Disbursement of public investment capital: Not really drastic

	Accelerating disbursement of public investment capital to realize growth goals
	Difficulties mainly focus on public investment
	Slow disbursement of public investment capital, difficult to stimulate economic demand

The price of construction materials, iron and steel, sand, stone, cement, etc. increased, causing the project construction progress to be affected (Illustration image: QUANG MINH).

29 ministries and central agencies have not yet disbursed investment plans

According to a report of the Ministry of Finance, the state budget capital in 2022 estimated to be paid by March 31, 2022 is VND61,536.08 billion, reaching 11.88% of the plan assigned by the Prime Minister (same period last year) in 2021, reaching 13.17% of the plan assigned by the Prime Minister.

There are 46 of 51 ministries, central agencies and 27 of 63 localities with disbursement rates below the national average (11.88%), of which 29 ministries and central agencies have not yet disbursed the state budget investment plan in 2022.

According to reports from ministries, central and local agencies, the delay in disbursement is due to a number of new construction projects that are in the process of completing bidding and contract negotiation.

However, according to the Ministry of Planning and Investment, the slow disbursement is due to the responsibility of the investors; a number of ministries, central and local agencies have not been drastic enough in leading, directing and promptly promulgating solutions to speed up construction progress. In fact, with the same mechanism and policy, some ministries, branches and localities disburse well, while some ministries and localities disburse very low, so far, 29 units have not disbursed.

In addition, an objective factor affecting the disbursement progress, similar to the first months of 2021, is the price of construction materials, iron and steel, sand and stone, cement, etc. The construction progress of the project was slowed down, the construction was "moderated" to wait for a price reduction because if the contractor did the construction, they would suffer a loss compared to the winning bid, affecting the financial plan of the project.

In 2022, the Ministry of Transport was assigned a public investment plan by the Prime Minister with a total capital of VND50,328 billion. This is the largest capital allocation plan ever, accounting for 23.5% of the 2022 capital plan of ministries, branches and central agencies and accounting for 9.7% of the country's 2022 capital plan.

Regarding the implementation of key traffic projects, the Ministry of Finance said, first, the project of land acquisition, compensation, support and resettlement of Long Thanh International Airport has a total investment of VND22,856 billion, total accumulated capital allocated to 2021 is VND22,855,035 billion.

According to a report by the State Treasury, by the time of the report, the disbursement of the project reached VND14,699,340 billion, equaling 64.32% of the assigned plan, of which, the disbursement plan for 2021 is VND2,195,348 billion, reaching 47.11% of the plan.

Secondly, with the project to build a number of expressways on the North-South East route, in the 2017-2020 period, according to the report of the State Treasury, to the reporting time (April 5, 2022) ), the project disbursed VND1,506,648 billion, reaching 8.9% of the plan in 2022 (VND6,865,645 billion).

The report of the Ministry of Transport shows that the site clearance work has been basically completed, but there are still shortcomings and problems such as some households' petitions for compensation and support, but have not received resettlement land.

There are eight projects to meet or basically meet the schedule, including Mai Son - National Highway 45; National Highway 45 - Nghi Son; Nghi Son - Dien Chau; Cam Lo - La Son; Nha Trang - Cam Lam ; Cam Lam - Vinh Hao; Phan Thiet - Dau Giay and My Thuan Bridge 2.

The remaining two projects are behind schedule, firstly, Dien Chau - Bai Vot is deployed in the form of BOT, with cumulative output reaching 1.81%, 6.79% behind the plan; the second is the Vinh Hao - Phan Thiet section, the cumulative output reached 28.41%, 8.89% behind the adjusted plan.

Urgently speed up the progress

The year 2022 is of great significance, continuing to create a foundation for the whole country to implement the goals of the five-year plan in 2021-2025. It is forecast that in 2022, there will be many difficulties and challenges, especially the development of the Covid-19 pandemic, increasing prices of fuel and materials, adverse impacts of natural disasters, climate change, war, affecting the socio-economic development of the country.

At the same time, the amount of capital that needs to be disbursed in 2022 is quite large, in addition to the annual plan approved by the National Assembly, there is also an additional amount of capital from the capital source for the implementation of the socio-economic recovery and development program.

Nguyen Danh Huy, Director of the Department of Planning and Investment (Ministry of Transport), said that in 2022, the total capital plan assigned by the Ministry of Transport to the Prime Minister will be more than VND50,300 billion, including VND4,877 billion of foreign capital and more than VND45,400 billion of domestic capital.

According to Nguyen Danh Huy, the Department has advised the Minister to issue a decision to assign details of the 2022 public investment plan, phase 1, for projects that have completed all procedures, totaling more than VND41,300 billion, in which, foreign capital is VND4,877 billion; domestic capital is more than VND36,400 billion.

“After the Prime Minister assigned the second medium-term plan for the 2021-2025 period, the Department of Planning and Investment advised the Minister to decide on a detailed assignment of the second public investment plan in 2022, about VND650 billion, in order to speed up the bidding process, select a consulting contractor to prepare a feasibility study report, and soon submit it to the Minister for approval according to its competence as a basis for continuing to allocate capital for new construction projects,” Nguyen Danh Huy said.

The Planning and Investment Department suggested that new construction projects that have been assigned capital for implementation should also urgently speed up the bidding process, sign contracts and closely coordinate with localities to disburse funds.

In addition, to bring the entire amount of public investment capital in 2022 into the economy, the Ministry of Planning and Investment recommends that ministries, central and local agencies focus on drastically implementing solutions to promote economic development and public investment under the direction of the Government and the Prime Minister, in which it is necessary to speed up the progress of site clearance, promptly remove difficulties and obstacles related to land and natural resources; urging and speeding up the construction progress; carry out the pre-acceptance test, make payment documents as soon as the volume is available; reviewing and transferring capital plans between slow projects to projects with good disbursement progress and lacking capital; establish a working group to promote capital disbursement in each ministry, agency and locality to urge, inspect, supervise and handle bottlenecks in the disbursement of public investment capital.

Working day and night to accelerate disbursement of public investment capital in 2021

Simultaneously, conducting online bidding according to regulations, ensuring publicity and transparency, selecting qualified contractors; strictly handling cases in which contractors violate the schedule and quality of contracts and promptly direct the issuance of construction unit prices suitable to the situation, adjusting estimates and investment capital of tasks and projects according to regulations.