School milk issue "hot" again
Director of the Department of Finance Dang Phong was the first person to respond to the request to clarify responsibilities for the delay in allocating funds to implement policies in the cultural and social fields.
Mr. Phong admitted that the department is primarily responsible for the delay in advising on the allocation of funds to implement resolutions in general, including resolutions in the cultural and social fields.
For resolutions that specifically stipulate the level of financial support for each locality and unit or have specifically stipulated the regime and norms, the department has proactively calculated and balanced resources to advise the Provincial People's Committee to submit to the Provincial People's Council to arrange the budget according to the province's budget balancing capacity.
As for some resolutions, they only stipulate the total implementation budget, without details for each locality and unit. The agency in charge of advising on the issuance of the resolution must coordinate to propose budget allocation for each unit and locality so that the department has enough basis to advise on budget allocation.
Going into some specific policies, Mr. Phong mentioned the organization of milk procurement to implement the policy according to the provisions of Resolution No. 17, dated September 22, 2023 of the Provincial People's Council on supporting milk in school meals for preschool children and primary school students in communes of ethnic minorities and mountainous areas in regions I, II, III in Quang Nam province, from the 2023-2024 school year to the end of the 2025-2026 school year.
“According to the reflection of the Department of Education and Training and at the working session with the Culture and Social Affairs Committee of the Provincial People's Council on November 21, 2024, because the implementation budget is allocated according to the fiscal year, while the policy is implemented according to the school year (September-December of the current year and January-May of the following year), it is difficult to organize the implementation of the policy,” said Mr. Phong.
To overcome the difficulties in budget allocation as mentioned above, Mr. Phong proposed that the Provincial People's Committee direct departments and branches to take the lead in advising on the issuance of resolutions, periodically every year, at the same time as the next year's budget estimate, based on the assigned functions and tasks, to take the lead and coordinate with agencies, units and localities.
Regarding the content of supporting school milk, Mr. Lam Quang Thanh - Deputy Head of the Economic - Budget Committee of the Provincial People's Council said that the guidance of the professional sector is not clear, there is no common consensus, so localities are confused in implementing Resolution No. 17. "There is a policy but children do not benefit, what solutions does the relevant sector have?" - Mr. Thanh asked.
Responding to this issue, according to Mr. Thai Viet Tuong - Director of the Department of Education and Training, in the previous resolution, the department was assigned to preside over the school milk program for preschool children and students in 6 mountainous districts of the province, but later could not do it because the problems were too big.
Faced with that situation, the Provincial People's Council issued Resolution No. 17 and transferred it to localities for implementation, but some places were able to do it, others were not. Specifically, localities that had a policy of assigning schools to purchase without bidding were able to do it; but those that assigned the Department of Education and Training and Finance to implement it, which had to be done through bidding, were in trouble.
Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Council Tran Xuan Vinh raised the question: Why has the Provincial People's Council resolved difficulties with a new resolution, and school milk support has been brought to localities, but it still cannot be done?
In further discussion, Mr. Bhling Mia - Secretary of Tay Giang District Party Committee said that the implementation has no more problems. Tay Giang has bought everything. Previously, the Department of Education and Training was assigned to bid, but it was not transparent and was handled.
“The purchased milk has been delivered to schools. There are problems with budget settlement, so the two departments need to unify instructions so that localities can easily implement,” said Mr. Mia.
Fear of losing capital
Questioning in the field of public investment, according to delegate Dang Tan Phuong - Deputy Head of the Ethnic Committee of the Provincial People's Council, currently the disbursement of ODA loan programs is very low.
In particular, the project of investment program to develop the medical network in the province's extremely difficult areas has 37 medical stations assigned to the Provincial Construction Investment Project Management Board as the investor in the period from 2019 - 2025.
However, the provincial People's Committee has not approved the project until June 26, 2024. To date, more than VND 136 billion allocated in 2023 and 2024 has not been disbursed. Currently, only VND 2.1 billion of the provincial budget counterpart fund has been disbursed for consulting work.
“The Department of Planning and Investment and the Provincial Construction Investment Project Management Board need to clarify their responsibilities in coordinating the survey, making a project list, investment preparation procedures, and project appraisal and approval.
Is there any bottleneck in this implementation process that it took 5 years to approve the project? It is worth mentioning that the program will expire by the end of 2025. If the disbursement is not successful, the budget capital will be stagnant, causing waste in the budget arrangement for the 2 years 2023 - 2024" - Mr. Phuong stated.
Delegate Dinh Van Huom - Head of the Ethnic Committee of the Provincial People's Council asked: "What is the solution of the Provincial Construction Investment Project Management Board to speed up the disbursement of all capital in 2025 and ensure the completion of medical stations to serve the people?".
Delegate Tran Thi Bich Thu - Head of the Culture - Social Committee of the Provincial People's Council raised the issue: "The categories under the Economic Recovery and Development Program, the Provincial Construction Investment Project Management Board reported will be completed in December 2024.
In fact, there are some projects that are still being implemented. In case after February 2025, the projects are not completed and the funds are returned to the Central Government, what solutions will the Department of Planning and Investment and the Provincial Construction Investment Project Management Board have to complete the projects?
Responding to questions from delegates, Mr. Huynh Xuan Son - Director of the Provincial Construction Investment Management Board said that the project of investment program to develop the health network in the province's particularly difficult areas was assigned to the Department of Health for implementation.
It will not be handed over to the Provincial Construction Investment Management Board for receipt and implementation until 2023. The unit approaches the work from the beginning, so it takes a lot of time, especially for medical stations in remote areas; bidding, project establishment, construction design, land records, liquidation of assets on land, project appraisal, etc. go through many processes and procedures.
“With 37 health stations under the project of the Provincial Investment Program for Developing the Primary Health Network in Difficult Areas and 76 health stations under the Program for Economic and Social Recovery and Development, it can be seen that the projects are numerous but small and spread out. Each health station is a project with a lot of documents. The Department of Construction must arrange many staff to complete the appraisal. Notably, the list of 37 health stations takes a long time to wait for bidding due to changes in the Bidding Law,” said Mr. Son.
According to Mr. Son, currently 76 medical stations under the Socio-Economic Recovery and Development Program are being implemented. The National Assembly has allowed the project to be extended to the end of 2025. The Provincial Construction Investment Management Board will strive to complete the projects.
Source: https://baoquangnam.vn/chat-van-va-tra-loi-chat-van-tai-ky-hop-thu-28-hdnd-tinh-quang-nam-khoa-x-giai-trinh-nhung-van-de-nong-3145373.html
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