Have money but are slow to spend it?

From the beginning of the year, the Provincial People's Committee has been very decisive in directing the acceleration of public investment disbursement in 2026; organizing many working groups to directly resolve difficulties and obstacles for each project and has issued very specific conclusions and directives.

The Gia Nghia Central Square project is being accelerated by the contractor. (Photo: Archival image)

However, after nearly 5 months, the province's disbursement results have not shown any positive improvement, consistently ranking as the province with the lowest disbursement rate nationwide, at 33rd out of 34 provinces and cities.

At a recent meeting in mid-May, Ho Van Muoi, Member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam, Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, and Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, affirmed that double-digit GRDP growth is posing many challenges for Lam Dong province . These include disbursing public investment capital, attracting investment, and collecting state budget revenue.

Frustrated by the slow disbursement of public investment funds, the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee severely criticized 10 commune and ward chairmen who were allocated large sums of money but had not yet disbursed it, and 5 directors of project management boards with very low disbursement rates. The bottlenecks reported by the localities have been specifically addressed and directed by leaders of departments, agencies, and the Provincial People's Committee, but there has still been no positive change at the grassroots level. If the allocated funds of the 10 communes and wards and 5 project management boards are combined, the total amount of unspent funds reaches hundreds of billions of dong. Having money sitting idle in the treasury is wasteful because it doesn't stimulate economic development or create jobs for workers. Having money but being slow to spend it is even more unacceptable, especially given the slow disbursement by the localities and project management boards that the province has specifically identified.

In public investment, the province has identified the root of the problem. The remaining task is whether the departments, agencies, and localities have the determination and decisiveness to act. From now on, localities and units must immediately eliminate the complacent attitude of "waiting until the end of the year to accelerate disbursement." Everyone must be decisive and conduct a serious review in carrying out this task, the head of the Provincial People's Committee demanded.

The DT721 project is progressing very slowly. (Photo: Archival image)

Regarding the disbursement of public investment capital, the head of the Department of Finance affirmed that all documents, directives, and instructions from the provincial leadership have been decisive and timely. The task now is for localities and units to strictly and correctly comply with the province's directives. According to the Department of Finance's report, the total public investment capital plan for 2026 allocated to 124 communes, wards, and special zones is over 1,300 billion VND. However, to date, localities have only disbursed over 126.5 billion VND, reaching 11.08%.

Disbursement of investment capital must be carried out hourly and daily. Provincial leaders will work very closely with project management boards. The Department of Finance will urge localities to complete procedures and documents for new construction projects. For projects that are unlikely to be disbursed, solutions for reallocating capital will be proposed immediately.

Of course, the disbursement of public investment capital must be linked to ensuring the quality of construction projects, preventing corruption, losses, and waste. Lam Dong is currently focusing on accelerating land clearance and construction progress of key projects such as the Tan Phu - Bao Loc, Bao Loc - Lien Khuong, Gia Nghia - Chon Thanh expressways, National Highway 28B, coastal road projects, and the western route... therefore, demanding quality is objectively reasonable.

Disbursing public investment capital, especially for key national projects, highways, and inter-regional projects, has a ripple effect on socio-economic development and national defense and security. With the consistent and decisive leadership of the provincial authorities, Lam Dong aims to disburse public investment capital according to plan by the end of the year. Overall, the benefits of disbursing public investment capital include promoting double-digit growth and ensuring that people benefit from projects and construction works in the province that are completed and put into use sooner.

Source: https://baolamdong.vn/co-tien-nhung-cham-tieu-444902.html