Five recently re-structured units tasked with managing all Ha Noi public construction projects employ some 1,000 officials but their operation remains ineffective, the city’s inspection team reported.– Photo kinhtedothi.vn

HÀ NỘI – Five recently re-structured units tasked with managing all Ha Noi public construction projects employ some 1,000 officials but their operation remains ineffective, the city’s inspection team reported.

The inspection team completed an examination of the five specialized project management boards and announced the results last week.

The five management units were established by the city’s People’s Committee this January. They were put in charge of managing construction of civil and industrial infrastructure works, traffic works, agricultural works and rural development, socio-cultural works, and water supply and drainage works.

These management boards replaced the 26 project management boards that existed previously.

The report showed that there were 984 cadres in these management boards, who were in charge of 668 projects, meaning that each project had, on average, more than one person assigned to shepherd it towards completion.

The disbursement rate, however, was quite low. By August 23, the management boards managed to disburse VNĐ1.6 trillion (US$70.4 million) out of VNĐ6.5 trillion ($286 million) of this year’s public investment plan, accounting for just 25 per cent of the target.

Funds allocated for 17 projects have not been disbursed at all, 14 of them traffic work construction with total investment capital of more than VNĐ386 billion ($16.9 million).

Site clearance for some projects was still slow, leading to delayed prolonged project implementation.

In addition, the management boards faced obstacles with internal funds disbursement. Some did not have enough funds to pay staff salaries and had to get loans from the State budget.

For example, the Agriculture and Rural Development Construction management board had to get advances of VNĐ6.2 billion ($272,900) and VNĐ1.4 billion ($61,600) from the city to pay salaries. 

Hồ Vân Nga, deputy head of the city’s People’s Council’s Sub-department of Economy and State budget, said the units operated inefficiently because they were based on the previous 26 management boards.

As a result, the number of staff was higher than required, but their qualifications and professionalism failed to meet the demand.

PhD Ngô Thành Can, deputy head of the National Academy of Public Administration’s Human Resource Management and Organization, said the city should conduct staff restructuring and change the operating model to make the units effective.

In response to the poor performance results of these units, the city’s inspection team has asked their management boards to revise the structure of each unit to increase efficiency.– VNS