VietNamNet Bridge – National Assembly (NA) deputies expressed concern over increasing wastefulness in almost all sectors during a discussion of the revised Law on Practicing Thrift and Fighting Wastefulness on Tuesday.

Photo: VNN

Deputy Trinh Ngoc Thach from Hanoi City said wastefulness should be considered a national calamity. In other countries, wastefulness is strictly prevented thanks to arbitrary measures and technologies. But in Vietnam, it is easy to waste public properties and the problem seems unpreventable.

Deputy Huynh The Ky from Ninh Thuan Province said that wastefulness is as dangerous as corruption. For a corruption case, it is possible for law enforcement agencies to take legal actions against violators. However, it is difficult to determine assets that have been wasted.

Ky said he was concerned that sanctions against wastefulness had yet to draw proper attention, and suggested that the law be changed to the Code on Anti-Wastefulness.

Deputy Le Van Tan from Ha Nam Province gave an example of wastefulness, saying that hundreds of thousands of billions worth of government bond capital was wasted between 2006 and 2012. This case was mentioned by the NA Standing Committee right at the session.

Tan said the committee had considered the report on this government bond capital use and worked with the Government, 10 ministries and authorities of 22 cities and provinces. Then, they continued to look into reports of authorities of 63 provinces and cities, of 39 NA deputy delegations, the State Audit of Vietnam, Government Inspectorate and other ministries.

However, wastefulness was not detected through this supervision mechanism. There were no answers to many questions such as how much has been wasted? Where has the money been gone? Who will bear responsibility for this problem? How to deal with the problem?

“With the supreme supervision result of the NA Standing Committee, we feel very worried,” Tan added.

Deputy Ky of Ninh Thuan worried that festivals are being organized everywhere from national to provincial, district and commune levels, causing a big waste. Many government meetings have been organized whereas online conferences can be held to reduce costs.

The Law on Practicing Thrift and Fighting Wastefulness was adopted at the 11th National Assembly in 2005.

A recent report of the Government shows that there are over 34,500 autos owned by State agencies at present. However, these cars have a total book value of only over VND5.8 trillion, or 32.2% of their total initial value of VND18.2 trillion.

Source: SGT