Arranging enough state capital to participate in the Ho Chi Minh City Ring Road 4 Project is a difficult problem when the central and local budgets cannot be allocated for the Project.
 |
| Route map of Ho Chi Minh City Ring Road 4. |
Capital bottleneck
According to a recent report from the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Transport sent to the City People's Committee, because the total investment of the Ho Chi Minh City Ring Road 4 Project is up to 128,063 billion VND, during the process of studying the pre-feasibility report, localities encountered some difficulties, such as no mechanism for localities to use local budget capital to implement the Project, no mechanism to use local budget to support other localities to invest in bridges connecting 2 localities.
Besides the issue of mechanism, the biggest "bottleneck" in the Project that localities are concerned about is the large amount of state capital involved (over 50% of the total investment), while the local budget capital is facing difficulties, so it is difficult to balance for investment.
At the recent Southeast Regional Coordination Council Conference, Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee Phan Van Mai proposed that the Central Government support Binh Duong, Dong Nai and Ba Ria - Vung Tau provinces with 50% of the land clearance costs, estimated at about 10,000 billion VND, and request capital allocation in the period of 2021-2025, while Ho Chi Minh City will take care of it itself.
For Long An province alone, Mr. Mai proposed that the central budget support 75% of the total budget capital to participate in the Project - about 28,400 billion VND. Of which, in the 2021-2025 period, 6,700 billion VND will be allocated for site clearance, the rest will be allocated in the 2026-2030 period.
Regarding the mechanism, the Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee proposed that a similar mechanism could be used to build Ring Road 4, with the central and local budgets being shared. However, there is currently no mechanism for one locality to use its budget to support another.
Can issue bonds
Regarding the proposal of the Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee on capital allocation for the Ho Chi Minh City Ring Road 4 Project, Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung said that the proposals of Ho Chi Minh City and localities are reasonable. However, the Minister said that the Central Capital Plan for the period 2026-2030 has not been approved by the National Assembly, so the capital source for the Project has not been determined. Therefore, it is possible to separate this project into a separate project, not included in the central budget plan, and it is possible to issue separate bonds for the Project, then the provinces borrow and later pay themselves.
From the perspective of the specialized ministry, Minister of Transport Nguyen Van Thang said that in case the central budget faces difficulties, there must be breakthrough mechanisms and policies to attract socialized resources. Transport infrastructure projects in the Southeast region have received great attention from investors, so there needs to be flexible and diverse mechanisms and policies to remove capital sources.
Along with the solutions suggested by the ministries, a capital mobilization solution proposed by the localities is to allow the provinces where the Project passes through to locally adjust the general planning for the construction of functional areas and locally adjust the general urban planning approved by the Prime Minister (similar to Clause 2, Article 6, Resolution No. 98/2023/QH15 on piloting a number of specific mechanisms and policies for the development of Ho Chi Minh City). From there, the localities can adjust the planning to auction land plots along the expressways, then take the capital to reinvest in the Ring Road 4 Project.
According to the plan agreed upon by Ho Chi Minh City and localities, the City will take the lead in developing a specific policy mechanism applicable to Ring Road 4 construction projects to submit to competent authorities for appraisal in August 2024. After that, the Ministry of Planning and Investment, the Ministry of Transport and relevant ministries and branches will appraise and report to the Prime Minister in September to submit to the National Assembly for approval at the end of 2024 session.
Source: https://baodautu.vn/bai-toan-kho-tai-du-an-duong-vanh-dai-4-tphcm-d223669.html
Comment (0)