The PM made the request at an online conference in Hanoi on March 4, which was attended by Deputy PMs, leaders of ministries, sectors, State corporations and economic groups, and the chairmen of 63 provincial and municipal People’s Committees. 

Mr Dung praised them for their all-out effort to mobilise large amounts of development capital from different sources in 2009, which doubled the capital from the State budget and government bond sales. Despite global economic woes, about VND704 trillion (42.8 percent of GDP) was generated for social development, up 15.3 percent from 2008. 

The PM noted that capital disbursement reached a record high thanks to a number of efficient projects being put into operation, preventing an economic slowdown and maintaining a reasonable economic growth rate.

All participants were happy that the legal system regarding capital construction was gradually refined to remove obstacles and inconsistency. Capital allocations sourced from the State budget and government bond sales were all made on schedule. Efforts were made to fully implement the decentralisation model and inspections to prevent waste.

However, Mr Dung pointed out shortcomings in carrying out projects and causing waste, saying “we make a regrettable mistake if we have money on hand but do not put projects into operation”.

The participants complained that about 12.7 percent of projects remained sluggish; investment and planning preparations did not receive due attention; counselling capacity failed to meet the requirements; and it took investors too much time to have their procedures cleared.

They attributed delays to difficulties in land clearance and compensations, cumbersome procedures, and adjustments to financial balances that affected capital disbursement.

They proposed that the government and relevant ministries continue to refine legal forms, hasten land acquisition and speed up capital disbursement, including disbursement of official development assistance, so as to attract more domestic and foreign investors and stimulate local economic development.

The Government leader asked ministers and chairmen of the provincial and municipal People’s Committees to re-examine and immediately allocate capital for eligible projects in March, and to speed up the pace of construction.

He acknowledged difficulties in land clearance and compensations, saying this is not an easy task as it is associated with people’s interests. He asked localities to encourage the people to follow Party guidelines and State policies on land clearance and effect resettlements.

He ordered the Ministry of Finance to instruct localities how to use money from land auctions more efficiently, suggesting that part of it be used for land clearance and improve the capacity building of project management units.

He also asked relevant ministries and agencies to re-examine investment procedures, give priority to decentralisation, and to increase inspections to iron out snags.

For projects involving State capital and government bond sales, the PM requested the designated agencies transfer capital from ineligible or delayed projects to key projects so they can be completed in 2010 or 2011. 

He called on ministries, sectors and localities to mobilise all domestic and foreign capital resources for development investment and make regular reports to him.

He assigned the Ministry of Finance to make a schedule for issuing government bonds in the 2011-2015 period, and asked commercial banks to help small- and medium-sized businesses access loans to ensure steady production.   

Leaders of ministries, agencies and localities will be responsible for their mistakes if they violate regulations and let projects bog down, said the PM.

Last but not least, Mr Dung asked ministries, sectors and localities to make further recommendations concerning his draft decree on strengthening construction and investment management using State capital to be issued this year to more effectively mobilise and use development capital sources.