Worried about slow disbursement of public investment capital, the Prime Minister's working group went to the locality.
Disbursement of public investment capital has begun to slow down, and it is necessary to focus on promoting it to create momentum for economic growth.
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| Disbursement of public investment capital in the first half of this year only reached nearly 30% of the plan. Photo: D.T |
Worry about public investment disbursement
Today (July 12), as planned, the Prime Minister’s Working Group will visit the Mekong Delta provinces to inspect and promote the progress of a number of transport infrastructure projects, especially the Hau Giang – Ca Mau expressway. This is one of the efforts to promote the disbursement of public investment capital, which is slowing down, making the Prime Minister “impatient”.
Reporting at the recent Government-locality online conference, the Ministry of Planning and Investment said that as of June 30, 2024, the disbursement of public investment capital reached VND 196,700 billion, completing 29.39% of the plan assigned by the Prime Minister, lower than the figure of 30.49% of the same period last year. Not only is the rate lower, but the absolute disbursed capital is also lower.
Although according to the report of the Ministry of Planning and Investment, the disbursement rate of capital under the Socio-Economic Recovery and Development Program is very high, reaching 78.23% of the plan; in particular, some ministries and central management agencies have a disbursement rate of up to 99.58%, with the Ministry of Transport alone achieving a disbursement rate of 100%, but overall, the disbursement rate is still lower than the same period.
“The disbursement in the first 6 months of this year was lower because the disbursement of local budget capital was lower than the same period last year. In the first 6 months, the disbursement rate of localities only reached 28.77%, while in the same period in 2023 it was 32.76%,” Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Tran Quoc Phuong explained.
According to the Deputy Minister, local budget sources for implementing public investment projects mainly come from land use revenue and lottery. However, due to the difficult real estate market, local land revenue did not meet the plan, so localities did not have enough resources to disburse for projects, leading to low disbursement rates.
Regarding the absolute disbursement figure – also lower than the same period last year, Deputy Minister Tran Quoc Phuong explained that this year's total public investment is much lower than last year, only about 657,000 billion VND compared to more than 710,000 billion VND last year.
The Ministry of Planning and Investment recommends that the Government direct localities to strengthen revenue management and thoroughly save local budget expenditures to ensure maximum capital according to progress for public investment projects. 
– Mr. Nguyen Chi Dung, Minister of Planning and Investment
However, Deputy Minister Tran Quoc Phuong emphasized that the fact that the disbursement rate of public investment capital is lower than the same period is also something to note, and it is necessary to focus on promoting it to create momentum for economic growth.
In the report submitted to the Government, the Ministry of Planning and Investment also said that, in addition to some ministries, sectors and localities with good disbursement, there are still many ministries, agencies and localities with lower disbursement capital than the same period last year. The disbursement rate of important national projects, key traffic projects, and inter-regional projects managed by localities is also low.
The Ministry of Planning and Investment said that 15/44 ministries, central agencies and 33/63 localities had lower disbursed capital compared to the same period in 2023. Of which, disbursed capital of Ho Chi Minh City was 4,604 billion VND lower; Quang Ngai was 1,510 billion VND lower; Hai Phong City was 1,476.9 billion VND lower; Bac Giang was 1,097 billion VND lower; Dong Nai was 839 billion VND lower...
"The disbursement rate after 6 months of Ho Chi Minh City only reached over 14%, very low and did not meet the set plan," Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee Phan Van Mai admitted.
At this rate, if there is no drastic solution soon, Ho Chi Minh City will find it difficult to achieve the target of 95% disbursement in 2024. If so, it will affect the disbursement of public investment capital nationwide.
Just work, no backtracking to promote disbursement
There are many reasons why public investment disbursement is slower than the same period last year. Lack of soil and rock for site clearance, especially in key projects, is also one of the important reasons.
At the Government Conference with localities, many local leaders also complained about this issue. “We must quickly handle it, do not let the sand and gravel issue get stuck”, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh directed and determined that, “we only discuss doing, not backtracking” to promote public investment disbursement.
Just a few days after the Prime Minister's strong direction, a working group of the Prime Minister went to the Mekong Delta. Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha also chaired a conference to resolve the problem of filling materials for key transport projects in the Southern region.
The positive news is that at this conference, leaders of many localities committed to removing bottlenecks in site clearance materials.
“We will continue to assign businesses that were previously licensed to explore and exploit sand mines to resume exploitation; at the same time, adjust the planning to increase the licensed capacity for river sand exploitation in the 2021-2030 period from 4.5 million m3/year to 9 million m3/year,” said Vice Chairman of Tien Giang Provincial People’s Committee Le Van Trong.
Meanwhile, Vinh Long province leaders affirmed that they will ensure the sand supply plan for the Ho Chi Minh City Ring Road 3 Project and implement procedures to provide enough reserves for the Can Tho - Hau Giang and Hau Giang - Ca Mau projects...
In addition to solving the problem of landfill materials, Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung once again requested ministries, branches and localities to speed up the completion of investment procedures and project bidding; establish and strictly comply with disbursement plans, assign leaders to be responsible for the implementation progress and disbursement for each project; review and adjust capital plans from slow-disbursement projects to good-disbursement projects...
Many efforts are being made. And to continue promoting the disbursement of public investment capital, it is expected that in mid-July 2024, the Government will hold an online conference to assess the implementation of the public investment plan in the first 6 months of the year and deploy tasks and solutions to promote the disbursement of public investment capital in the last 6 months of 2024. This is an important move, expected to create a "push" to accelerate the disbursement of public investment capital in the last 6 months of the year, with the goal of bringing the disbursement rate of the whole year to over 95% of the plan assigned by the Prime Minister.
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