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| Disbursement of public investment capital: Eliminating the procrastinator’s mindset |
Focus on the task of disbursement
According to the Ministry of Finance (MoF), the estimated disbursement of public investment capital in the first seven months of 2023 reached 35.49% of the plan. In comparison to the Prime Minister's capital plan (over 707,044 billion VND), the disbursement rate reached 37.85%, a significant increase over the same period in 2022 (34.47%). This rate indicates an acceleration of disbursements in the remaining months of the fiscal year in order to achieve a positive result at the end of the fiscal year.
This result has also demonstrated the efforts of ministries, branches, and localities to remove obstacles, particularly during the land clearance stage, to accelerate progress.
For example, in Kien Giang, the province's public investment capital plan allocates more than 6,241 billion VND (including an additional 660 billion VND from the regional budget) in 2023. So far, the province has allocated the whole capital plan in detail. By the end of July, disbursement in the locality reached more than 32% of the assigned capital plan, equivalent to 2,021 billion VND. This rate has also increased significantly compared to the locality's disbursement rate in the first months of the year.
Kien Giang province, like others across the country, is facing difficulties with land clearance, a scarcity of construction stones, and sand, and so on. However, Provincial People's Committee leaders have been thoroughly requesting districts and cities to urgently complete land clearance plans for projects in the area, particularly key projects; strengthen propaganda and mobilize people in the project area to soon relocate and hand over the site to construction units to ensure project progress.
After a surge in the second quarter thanks to the expenditure of over 9,000 billion VND to compensate for land clearance for the Ring Road 3 project, the disbursement situation in Ho Chi Minh City slowed somewhat in July. By the end of July 2023, the municipality disbursed 19,135 billion VND, accounting for 28% of the assigned capital plan (more than VND 70,000 billion).
According to Ho Chi Minh’s report, some key projects in the area are encountering challenges in land clearance. For instance, in the project to expand National Highway 50 in Binh Chanh district, 118 households have not agreed to hand over the site with an area of nearly 2 hectares yet, while the technical infrastructure system has not been completely relocated, thus slowing down construction progress.
Following an inspection, the city's supervisory delegation requested that the People's Committee of Binh Chanh district completely deal with households who have not agreed to hand over the project site and quickly hand over the full site for construction before June 30, 2023; direct the district compensation committee of land clearance to quickly implement procedures to carry out the relocation of technical infrastructure to complete progress before August 3, 2023.
National key projects ensure disbursement progress
According to a report from the Ministry of Transport on June 9, 2023, the land clearance of the North-South Expressway Project in the East from 2017 to 2020 has just been largely completed, with only a few technical infrastructures being relocated. At the same time, the project's cumulative State budget capital disbursed by June 30, 2023, was 53,758.8 billion VND, accounting for 82.1% of the assigned plan. That of the 2023 plan was 6,282.5 out of 16,889.1 billion VND, making up 37.2% of the assigned plan.
The estimated disbursement by July 31, 2023, was 55,014.3 billion VND, accounting for 84.1% of the assigned plan; of which that of the 2023 plan was 7,539 billion VND, equivalent to 44.6% of the total assigned plan.
On July 13, 2022, the Ministry of Transport approved the investment of 12 component projects for the North-South Expressway project in the period 2021-2025, which were assigned to the Ministry's project management boards as the investor and handed over timelines of land clearance to the locality for implementation on June 30, 2022.
By the end of June 30, 2023, the aggregate disbursed capital of the project was 26,593.1 billion VND, representing 48.6% of the assigned annual capital plan, of which that of the 2023 plan was 17,450.4 out of 45,226,095 billion VND, equivalent to 38.6% of the assigned 2023 plan. The estimated disbursement by July 31, 2023, was 31,442.7 billion VND, reaching 57.4% of the assigned plan.
To date, the State budget investment plan in 2023 allocated 13,079.6 billion VND for three highway construction investment projects namely Khanh Hoa - Buon Ma Thuot; Bien Hoa - Vung Tau; and Chau Doc - Can Tho - Soc Trang. According to the State Treasury report, by the end of June 2023, there were three disbursement projects totaling over 4,187 billion VND, accounting for 31.9% of the 2023 plan. The estimated disbursement by the end of July 2023 was 5,400 billion VND, representing 41.3% of the 2023 plan.
