The Seminar on morning April 26, 2022 in Hanoi attracted the great attention of organizations and individuals, most of which are Members of the Vietnam Engineering Consultant Association, operating in many fields such as consulting for construction of civil works, industrial works, electricity, energy, traffic, water supply and drainage, irrigation, agriculture and rural development, planning… and with the participation of the team of Project capacity building project in developing state management tools for construction projects (SMTC Project) of JICA.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Duyen, President of the Vietnam Engineering Consultant Association, speaking at the opening, commented: In recent years, state management agencies have paid special attention to construction investment management costs . From 2015 to now, the Government has issued 3 Decrees on management of construction investment costs, including Decree No. 32/2015/ND-CP, Decree 68/2019/ND-CP and Decree 10/ 2021/ND-CP. Decree 10/2021/ND-CP and guiding circulars promulgated to replace Decree 68/2019/ND-CP and guiding circulars have many new, more complete and practical policies. This shows the interest of the Ministry of Construction, especially the Department of Construction Economics, with the role of leading and advising the Ministry in formulating policies on construction investment cost management.

At the Seminar, delegates representing VNCC, TEDI, PECC1, DCCD, Coninco evaluated the policy changes under Decree 10/2021/ND-CP for better but also frankly stated: The biggest difficulties are that the announcement of prices of materials and materials to the construction site, the announcement of local prices is still slow and not close to the market. The announced list still lacks many types of key construction materials, many types of announced materials are not accompanied by standards, and the announced prices are often not updated compared to market developments, leading to the estimated cost, package price. There is a big difference between contractor and construction price. Mostly, the announcement of local material prices is considered on the basis of reference to the quotation of suppliers in the province without considering the supply and demand of the market. When there is a large project or many projects are implemented at the same time, it has significantly affected the cost management of the investor and the risk of the Contractor.

The delegates suggested that the Ministry of Construction and specialized ministries focus on correcting inadequate norms, greatly affecting construction investment costs; building new norms that are urgent and lacking in the norm system. The Ministry of Construction shall guide and inspect localities for the timely announcement of construction prices, in line with market prices and with regular inspection.

For problems and inadequacies in project management cost norms and construction investment consulting, opinions focusing on project management costs only on construction and equipment value are not appropriate because the task is not appropriate. Project management is all costs related to the project, including consulting costs and other costs; The cost of making a feasibility study report (FS) is still much lower than the design cost. Moreover, the FS phase is very important, determining the quality, efficiency and creativity of the project, so it is necessary to spend a lot of time and money on the FS phase. Expenses Do not mention the research, training, application of science and technology or new ideas in the design… The delegates also frankly mentioned the shortcomings of consulting salaries, the general cost level inadequacies, consulting cost norms for traffic works; publish the National Price Index; stipulating costs for the Dispute Board under the FIDIC contract, problems in ODA projects, etc.

Speaking at the Seminar, Mr. Dam Duc Bien said that in recent years, the system of mechanisms, policies and tools for construction investment cost management has been focused by the Ministry of Construction to direct the overall review and study to amending, supplementing and perfecting to suit the market mechanism and international practices. Mr. Dam Duc Bien noted that the announcement of prices and construction price indexes of most localities is “later” compared to market movements.

Mr. Dam Duc Bien emphasized that besides the responsibilities of State management agencies, investment deciders and investors, the role of consultants in construction investment is also very important. It is necessary to continue studying and perfecting regulations on construction investment cost management. Along with that, units, organizations and individuals engaged in construction consulting activities also need to be more professional to provide investors with the best consulting products. The Department of Construction Economics is ready to receive and listen to the exchange of opinions of the practitioners about the practical difficulties in construction investment cost management in general, on norms and construction prices in particular and to clarify together causes and proposed solutions. On that basis, the Department will report the MOC to study, amend and finalize policies, and solve problems to solve.