Public investment disbursement: Localities struggling after merger

Implementing the weekly quick reporting regime to the Prime Minister on the allocation and disbursement of public investment capital, the Ministry of Finance said that by the end of October 30, the whole country had only disbursed more than VND 476,000 billion, reaching 52.8% of the plan; 29 ministries, branches and 17 localities had disbursement rates lower than the national average; 5 units had not disbursed public investment capital.

After 10 months, disbursement of public investment capital has only reached more than 52% of the plan.

According to the Ministry of Finance, the slow progress of disbursement of public investment capital is due to the rearrangement and reorganization of administrative units and the transition to a two-level local government model.

Many localities after the merger have not yet completed their apparatus and lack specialized project management boards. Some newly formed or merged communes do not have officials in charge of public investment, and employees have to take on many tasks, while many projects have not yet been transferred to investors and handover documents are still slow.

The merger of provinces has led to the situation where the same locality has many different land price lists, making it difficult to determine compensation and site clearance plans. This is also a common reason why many key projects are behind schedule.

In addition, the mechanisms and policies related to implementation are still entangled, while some new issues arising from practice have not been promptly guided. These shortcomings slow down the progress of implementation and disbursement of public investment capital plans in many ministries, branches and localities.

Compensation and site clearance work continues to be a major bottleneck. Although many localities have focused on promoting this work, in many places it is still prolonged due to difficulties in determining land prices, not reaching agreements with the people, and complicated procedures for determining land prices, leading to delays in site handover and chain effects on construction progress.

For ODA projects, negotiation, signing and international payment face many difficulties. The time for approving loan agreements often lasts from 12 to 18 months due to compliance with the regulations of the lender, while some projects have to be suspended due to changes in sponsors or other objective reasons.

In addition, the capacity of some investors, project management boards and contractors is still limited. Construction organization is not resolute, there is not enough human resources and equipment; the work of making estimates and progress is not close to reality; the coordination between agencies and units is still lacking. The situation of fear, fear of mistakes, avoidance and shirking of responsibility still exists in many places.

Adverse weather conditions have also caused many projects to stall. In the past four months, many major storms have hit consecutively, with four in September alone, of which storm No. 10 caused the most serious damage. Heavy rains, landslides and floods have directly affected construction progress, especially key transport projects.

In the current situation, the Ministry of Finance recommends that ministries, branches and localities be more proactive in reviewing and evaluating the progress of each project, and at the same time develop weekly disbursement plans to easily control and promptly handle problems.

In case of slow disbursement, it is necessary to promptly transfer internal capital to projects with good disbursement; prepare payment records immediately for completed and accepted volumes to avoid accumulation at the end of the month.

Along with that, localities need to soon complete the organization of the government apparatus after the merger, arrange enough staff with professional capacity, especially in site clearance and project management.

Source: https://tienphong.vn/giai-ngan-dau-tu-cong-dia-phuong-loay-hoay-sau-sap-nhap-post1795244.tpo