HANOI – The country has disbursed over VND218 trillion of public investment capital since the beginning of this year, meeting only 47% of the entire year’s target of VND461.3 trillion.
According to the Ministry of Planning and Investment, there are only four ministries and 11 cities and provinces with a disbursement rate of over 60%. Meanwhile, 76 departments, ministries, governmental agencies and localities posted disbursement rates lower than the country’s average of 47%.
Besides, 15 ministries and governmental agencies and 23 localities have returned total public investment capital of nearly VND22 trillion to the Government.
Speaking at a meeting on the disbursement of public investment capital on September 28, Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung blamed this year’s slow disbursement of public investment capital on slow site clearance, changes in policies and procedures, the low capacity of investors and contractors and especially the Covid-19 pandemic, which has caused several socioeconomic challenges.
According to Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh, over 2,510 public projects have been kicked off since the beginning of this year, including some 2,020 projects of the previous years and only 490 new projects of this year.
Addressing the meeting, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh applauded departments, ministries, governmental agencies and localities with high disbursement rates and expressed dissatisfaction with those with low rates.
He urged all departments, ministries, governmental agencies and localities to accelerate the disbursement of public investment capital to reach 95% of the plan for this year.
The prime minister asked the Ministry of Planning and Investment to complete the amended Decree No. 56 on the management and use of official development assistance and preferential loans from foreign donors and lenders and submit it to the Government soon, while the Ministry of Finance would review and simplify related procedures.
In addition, the Ministry of Health needs to promptly complete and issue guidelines on “safely and flexibly adapting to and effectively controlling Covid-19” to facilitate the reopening of the economy.
The Government Office and the Ministry of Planning and Investment will work together to publish the public investment capital disbursement progress of departments, ministries, governmental agencies and localities on the Government’s news site.
