North-South Expressway Project: Early audit to promptly make recommendations and remove obstacles

August 16, 2024 06:58

A section of the North-South Expressway component project, Ham Nghi - Vung Ang section, passing through Ky Anh district, Ha Tinh province. (Photo: VNA)

(PLVN) - Due to its special importance, the North-South Eastern Expressway project for the 2021-2025 period has been allowed by the National Assembly and the Government to apply special mechanisms to facilitate the implementation process. Ministries and branches, including the State Audit, have also intervened early to remove obstacles in project implementation.

Effectiveness from special mechanism

The Eastern North-South Expressway is considered the national traffic "backbone". With such importance, in order to remove difficulties and obstacles in project implementation, the National Assembly (NA) issued Resolution No. 44/2022/QH15 on investment policy for the Eastern North-South Expressway construction project in the 2021-2025 period. On that basis, the Government issued Resolution No. 18/2022/NQ-CP implementing Resolution No. 44 with specific mechanisms such as bidding appointment; parallel and simultaneous implementation of steps; handing over mines to contractors for exploitation without having to carry out licensing procedures...

At the recent seminar "Overcoming the sun, overcoming the rain" to bring the North - South expressway to the finish line organized by the Auditing Newspaper, Mr. Nguyen The Minh - Deputy Director of the Department of Construction Investment Management, Ministry of Transport (MOT) said that special mechanisms have contributed to removing many obstacles for project implementation. In particular, the mechanism on material mines has helped contractors shorten the procedures for granting mines, proactively source materials, avoid material shortages, speculation, price increases, price pressure, affecting construction progress, contributing to proactively and speeding up progress. "There are projects where, after only 5 months from the start of construction, contractors have been granted material mines," said Mr. Minh.

Ministries and branches have also actively participated in removing obstacles in project implementation. Sharing at the Seminar, Mr. Vu Duy Bac - Deputy Chief Auditor of the State Audit (SA) of Sector IV said that, identifying the important role of the North - South Eastern Expressway, in order to promptly provide information to the National Assembly, the Government as well as management agencies, since 2023, the SA has included in the medium-term audit plan, the 2024 Audit Plan the audit content for key transport projects, including the North - South Eastern Expressway in the period of 2021 - 2025.

Focus on auditing and assessing legal compliance

Mr. Vu Duy Bac - Deputy Chief Auditor of State Audit Sector IV. (Photo: Auditing Newspaper)

According to the State Audit's plan, in 2024, the State Audit will audit 11/12 component projects, and in 2025, the remaining component projects will be audited. At the same time, the State Audit will continue to identify key audit issues. In particular, in parallel with the audit to confirm investment costs; and the assessment of legal compliance, the State Audit will focus on assessing the implementation of specific mechanisms of projects approved by the National Assembly and the Government; the advantages and difficulties in applying specific mechanisms and policies; and the detailed assessment of the progress of bidding packages and projects associated with specific causes affecting project progress... From there, appropriate and timely recommendations will be made to the National Assembly, the Government, relevant ministries and localities as well as investors and project management boards to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of capital management and accelerate project progress.

Mr. Vu Duy Bac also said that through the audit results of some components of the North-South Expressway in the East as well as some other expressway projects, it shows that the special mechanism has created many favorable conditions for the organization and implementation of the projects. However, the implementation of some contents set out in the Resolution of the National Assembly and the Government still has difficulties and shortcomings, notably the determination of filling materials and material prices at the mine. "Up to now, localities have not been able to determine the costs related to the mine level as well as the costs related to the exploitation of materials according to the special mechanism, leading to project management boards only temporarily paying according to the contract price to the contractor and there is not enough basis for the State Audit to confirm that investment cost", Mr. Bac cited.

From there, Mr. Vu Duy Bac hopes that the Ministry of Transport, the Project Management Boards and relevant units will fully and promptly implement the conclusions and recommendations of the State Audit Office to better implement the project, comply with legal regulations; at the same time, draw lessons from the implementation of the Eastern North-South Expressway project in particular and the implementation of projects in general, ensuring that investment resources are used most effectively.

Sharing the same view, Mr. Nguyen The Minh also hopes that, through the audit process, the State Audit Office, in addition to pointing out errors and shortcomings in the project implementation process so that relevant units can learn from experience and promptly overcome them, will also work with the Ministry of Transport to recommend to the National Assembly and the Government to direct the earliest removal of difficulties and obstacles pointed out through the audit, and soon complete legal regulations to facilitate the implementation of future projects.

The State Audit has just announced the results of the audit of construction activities and the management and use of investment capital for the Chau Doc - Can Tho - Soc Trang expressway construction investment project, phase 1. From the shortcomings and limitations discovered through the audit, the State Audit recommended financial handling of VND 1,845 billion; other handling of VND 45,154 billion. The State Audit also recommended reviewing, determining collective and individual responsibilities and considering handling according to regulations for a number of shortcomings in the selection of organizations and individuals who do not have sufficient capacity according to regulations...

Source: https://baophapluat.vn/du-an-cao-toc-bac-nam-kiem-toan-som-de-kip-thoi-kien-nghi-thao-go-vuong-mac-post522030.html