Equipment package completed but payment not yet possible

According to records, the waste incinerator located in Cam Ha commune, Hoi An city has not yet been put into use. Waste in Hoi An is collected and brought to the factories of this project for classification.

A worker said this is just a garbage collection point, not a garbage burning site, and the incinerator is not yet operational.

According to Hoi An City People's Committee, the investment project to build a waste incinerator in Hoi An was approved by the Provincial People's Committee in 2013 with a total investment of 25.6 billion VND.

The project is divided into two main packages, including construction items: construction of main factory, gate fence, lighting system, internal roads.

Equipment category: construction, supply and installation of equipment for the Hoi An waste incinerator technological line. For the equipment package, the total contract value is about 15.6 billion VND, the winning bidder is Trang An Xanh Company Limited, the contractor has completed the entire volume of work according to the contract.

After the Hoi An household waste incinerator project was constructed and installed according to the project documents, the contractor conducted a trial incineration as a basis for acceptance (from 2016-2017). However, after 3 trial incinerations, the incinerator capacity did not meet the contract requirements.

Therefore, the work of organizing the acceptance of completed equipment items has not been confirmed by the Project Management Board and the investor has submitted a request for opinions from competent authorities for handling direction.

After many consultations, in 2020, the Provincial People's Committee agreed to allow the acceptance of the waste incinerator system under the construction package, supply and installation of technological line equipment of the project according to the actual average capacity through trial operations.

On that basis, the investor has completed the dossier and sent it to the Department of Construction to inspect the acceptance of the completed project according to regulations and the Department has instructed and requested to supplement some contents related to the bid package.

However, after many attempts to contact the contractor, the contractor could not be contacted to complete and supplement the procedures as required by the department to have a basis for inspection and acceptance of completion. Currently, the investor is working with departments and branches to be guided to complete the procedures for acceptance and putting into use, and final settlement of the project.

Mr. Nguyen Minh Ly - Vice Chairman of Hoi An City People's Committee - said the reason for the delay in putting the project into operation is that the unit that previously built, supplied and installed the equipment for the waste incinerator technology line, Trang An Xanh Company Limited, has gone bankrupt.

"We have contacted this company many times, but the address no longer exists in the management system. We have asked them to cooperate, but there is no information, so this has been dragging on for many years," said Mr. Ly.

According to him, the city recently asked for approval, the Provincial People's Committee also agreed that if there is no information, they will publicly announce the termination of the contract, and are currently completing the procedures.

The city also asked for the province's policy to terminate the contract with the company. Only after the contract is liquidated can the project be finalized and the project put into operation.

Province requested to review responsibility

According to Hoi An City People's Committee, the construction package has submitted a request for approval of the final settlement, but some issues are still being submitted for approval by the Provincial People's Committee. The contract price is about 6.9 billion VND, the package was completed and accepted in 2016.

In 2020, the Department of Finance issued an official dispatch, pointing out that two small bidding packages of the construction category, which are consulting packages for preparing environmental impact assessment reports, were not implemented in accordance with the procedures in Decree 85 of the Government on the implementation of the Law on Bidding and selection of contractors.

In addition, the audit package for the final settlement report, the selection of the contractor was not in accordance with the time according to the approved bidding plan.

Recently, the Provincial People's Committee issued an official dispatch on the settlement of these two small bid packages. Accordingly, the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee requested the People's Committee of Hoi An City (the project investor) to seriously review the responsibilities of the relevant collectives and individuals under their management in the implementation of documents, procedures, and organization of contractor selection for the two bid packages of this project, which violated the provisions of the law on bidding and delayed the implementation of acceptance procedures and settlement of the project.

Considering that the two above packages have been completed by the investor, it is necessary to agree on the policy for final settlement of the two packages according to the contract signed with the consulting contractor.

Request the People's Committee of Hoi An city to take responsibility for urgently completing, supplementing, and fully explaining the contents related to the project's construction, installation, and technological line equipment items according to the opinion of the Department of Construction.

At the same time, the investor is required to send the Department of Construction to inspect, review and approve the acceptance results for the above items.