4 solutions to prevent waste: Diagnose the right disease, prescribe the right medicine

The third solution that General Secretary To Lam put forward in the article “Fighting waste” is to focus on thoroughly solving the causes of waste of public assets and resources with a focus on innovating the construction, completion and enforcement of laws; law making must originate from practice; taking people and businesses as the center and subject, promptly removing difficulties and obstacles, clearing resources, resolving and overcoming bottlenecks, expanding space, and creating momentum for development.

"Naming" waste

The report of the National Assembly's Finance and Budget Committee pointed out: The practice of thrift and anti-waste has had many changes and achieved important and positive results in many fields, but still revealed many shortcomings and limitations, which are risks leading to corruption and negativity such as: the management and use of the budget, disbursement of public investment capital, implementation of the 3 National Target Programs, the Economic Recovery Program still have many difficulties and limitations leading to waste of resources; the use of public assets is not economical; there are still many violations in the management and use of land resources, minerals, forest resources, water resources, etc.

Policies and laws governing socio-economic management in many areas are still not strict, consistent, and not suitable to reality. Some shortcomings in mechanisms and policies have been discovered but have been slow to be amended and supplemented, failing to meet requirements.

The system of economic and technical norms, standards and regimes in the use of capital and public assets has been updated, revised and supplemented quite regularly, but is still not close to reality, leading to limited compliance and lax implementation, causing waste of state capital and assets in many areas.

According to the Government report, in the disbursement of public investment capital in 2023, 91 out of 115 ministries, central and local agencies have disbursement rates below the national average; some units have disbursement rates below 10% of the capital plan.

Currently, 404 out of 908 projects and works have not put land into use or are slow to put land into use with an area of ​​about 18,308 hectares.

Illegal mining activities still have many complex factors, and many areas have mineral losses, not only wasting resources but also polluting the environment, affecting security, order and social safety.

According to the Ministry of Finance, the reduction of administrative procedures is sometimes slow, not timely, and not drastic; administrative procedures in some areas are still cumbersome and complicated, causing difficulties for people and businesses; the arrangement, consolidation, and streamlining of the apparatus, the reduction of focal points, and the reduction of intermediate levels still have some shortcomings; many public works are still abandoned...

Special remedy

In 2023, the Ministry of Finance was assigned by the Government to preside over and coordinate with relevant agencies and localities to review and propose amendments to the Law on Practicing Thrift and Combating Wastefulness, which must be completed as soon as possible.

The Ministry of Finance proposed 5 groups of policies for implementation, including perfecting regulations on the scope of the Law on Practicing Thrift and Combating Wastefulness to clearly define the relationship between this law and specialized laws; perfecting regulations on the concepts of "thrift" and "waste"; perfecting regulations to create a mechanism to encourage agencies, organizations and individuals to practice thrift; perfecting regulations on handling organizations and individuals with violations - focusing on handling the responsibility of the head and adding regulations on cases of exemption from handling for dynamic and creative cadres for the common good.

According to many experts and National Assembly deputies, in addition to amending the Law on Practicing Thrift and Combating Wastefulness, relevant agencies need to continue reviewing legal documents related to practicing thrift and combating waste, ensuring consistency and unity of the legal system and overcoming overlaps and contradictions.

It is necessary to focus on areas prone to loss, waste and negativity such as management and use of land, resources, credit, public asset management, public investment, use of state capital invested in production and business at enterprises; amend and perfect the system of standards, regulations, economic-technical norms, unit prices, and public spending regimes.

It is necessary to further simplify administrative procedures, create a transparent legal corridor for businesses; speed up the disbursement of public investment capital, and thoroughly handle unfinished and slow-progressing projects.

It is necessary to improve the quality of inspection and examination work, focusing on areas prone to violations.

Continue to strictly control state budget expenditures, impose administrative sanctions on violations in the management field such as the use of public assets, properly handle complaints and denunciations related to the management and implementation of state mechanisms and policies; promptly commend and reward advanced models in implementing measures to protect informants who detect waste.

It is necessary to organize auctions for mineral exploitation rights in a public and transparent manner; resolutely handle local officials who allow illegal and prolonged mineral exploitation to occur without handling...

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