Mounting pressure for public investment disbursement in year ahead
VOV.VN - Accelerating the disbursement of public investment can be considered one of the key political tasks of the Government this year following slow progress made in the work last year.
Last year witnessed nearly VND540 trillion worth of public investment disbursed, meeting 80.6% of the yearly plan. Pressure is therefore mounting this year as the capital to be disbursed will rise to more than VND700 trillion, plus the remaining amount of last year’s undisbursed figure.
Land acquisition is the biggest bottleneck that has caused delays to the disbursement of public investment over recent years. After the Government allocated public investment capital for this year, the Hanoi administration has focused on removing obstacles faced in land acquisition, thereby making it easier for key projects such as Ring roads 4, 3, and 5, as well as other regional transport projects, to swiftly get off the ground.
“All mechanisms and policies have been reviewed, especially those related to land acquisition,” said Ha Minh Hai, vice chairman of the Hanoi administration. “The city has also promulgated a common mechanism for all districts, enabling them to deploy work synchronously,” he added.
Transport is the sector that has received the most public investment capital so far with more than VND94 trillion allocated, a figure which stands at 1.7 times higher compared to last year. On average, this sector has to disburse more than VND7.8 trillion per month.
“We have early developed a monthly disbursement plan for each project, and at the same time assigned officials to monitor project progress at the site, so that any problems that may arise will be reported to the ministry’s leadership for prompt solution,” said Bui Quang Thai, director of Planning and Investment Department under the Ministry of Transport.
The Prime Minister views public investment disbursement to be one of the key political tasks for the year ahead. As a means of accelerating the work, enhancing the accountability of leaders of ministries, agencies, and localities is a must.
The Ministry of Finance reported that nearly VND640 trillion worth of public investment has so far been allocated to ministries and localities, meeting more than 90.3% of the capital plan assigned by the Prime Minister.
In January, ministries, agencies, and localities were busy allocating detailed capital for projects and completing investment procedures, meaning that the disbursement rate of public investment capital stood at only 1.72% of the plan, much lower than during the same period last year.
In Ho Chi Minh City, despite concerted efforts, the disbursement rate for public investment reached less than 70% of the assigned plan. Moving into 2023, the city has allocated capital from the early days of the year and introduced a range of solutions aimed at improving disbursement process for public investment.
This year the city has moved to classify four groups of public investment projects, with each group specifying the responsibility of governing bodies and investors. The ultimate goal is to reduce the time it takes to deploy procedures.
“Relevant agencies have vowed to further streamline administrative procedures, aiming to save an additional 30% of the time,” said Le Thi Huynh Mai, director of the municipal Department of Planning and Investment.
To step up the disbursement work and avoid project capital overruns, the city has established three working groups specialising in land acquisition, ODA and big projects. The southern metropolis has also prioritised allocating all capital for the compensation component of all projects in the medium-term plan list.
“We have requested designated agencies to present a detailed plan on the implementation of the allocated capital by the end of February at the latest,” said Phan Van Mai, head of the municipal government.
It represents a major challenge for Ho Chi Minh City this year as the city is expected to be allocated more than VND70 trillion, nearly two times higher than in 2022. Last year saw Mai and a number of investors refuse to fulfil the assigned tasks, and the accountability for public investment disbursement will continue to be part of the parametres measuring local officials’ fulfilment of tasks for the year ahead.
