/ND-CP and Decree No. 67/2021/ND-CP of the Government; (ii) Tra Vinh Irrigation Works Management One Member Co., Ltd. is managing about 943,595.37m2 of public land that has been compensated, has no need to be used and has been recommended to be handed over to localities for management and use, but has not been considered by the management agencies and submitted to the Provincial People's Committee for decision.
Many shortcomings in the thematic on the management and use of environmental protection funds and response to climate change in the period of 2021-2024
The audit results show that the collection, transportation and treatment of household waste must be organized for bidding but the unit performs it in the form of ordering, which is not in accordance with the provisions of Clause 1, Article 77, Clause 2, Article 78 of the Law on Environmental Protection No. 72/2020/QH24.
The units have not yet drawn up a survey record to determine the diagram of collection routes, transportation distances for domestic waste as a basis for determining unit prices for collection and transportation of domestic waste; the collection and payment work is mainly based on the volume of domestic waste collected, transported and treated when making estimates, not based on the actual weighting volume at waste treatment plant weighing stations, ... not in accordance with the provisions of Articles 24 and 25 of Decree No. 32/2019/ND-CP dated April 10, 2019 of the Government.
The People's Committee at the commune level has not presided over and coordinated with domestic waste collection and transportation facilities to determine the time, location, frequency and collection route for domestic solid waste according to Point b, Clause 7, Article 77 of the Law on Environmental Protection No. 72/2020/QH 14.
In Tra Vinh City, the unit price for domestic waste treatment using incineration technology (sh7 milestone) is 370,000 VND/ton, determined from the initial investment policy. However, despite the project's many changes in scale and design, the city still signed a contract and paid according to the old unit price, leading to an unqualified payment from 2022-2024 of VND 23,245 billion.
The total amount of waste received through the scale is 114,943.21 tons, while the accepted amount is 60,012.13 tons, while the actual capacity is only 52,608 tons, showing a large amount of waste accumulated over the years.
The city has not inspected and supervised the collection of prices of garbage collection and transportation units, so it has not determined the budget to be compensated. The number of households with estimated price collection is lower than the actual number of business households and enterprises managed by tax authorities. This difference alone has led to revenue exceeding the estimate by 8.862 billion VND.
Regarding the results of the valuation and handling of financial problems for the Tra Vinh Bus Station Management Board to convert to a joint stock company, it shows: The dossier of the bus station renovation project at the Satake Tam Phuong Factory site has not recorded a fixed increase in assets, and has not been calculated for wear and tear according to regulations. When determining the enterprise value, the assets and the 699 million VND budget advance payment have not been fully monitored.
The State Audit recommends handling 803.457 billion VND
From the audit results, the State Audit of Region IX recommended handling a total amount of VND 803.457 billion. In which, it is recommended to handle the financial situation of VND 346.066 billion, including: increasing budget revenue by VND 202.441 billion; recovering and reducing budget expenditure by VND 120.542 billion; reducing losses by VND 23.084 billion.
Other recommendations with a total value of VND457.391 billion include: increasing the source data for salary reform in 2024 compared to the data assessed by the Ministry of Finance of VND19978 billion; arranging the return of the lottery revenue and salary reform source of VND323.271 billion; increasing the transfer of salary reform sources of VND2.23 billion; adding documents, inspection and acceptance records to settle VND422 million; recovering overdue advance capital according to regulations of VND8.112 billion; reducing the estimated cost of appraisal approving project settlement of VND484 million; reducing the remaining contract value of VND78.093 billion; recommending investors to request relevant parties to check and properly implement the regulations on documents and drawings to complete the collection and settlement of VND279 million; adding documents due to lack of technical conditions (not meeting the conditions, not meeting the technical requirements of the project settlement documents and completing the drawings of the drawings of the project with VND24.6 million VND.
