Construction work on the National Highway 18 project, funded by Japanese official development assistance (ODA), in Quang Ninh Province.

International donors recommend that civil society play a stronger role in Vietnam’s war on corruption, especially when it comes to monitoring major infrastructure projects.

The ambassador suggested encouraging citizens’ organizations and the mass media to monitor construction projects.

Agreeing with Hansen, Cameron Hill from the Australian Embassy said Vietnam should establish a concrete audit process for construction projects as part of a solid action plan against corruption.

World Bank Country Director in Vietnam Victoria Kwakwa suggested increasing the private sector’s role in monitoring projects and pushing for information disclosure. She said the private sector could help improve the project bidding process and independent assessment could project transparency.

Meanwhile, Asian Development Bank (ADB) director in Vietnam Ayumi Koshini said it would be necessary to simplify administrative procedures to prevent corruption in the construction sector and ensure project effectiveness while protecting the interests of beneficiaries.

International donors at the meeting also recognized Vietnam’s issuance of a resolution on the National Anti-Corruption Strategy.

In response to the recommendations, Vietnam Inspector General Tran Van Truyen said the government was strengthening policies and institutions to better monitor major projects while also reviewing administrative procedures, improving the roles of inspection agencies and civil society in battling corruption.

He noted that more long term goals included improving the legal system and said that the government was also concerned about corruption in land management.

He also said government agencies were working to better protect and reward whistleblowers.

Loopholes exploited

Despite the efforts of society and the government, corruption was still complicated and serious as anticorruption work has not lived up to high expectations, said Vu Tien Chien, head of the Office of the Central Steering Committee on Corruption.

The Government Inspectorate has detected wrongdoings in most stages of many infrastructure projects.

Chien said this was likely because such large sums of money were involved and administrative procedures still remained complicated, with many loopholes to be exploited by the greedy.

Nguyen Xuan Nhat, vice inspector of the Ministry of Construction, said poor state management over the use of investment capital and the verification of its sources was mainly due to the limited capacity of project management units.

He also said policies were often contradictory and caused legal conflicts, adding that regulations and punishments were vague and unclear.

Reported by Bao Van