Xinhua News Agency, Nanning, April 17th Title: Re-taking projects and lightly accepting 3,000 scientific and technological projects as "unfinished"
Xinhua News Agency reporter Li Bin
More than 3,100 scientific and technological projects over the years have received support funds, but they have not been accepted for several years, and the funds have not been recovered according to regulations, involving more than 700 million yuan. What are the problems behind the "unfinished" science and technology projects in Guangxi?
More than 3,100 projects are overdue for acceptance, and some are overtime for five or six years.
After many whistleblowers reported for a long time that an enterprise in Liuzhou was suspected of obtaining funds for science and technology projects, the Science and Technology Department of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region recently found that as of June 30, 2015, there were more than 3,100 projects that were overdue (or expired) and had not been accepted, involving 713 million yuan in funding.
A list of overdue scientific and technological projects obtained by the reporter shows that the projects that have not been accepted involve many natural and social sciences such as industry, agriculture, architecture, education, environmental protection and biology, and the undertaking units involve party and government organs, scientific research institutes, universities, media, enterprises, etc. Each of these projects has a completion time, and some of them have exceeded the acceptance time limit for five or six years.
The reporter’s investigation found that there are many hidden problems behind the "unfinished" of a large number of scientific and technological projects, which cannot be ignored.
Wei Zhibian, director of the Planning and Finance Department of the Science and Technology Department of the Autonomous Region, said that more than 500 of the more than 3,100 projects were before 2008. At that time, results appraisal was required, and there was no strict management method for project acceptance. It is reported that these projects will not enter the acceptance procedures and will no longer be handled publicly.
Liuzhou Productivity Promotion Center undertook the project of "Liuzhou Digital Science and Technology Basic Service Platform Construction" in 2011, and received 1.5 million yuan of support funds. According to the contract, it should be accepted in December 2013, but it has not applied for acceptance yet.
Some projects have changed, but the management department has let it go. In 2012, Guangxi Liuhua Chlor-Alkali Co., Ltd. undertook the project of producing sodium chlorate by new energy-saving technology, and the Science and Technology Department of the autonomous region gave 300,000 yuan of assistance funds, which has been overdue for more than two years and has not been accepted yet. Wang Xinrong, the project leader and deputy general manager of Liuhua Chlor-Alkali Co., Ltd., said that the project had done preliminary work at that time, and later it was terminated due to the falling price of sodium chlorate. The company later reported to the Science and Technology Department to apply for termination of the procedure, but it has not been answered.
According to the regulations, scientific and technological projects must be accepted four months after the expiration of the project, and it is illegal to accept them after the expiration of the time limit. More than 3,100 projects that have not been accepted on schedule have exceeded the time limit and can no longer be accepted according to regulations.
Some accepted projects have fraudulent acceptance. In December last year, the Science and Technology Department made a preliminary determination on a number of behaviors of Liuzhou Weite Printing Machinery Manufacturing Co., Ltd. and its affiliated enterprises to obtain scientific and technological funds: the Inspection Report in the acceptance materials of three national scientific and technological plan projects such as the company’s "CNC laminated special flexographic printing machine" and the autonomous region’s scientific and technological plan projects was forged.
Holding the project to find the "official hat", some projects hide the exchange of interests.
The reporter was informed that there were 2,588 overdue projects after 2008, and by the end of December 2015, 1,047 of them had passed the acceptance. In the second half of last year, Guangxi science and technology department concentrated on accepting overdue projects suspected of violating regulations.
For the overdue acceptance of the project, the financial funds invested should be recovered. According to the measures for the administration of science and technology projects issued by the Science and Technology Department of the Autonomous Region and the Department of Finance, the project fails to apply for acceptance and other situations. "The Science and Technology Department of the Autonomous Region shall record bad credit records, give a warning, informed criticism, suspend and cancel the project (project) according to the seriousness of the case, recover the allocated financial subsidy funds, and cancel the application qualification of the project (project) of the unit or relevant personnel within 1 to 3 years. Those suspected of committing a crime shall be transferred to judicial organs for handling according to law. "
It is understood that after sorting out a large number of projects that have not been accepted, at present, except for a few projects, the Science and Technology Department of the autonomous region has not handled the overdue projects in accordance with the regulations.
The survey found that among more than 3,100 overdue projects, many of the project leaders are leading cadres at or above the departmental level, and some projects were issued in 2008 but have not been accepted so far. According to a cadre of the Science and Technology Department, there are more than 100 projects in Guangxi that involve leaders at or above the deputy department level as responsible persons to undertake scientific and technological projects, and some leading cadres have taken the lead in undertaking several projects without acceptance.
"Some scientific research project approvers want to have a good relationship with some leading cadres, and there is an exchange of interests behind it." The cadre said that leading cadres should take the lead in undertaking the project and should abide by the regulations, but the reality is that these cadres have brought bad atmosphere.
When will the "only look at the materials" stop when the re-entry project is lightly accepted?
According to the data, from 2008 to 2014, Guangxi issued 11,222 science and technology projects (projects) in the autonomous region, and funded financial science and technology funds of 2.64 billion yuan. In addition, cities and counties still have a lot of funds to support science and technology projects.
"In the past, the science and technology department had some problems of rearrangement and light management. Some projects were accepted and some may not be accepted." The person in charge of Liuzhou Science and Technology Bureau said that the bureau has investigated the acceptance of science and technology projects.
A section chief of Liuzhou Science and Technology Bureau said: "There are too many projects. As a science and technology department, we can only look at the materials when accepting some projects." In 2015, Liuzhou Science and Technology Bureau spent 300,000 yuan to entrust a third-party organization to conduct external audit of the projects implemented since 2010, but it can only cover about 30% of the projects.
Chen Shengwen, director of the Policy and Regulation Supervision Department of the Science and Technology Department of the Autonomous Region, said that the Science and Technology Department is taking measures to strengthen supervision over the problems existing in the fund management of science and technology projects. Set up a special working group, arrange special funds, organize and entrust professional institutions to conduct major investigations and clean-ups on key and major scientific and technological projects implemented in the past three years to plug loopholes; Revise the management measures for the acceptance of Guangxi science and technology projects, and innovate the supervision methods of science and technology projects during and after the event.
The reporter’s investigation found that science and technology funds play a positive role in promoting scientific and technological innovation, but there are also some problems in the process of project establishment, such as "looking for relationships to fight for projects", "looking for things after having money" and "continuing to spend money without money".
Chen Bulei, a professor at Southwest University of Political Science and Law, suggested improving the systematic and targeted use of science and technology funds. Projects that cannot be accepted and closed should recover funds in time and be dealt with according to regulations; Science and technology projects should establish a public publicity system, introduce social supervision, and disclose the project name, undertaker, project leader, amount, time limit, completion and other information from the beginning of the project. If the project is not completed, it shall be liable for breach of contract or violation of law.