The disbursement of public investment capital was only more than VNĐ110.63 trillion in the first four months of 2023 though the Government has taken many solutions to speed up and remove difficulties for the work, the Ministry of Finance estimated.

 

The value was equal to only 14.66 per cent of the plan, compared with 18.48 per cent of the same period in 2022.

 

Three ministries and agencies, and 19 provinces and cities currently have a disbursement rate of more than 20 per cent, including Đồng Tháp Province with 38.3 per cent, Bến Tre Province with 36.96 per cent, the Management Board of Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum with 36.66 per cent, Tiền Giang Province with 33.85 per cent and Phú Thọ Province with 32.99 per cent.

 

However, there are still 47 ministries and agencies, and 27 provinces and cities with disbursement rate below 15 per cent of the set plans. Thirty-two ministries and agencies, and a province even disbursed less than 5 per cent of the set plans. For example, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism; the Ministry of Education and Training and Ministry of Science and Technology disbursed only 0.25 per cent, 1.1 per cent and 3.45 per cent, respectively. The Committee for Ethnic Minority Affairs and the State Audit even had a disbursement rate of zero.

 

According to the Ministry of Finance, the Government’s leaders last month organised inspection teams to urge and remove difficulties and obstacles with an aim to accelerate disbursement of public investment capital in 2023 at ministries and agencies. The inspection found a number of existing problems and difficulties that have affected the disbursement.

 

First, some projects need to prepare for investment in 2023 but cannot allocate capital because the project’s approved medium-term plan for the 2021-25 period does not separate investment preparation capital and implementation capital. As a result, the project does not have the capital to carry out the investment preparation, which affects the approval progress of the project.

 

Besides, some investment preparation tasks are still slow due to problems in land procedures, adjustment of detailed planning of construction land, and site clearance.

 

In addition, there are problems caused by rising prices of construction materials, regulations on fire safety, environmental protection and design.

 

To boost the public investment capital flow, with the responsibility for capital management and payment, the Ministry of Finance is proposing the Prime Minister assign the Ministry of Planning and Investment in having specific instructions on conditions for allocating capital for investment preparation in the medium-term and annual public investment plans so that ministries and agencies can have a basis for unifying implementation.

 

At the same time, the Ministry of Finance has also proposed the Prime Minister direct ministries, agencies and localities to strictly implement the reporting regime as prescribed.

 

The Ministry of Finance has also requested the Ministry of Planning and Investment to soon complete the dossier to submit and report to the Government on the extension of time for implementation and payment of public investment capital from the State budget from 2022 to 2023 for ministries and agencies according to the Government’s direction.

 

Besides, the Ministry of Planning and Investment must coordinate with the Ministry of Transport to report to the competent authorities about the allocation of capital plans from sources of revenue increase thanks to the reduction and savings in central budget expenditure in 2021 for component projects for implementation.

 

For ministries and agencies, the Ministry of Finance has proposed to implement Directive No. 08/CT-TTg dated March 23, 2023 of the Prime Minister on key tasks and solutions to promote allocation and disbursement of public investment capital, as well as three national target programmes in 2023 to urge the allocation and disbursement of public investment plans of the State budget in 2023. — VNS