Arbitrary Planning, Without Vision, Lacking Strategy: Ratio

The De Cat tunnel area must be adjusted to both protect the relic site and ensure that the road avoids the center of Dien Bien Phu city.

4. Construction planning is not close to the actual situation, leading to the situation of capital allocation being spread out. The percentage of opinions agreeing is 91.52. Because the construction planning is not close to the actual situation, it leads to the loss of project implementation costs. For example, the Ha Bac road project: The design consultant (TEDI) completed the project but it was not approved, because the planning before and after the project was established had changed, the project was not updated and adjusted. Or the project to upgrade and renovate National Highway 37 during the project establishment phase, the consultant (TEDI) did not base on the planning, then when the technical design had to be adjusted for all sections passing through towns and townships.

5. Arbitrary planning, no vision, lack of strategy: Ratio

% of opinions agreeing is 78.79. The content of the planning is incomplete, arbitrary, without vision, lacking strategy, little attention is paid to solutions to implement the planning, leading to the situation that the planning cannot be implemented. The planning is not adjusted and updated to suit the changes in socio-economy and new circumstances, so the planning loses its relevance and does not meet the requirements for the development of transport infrastructure, which has been increasing rapidly. Rural transport (RT) in Bac Ninh province can be considered to develop unsynchronized, although it is considered the leading locality in the country in RT development. With the support and contributions of localities, more than 60% of village roads have been concreted (more than 805 billion VND). However, in contrast to the village roads, the situation of inter-district and inter-commune roads is not uniform and seriously degraded. Only about 30% of these roads are paved, most of them are narrow, with a road surface of only 3m, the rest are mainly gravel roads and dirt roads. The total cost for inter-district and inter-commune roads is about 200 billion VND. These are unacceptable shortcomings.

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The asynchronous development of village roads, inter-district and commune roads is a shortcoming, not only limiting travel and economic development between districts in the province but also reducing the effectiveness of investment in developing the rural transport network of the whole province in general [2].

6. Not improving the quality of project planning appraisal work:

The percentage of agreeing opinions is 95.15.

Construction planning is the arrangement of a specific site for the construction of a specific project or work when that project has been approved by a competent authority and has been granted land for construction.

In investment and construction activities, planning must be one step ahead. Due to the characteristics of construction production and the characteristics of construction products, mistakes in planning will lead to mistakes in construction: such as having to move the location when the construction preparation work has been completed (leveling, site arrangement...), or having completed the construction, having to move the factory, the construction to another place, causing serious loss. In reality, the quality of project planning appraisal has not been improved.

7. Strengthen forecasting and information provision for planning work: 95.15% of opinions agree.

To ensure efficiency in construction investment and transport activities, contributing to reducing loss and waste in basic construction investment activities, it is necessary to strengthen forecasting and provide information for planning work, including master plans for socio-economic development, industry development plans, infrastructure development plans, urban development plans and construction plans.

8. General construction planning in some places is no longer suitable for development needs, sectoral, regional and territorial planning is not yet consistent and connected: Rate

% of agreeing opinions is 91.52.

For example, the Vietnam Transport Development Strategy was completed in 2000 but was not approved until 2004; The approved plans were widely disseminated and became the basis for project proposals, so the proposed projects lacked comprehensiveness, and more necessary projects were not invested in, making the lack of infrastructure even more serious. The general construction planning of some places is no longer suitable for development needs, and the planning of sectors, regions, and territories is not consistent and coherent: ''Planning is not synchronous, not timely, not highly predictable, slow to issue detailed plans..., the above situation has caused the Vietnamese seaport system, despite receiving quite a large investment, to still be considered "many but not of good quality".

Despite the large number and continuous investment in upgrading, Vietnam's seaport system still cannot meet the requirements. Limited planning vision and low planning quality are considered the main causes of this situation...

''Detailed planning is waiting, ports are being built'': On October 12, 1999, the Prime Minister issued Decision No. 202/1999/QD-TTg approving the master plan for the development of Vietnam's seaport system until 2010. However, it was not until 4 years later that the decision to approve the detailed planning of the first group of seaports, the Northern group of seaports (August 12, 2004) was made. Thus, in the 5 years from 1999 to 2004, a number of ports and shipping channels were designed without a basis for detailed planning.

Deputy General Director of Hai Phong Port Truong Van Thai said that this was one of the most regrettable points of the previous planning. According to Mr. Thai, due to the delay in issuing the detailed planning, the Project to upgrade the shipping channel into Hai Phong Port using ODA loans from Japan was initially designed (in 2002) for 10,000 DWT ships (based on the master plan for the development of Vietnam's seaports until 2010).

However, in 2004, after the detailed planning of seaport group No. 1 was issued, allowing the construction of Dinh Vu port to accommodate 20,000 DWT ships, the design of the shipping channel had to be adjusted so that 20,000 DWT ships could enter and handle cargo in the Dinh Vu area. The adjustment of the shipping channel design caused additional costs and took a lot of time to complete procedures.

It must be said that the above situation is not unique to Hai Phong port because investors building seaports will certainly not stop waiting for detailed planning and the situation of "each person building for themselves" has made the shortcomings of the Vietnamese seaport system, which are already numerous, even more numerous. [21]

Second, the planning of investment and construction in the transport sector is still slow and does not ensure progress. Currently, the arrangement of annual investment plans for projects does not closely follow the strategic orientation goals and 5-year plans, or does not closely follow the investment progress of project implementation, which has been approved by competent authorities in the investment decision. This is also the cause of serious consequences, indirectly causing loss and waste of investment capital later, because when the project is completed and put into operation, it will be out of sync with other activities of the sectors and the whole society.

Investment projects in the annual investment plan are too dispersed, not close to the approved construction progress, which is shown in the fact that the larger the investment portfolio, the longer the investment time is, causing waste of investment capital. At the same time, the arrangement of investment capital is scattered, spread out, not in accordance with the decision in the planning, the number of group B, C projects in the following year is larger than the previous year, or projects that do not meet the conditions for planning are still recorded in the annual investment capital plan, making the implementation of the plan difficult, having to wait or when there is a volume of implementation, it is still not eligible for payment, creating a situation of capital appropriation, large debt, and loss.

The planning arrangement is not synchronous, still "asking" and "giving", everyone does it their own way, so many roads have been dug up and filled up to install underground construction systems as soon as they are completed, and the annual capital arrangement is still heavily subsidized. This can be seen most clearly in the capital arrangement for traffic projects, which is the source of budget capital (including the central budget and local budget). The capital arrangement is not close to the projects, and at the same time, the situation, progress and urgency in reality are not checked to arrange the annual capital plan, so the effectiveness of investment in construction of traffic works from the budget is not promoted. Many projects and works that need capital to complete are not allocated capital, or are allocated little capital, and many other projects have not completed the investment procedures but have been allocated capital. This is one of the most limited and existing contents in the work of planning for construction investment.

3.2.1.2. In the stages of project establishment, appraisal, approval, design, and cost estimates for construction works from the State budget in the Vietnamese transport sector

- The establishment, appraisal and approval of investment projects still have many limitations such as: The contents of the establishment and appraisal of investment projects are not clear and specific. Although the regulations on investment and construction management stipulate the main contents of the feasibility study report, there are no regulations on the minimum standards required for each indicator, such as how is the analysis of investment efficiency analyzed? The standards for a project to be effective and feasible... serve as a basis for comparison when appraising investment projects, so the appraisal of investment projects is only appraised according to the general criteria prescribed in the regulations and has not yet analyzed and evaluated each specific indicator.

- The responsibilities of organizations and individuals in establishing, appraising and approving investment projects, especially the responsibilities of those with the authority to decide on investment, have not been clearly defined, leading to widespread investment decisions and low investment efficiency.

- The system of norms and standard unit prices as a benchmark for design agencies and design and estimate appraisal is still lacking or outdated compared to reality. Many projects still have poor design quality and do not comply with existing standards and regulations. Many projects still have to continuously change designs, leading to delays and waste of investment capital.

- The work of preparing, appraising and approving technical designs for total estimates in many sectors, localities and units still fails to comply with regulations on approved contents in the decision on project objects, applying incorrect norms, incorrect unit prices, etc., creating loopholes and difficulties in the management, payment and settlement of investment capital, leading to waste, negativity and loss of capital.

- The situation where some competent authorities make investment decisions, approve technical designs, total estimates, and detailed estimates that are inaccurate, leading to the need for multiple additions and adjustments, even in many projects that are both designed and constructed.

The State regime stipulates that costs and consultancy (survey, design, etc.) are calculated in proportion to the cost of the project. Therefore, in reality, designers tend to increase the scale and safety coefficient of the project higher than normal to increase the value of the project in order to increase the design cost to benefit, but pay little attention to research and reasonable design to reduce unnecessary volumes [32].

In fact, the quality of professional qualifications is also weak as well as the lack of practical experience of consulting engineers, so in the process of surveying, designing, preparing and approving estimates, there are still many errors; not following closely the economic and technical norms issued by the State has also created loopholes causing loss and waste of State capital and assets. Manifestations:

* Geological survey still has many errors:

- NT1 Road (Son La Hydropower Plant Project): geological survey was inaccurate, landslide occurred burying an excavator under construction, killing people, causing material and mental impacts on NT (Cienco1). Cost increased by 11 billion compared to the estimated 30 billion (136%). Construction in remote areas is very difficult for workers' lives and activities.

- Bai Chay Bridge, package BC1, BC3: geological survey errors, many locations were expected to be rock until drilling for construction met soil. The design slope of the slope was 1/1.2; after the storm, it was not guaranteed to prevent the slope from collapsing, so it had to be adjusted to 1/1.5 and jerked 3 levels, causing the volume to increase in value by about 32 billion VND compared to the original estimate of 315 billion VND (110%).

- Hoang Long Bridge Project (Thanh Hoa): during the construction of the bridge pier, a caster cave was encountered (due to a lack of survey), so the northern approach road had to be demolished and the entire technical design had to be changed, causing a 6-month delay and billions of VND in damage to handle the installation of sheet pile walls on both sides of the sloped road shoulder and re-filling the roadbed at both ends of the bridge.

- Thuan An Bridge: pile length must be extended 1.5 times to reach the load-bearing layer, due to inaccurate geological survey.

* Technical design, technical specifications are incorrect and not consistent with reality:

+ Project to upgrade Rung Sac road, Can Gio district: The bridge section designed by Saigon Traffic Consulting Company had a series of incidents such as: pillars T4, T5 of Rach La bridge, pillar T5 of Loi Giang bridge all had incidents of pillars drifting towards the river after the pile driving had been basically completed. The project had to stop to determine the cause. After concluding that the cause of the incident was due to the area's geology being too weak, the surface mud layer being too thick and the pile system being on the sliding arc, so the design had to be changed to a bored pile foundation system, causing waste, and the project was delayed again.

+ Van Thanh Bridge Project: Designed by Southern Transport Design Consulting Company (TEDISOUTH). The underpass is placed on a pile system with a length of 5m ÷ 5.5m, density of 25 piles/m 2 , but the mud layer is too thick, the pile system is not enough to carry the load, causing subsidence, collapse, and cracking of the tunnel before it is put into operation.

+ Binh Loi Bridge Project: Designed by a joint venture of KOREACONSULANTS INTERNATIONAL and Southern Transport Design Consulting Joint Stock Company; The Thu Duc approach road is more than 8km long, of which 3km is located on the φ1500 water supply line of Thu Duc water plant supplying to Ho Chi Minh City. The design does not have a protection plan for the water pipeline system. Currently, the road construction must stop waiting for a solution. The project is prolonged, regardless of any solution to reduce quality risks, it will cause a waste of billions of VND. The above examples show that the design contractor's capacity is still weak, has not complied with the design process, has not fulfilled all responsibilities, creating many errors, affecting the quality of the project.

Examples show that the quality of survey and design work is still low, contractors do not fully comply with survey and design procedures, causing construction incidents, so there are still many shortcomings in the design perspective that need to be adjusted.[108].

* There are some projects where the survey quality is poor, leading to incidents during construction, requiring design changes or additional work items. For example, the "Ta Khoa Bridge" project (Son La province) had errors during the survey process during construction, requiring design changes for some specific items: Increasing the thickness of bored pile casing, shifting the pile position compared to the original design, expanding the T3 pier base, changing the design of the M0 and M9 pier foundations of T1 and T2 pier... The total investment increased from 118,461 million VND (Decision No. 4328/QD-GTVT dated December 17, 2001) to 148,760 million VND (Decision No. 3390/QD - BGTVT dated November 8, 2004);

* Low quality technical design documents sometimes do not meet requirements but are still approved. Some projects offer suboptimal design solutions.

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