Estimated "huge" capital expenditure for public investment

Public investment disbursement has clearly improved, focusing resources on key projects with spillover effects. Photo: D.T

Huge investment needs for double-digit growth phase

Reporting to the National Assembly , the Government said that, through preliminary synthesis, the investment demand for the 2026-2030 period of ministries, branches and localities is about 8,662 trillion VND. This is the estimated figure up to September 30, 2025, of which 5,325 trillion VND is central budget capital.

Of these resources, in addition to the 265,842 billion VND transferred from the previous period, the investment demand for national target programs, important national projects, and key projects is 2.9 million billion VND, the investment demand for construction of new projects, as well as the need for central support for localities is about 2 million billion VND.

The investment demand is huge. It is understandable that ministries, branches and localities all have a large investment demand in the period 2026-2030, a period of strategic significance in the development breakthrough of localities in particular and the whole economy in general. This is the period when the economy will break through with double-digit growth, starting in 2026, with the draft target of growth of 10% or more.

The demand is huge, but in a report to the National Assembly, the Government said that the ability to balance the budget capital for public investment in the 2026-2030 period is only 8.31 million billion VND, including 3.8 million billion VND of central budget capital and 4.51 million billion VND of local budget capital.

Although it has not met the demand, the figure of 8.31 million billion VND is a "huge" budget, especially compared to the budget of 2.87 million billion VND of the 2021-2025 Medium-Term Public Investment Plan. In the 2021-2025 medium-term period, although the initial allocated resources were 2.87 million VND, in the end, with additional resources from the Socio-Economic Recovery and Development Program, central budget reserve resources, as well as mobilization from local budgets..., a total of about 3.043 million billion VND has been allocated.

If 100% of the plan is disbursed in 2025, the total public investment resources disbursed in the 2021-2025 period will reach more than VND 3,026 trillion. Importantly, public investment capital has been allocated in a more concentrated, focused, and key manner, focusing on important national projects with spillover effects, overcoming the situation of scattered and dispersed investment, improving investment efficiency in accordance with the goals and orientations of the socio-economic development strategy and plan.

In the 2021-2025 period, the number of projects using central budget sources will decrease from about 11,000 in the 2016-2020 period to about 4,652 projects, a reduction of half. This is a very positive number, not only highly appreciated by the Government, but also acknowledged by the National Assembly when examining the Government's report.

“Public investment disbursement has clearly improved. The number of projects from the central budget has decreased by half compared to the previous period, demonstrating the concentration of resources on key projects with spillover effects,” Mr. Phan Van Mai, Chairman of the National Assembly’s Economic and Financial Committee, emphasized.

To create motivation, it must be used effectively.

If approved by the National Assembly, a large budget will be allocated for medium-term public investment in the 2026-2030 period. The problem is how to use this resource effectively.

During the discussion in the group, Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Nguyen Duc Hai emphasized that because public investment resources are very large, in order to create momentum, it is necessary to manage them effectively. “Increasing the disbursement speed will be a factor to help promote faster growth, avoiding the situation of allocating capital at the beginning of the year, but at the end of the year there is still a large surplus, not allocating capital in time. The project needs capital but the capital does not reach the project. Therefore, the efficiency of capital use is a very important issue,” said the Vice Chairman of the National Assembly.

The Ministry of Finance always emphasizes to ministries, branches and localities that when building budgets, it is necessary to carefully review the project preparation capacity, implementation capacity and capital disbursement, to avoid the situation of building budgets that exceed implementation capacity and then having to request adjustments to reduce the plan.

The delegate of Da Nang City also emphasized the need to allocate capital with focus and key points, not spreading it out to avoid waste; at the same time, it is necessary to prepare the project well, because if we wait until the allocation of the public investment plan is completed before starting to prepare the project, it will be too late. "Investment preparation, I think, is a step that needs to be focused on and promoted," said Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Nguyen Duc Hai.

Sharing the same view, delegate Nguyen Dac Vinh (Tuyen Quang) pointed out that one of the reasons affecting public investment disbursement is poor preparation and budgeting. This delegate gave an example of land issues, there are projects that are not clear whether the land is feasible or not, even knowing that site clearance is very difficult, but are still included in the budget, leading to difficulties in implementation and disbursement.

In fact, this is also a long-standing issue and that is also the reason why some ministries, branches and localities, near the end of the year, when they cannot disburse all, ask for adjustments to reduce the capital plan. The Ministry of Finance always emphasizes to ministries, branches and localities that, when building the budget, it is necessary to carefully review the project preparation capacity, implementation capacity, and capital disbursement, to avoid the situation of building a budget that exceeds the implementation capacity and then having to ask for adjustments to reduce the plan.

In order to effectively use public investment capital in the 2026-2030 period, it is expected that capital allocation will be carried out according to the principle of "focusing on key points", not spreading out, giving priority to national target programs, important national projects, special public investment projects, urgent public investment projects... Along with that, the total number of projects using central budget capital in this period will not exceed 3,000 projects, a decrease of more than 1,600 projects compared to the 2021-2025 period.

To improve the efficiency of public investment, from another perspective, Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Nguyen Duc Hai said that it is necessary to combine public investment, private investment, and social investment to promote growth. “Private investment and social investment are very important,” said the Vice Chairman of the National Assembly.

He emphasized that public investment comes from the available state budget, and must be accelerated to create momentum for growth, but in the long term, social investment and private investment must be promoted. The reason is that current public investment does not directly invest in production, but rather creates essential infrastructure, creates momentum for regional development, and requires private investment and social investment to increase production capacity.

Source: https://baodautu.vn/du-chi-nguon-von-khung-cho-dau-tu-cong-d420354.html