Eliminate ineffective project, speed up the disbursement of public investment capital

	Ministry of Finance has rectified the report on disbursement of investment capital
	Public investment: resolutely adjust the capital of slow-moving projects
	Disbursing 100% public investment in 2018 is a challenge

As of 31/10/2018, the new disbursement rate was VND 367,961 / 513,446 billion. Photo TL.

This is the opinion of the delegates at the seminar "Strengthening Payments of Public Investment capital in the Context of Implementing Public Investment Laws" coordinated by the Investment Department with the Institute of Strategy and Policy Studies (Ministry of Finance) held on the afternoon of November 7 in Hanoi.

Plan and practice the difference According to Le Tuan Anh, deputy director of the Investment Department of the Ministry of Finance, in terms of annual budget plans, levels and sectors have always set a target to ensure full disbursement. However, the reality shows that there is always difference. In 2016, the central budget disbursement rate was 89.1% and 77.1% in 2017 respectively. As of 31/10/2018, the new disbursement rate was VND 367,961 / 513,446 billion. According to Mrs. Luong Thi Hong Thuy, Deputy Director of the Department of Treasury and State Treasury Control, one of the reasons is the policy constraints in the Law on Public Investment, Construction Law, Bidding Law and Land Law, along with the problem in compensation and land clearance: the progress of compensation, ground clearance is often prolonged, obstacles when implementing ...

Decree No. 37/2015 / ND-CP stipulates that the advance of the contract must not exceed 50% of the contract value at the time of signing. However, it is not required to withdraw the advance from the first time. The advance capital must be recovered from time to time. Therefore, the time to monitor the balance of advance is long, easy to risk in the process of expenditure control.

Representatives of the State Treasury also said that in the process of implementation, the assignment of competent authorities to assign budget estimates to agencies and units under its lower levels is still slow. In addition, the time for disbursement of public investment plans is extended to the following year, causing moral hazard for ministries, sectors and localities. New Year starts to urge the implementation of the plan. If the plan is not fully implemented, it will be transferred to the next year for further implementation, thus affecting the annual disbursement rate of public investment.

Remarkably, the acceptance of completed volumes and compilation of payment dossiers sent to the State Treasury of investors and project management boards in many cases is still slow and not compliant with the prescribed time limit. The time taken to implement administrative procedures in the field of construction investment of some projects is extended compared with the regulations because the results of implementation of administrative procedures depend on the approval of many agencies, multi-level specialized management. Eliminate ineffective projects To achieve the economic growth target for 2018 of 6.7% while inflation shows signs of increasing, according to Dr. Vu Dinh Anh, in the remaining months of 2018 many powerful and effective solutions are needed, It is necessary to speed up the disbursement of public investment capital in general and central investment capital from the state budget in particular. However, priority should be given to improving the efficiency of public investment and at the same time linking the disbursement schedule for public investment with inflation control.

In addition, it is necessary to speed up the disbursement process by resolutely removing ineffective projects and not fully preparing procedures to focus on high efficiency projects. On the other hand, further reform of investment management procedures and disbursement of public investment funds, minimizing complicated procedures, and complicated application, to make it possible for good project investors to accelerate implementation progress. "The decision to speed up the disbursement of public investment funds is to select the right projects that are good, directing the capital to these projects to speed up the implementation. In addition, lessons should be learned to improve the law, management mechanism along with strengthening the discipline of spending to reduce the lowest waste. Only so new public investment contributes to practical economic growth, maintains macroeconomic stability," Anh emphasized. Representatives of the State Treasury also recommended that the Government instruct ministries, sectors and localities to focus on policy and mechanism issues as stipulated in the Construction Law, the Investment Law, the Bidding Law ,the Land Law and the guidelines... to timely remove difficult barriers, obstacles and create favorable conditions for projects to implement in accordance with the schedule with high quality ... In addition, it is recommended that the Government continue to direct the ministries, branches and localities to drastically implement measures to accelerate the disbursement of public investment capital and to have mechanisms to supervise the results and raise the leader’s responsibility of each division, the responsibility of each cadre. In line with Resolution No. 01 / NQ-CP dated 1/1/2018 and Resolution No. 70 / NQ-CP dated 3/8/2017 of the Government to implement timely, there are plans to evaluate each period, pushing quick disbursement of public investment funds, ensuring the completion of the assigned plan. At the local level, representatives of the HCM City Department of Finance said that since the Law on Public Investment came into force, Ho Chi Minh city has been allowed to disburse annual ODA budgets in line with the plan approved by the Prime Minister and assigned by the Ministry of Planning and Investment without following the schedule of implementation and funding of foreign donors, affecting the progress of implementing key projects, In the context of budget constraints, while the needs for large localities, the attraction of ODA is necessary.

Shortcomings in Decree guiding the Law on Public Investment need to be amended VCN- The State budget management mechanism under the Law on Public Investment (2015) has made fundamental changes ...

Therefore, the city proposed to disburse the annual ODA budget in accordance with the progress of funding donors while waiting for completion of procedures for adjustment of investment total. On the other hand, the Law on Public Investment has promoted decentralization. Therefore, in order to reduce administrative procedures and workload for localities, it is necessary to adjust the Public Investment Law in the direction of the provincial People's Committee to submit to the ministries and branches for checked opinions of medium-term public investment plan of central budget; Provincial People's Committees will take the initiative and be responsible for organizing the elaboration and appraisal of medium-term public investment plans, sources of funding for local budget balances, and submit them to the People's Councils for decision.