Public investment 2025: Sprint to overcome bottlenecks to preserve golden growth momentum

VTV.vn - Public investment disbursement reached 54.4% after 10 months, creating positive momentum, but the remaining 411 trillion VND is still a big pressure for the year-end sprint.

“'Seed capital' accelerates: Public investment disbursement sets new record

The year 2025 is marked as the year with the highest volume of public investment capital ever, acting as a key "seed capital" to stimulate aggregate demand and maintain GDP growth momentum in the context of an uncertain global economy . After more than 10 months of implementation, the disbursement picture has shown many bright colors with encouraging numbers, showing the drastic participation of the Government and all levels of sectors.

According to the updated report of the Ministry of Finance , as of October 31, 2025, the whole country has disbursed 491,043.3 billion VND, reaching 54.4% of the plan assigned by the Prime Minister. This is a positive result, not only because it increased by 3.5 percentage points compared to the same period in 2024, but also corresponding to injecting nearly 145,000 billion VND into the economy. Notably, local budget capital achieved a high disbursement rate (68%), demonstrating the initiative of localities.

As of October 31, 2025, the whole country has disbursed 491,043.3 billion VND.

The bright spot in the disbursement "picture" is the group of ministries, branches and localities with high disbursement rates such as Hanoi , Ho Chi Minh City, Quang Ninh, Hai Phong... This is a clear demonstration of the effectiveness of proactive and decisive leadership and direction, and the promotion of administrative reform, decentralization and thorough delegation of power has accelerated the efficiency of capital circulation.

According to the Ministry of Finance, this positive result is thanks to the consistent and decisive direction of the Government. Public investment is always the focus of regular meetings. The Prime Minister has organized 4 online conferences, issued 8 directives and telegrams and sent working groups to localities to remove difficulties for each project.

In particular, the completion of mechanisms and policies has created a more open legal corridor. Decree No. 254/2025/ND-CP is a breakthrough step by significantly shortening the capital payment time to a maximum of only 2 working days, instead of 3 days, while cutting up to 33% of paperwork procedures.

At the same time, a series of key national projects have been accelerated and completed. In the past 10 months, the country has completed an additional 455 km of expressways, bringing the total length put into operation to 2,476 km. It is expected that about 700 km will be completed from now until the end of the year, towards the target of 3,000 km of expressways by the end of 2025. Major projects such as the connecting route and terminal T3 of Tan Son Nhat airport, the expressway from Ca Mau to Dat Mui, or the promotion of the North-South high-speed railway have created a vibrant atmosphere, making an important contribution to the GDP growth target.

Discussing this issue, Dr. Can Van Luc, Chief Economist of BIDV, Member of the Prime Minister's Policy Advisory Council, said that public investment disbursement is not only about disbursement of numbers, but also about freeing up resources, creating national assets, reducing logistics costs and improving competitiveness for the economy. The high disbursement rate, especially in local capital, shows the initiative of leaders in using budget leverage to stimulate internal growth.

Disbursement rush: Clearing bottlenecks, promoting capital flow

Despite many remarkable results, overall, the progress of public investment disbursement is still slower than expected. As of the end of October, 411,000 billion VND has not been disbursed, the pressure on the last 2 months of the year is extremely large.

According to information from the Ministry of Finance, the cause of this delay is pointed out to come from many subjective and objective factors, forming inherent "bottlenecks" that need to be urgently resolved. Accordingly, the plan is not close to reality, some ministries, branches and localities have planned capital beyond their implementation capacity, leading to more than 24 ministries, branches and 10 localities having to request to return central budget capital, causing disruption to the overall plan.

In addition, site clearance continues to be the biggest bottleneck. 18 localities reported problems in determining land prices, compensation agreements and resettlement arrangements. According to Associate Professor Dr. Tran Dinh Thien, former Director of the Vietnam Economic Institute, site clearance is a matter of trust and consensus, requiring courage, transparency and great political determination from the leaders. Many projects have had to stop construction, and payment records are backlogged.

Not only that, the fear of making mistakes and avoidance is also a barrier. The capacity and responsibility of some investors, project management boards, and staff are still limited. There is a phenomenon of fear of making mistakes, avoidance, and shirking of responsibility, causing the documents to be prolonged, requiring many revisions, wasting time for appraisal and approval.

In 2025, disbursement of public investment capital is not only a fiscal target but also a "comprehensive test" of the management and governance capacity and mettle of leaders at all levels. Successfully disbursing 100% of the capital plan will not only fulfill the political task, but also provide a significant boost, reduce logistics costs and enhance national competitiveness.

Notably, one reason that cannot be ignored is the impact of the apparatus arrangement. The process of arranging and converting the 2-level local government model after more than 4 months of implementation has caused confusion in many places, requiring the apparatus to be perfected and personnel rearranged, slowing down the disbursement progress.

In addition, the cause also comes from the implementation of new laws such as the 2024 Land Law, the Construction Law... creating temporary gaps due to the lack of specific guidance, causing some regulations on land valuation and adjustment of total investment to be out of sync with reality; Scarce supply of construction materials, sharp increase in land, sand and stone prices causing costs to increase, forcing many projects to adjust total investment; Natural disasters and extreme weather have severely affected construction sites, especially key transport infrastructure projects in the Northern and Central mountainous regions...

Public investment is the "key lever" to maintain growth momentum.

The end of 2025 is becoming a pivotal time for ministries, branches and localities to demonstrate their implementation capacity and sense of responsibility in promoting disbursement of public investment capital. The goal of disbursing 100% of the capital plan is not simply to complete a number, but is a test of the effectiveness of economic management, the ability to coordinate between levels of government, as well as the level of policy diffusion in recovery and growth. The Ministry of Finance and the Government clearly identify that public investment is the "key lever" to maintain growth momentum, a measure of the capacity and public ethics of the staff. In that context, the "6 clear" principle - clear people, clear work, clear responsibility, clear authority, clear time and clear results - becomes a guideline for action, closely linking disbursement results with emulation, reward and discipline work.

The spirit of "running while removing obstacles" is spreading strongly throughout localities. The consolidation of the apparatus after the merger and the arrangement of competent and courageous officials are considered the first steps to ensure the smooth operation of the two-level government model. Along with that, site clearance continues to be a breakthrough. The Government requires prioritizing the allocation of sufficient capital for compensation and resettlement, while mobilizing the participation of the entire political system in propaganda and advocacy to gain people's consensus, avoiding "projects waiting for site clearance". The synchronous coordination between the parties is considered a decisive factor in helping many key projects remove bottlenecks, maintain progress and quality of works.

At the same time, bottlenecks in materials, ODA procedures and progress of key projects are being removed with a series of specific solutions. The issuance of Resolution 66.4/2025/NQ-CP is considered a "timely remedy", helping to unblock the supply of construction materials, especially sand, soil and stone for large-scale infrastructure projects. Projects such as the North-South Expressway or Long Thanh Airport are given absolute priority, from bidding, signing contracts to completing legal documents. With a comprehensive, transparent and drastic approach, the disbursement target is not only a capital problem, but also a manifestation of the leader's mettle, of the spirit of acting with integrity - efficiency - daring to take responsibility, contributing to affirming the image of a modern, decisive public administration for sustainable growth./.

Source: https://vtv.vn/dau-tu-cong-2025-nuoc-rut-vuot-diem-nghen-de-bao-toan-da-tang-truong-vang-100251113193427887.htm