HCMC – Vietnam’s public capital disbursement between January and August 2020 amounted to VND250 trillion, meeting 50.7% of the entire year’s plan and increasing by 30.4% compared with the same period last year, according to the Ministry of Finance.
Public capital disbursement in August alone reached VND47.4 trillion, rising by 45.4% year-on-year, the biggest increase since 2016. The disbursement of public capital managed by the central Government reached VND8.7 trillion, increasing by 86.7% year-on-year, while that of the local governments reached VND38.7 trillion, increasing by 38.5% year-on-year.
Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said accelerating public capital disbursement plays a key role in boosting economic development amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
He asked the ministries, government departments and local authorities to strive to disburse 100% of public capital this year. Meetings will be held monthly to review progress and seek ways to boost public capital disbursement.
Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung said the public capital disbursement rate has been improved but remains low, hampering the country’s socioeconomic development and affecting the macroeconomic stability.
He attributed the low disbursement rate to later-than-expected bidding, incomplete procedures for project adjustment, slow site clearance work, the weak capacity of investors and the ineffective collaboration between ministries and local governments.
Besides this, the Covid-19 pandemic has led to the suspension of imports of equipment and construction devices and curtailed the arrival of foreign experts, affecting the progress of the projects.
The Planning and Investment Ministry has proposed some measures to accelerate public capital disbursement such as organizing regular meetings between the local authorities and contractors, replacing inefficient investors, transferring public capital between localities and disallowing contractors who fail to meet the schedule to join future projects.
Leaders of ministries and localities should regularly visit the project sites and meet with the investors to inspect the progress of the projects. Projects using official development assistance and foreign loans and whose investment procedures are complicated should work closely with each other for better preparation.
To help disburse 100% of public capital this year, the Planning and Investment Ministry has sent a proposal to the prime minister to adjust the medium-term State capital investment plan in the 2016-2020 period.
Ministries and localities have assigned senior leaders to monitor the public capital disbursement of specific sectors. They have been asked to actively review and adjust the investment plan and transfer public capital from ineffective projects to effective ones.
The Ministry of Finance has established five special teams responsible for inspecting the disbursement of public capital in ministries and localities. The teams are led by the Minister of Finance and leaders of the Debt Management and External Finance Department and the Foreign Investment Department.
The ministry asked localities to assist investors in clearing the difficulties hindering their projects and achieving public capital disbursement targets for this year.
