Flexible adjustment to make good use of investment capital

It is a fact that although the province has made great efforts to accelerate public investment, the “burying” of capital has been and is still happening. That has contributed to the budget surplus of the past years, each year being higher than the previous year.

The reason is partly because the investment capital has not been disbursed, partly because the salary reform source has not been used, because from 2017 to 2022, there has been no salary increase and because of the annual additional deduction from 10% of regular spending savings, from 70% of excess revenue...

Take advantage of "hanging" capital

In mid-August 2023, the People's Committee of La Gi town sent an official dispatch to the Provincial People's Committee and the Department of Planning and Investment to submit to the Provincial People's Council to add the list of projects to the medium-term public investment plan using provincial budget capital for the period 2021-2025. These are Tan Hai Kindergarten (main point) and Nguyen Hue Park (phase 2), with urgent and pressing reasons.

The proposal to add the above project by the People's Committee of La Gi town is a calculated step, when it has made a preliminary assessment of the implementation of construction investment and capital disbursement for projects in the 2023 plan. With the town on the way to becoming a city, La Gi in 2023 has up to 107 construction projects with a total capital of the province and the town of 238,098 million VND. Of which, there are 7 planning projects; 16 investment preparation projects, 5 debt payment projects, 36 transitional projects and 43 newly started projects. By October 25, 2023, the value of the implemented volume was 209,908 million VND and 191,799 million VND had been disbursed, reaching 80.55% of the annual plan. Thanks to that, La Gi is one of the 4 units in the top disbursement of the province in 2023.

On this basis and in the context that other units cannot disburse capital for projects, for many reasons, this capital is considered as suspended capital, so La Gi takes advantage of completing the project documents that need to be built in the area to access. That is one way that the town has taken advantage of capital in recent years, in addition to the attention of the Provincial People's Committee, all levels and sectors of the province, together with efforts to collect the inner-city budget to gradually complete the criteria on facilities of sectors and technical infrastructure of urban areas in the area.

To implement the project is not easy.

That is the reality of the projects that the Project Management Board for Civil and Industrial Construction Investment (PMU) is the investor in 2023. With 50 projects with a total capital from the central budget and provincial budget recorded for the PMU in 2023 of VND 217,717 million, most of them have not been able to be disbursed, for many reasons. The PMU's report shows that by October 2023, the PMU had only disbursed about 40% of the provincial budget compared to the plan, while with the central budget, it had disbursed about 3% compared to the plan.

According to the leader of the Project Management Board, of the 31 projects preparing for investment, there are 20 planning projects with a total capital of 20 billion VND, but so far only 2 billion has been disbursed. Because all are waiting for the General Planning of Binh Thuan province, the general planning of the district level... to be approved, then there will be a basis for implementation. The remaining 11 projects preparing for investment with a total capital of 98 billion VND, only 6 billion has been disbursed. Because among them, there are 2 project systems on construction, repair, expansion of district-level medical centers, Lung Hospital... with a total capital of 91 billion VND recorded by the Central Government, so it must be transferred to next year to be fully disbursed. Meanwhile, of the 8 projects being implemented, 6 projects are stuck with prolonged site clearance, so even though the capital has been recorded, it cannot be disbursed. Unable to "bury" capital, the unit has proposed to adjust the capital plan of many projects according to Official Dispatch No. 1328/BQLDA-TCKH dated September 28, 2023.

The most prominent is the Technical Infrastructure Project for the Social Housing Area in Tien Loi Commune, Phan Thiet City, although the construction has basically completed the items on the handed-over area, it is currently temporarily suspended due to lack of land. Therefore, although there is 10,042 million VND of 2022 transferred over with 3,000 million VND of 2023, because it cannot be disbursed, the unit recently proposed to adjust the project capital plan down by 10,000 million VND. Similarly, the above situation also occurs with other projects. For example, the Technical Infrastructure Project for the area on both sides of the branch road connecting DT.706 and DT.706B roads must adjust the capital down by 2,000 million VND of 2 years; the Drainage Project downstream of DT.706B road, Exit No. 1 adjusted down by 3,000 million VND also of 2 years; The Drainage Project downstream of DT.706B road, Exits 2 & 3 also cut 8,800 million VND...

Flexible adjustment of capital sources

The story of La Gi town and the Project Management Board shows a reality in public investment that there are places that need capital but there are also places that cannot use capital. Capital is not lacking as the base often thinks, but is hanging somewhere, needing to be transferred. Therefore, in Conclusion No. 934 of the 14th Provincial Party Standing Committee on allocating excess revenue from land use fees and lottery in 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 issued in mid-October 2023, the Party Committee of the Provincial People's Committee requested the Provincial People's Committee to lead the Provincial People's Committee to direct a number of contents. In which, it is emphasized first: "Regularly evaluate the progress of implementing works and projects; Timely and flexibly adjust capital sources for projects that are not being implemented on schedule to supplement projects that have payment volumes but have not been allocated enough capital in 2023, projects with fast implementation progress, capable of disbursing all allocated capital; prioritize capital allocation for compensation and resettlement support for land recovery. At the same time, direct relevant departments and branches to cut unnecessary procedures, speed up the appraisal and examination of investment preparation documents to avoid prolongation.

To unlock unused capital, Conclusion 934 also requires the Party Committee of the Provincial People's Committee to lead the Provincial People's Committee to direct districts, towns and cities to register additional investment needs for urgent works and projects that immediately impact the socio-economic development process and people's lives in the area to submit to competent authorities for investment implementation policies according to regulations. At the same time, review and propose to establish investment projects for resettlement areas to serve the implementation of works and projects in the area. In addition, it also requests the Party Delegation of the Provincial People's Council to lead and supervise the progress of projects that the Provincial People's Council promptly resolves obstacles, and direct localities and units to accelerate investment progress according to the set plan.

The leader of the Department of Finance said that in early October 2023, the department submitted a report to the Provincial People's Committee on transferring the 2022 budget to 2023. Accordingly, the difference between revenue and expenditure in 2022 is more than 10,566,546 million VND. The Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee also agreed to allow the transfer of the 2022 budget to 2023 with a total amount of more than 10,055,060 million VND. Notably, the transfer of additional central capital with the goal of implementing a number of tasks, local budget capital in 2022 that has not been implemented will continue to be implemented in 2023 with a total amount of more than 8,038,492 million VND. Of this more than 8,000 billion, the source for salary reform accounts for more than 5,200 billion VND, which is only used for salary increase, the rest is capital for national target programs, capital for basic construction projects, capital exceeding lottery revenue, capital exceeding revenue from taxes and fees of the provincial budget... and depending on each capital source, it is used in accordance with regulations.

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