But the new proposal would allow the government to raise that amount.

Deputy Tran Ngoc Vinh of Hai Phong City vehemently opposed the idea.

Vinh said regulations should not allow no-bid contracts even for these small projects.

“There should be detailed criteria for assigning contractors without bids, even on confidential national projects,” he said.

Deputy Dinh Muok of Quang Nam Province said one local district administration had reported of receiving phone calls from its superiors telling them who to assign specific no-bid contracts to.

“The district administrators told me they knew for sure that the contractor was incompetent,” he said. “But things would be hard for them in the future if they don’t obey the instructions from higher authorities.”

But the debate heated up when Ho Quoc Dung of Binh Dinh Province voiced his support for the proposal.

He said the change would help reduce investment costs by 3-5 percent and argued that many investors simply handed their projects to whichever contractor they liked anyway, even under today’s stricter regulations.

Delegate Le Van Thanh of Hai Phong also said bidders can all too easily collude to increase prices or compete unfairly for cheap prices, which leads to sluggish and low-quality construction.

The National Assembly’s fifth session continues today with the presentation of a proposal on financial restructuring in the education sectors, as well as discussions of a new draft health care law and the urban zoning law.

Reported by Xuan Toan – Luu Quang Pho