Friday, November 02, 2018, 07:54 (GMT+7)
Project Management Unit 678 - twenty years of construction and development

The Project of building the Ministry of National Defence’s Headquarters was of significant to not only the Military but also the nation. To conduct this project, on November 6th, 1998, the Ministry of National Defence (MND) decided to establish the Project Management Unit 678 (PMU 678). Immediately after its establishment, while the number of personnel was still limited and the task was challenging, the PMU 678 focused on consolidating its organizational structure, and shaped determination for its staff to fulfill all assigned tasks.

The inauguration ceremony of the MND’s Zone B

Over the past 20 years of construction and development, the PMU has always attached to the assigned tasks and its characteristics, closely cooperated with the functional agencies in strictly following the construction process, especially for a project of great importance to the nation, from surveying to planning, designing, selecting contractor, implementation, supervision, payment, maintenance, etc.

In particular, attention has been paid to managing and supervising the construction of key work items and flexibly making adjustments in accordance with the requests of the Steering Committee. As a result, the constructions that it carried out were of good quality and appreciated by agencies, units and the leaders of the MND, such as the Zone A, Zone B (Headquarters of the MND), which not only met all the requirements of quality, technical details, safety and security but also finished a head of the schedule. Up to now, these constructions have been in use for more than 10 years with no incidents. They were designed to use for the leaders of the MND both in peace time and war time. Thanks to its successful accomplishment of initial projects, its prestige was heightened and it got the trust of the Party, the State, and particularly the MND. Therefore, it was assigned more and more work of upgrading and constructing key national projects, such as the Government’s building, the Government head office, Vietnam Military History Museum, etc.

To successfully accomplish all assigned tasks, the PMU actively prepared the regulations on operation, dossier management, bidding procedures, technical supervision, security, confidentiality, and finance, etc., then submitted them to the MND for approval, creating legal framework for implementing the assigned projects.

At the same time, the PMU also proactively made suggestions and recommendations to the Central Military Commission, the MND to set up the Project Steering Committee, the Security Sub-Committee, and the Appraisal Council at state level in conformity with the characteristics, mission requirements as well as the importance of each project. Along with that, the work of consolidating organizational structure, initiating new members into the Party, especially building a clean and strong party organization, a comprehensively strong and absolutely safe unit in accordance with the Resolution of the 12th Party Central Committee’s 4th Plenum on the Party building and ratification in line with the implementation of the Politburo's Directive 05-CT/TW (12th tenure)  and the Directive 87 of the Standing Committee of the Central Military Commission on studying and following Ho Chi Minh’s ideology, ethics and lifestyle, etc.

It can be said that in the process of building and development, despite the ups and downs, a great majority of officers and staff members of the PMU have promoted the spirit of creativeness and unification, overcoming difficulties, striving to complete all assigned tasks, including the excellent ones.

With the recorded achievements in the past 20 years, the PMU 678 has been awarded 6 certificates of merit by the MND; the title of “determined to win” unit by the General Staff for many consecutive years. At present, it is preparing documents to propose to the State for a "Third Class Fatherland Protection Order".

In order to record the above-mentioned achievements, the PMU’s Party Committee and Directorate have drawn following lessons.

Firstly, the Party committees and the commanders at all levels should pay attention to building determination to perform tasks for officials and employees. Being responsible for managing construction, its employees often have to perform their work in a scattered manner, right at the project site, in complex and extreme weather conditions, etc. Clearly understanding it, the PMU’s party committees and commanders at all levels have flexibly and creatively applied different forms and measures of education, combined regular methods with briefings right on the site.

Priority has been given to directing and exchanging information daily with units constructing key projects. The education contents have been comprehensive, focusing on the significance, importance as well as sustainability and security of the MND’s projects. Due regard has been paid to helping all subjects to thoroughly understand their assigned tasks; plans and roadmaps for implementation of projects, objectives and requirements, the time limits for implementation and completion of each work item and the safety regulations in construction, etc. On that basis, awareness and action have been unified, thus nurturing a sense of honor and responsibility, and the spirit of overcoming difficulties, creating synergy and determination to complete assigned tasks among cadres and employees.

The MND’s Guesthouse (166 Thuy Khue, Hanoi) came into use in July 2018

Secondly, importance has been attached to strengthening organizational structure and a contingent of cadres to meet the requirements. Soon after its establishment, under the direct leadership of the MND, the Project Steering Committee, the leadership of the Party Committee of the General Staff - MND, the unit strengthened its party system (party committees, party cells), commanders of the PMU and its departments, and mass organizations.

In response to the more demanding assigned tasks, more and more employees were employed; therefore, attention was paid to nurturing potential and admitting new party members in order to strengthen the leadership of party committee and party organization. Gradually, its first party cell developed into a party committee; the commanding systems at all levels were firmly consolidated, while their pioneering role in performing their tasks, especially the difficult and complex ones was brought into play.

In order to improve the performance of organizations, the PMU developed a set of regulations on responsibilities, relationships between organizations and the task of managing projects’ documents, construction quality, finance, schedule, and safety, etc. At the same time, measures were taken to build clean and strong party organizations in close association with the building of strong and comprehensive divisions and units.

Besides, attention was paid to stepping up the training to improve the comprehensive capacity of all staff members, focusing on raising knowledge, professional skills and experience on project management. Since the construction is always in direct contact with facilities and materials in large quantity and high economic value, the unit attached great importance to the education and preservation of the quality and morality of cadres and party members in association with standards of cadres prescribed in the Politburo's Directives 03 and 05 on the study and following of Ho Chi Minh's ideology, morality and lifestyle. Therefore, generations of cadres and employees have brought into full play the fine qualities of construction cadres and fulfilled all their assigned tasks.

Thirdly, promote the spirit of creativity in performing professional tasks. The PMU is both the investor and the direct manager of many projects in different fields, especially the MND headquarters project. So importance was attached to promoting innovative and scientific solutions to achieve the goals of saving money, shortening the progress of construction, and ensuring the quality of the work.

Accordingly, officials and employees, especially the leading engineers, concentrated on studying and proposing to the MND the plan to divide the project into 11 sub-projects to submit to the Government for approval. This is both a guideline and a creative solution, reflecting creative thinking in the management of large-scale project by its Project managing board. The division into sub-projects provided the PMU with opportunities to focus all resources (human, vehicle and technology, etc.) on one project at a time. At the same time, it was able to do related work, therefore speeding up the progress, and promoting investment efficiency, avoiding slippage, and costs increasing.

This initiative was of great significance and a foundation for the Government to adjust the regulations allowing the division of large-scale projects in to sub-projects then. Along with that, the PMU conducted regularly and effectively the tasks of reviewing and drawing lessons learned from the construction of each project so as to evaluate the advantages, limitations and conduct adjustments. Importance was also attached to conducting regular emulation activities, associating with special events of the country and the unit in order to encourage cadres and employees, and arouse their spirit of passion, creativity, revolutionary enthusiasm, create the synergy to successfully fulfil assigned tasks.

In September 2017, under the decision of the Standing Committee of the Central Military Commission, the Project Management Unit 678 was transferred from the General Staff to the MND Housing and Urban Development Investment Company, ending its investment in projects. Officials and staff of the PMU have been determined to successfully accomplish all new assigned tasks, deserving their 20- year tradition of construction and development, contributing to the tradition of the military construction branch.

Senior Colonel Nguyen Tuan Uu, Director of the PMU

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