Disbursement of public investment: Associated with the responsibility of local leaders

On the morning of May 20, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh chaired a conference to promote public investment growth momentum in 2025; with the goal of disbursing 100% of public investment capital in 2025 (the previous target was 95%).

The Prime Minister requested the Ministry of Finance to compile statistics on ministries, branches and localities with slow disbursement to re-evaluate staff; ministries and branches that perform well should be rewarded, and ministries and branches that do not perform well should be disciplined. At the same time, lessons should be drawn from leadership, direction and implementation at all levels and branches, especially the leaders, to "diagnose the right pulse and the right disease" to have appropriate solutions; there should be principles and regular measurement tools to urge, remind and promote the role of the Prime Minister's working groups.

Minister of Construction Tran Hong Minh - Photo: VGP/Nhat Bac

Ministry of Construction: The problem lies in the implementation and responsibility of local leaders

Minister of Construction Tran Hong Minh said that in 2025, the total planned capital for national and key projects in the transport sector will be about VND 145,837.1 billion, accounting for 17.7% of the 2025 state budget public investment plan assigned by the Prime Minister (VND 825,922.3 billion).

According to the Ministry of Finance's monitoring data, by the end of April 2025, key and important transport projects had disbursed VND 14,361.4 billion, reaching 9.8% of the yearly plan. Of which, projects managed by the Ministry of Construction disbursed about VND 6,338.1 billion, reaching 13.5% of the plan. Projects managed by localities and other units disbursed about VND 8,023.3 billion, reaching 8.1% of the plan.

However, the Minister also mentioned the situation of a number of key national transport infrastructure projects, projects such as: Ho Chi Minh City Ring Road 4 connecting Long An, Lien Khuong - Bao Loc Expressway (Lam Dong), Ho Chi Minh City - Moc Bai Expressway (Tay Ninh), Hanoi Ring Road 4 (with Xuan La - Hoang Dinh section) have all been prepared for investment since the end of the previous term, but now that the current term is almost over, the investment procedures have not been completed.

"I would like to emphasize that regarding the Ho Chi Minh City Ring Road 4 project, there is no conference where I do not express my opinion, because the Prime Minister has assigned the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Construction to report on the investment policy to the National Assembly. We have also sent opinions to relevant agencies to recommend that the National Assembly delegations of the provinces with the project give their opinions to the National Assembly, in order to promote the early issuance of an appraisal report. However, up to now, the Appraisal Council is still not ready. I do not know whether the cause of this problem is due to the locality or the central level. Therefore, I suggest that localities, when having problems in the process of project implementation, need to report directly to the person in charge for timely resolution," the Minister raised the issue.

The Minister of Construction also requested that the Provincial Party Secretaries and Provincial People's Committee Chairmen attending the conference should carefully listen to the opinions of the Ministry's agencies and the Prime Minister's conclusions to jointly recognize and overcome difficulties and bottlenecks in practical implementation.

Regarding the issue of site clearance, Minister Tran Hong Minh pointed out that there are localities that do very well but there are also localities that do almost nothing.

"For example, in Ba Ria-Vung Tau, there were cases where the site clearance took 2-3 years to resolve the site clearance problem for a project. However, when local leaders stepped in, within less than a month, a clean site was available for construction. This proves that the problem lies in the method, the way of organizing implementation and the role and responsibility of the entire political system. There needs to be a synchronous and drastic involvement. If only a few officials are assigned to be in charge of site clearance without focused and drastic direction, it will not be completed in a year.

In addition, site clearance work in localities, especially in the plains, is more difficult than in the mountains. Therefore, we need to be more determined and resolute. Sometimes we are too rigid and rigid in the institutions, policies or initial compensation prices. If leaders at all levels get involved, everything will become simpler.

For example, for households that have to relocate their houses for resettlement, if the mechanism allows, it is possible to consider supporting an additional cost (for example, 60 million VND/household) related to the construction of resettlement housing, without violating legal regulations. Thus, people will be more excited and agreeable, avoiding obstacles that delay the project," the Minister commented.

The next issue raised by the Minister of Construction is that "it is unacceptable for a unit to be assigned and then transferred or assigned to another unit". With the scale and volume of work as determined, it is necessary to assign directly to units and contractors with appropriate capacity, directly to the construction unit/project management board with primary responsibility to be able to meet the progress. If there are any documents or problems in the implementation, the units need to report to the competent authority for timely direction, ensuring construction time and effective use of capital.

Regarding decentralization and authorization to localities, the Ministry of Construction affirmed that it has issued a directive in the form of a telegram to all units and levels on the issue of decentralization and authorization. If a unit fails to decentralize and authorize 100% of the workload under its authority, the Ministry of Construction will strictly handle violations.

Deputy Minister of Finance Nguyen Thanh Trung

Ministry of Finance: Localities with the participation of leaders will have good disbursement

Deputy Minister of Finance Nguyen Thanh Trung also shared the difficulties in the process of disbursing public investment capital that localities are facing. There are special projects such as cultural works that are subject to the provisions of the Heritage Law, but the construction regulations do not have specific provisions for cultural works. However, the Ministry of Finance also believes that any locality that has the participation of the head of the entire political system will handle the work very well.

Regarding decentralization and delegation of authority, the Ministry of Finance said that while previously the approval of investment policies was up to the Prime Minister, in the current Law on Public Investment, there is no longer any project for the Prime Minister to approve, but is completely assigned to the Minister, head of the Central agency and the People's Committee of the province or city based on the localities to take full responsibility from the stages of project preparation, appraisal, approval, capital arrangement, capital allocation, payment and settlement.

Regarding budget adjustment, if previously it was from the National Assembly to the Standing Committee, now it has been proposed to the Government to facilitate the management of the plan from allocation and adjustment. All the capital before the deadline previously assigned by the Prime Minister is now also decentralized to the local and central levels.

Minister of Agriculture and Environment Do Duc Duy

Minister of Agriculture and Environment Do Duc Duy acknowledged that, through listening to the opinions of localities regarding difficulties in the disbursement process, there were 4 groups of problems including: land use origin, land price determination, compensation unit price for site clearance and some contents related to policy transition.

The reasons for the above difficulties and problems are: Firstly, some localities have been slow in issuing detailed regulations; Secondly, the adjustment and supplementation of land price lists and compensation prices for site clearance have not been timely, leading to the failure to gain consensus from the people when applying the prices; Thirdly, the issue of concretizing and applying the transitional regulations on site clearance in the Law and Decree has been regulated. Any localities that have problems have been guided by the Ministry. And especially the issue related to the construction of digitized land databases, this is a very important content, especially determining the origin of land use.

"Experience shows that localities that have made efforts to digitize land databases according to the Prime Minister's direction have not encountered any problems. For example, Ha Nam, Bac Ninh, Binh Duong, Da Nang, Ba Ria Vung Tau... have not encountered any problems in the process of site clearance because all land plots have been digitized, land sources and land use status have been identified," the Minister cited.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Environment recommends that in order to accelerate public investment disbursement, localities need to issue full documents detailing the implementation of the Land Law and decrees guiding its implementation. At the same time, localities, according to their authority, adjust and supplement land price lists, compensation unit prices, crops and livestock on land and assets on land. In particular, localities need to actively build and digitize land databases and follow the Prime Minister's direction.

"Regarding land prices, land use rights auctions are being revised and supplemented by the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment and a document has been sent to local authorities for comments. We request that local authorities continue to reflect. If there are any further problems, the Ministry will accept them and include them in the revised and supplemented decree to make it truly transparent," said Minister Do Duc Duy.

Phan Trang

Source: https://baochinhphu.vn/giai-ngan-dau-tu-cong-gan-voi-trach-nhiem-cua-nguoi-dung-dau-dia-phuong-102250520154721383.htm