There are illegal promises in government and enterprise contracts, and hundreds of millions of investments are exchanged for an invalid agreement! Inner Mongolia Liangjian "painted cake" to attract business, and the pursuit of responsibility and accountability is by no means soft

In recent years, some local governments in Inner Mongolia have had a prominent problem of "painting cakes" in terms of investment promotion and project construction. Once the enterprise completes the investment or project construction, the commitments made by the relevant local governments are delayed or not fulfilled for various reasons, and even some contract contents are identified by the court as major illegal administrative acts. In this regard, Inner Mongolia has issued a series of policy documents to continuously optimize the business environment. Since the beginning of this year, the Supervision Commission of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Discipline Inspection Commission has reported a number of typical cases that have harmed the business environment. He also said that for similar problems, in the future, it will be "found together and reported together."

Zhao Naiyu painted

1. There are illegal commitments in government-enterprise contracts

In recent years, in order to attract private enterprise investment, some local governments in Inner Mongolia have often promised in a large package of government-enterprise contracts: taxes and fees can be reduced, procedures can be facilitated, and resources can be matched. However, because some core commitments are not fulfilled, contractual agreements are reduced to "bait" to attract investment.

Yilong Construction Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Yilong Company), a private enterprise invested in the New Balhu Left Banner (hereinafter referred to as the New Left Banner) in Hulunbuir City, Inner Mongolia, has encountered such situations one after another, and hundreds of millions of yuan of investment have been exchanged for an invalid agreement.

Xinzuoqi is located in the northeast of Inner Mongolia, where winters are extremely cold. In order to further solve the heating problem, on June 22, 2011, New Left Banner and Yilong Company signed the "Agreement on the Construction of Central Heating Project in Amgulang Town" (hereinafter referred to as the Agreement), which stipulates that Yilong Company will be responsible for investing in the construction of the heating company.

Heating is a public sector with large investments, low returns, and may even lead to losses. In order to convince enterprises that the project can operate normally and effectively, local governments have begun to "draw cakes".

In the agreement, a compensation plan was stipulated: the New Left Banner Government was responsible for the free allocation of 100 million tons of coalfields located at the South Wuyi Ranch in Amugulang Town for Yilong Company as compensation for the loss of Party B's heating investment and operation, and promised to handle the relevant procedures.

At the same time, it also agreed on the content of the construction of the pipeline into the network of the new project, that is, Yilong Company is responsible for the construction of branch pipelines connecting the main line and the heat exchange station; the household pipeline is budgeted by Yilong Company, reviewed and paid by the developer, and constructed by Yilong Company.

These seemingly beautiful agreements hide huge risks behind them.

Zhao Zhongyi, chairman of Yilong Company, introduced that the first phase of the project alone invested 170 million yuan and began heating from October 2012.

At the beginning of the construction, the area and quality of local central heating were greatly improved, and once won social praise. The data provided by the New Left Banner government shows that in order to solve the problem of heating operation funds, from 2013 to 2018, a total of more than 190 million yuan of heating operation loans, public construction heating costs, heating subsidies, etc. were paid to heating companies, but the specific amount of various expenses was not introduced.

In this regard, Zhao Zhongyi said that sooner or later the loan must be repaid, the heating fee should have been paid, as for the heating subsidy, "I don't know how much I have been compensated."

The most critical problem is that the core agreement of the agreement, that is, the allocation of coal fields, has not been fulfilled. To this end, Yilong Company believes that the government "played" them, coupled with the subsequent change of the government leadership of the New Left Banner Committee, a series of contradictions intensified, so that the two sides "competed" for the pipe network. Yilong Company said that a large number of communities without permission and professional construction, forced access to its heating main network; the New Left Banner government said that the local communities that need new access to the network reflect that Yilong Company has expensive access to the network, and it does not have the ability to invest in the construction of the pipe network, considering that it involves major livelihood problems, so it selects construction enterprises through bidding according to regulations.

As a result of the scramble, the heat supply in some areas in the cold winter season is not up to standard. In late October 2018, Hulunbuir City, one of the coldest areas in Winter in China, has begun to heat comprehensively, and Amugulang Town, the seat of the New Left Banner Government, has been "fighting" between government and enterprises, Yilong Company until late November, and two boilers are being overhauled, resulting in the 800,000 square meters of residential heating in the township is not up to standard, some residential garages and corridor heating pipes are frozen, the heating pipe network is running at low temperatures, and many people have to endure the "worse" cold, and have to wear thick cotton clothes at home.

In the end, Yilong Company sued the New Left Banner Government to the court, demanding that the promise of allocating coal fields be fulfilled; the New Left Banner Government requested the refund of related costs, and also let Yilong Company stand in the defendant's seat.

The two sides came and went, busy with the court and the media. Why did Yilong Company, the "Golden Phoenix" who was attracted to investment in the past, become a "falling chicken" loved by no one in the New Left Banner? Why can't government-enterprise contracts be honored or even government-enterprise conflicts continue to escalate? The reporter of the "Economic Information Daily" contacted the main responsible person of the New Left Banner government and various relevant departments, according to them, the root cause of the problem lies in the agreement signed that year.

The written reply provided by the New Left Banner Government said that before the signing of the agreement, the Flag Government had repeatedly applied for the allocation of coal fields for Yilong Company, but the land, economic and information departments of Hulunbuir City clearly replied that the allocation of coal resources to heating enterprises was not in line with the policy.

In April 2020, when Yilong Company filed an administrative lawsuit with the Hulunbuir Intermediate People's Court on the relevant claims, in the trial defense, the New Left Banner Government also directly proposed that the agreement on the allocation of coalfields was invalid on the grounds that "the people's government at the county level has no right to allocate the coalfield resources involved in the case".

The court held in the first instance that the New Left Banner Government's unauthorized agreement to "allocate 100 million tons of coal fields for Yilong Company without compensation" was a major and obviously illegal administrative act, and ruled that the New Left Banner Government's act of making such an agreement was an illegal act, and rejected a series of litigation claims by Yilong Company for the New Left Banner Government to perform the above-mentioned agreement.

In the face of reality, Zhao Zhongyi, who invested heavily in the New Left Banner heating project and spent several years, cried and laughed: "I did not expect that the agreements that attracted me to invest in the first place were all violations of regulations and invalidity." ”

In the end, the New Left Banner government and Yilong Company agreed that the state-owned company would acquire the heating project. At present, the buyback work is underway.

Recalling the series of troubles caused by the project invested in New Left Banner, Zhao Zhongyi shook his head and said: "In the future, this place will attract investment, that is, it is said that it is crazy, and I dare not believe it." ”

2. Some places are accustomed to using "dragging tips" for performing contracts

In late March this year, just after a large-scale sand and dust weather, the western part of Inner Mongolia returned to its former blue sky and white clouds. At that time, seeing that the weather was getting warmer and warmer, the ecological comprehensive improvement of the river channel and the excavation pit treatment EPC (design and construction integration) project in the Helan Mountain Coal Mining Area of Alxa Zuoqi were also preparing for the finishing project of covering the green.

But Wang Mou, the head of the project department, was not happy because he had no money in his hands. He said that the project has been basically completed, but there is a big gap in the payment of the project payment, and "it is no longer possible to advance funds to do the finishing project."

The reporter checked the information and found that the project was openly bid for in 2019. After a series of procedures, Shaanxi Construction Engineering Ninth Construction Group Co., Ltd. won the bid. In August of that year, the Alxa Zuoqi Bureau of Industry, Commerce and Information Technology signed a contract with the construction company, with an agreed construction period from July 2019 to July 2021, and the signed contract price was more than 48.9 million yuan.

These two phases of the project have passed the acceptance by the design, supervision, survey and construction units, as well as the relevant government departments and expert groups of the flag, and the acceptance conclusion is "qualified".

A reporter from the Economic Information Daily interviewed the flag commander at the time in March this year. He said that the project was basically completed at the end of last year and has also been accepted, but due to the inability to cover the green in winter, it is planned to carry out the green finishing project this spring.

How much money is owed for this project? In front of the reporter, the flag chief called the director of the flag finance bureau to understand the payment of the project funds, and when he learned that the actual amount of work was 98% complete, and the payment progress was only about 62%, he immediately asked for the payment in accordance with the regulations and procedures. The flag chief at the time frankly said that the payment progress was indeed slow, which brought difficulties to the construction enterprises, and it must be a matter of learning from one another and making immediate changes.

However, it turned out that this was only a "delaying tactic". Wang Mou, the head of the project department, reflected that after the flag chief instructed the flag finance bureau to pay 5 million yuan to the project department, there was no progress; now, the then flag chief has been transferred, and the project department has been owed 21 million yuan of project funds.

There is also a company in Yakeshi City, a county-level city in Hulunbuir City, which has a similar experience.

The relevant person in charge of Guorunfeng and heat company said that their parent company, Guorun Taihe (Beijing) Investment Co., Ltd., signed the "Contract for the Heating Project of Xing'an New Town in Yakeshi City" and related supplementary agreements with the Yakeshi Municipal Government in 2014, which clearly stipulated that the project was an investment attraction project of the Yakeshi Municipal Government.

The reporter checked these documents and found that in the "Contract", the Yakeshi Municipal Government promised to "ensure that the new heating area in 2014 is not less than 1 million square meters, and the new heating area in 2015 is not less than 1.5 million square meters", if the new heating area is lower than the above area, the Yakeshi Municipal Government will "make up the interface fee according to the above area". At the same time, in the supplementary agreement, the Yakeshi Municipal Government also promised to agree to provide a financial guarantee for the enterprise to charge the interface fee of the new network heating building on an annual basis, and to provide a financial guarantee for the collection of heating fees, "If the fee is not received in time according to the contract, Party A (i.e. the Yakeshi Municipal Government) undertakes that the fee will be paid by Party A's finance."

On the guarantee letter stamped with the official seal of the Yakeshi Municipal People's Government and the official seal of the Yakeshi Municipal Finance Bureau, the reporter saw that it clearly stated that it "agreed to provide a financial guarantee for the payment of interface fees and heating fees receivable in 2014 and 2015 for the Heat Source Plant and heating projects in Yakeshi Xing'an New Town", and the amount of the guarantee was the sum of the above expenses, but not less than 294.5 million yuan.

The above-mentioned person in charge said that these agreements are the core terms to attract enterprises to invest, however, since 2014, due to the construction progress of Xing'an New City in Yakeshi City, the heating area has been delayed: in 2014, the heating area was only 200,000 square meters, and in 2015 it increased to 500,000 square meters. To date, the company has only 1.97 million square meters of heating space.

The reality of the grim situation has led to the company's continuous losses. The "good promises" of the Yakeshi Municipal Government at that time were not fulfilled. According to the above-mentioned person in charge, since 2014, the Yakeshi Municipal Government has only paid more than 140 million yuan to the company, which is far lower than the sum of the interface fees and heating fees receivable in 2014 and 2015 that the Yakeshi Municipal Government should pay according to the contract.

3. Inner Mongolia Liangjian "painting cake" vice

Accountability is by no means soft.5

Li Wei, a partner at Beijing Fada Law Firm, and other experts interviewed believe that in recent years, the lack of integrity exposed behind the "drawing cake investment" and "drawing cake agreement" in some places has always been the biggest cancer that undermines the business environment. Especially for some local "urgent" projects, in the absence of projects and no plans, individual local leaders "pat their heads" to engage in construction, find contractors, and tell each other to "get it first, get it first, settle it for you when it's done", and swear to guarantee it. At this time, some enterprises that support many employees and survive by contracting construction projects will often borrow money and advance funds according to the verbal requirements of the other party.

The experts interviewed believe that the "drawing cake" of individual local party committees and governments to attract investment not only hurts enterprises, but also makes the local business environment go to a quagmire, and the entire economic and social development is affected. The integrity indicators of local governments are an important "barometer" of whether a local business environment is good or bad. The business environment is an important part of the development environment and a concentrated embodiment of the soft power and comprehensive competitiveness of a region's economy.

Because of this, in the first half of this year, the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region held a regional conference on optimizing the business environment, and played a short film on the business environment, exposing some typical cases that damaged the business environment, which was full of spicy taste.

Previously, from September 6 to November 30, 2020, Inner Mongolia sent four inspection teams to carry out special inspections to optimize the business environment in 12 league cities in the region, and a total of 327 key problems were found and 82 problems were transferred to the establishment and reform of the city.

At present, Inner Mongolia has placed the optimization of the business environment in a prominent position in the overall work, and has spared no effort to grasp it as a major event in the opening year of the "14th Five-Year Plan".

A series of documents have also been issued and implemented. Since the beginning of 2021, Inner Mongolia has issued a series of policies and documents to optimize the business environment, including the "Twenty-six Measures for optimizing the Business Environment for the Convenience of the People and Enterprises in the Reform of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Public Security "Decentralization service", the "Several Measures on Further Optimizing the Business Environment of the Rule of Law" jointly issued by the Political and Legal Committee of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Party Committee and the Office of the Party Committee of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Committee, and the "Twenty Measures of the People's Procuratorate of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region on Service Guarantee and Optimization of the Law-based Business Environment".

Optimizing the business environment requires not only policy support, but also pressure transmission, otherwise the inertia of thinking that some cadres have formed for many years with poor market awareness, weak service awareness, weak awareness of the rule of law, and lack of integrity awareness cannot be truly corrected.

To this end, discipline inspection and supervision departments have also taken action. At the beginning of this year, the Opinions of the Discipline Inspection Commission of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region on Giving Play to the Supervision Function to Optimize the Business Environment was officially released, which is the No. 1 document of the Discipline Inspection Commission of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region discipline inspection commission in 2021.

Since the beginning of this year, the Discipline Inspection Commission of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region has continued to report on a number of typical cases that harm the business environment through the media "naming and shaming", and pointed out that the problems behind these cases are essentially the use of power or position to influence interference and disruption of normal market order. Some of the persons involved in the case were seriously held accountable for violating discipline and law, and were even transferred to the judicial organs for handling. The Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Discipline Inspection Commission said that for similar problems, in the future, it will "discover together and report together." ”

Reporter: Liu Yide, Jia Lijun, reported from Hohhot

Source: Economic Reference Newspaper

Column Editor-in-Chief: Qin Hong Text Editor: Lu Xiaochuan Title Image Source: Shangguan Tu Editor Photo Editor: Yong Kai

Source: Author: Economic Reference Newspaper