Driving forces behind strategic infrastructure development.

Public investment is not only a "lever" to stimulate growth, but also promotes the development of strategic infrastructure, paving the way for attracting social investment. Thanh Hoa, with its large population and vast development space, faces an increasingly urgent need to improve its strategic infrastructure. The figures on the allocation and disbursement of public investment capital in 2025 and the orientation for 2026 demonstrate the province's clear political determination to unlock resources, but also present significant challenges in implementation.

The cable-stayed bridge over the North-South railway line in Hac Thanh ward is nearing completion and will soon be put into use.

According to the Provincial People's Committee report, the total planned public investment capital from the State budget in 2025 will reach VND 25,557.448 billion, of which the planned capital for 2025 is VND 21,836.4 billion, nearly VND 7,936 billion higher than the amount assigned by the Prime Minister; in addition, there is VND 3,721 billion carried over from 2024 to 2025. This is a very large resource for the province to prioritize investment in infrastructure development. By mid-November 2025, the entire province had disbursed VND 16,024.1 billion, equivalent to 64% of the plan; specifically, the capital for 2025 disbursed reached VND 15,225 billion, equivalent to 71.5% of the plan. This result shows the clear efforts of the political system, especially in the context of the province operating a two-tiered local government system.

However, the disbursement results have not met expectations. The biggest bottleneck currently lies not in the lack of investment funds, but in the capacity for implementation. According to statistics from the Department of Construction, the entire province still has 122 investors whose disbursement targets of the "90-Day Campaign" have not been met; of which 63 investors have disbursed below the provincial average. In particular, some units have very low disbursement rates, such as: the Department of Education and Training at 0.2%, the Oncology Hospital at 0.6%, the Provincial General Hospital at 6.4%, and the Management Board of Nghi Son Economic Zone and Industrial Parks at 19.8%. Notably, key transportation and infrastructure projects have low disbursement rates, such as the North-South Expressway connecting Nghi Son Port (only 14.9%), the Nga Son - Hoang Hoa coastal road (8%), and the Dong Xuan - Dong Tien route (almost stalled at 0.3%). These are all strategic connecting routes that play a direct role in opening up space for industrial, urban, and logistics development, but their slow progress is hindering the province's development. Another typical bottleneck is land clearance. Currently, many communes and wards lack specialized land, finance, and construction personnel; project documents are handed over over many periods, leading to slow land clearance progress and causing construction disruptions.

To promote public investment, Thanh Hoa province has issued a series of decisive solutions such as: a 90-day intensive campaign to complete the disbursement of public investment capital in 2025, which specifies disbursement milestones to be achieved weekly, monthly, and quarterly for each investor and project; directing the review and adjustment of capital plans between projects that are unlikely to fully disburse funds or are disbursing slowly and projects with better disbursement rates and those still lacking capital. The Provincial People's Committee has established working groups and steering committees to address difficulties and obstacles, overcome limitations and weaknesses in socio-economic development, and implement large-scale, key investment projects in the province... Practical experience shows that where leaders are closely involved and "accompany the projects," progress is evident. Conversely, where there is a fear of responsibility, buck-passing, and avoidance of work, capital remains "on paper."

In the 2026 plan, the total public investment capital in the province is projected to be approximately 13,503 billion VND; of which local budget capital accounts for 13,235.8 billion VND, with revenue from land use fees estimated at 11,390 billion VND. Along with this, the entire society is expected to mobilize 168,000 billion VND in investment capital, an increase of 17.8% compared to 2025; GRDP is targeted to increase by 11% or more. These figures clearly highlight the need for public investment to be one step ahead, acting as "seed capital" to guide private investment, forming a transportation axis, industrial parks, dynamic urban areas, digital infrastructure, and healthcare and education infrastructure. If the goal is merely "to disburse all funds" without being linked to a long-term development structure, public investment will lose its strategic role. Therefore, to truly unlock public investment resources, we must first make a breakthrough in management thinking. Public investment is not about "distributing money," but about organizing a chain of actions from project preparation, land clearance, contractor selection, construction, acceptance, and final settlement. A single bottleneck can bring the entire chain to a standstill.

At the Provincial Party Standing Committee meeting in early December 2025, Provincial Party Secretary Nguyen Doan Anh emphasized: "Administrative discipline in public investment must be tightened. The province has clearly defined disbursement as a criterion for evaluating the performance of officials and civil servants. The remaining issue is to implement it thoroughly, without favoritism or leniency. The capacity of communes in land clearance work must be improved, and if necessary, a mechanism should be established to strengthen the number of specialized personnel at the commune level to handle land-related procedures. Along with that, the issue of construction materials must be resolved definitively. Each new road opened, each completed social infrastructure project will unlock resources, not only creating momentum for economic development, but also serving as a measure of the governance capacity of the local government apparatus in the development process."

Text and photos: Minh Hieu

Source: https://baothanhhoa.vn/dong-luc-thuc-day-phat-trien-ha-tang-chien-luoc-271599.htm