Disbursement of public investment capital: Avoiding “retaining capital, stagnating capital”

Mr. Ho Tien Thieu, Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the Provincial People’s Committee concludes the meeting

On May 27, Mr. Ho Tien Thieu, Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the Provincial People’s Committee chaired a meeting of the Provincial People’s Committee to evaluate the disbursement of public investment capital in the first 5 months of 2022 and tasks for the remaining months of 2022.

According to the report of the Department of Planning and Investment, as of May 20, 2022, the total public investment capital plan for 2022, excluding the national target program, is more than 2,498 billion VND and has been allocated by the Provincial People’s Committee to each program and project. Regarding the implementation, the investors have realized an estimated value of 537 billion VND, reaching 21.5% of the plan and disbursing 407 billion VND, reaching 16.32% of the plan, much lower than that of the same period in 2021 (which was 26%).

Notably, 14/32 provincial-level investors disbursed capital at 0%; district and city level investors in Van Quan, Huu Lung and Lang Son city disbursed the lowest, less than 20% of the allocated capital plan.

According to the explanations of the units with low disbursement results, the reasons are that some investors prioritize capital for site clearance; some must adjust the project, adjust the investment policy; unfavorable weather affecting the construction of works. In addition, some investors focus on repaying the advance plan, so the 2022 capital plan has not been disbursed…

Regarding solutions to improve disbursement of public investment capital in the remaining months, the investors suggested the People’s Committees of districts, city, departments and sectors to drastically implement the site clearance and speed up the appraisal progress of projects to adjust the project investment policy. For completed projects with late payment, the investor is allowed to transfer capital to other projects to ensure the disbursement progress according to the plan of the Provincial People’s Committee.

Some districts, cities and investors have proposed that the province allocate capital from the land development fund to speed up site clearance, contributing to speeding up the progress of projects. In addition, functional sectors and investors should step up the review of projects, disbursement ability and promote state budget collection for the source of development investment spending.

Concluding the meeting, Mr. Chairman of the Provincial People’s Committee emphasized: “The promotion of public investment capital disbursement is very important for socio-economic recovery and development. However, many investors disburse very slowly, affecting the implementation of local political tasks. Therefore, investors with low disbursement should seriously learn the lessons and have specific solutions to promote disbursement of public investment capital in the remaining months of the year.”

Regarding the tasks in the coming time, he requested: “For the projects that are about to be invested, the investors should urgently complete the procedures to implement according to the plan. People’s Committees of districts and cities should coordinate with investors to focus on site clearance, functional sectors  urgently set specific land prices for each project, especially newly constructed projects. In transitional projects, investors should focus on directing contractors to accelerate construction of items, prepare detailed plans for each item and detailed project disbursement plans.”

Regarding capital payment, the Chairman of the Provincial People’s Committee requested the investors to direct the contractors to immediately complete the disbursement documents, avoiding “retaining capital, stagnating capital” and not disbursing until the end of the year. The Department of Finance urgently was to advance capital from the land development fund for site clearance of projects as planned. The Department of Planning and Investment proactively should advise the Provincial People’s Committee to review the collection capacity of revenue sources to balance and allocate capital for projects as well as to transfer and balance capital projects to promote disbursement.