There are more than 80 companies supplying transport consulting services, according to the Transport Construction and Services Management Department (TCSMD). Despite the large number of companies, however, there are only about 6,000 employees – equivalent to the workforce of a medium-sized traffic construction company – working in this field. The number of professional engineers accounts for 60 per cent of that figure.
Currently, Transport Engineering Design Inc (TEDI) is the country’s only company operating under the parent-subsidiary model with 10 subsidiaries and 1,500 workers and engineers. Another few companies have 100-200 employees.
Le Thanh Ha, deputy director of the TCSMD, said that there were too many shortcomings in the consulting services provided to transport infrastructure projects from the surveying, technical designing phases and supervising phase.
These shortcomings are blamed for cost increases and delays in construction projects, Ha said.
After completion, many projects are already out-dated and pose problems related to transport safety, which has a negative influence on the sector’s development targets, he added.
Ha also said that some projects even violated construction procedures, because consultants did not clearly understand regulations on construction and investment management.
Breakdowns in Cai Lan Port, as well as the Thanh Tri and Can Tho bridges have exposed the lack of quality in advisory services and management oversight in this field, he continued.
Deputy Minister of Transport Ngo Thinh Duc said that given the current quality and quantity, it is likely that domestic transport consultants will be forced to concede their market shares to foreign counterparts. Meanwhile, in the next few years, the number of transport projects is expected to increase, especially large scale projects such as the North-South highway.
The fact that there were too few people for the volume of projects allowed domestic companies the luxury of picking and choosing projects, said deputy head of the Road Transport Department Vu Bay.
Even when they had to concede one part of their market share to foreign counterparts, domestic firms remained the main consultant suppliers of transport projects, he said.
Nguyen Ngoc Long, deputy head of the State steering board for key transport projects, said that consulting companies must develop human resources to remain competitive.
The lack of qualified engineers is a huge problem. Most competent and experienced engineers were promoted to management positions, which has led to a talent shortage for undertaking the technical work, Long said.
Ha added that the shortage also stemmed from unsuitable incentive policies and low salaries paid to consultants.
Foreign consultants working in transport projects using ODA funds were often paid six to 10 times more than domestic advisors in projects funded by domestic capital sources.
TEDI general director Pham Huu Son said that TEDI’s subsidiaries were State-owned companies; thus they were not allowed to take part in projects using ODA capital from the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank.
Son stressed that it was clear that much more attention should be paid to the sector, otherwise the domestic transport project consulting and supervising sector would become less and less competitive. Even worse, the quality of the transport projects would be in jeopardy.
Minister of Transport Ho Nghia Dung said the ministry always tried to meet targets on building groups of competent engineers, designers and consultants and has asked consulting companies in the transport construction sector to boost international co-operation, and apply advanced technology and knowledge to help build modern transport infrastructure.
Source: Viet Nam News
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