The directive states that socio-economic accounting and evaluation of project investment efficiency must be carried out throughout the entire process, from determining funding needs and allocating capital to project implementation, management and use of public investment capital, as well as operation and utilisation after completion. The directive also requires stronger discipline and strict measures to prevent corruption and waste in public investment activities, focusing on key tasks and solutions.

For determining funding needs, deciding investment policy and allocating the medium-term public investment plan, ministries, central agencies and local authorities must report on the necessity, feasibility, effectiveness, consistency with relevant planning, and proposed funding sources and levels for each project when registering capital demand. In deciding investment policy, they must strictly comply with legal requirements on project efficiency assessment at the pre-feasibility stage, proposal of investment policy and approval of investment policy.

Investment policy proposals must comply with the Law on Public Investment and relevant legal documents. For each project, investment efficiency must be quantified to the greatest extent possible instead of relying on qualitative assessments.

This includes preliminary assessment of socio-economic effectiveness; necessity of investment and conditions for implementation; assessment of consistency with relevant planning; forecasts of demand, service scope and expected objectives, scale and form of investment; preliminary analysis and selection of technologies and technical options; preliminary selection of investment options and component scale; as well as preliminary assessment of social and environmental impacts in accordance with environmental protection regulations.

For decisions on investment and annual allocation of public investment capital, ministries, central agencies and local authorities must comply with regulations on public investment, construction and other relevant laws in preparing feasibility study reports and making investment decisions.

Projects without construction components shall comply with the Law on Public Investment. In such cases, attention must be paid to analysing investment efficiency, including economic, socio-economic, defence and security impacts, as well as capital recovery capacity (if any); necessity of investment; assessment of consistency with relevant planning; analysis and determination of project objectives, tasks and outputs; selection of appropriate scale; determination of investment phases; choice of investment form; and determination of total investment, capital structure and financing plan.

Projects in the information technology sector shall comply with information technology laws; projects with construction components shall follow construction regulations; and projects implemented under the public-private partnership model shall comply with PPP investment regulations. Annual capital allocation is permitted only after an investment decision has been made and project efficiency has been assessed in accordance with the law.

Regarding project implementation, the directive states that implementation is a particularly important stage that determines the level of plan completion and the extent of socio-economic effectiveness. Ministries, central agencies, local authorities and entities using public investment capital must take full responsibility at each stage. Based on approved investment decisions and allocated annual capital, relevant bodies and investors must implement projects in accordance with laws on construction, land, bidding, environmental protection and fire prevention. At each stage, compliance with legal regulations, responsible and efficient use of capital, and adherence to timelines must be ensured.

Investors and capital-using entities must ensure annual capital requests match implementation and disbursement capacity, avoiding situations where capital is over-registered but cannot be implemented or disbursed, leading to inefficiency and waste of state budget resources.

During project implementation, managing agencies and investors must strictly conduct monitoring and evaluation in accordance with Government Decree No. 19 on appraisal procedures for nationally important projects and investment monitoring and evaluation.

For project completion, operation and utilisation, managing agencies and operating entities must conduct final and impact evaluations to assess results, draw lessons and clarify efficiency, sustainability and socio-economic impacts against initial objectives, in accordance with construction laws and Decree No. 19.

Concerning transparency, the directive requires ministries, central agencies and localities to strictly comply with Article 15 of the Law on Public Investment and related guiding documents.

Public investment disbursement slow despite record capital scale

Public investment disbursement in the first two months of 2026 remained modest despite the year marking the start of the 2026–2030 public investment plan with record capital of over VND995 trillion (US$37.9 billion), rising to more than VND1 quadrillion when additional local allocations and extended funds are included.

Faster public investment disbursement crucial to growth targets

Public investment is set to remain a central pillar supporting Vietnam’s economic expansion through the rest of 2026, though experts say removing structural bottlenecks and strengthening support for construction enterprises will be critical to promote its role as a growth driver.