Deputy PM urges acceleration of public investment disbursement

Hanoi – Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh has asked ministries, sectors and localities to strictly follow the direction of the Government and the Prime Minister to achieve the highest disbursement rate in the remaining time of 2021 while ensuring the effectiveness of public investment projects.

Minh made the request at a conference on December 6 to discuss measures to remove bottlenecks and accelerate the disbursement of public investment for 2021.

As of November 30, the disbursement rate of public investment remained modest at 295 trillion VND (12.7 billion USD), reaching 63.86 percent of the set plan. Of which, domestic capital made up 39.19 percent and foreign capital reached 21.51 percent. Both of them were lowered than the rate recorded in the same period last year.

Participants at the event said one of the reasons why capital disbursement in the first 11 months lagged behind the pace is the complex developments of the COVID-19 pandemic which resulted in the prolonged social distancing.

The price of construction materials increased sharply, especially iron and steel, cement, sand and gravel which directly affected the construction cost as well as the progress of the project, they said, adding that shortcoming in making plans and capital distribution is also a problem. Another reason is that the procedures for the implementation of projects have not been streamlined, leading to a waste of time and capital.

Deputy Minister of Transport Nguyen Ngoc Dong suggested reducing preparation procedures for projects. It takes time to complete many procedures from approving a project to its start, he said, adding an environmental impact assessment report requires between three and six months to finish.

Meanwhile, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Hoang Hiep said 2021 is the first year of the mid-term public investment plan for 2021-2025. This means new construction projects need time for completing the necessary procedures.

Many projects were suspended for six months due to COVID-19 so it is necessary to extend public investment capital for 2021 for six months, he said.

Concluding the conference, Minh requested reviewing the responsibilities of leaders in directing and dealing with bottlenecks in the disbursement of public investment at each ministry, agency and locality and enhancing the capacity of the projects' management board. The administrative procedure preparations for the projects should be streamlined to save time and costs, he said.

The Deputy PM assigned the Ministry of Planning and Investment to continue identifying current difficulties facing ministries, sectors and localities in carrying out public investment projects, so as to promptly seek solutions to remove them.