Promote disbursement of public investment from the beginning of the year

	Disbursement of public investment still low in January
	Government urges quick disbursement of public investment by year end
	Disbursement is not as expected

There will be a solution for detailed allocation of central budget capital investment plan in 2020. Source: Internet.

Early disbursement is low

The total expenditure plan for development investment from the state budget in 2020 assigned by the National Assembly and the Prime Minister is VND470,600 billion, including: domestic capital ofVND410,600 billion (of which, target program capital nationally is VND23,756.273 billion); foreign capital is VND60,000 billion.

According to the General Statistics Office, in January 2020, the investment capital implemented from the state budget was estimated at VND18,689 billion, 4.2% of the year plan and up 8.4% over the same period of the previous year (the same period in 2019 was 4.5% and increased by 3.8%). The agency explained, because January coincided with the LunarNew Year holiday, the results were still low. Moreover, according to the Ministry of Finance, most of the ministries, branches and localities are focusing on allocating capital plans and importing cost estimates for projects, so the disbursement rate in the first month is low.

In fact, over the past years, the slow disbursement of public investment is due to many objective and subjective reasons. The Ministry of Planning and Investment said that the adjustment procedure has not been simplified, it must be reviewed through many levels, one must wait for the other. This takes a lot of time, is not proactive and flexible. Some regulations after a limited period of implementation are: investment decisions must be made before October 31, save 10% of the total investment, allow disbursement of capital for two years, repeal regulations the authorized Permanent Council of the People's Council needs to be removed.

In addition, this delay is due to the fact that the planning is not close to reality and the ability to allocate capital, the ability to disburse capital leads to not fully allocating the planned capital, many projects have been assigned larger capital plans than the disbursements, the prognosis for completing investment procedures is not accurate and timely so the plan cannot be delivered.

Moreover, the delivery of the plan is slowand not consistent with the requirements of the project’s progress, including the assignment of central plans to ministries, branches and localities and the allocation of capital plans by ministries, branches and localities to specific projects, makes it difficult for investorsto be proactive in implementing projects; not drastically in completing the project investment procedures, proposing the allocation plan has not followed the principles and order of priority.

Will allocate in detail the level of capital

In 2020, the Government has issued many guidelines to "promote" the disbursement of public investment from the beginning of the year. In Resolution 01/NQ-CP on major tasks and solutions for the implementation of the Socio-Economic Development Plan and State Budget Estimate in 2020, one of 10 major task groups and solutions in 2020 is to mobilize and effectively use resources, accelerate the construction of infrastructure systems, promote the role of key economic regions and big cities. Even in a speech at the conference to implement Resolution 01 and 02 of the Ministry of Planning and Investment in early January, Prime Minister Nguyen XuanPhuc requested ministries, branches and localities to remove the bottlenecks, especially as new problems arise. For public investment, there are still institutional and implementation difficulties; many branches and localities also have low disbursement rates. Therefore, the Prime Minister requested that leaders of agencies, departments and Ministry of Planning and Investment and Ministry of Finance should give active and close advice to remove in the first quarter of 2020 on disbursement of public investment capital.

Although clear criteria have been developed, according to the Prime Minister, the list of public investment projects is very widespread; and under the shadow of the “ask-give” mechanism. Bidding management of public investment projects remains inadequate. The bidding time is prolonged and bidding efficiency has not been as expected. The process of implementation also left many errors and violations. Many places canceled unfounded bids or showed signs of corruption. The bidding situation is less public.

Therefore, in an interview with the press, Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung said that a new point compared to previous years in promoting the disbursement of public investment in 2020 is providing detailed solutions to allocate capital levels of the central budget capital investment plan in 2020 according to the total capital assigned by the Prime Minister, detailing the list of projects and the level of capital allocated for each project to agencies, affiliated units and subordinate People's Committees. According to the Minister, this will completely overcome the situation of delayed planning at the central level as in previous years.

In addition, Minister Nguyen Chi Dung also said that he would direct investors to accelerate the project implementation progress, resolutely and severely and promptly punish contractors that violate construction schedules, work quality, and slow handing over of payment procedures for completed volumes and breaches of contractual terms signed. Strictly handle individuals in the unit intentionally obstructing, causing difficulties, slowing down the implementation and disbursement progress of the project. Regularly assessing the progress of projects; for projects which are not on schedule, it is required to promptly adjust them to transfer capital to projects that are quick to implement and likely to be completed in 2020 but have not yet been allocated enough capital. The adjustment of the central budget capital investment plan is under the authority of the Heads of Ministries, Central Agencies and Presidents of the provincial People's Committees, which is also a new point in the Law on Public Investment No. 39/2019/QH14.