MPI ups the ante on inspections

At the top of the inspection list will be infrastructure projects carried out under the forms of build-operate-transfer (BOT), build-transfer (BT) and build-transfer-operate (BTO) in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

Many problems have arisen from BT and BOT project management ever since local governments were given more power in investment licencing and management in late 2006. Inspections will commence from the first quarter of 2011.

MPI inspectors will also examine two state-backed projects. The first is the building of a new National Highway 3 linking Hanoi to northern Thai Nguyen province, being developed by the Ministry of Transport’s Project Management Unit 2.

The second project is the building the South Song Ma avenue in the central region’s Thanh Hoa province being developed by Transport Project Management Unit 1 under Thanh Hoa Department of Transport.

Inspection of the former will be held in the third quarter and the latter in the fourth quarter.

Some other infrastructure projects on the ‘black list’ are the Son La Hydropower resettlement project, the Hanoi-Haiphong expressway, and bidding activities regarding the construction of the north-south highway.

Massive investments in tourism property in 2010 has brought the industry onto MPI’s inspection plan radar with holiday home and tourism property investments in six localities – Thua Thien Hue, Khanh Hoa, Quang Ninh, Lam Dong, Binh Thuan and Danang – all set to go under the microscope. These inspections will begin in the second quarter and run through the fourth quarter.

In the second half of 2011, MPI’s Planning Management Department will look over new urban areas’ planning procedures in Dong Nai, Binh Duong, Binh Phuoc, Tay Ninh, and Kien Giang provinces in the south and Thai Nguyen, Vinh Phuc and Hoa Binh provinces in the north. It will also step up efforts to oversee the implementation of industrial parks’ planning in Ho Chi Minh City, Dong Nai, Long An and Tay Ninh provinces.