Hanoi (VNA) - The Ministry of Transport should consider the possibility of cost overruns as it prepares to build a 654km section of the North-Southexpressway, NA deputies said at the ongoing fourth session of the 14th National Assembly in Hanoi on November 8. Their comments came during discussions inthe afternoon about the construction project that will be implementedover a four-year (2017-2020) period in the eastern part of the country. Minister of Transport Nguyen Van The said the expressway project has a total investment of over 118.7 trillionVND (5.27 billion USD) for the 2017-2020 period, covering 654km of roads. Itwill have 11 sub-projects, three of which will get public investment of 55 trillion VND(2.4 billion USD). Eight others will be built under the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) form. After land clearance, private investors will be called on to invest in the project, he said. The selection of private investors for theeight BOT projects will be through an open bidding process. The previouspractice of appointing investors will no longer be applied, theminister said. According to the Government proposal, BOTprojects will collect toll for 24 years at average fee of 2,500 VND (11US cents) per km. The current toll rate on the North-South expressway is1,500 VND per km. The said the ministry has proposedrates for different periods of toll collection. When the BOT projectsare completed, the initial toll fee will be 1,500 VND per km. It will beincreased gradually to reach 3,400 VND per km two to three years later,so as to minimise public inconvenience. Tran Hoang Ngan, a deputy from Ho Chi Minh City,agreed on the necessity to construct some sections of the expressway,saying that it will contribute to overall infrastructure development,improving national competitiveness, meeting travel demand and boostingtourism. The report submitted by the transport ministry is feasible, given budgetary constraints and high investment demands, he said. However, he also proposed that theGovernment estimates and prepares for cost overruns as the project willbe implemented over a large area for a long time. The land clearance involving the resettlement of more than 8,000 households should also be open and transparent, he added. Ngan said the estimated toll fees should be publicised early so that the public can give their feedback. Furthermore, the transport ministry mustreport to the NA lessons learned from previous BOT projects so as toavoid failures in the North-South expressway project, he recommended. Pham Phu Quoc, another NA deputy from HCMCity and general director of the State-owned Finance and InvestmentCompany in HCM City, said that investment rate of 181.5 billion VND (7.9million USD) per km for the expressway project was low compared to othercompleted projects like the Hai Phong-Ha Long (650 billion VND per km)and HCM City-Long Thanh-Dau Giay (479 billion VND per km) roads. “We must take into consideration thepossibility of cost overrun. In case this happens, there needs to beadditional funding sources,” he said. “We must also avoid slowness in investmentdisbursement. Many public-invested projects have encountered thisproblem, leading to sluggish progress,” he added. Quoc said that open bidding for theexpressway project was a good idea, but the process should alsoeliminate incapable investors and select experienced, capable ones. The National Assembly discussed thedraft amended denunciations law on November 8 morning, debating whetherauthorities should look into complaints against retired officials. HCM City deputy Major General Ngo Tuan Nghia, also the PoliticalCommissar of HCM City High Command of the People’s Army, said that thehandling of complaints against retired officials would be “verycomplicated”, and might be “taken advantage of to defame prominentex-officials”. “I think we should not have regulations regarding violations at work ofretired officials in the denunciations law,” Nghia said. Many public servants act correctly during their time in office, heexplained, but what they do might be deemed wrong at a later time. “Receiving such denunciations will have a bad influence over the retired,” he added. Head of the NA Committee on Legal Affairs Nguyen Khac Dinh argued that anyone who notices alegal breach can make a denunciation to the State to stop suchviolation, fix the damages if there are any, and to handle theviolators. “Therefore, regardless of whether the denunciated is still in office orretired or in another line of work, the authorities with jurisdictionare responsible for receiving and addressing all complaints in line withthe Law on Denunciations and other relevant laws,” he said. It was “suitable” to have a clear regulation on the jurisdiction tohandle complaints against ex-public servants for their violations whenthey were still in office, he added. Deputy Hoang Thanh Tung from the Mekong Delta province of Soc Trang said in principle, even ex-officials are subject to the law. “The regulation also matches the general policy of the Party and theGovernment to handle any former officials if they are found breachingthe law,” Tung said. According to the draft amendments, the deadline for denunciatingviolations of organisations and individuals is five years from the dayof wrongful acts and three years for breaches in State management work. A majority of NA deputies argued against such fixed time limits, asseveral violations might never be reported and handled due to exceedingthe deadlines. The denunciations law should not regulate a denunciation deadline butuse the already in place statute of limitations as a deadline forwhatever the denounced is accused of, legislators said.-VNA
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