Risks of waste in the project to build the headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

More than 10 years behind schedule

According to the inspection conclusion, the Prime Minister approved the investment policy for the construction of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Headquarters in Document No. 1581/TTg-CN dated October 22, 2007. After approval, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs promptly focused on implementing the Project. However, the implementation of the Project had many shortcomings, defects, and violations, mainly due to subjective reasons, leading to the Project being behind schedule and not yet fully completed, not achieving the set goals, causing waste and risk of loss to the state budget.

Regarding the risk of waste in the implementation of the Project, the Government Inspectorate concluded: "The Project has been behind schedule for more than 10 years, through 4 adjustments (the completion time was extended, adjusted from 2014 to 2025), failed to achieve the set goals and has the risk of waste in some contents".

Waste due to project delays and construction stops causing costs to arise: The construction stops in stages so far, the project cannot be completed on schedule for handover and use, leading to some contractors having to incur repair and remediation costs before acceptance of completion and put into use, costs for warranty work for equipment systems that have exceeded the warranty period and other costs such as management costs, bank guarantee costs, etc.

The work has been accepted (building A and building B (right) have completed the rough construction and exterior finishing) since the end of 2016 with a total value of construction and equipment of 1,666.5 billion VND, but it has been 9 years but has not been completed for handover and put into use.

Regarding waste due to allocated capital not being fully used, the Government Inspectorate concluded: In the 2009-2024 period, the Project did not fully use allocated capital, did not achieve the set goals, and was at risk of causing waste according to the provisions of Clause 2, Article 3 of the Law on Practicing Thrift and Combating Wastefulness 2013.

Depreciation of fixed assets: According to the provisions of Clause 1, Article 14 of Circular No. 162/2014/TT-BTC dated November 6, 2014 of the Ministry of Finance, fixed assets at agencies, organizations and units that do not participate in production, business, service activities, or contribute capital to joint ventures and associations, the agencies, organizations and units shall calculate the depreciation of assets. The Project Management Board has temporarily handed over the area and completed items in phase 1 of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Headquarters Project (building B on the left) to the Administration and Finance Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs for use. However, since putting (building B on the left) into use until now, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has not calculated the depreciation of fixed assets. In addition, there are items that have actually been put into use but have not been accepted and handed over for use (Construction package of outdoor landscape items)...

“The responsibility for the project being behind schedule and currently not yet completed, which risks wasting the state budget in some of the above contents, belongs to the Minister; Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs in charge of the Project, in charge of the Administration-Finance Department; the Administration-Finance Department; the Project Management Board and related units, organizations and individuals” – the inspection conclusion clearly stated.

Transfer to the Ministry of Public Security to review the violations

The Government Inspectorate has also transferred information, files and documents on some contents with signs of violations causing serious consequences to the Ministry of Public Security for consideration and handling.

The conclusion stated that the cases transferred to the Ministry of Public Security showed signs of violations of the crime of violating bidding regulations causing serious consequences under Article 222, violating regulations on investment in construction works causing serious consequences under Article 224, and violating regulations on the use and management of state assets causing loss and waste under Article 219 of the Penal Code.

Specifically, regarding the case of violating bidding regulations, the inspector discovered that the architectural design selection council arbitrarily changed the minimum score from 70 points to 60 points to include the design of the rejected consulting unit for classification.

The conclusion stated that a Korean company with only 68.3 points was selected, while the German company with the highest score of 78.2 points was eliminated. This action was considered to have violated the working regulations of the council, causing many consequences. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs also organized the bidding and signed contracts for 20 packages with a value of more than 4,388 billion VND, exceeding 904 billion VND compared to the total approved investment of 3,484 billion VND.

The inspector concluded that the above action violated the principles of construction investment cost management, violated the prohibitions in bidding, and went against the Prime Minister's instructions. This led to problems and delays in the project's progress, potentially causing damage to the state budget and the capital of some contractors.

Another content is the submission, examination and approval of the cost estimate for project establishment, construction design and the preparation of the total cost estimate that overlaps the consulting cost item for phase 1, causing an estimated loss of 42.9 billion VND. Next is the violation of signing contracts and hiring foreign consultants, with the total estimated loss to the state budget being 79.2 billion VND; the violation of negotiating and signing contracts for author supervision costs, with payment to the contractor of 5.4 billion VND, causing a loss to the state budget. The conclusion stated that the total value of the risk of loss to the state budget in the above cases is 127.5 billion VND.

The Government Inspectorate also transferred to the Ministry of Public Security to review violations in the evaluation of proposal documents for a number of bidding packages that violated regulations and the preparation and appraisal of the bidding package estimates used for designation. Specifically, the Government Inspectorate discovered that the contract value for equipment was much higher than the post-tax price of imported equipment, from 2 to 13 times. The preparation, appraisal and approval of the bidding package estimates were baseless and inconsistent with the market mechanism. Through inspection and verification, the value of the equipment was 183.7 billion VND (out of the total equipment value of 766.6 billion VND), the difference between the contract value and the import value was more than 108 billion VND, which could cause damage to the state budget.

In addition, the inspection agency also concluded that stopping the project in stages and lasting more than 10 years caused a waste of the state capital spent on the project of more than 4,000 billion VND.

Recommendations for handling responsibilities

The Government Inspector General recommends that the Prime Minister direct the Minister of Foreign Affairs to organize a review to handle responsibilities and take strict legal actions against groups and individuals from time to time related to the shortcomings and violations mentioned in the conclusion. Organize a review and handle responsibilities against the project management board, the Administration and Finance Department, the head and deputy head of the unit (from time to time) related to shortcomings and violations.

Recommend that the State Audit audit the preparation of the total investment estimate as a basis for continuing to implement and finalize the project.

The Government Inspectorate shall forward the conclusion to the Central Inspection Committee for consideration and handling according to its authority. During the implementation of the conclusion, if any violation of criminal law causing property damage is discovered, the units shall forward the information to the investigation agency for consideration and handling.

Source: https://baotintuc.vn/thoi-su/cac-nguy-co-gay-lang-phi-tai-du-an-xay-dung-tru-so-bo-ngoai-giao-20251031201604730.htm