Minister of Transport Dinh La Thang has ordered an inspection of the bidding process of a bidding package to upgrade two bridges in northern Vietnam, following media revelations of “pecuniary relations” between a transport deputy minister and a businesswoman in relation to the package.
Under a decision signed by Minister Thang last Friday, an inspection team has been set up and is headed by Le Van Doan, deputy chief inspector of the ministry.
The inspection of the bid package’s bidding process was ordered following the publishing of information by a number of newspapers that Transport Deputy Minister Nguyen Hong Truong left handwritten notes on an application for implementing the bid package.
The application was submitted by Ms. H.T.D.H., chairwoman of the T.H. Investment Joint Stock Company, to Deputy Minister Truong, according the local media.
Two online newspapers also published information saying that Ms. H. reportedly exchanged text messages with Truong to ask him to send her “the envelopes that she had sent to him many times.”
Such information drew much attention from the public to the relations between Deputy Minister Truong and the businesswoman.
The bid package in question, which is part of the Vietnam Road Asset Management Project (VRAMP), began on January 3 to upgrade the Trang Thua and Cong Neo bridges on National Highway 38B in Thanh Mien District, in the northern province of Hai Duong.
The project’s investor is the Vietnam Road General Department and the contractor of the said package is a partnership between Thuan An Trading and Development Construction Joint Stock Company and Dat Phuong Joint Stock Company, which had won the bid package.
The package has a total investment of over VND370 billion ($17.33 million), of which about VND292 billion ($13.67 million) comes from loans from the World Bank, while the remainder is covered by the Vietnamese side’s counterpart capital.
The upgrade of the bridges is expected to be completed within 18 months.
In talking with Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper last Saturday about “the exchanges of messages on pecuniary relations” between Truong and the businesswoman, Minister Thang said, “The ministry has set up an inspection team to inspect the bidding process of the said bid package. The exchange of text messages is a relation between individuals. Deputy Minister Truong has reported that there was no such exchange, so the ministry has no opinion about that.”
Regarding the handwritten notes by officials on documents, the Transport Ministry said that on January 7, 2014, it issued a regulation on handling written proposals by investors. Accordingly, such notes by ministry leaders are only a message of transfer of the proposals to agencies concerned and are absolutely not a basis for any priority to be given to investors in relation to the bidding procedure, selection of contractors or consultants, or other relevant issues. |
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