Disbursement of public investment capital from foreign loans is low, many projects are behind schedule.

TPO - By the end of November, the disbursement of public investment capital (foreign loans) had only reached more than 39%, making it very difficult to reach the target of 95% this year, especially when representatives of 10 ministries, branches and organizations using this capital source reported that there were still many problems in disbursement, some units even asked to return the capital.

TPO - By the end of November, the disbursement of public investment capital (foreign loans) had only reached more than 39%, making it very difficult to reach the target of 95% this year, especially when representatives of 10 ministries, branches and organizations using this capital source reported that there were still many problems in disbursement, some units even asked to return the capital.

According to the Ministry of Finance , the cumulative disbursement of foreign loan public investment capital in the first 11 months of this year by ministries and branches reached 39.06% of the adjusted capital plan, equivalent to VND 3,285.7 billion. The disbursement rate of foreign capital public investment capital in the first 11 months of this year is more than double the disbursement rate in the first 6 months of the year (16.6% of the capital plan). However, this figure is still much lower than the disbursement result of domestic public investment capital in the first 11 months of 2023 (reaching about 53.1% of the plan).

There are 2 out of 10 ministries and sectors that have disbursed more than 50% of the capital plan: the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE) achieved 87.7% of the planned capital; the Ministry of Transport achieved 58.3% of the planned capital. There are 4 out of 10 ministries that have disbursed but the disbursement rate is low, namely: the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (39.4%), Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology (29.7%), Hanoi National University (6.7%), Ho Chi Minh City National University (6.8%).

Thus, up to 4/10 ministries and sectors have not yet disbursed this year's foreign capital public investment plan (Ministry of Education and Training, Ministry of Construction , Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs, Ministry of Health). The Ministry of Health alone, because it was allocated capital in November, has basically not been able to disburse.

Representative of the Ministry of Finance reports on the progress of disbursement of public investment capital. Photo: Quyen Thanh.

Mr. Hoang Hai - Deputy Director of the Department of Debt Management and External Finance, Ministry of Finance - commented that the disbursement level achieved so far is quite slow and it is very difficult to achieve the target of disbursing 95% of the planned capital, especially when there are less than 2 months left from now until the end of the year.

The reason for the slow disbursement of ODA public investment capital is that the disbursement work has not been paid attention to, bidding and signing are slow, and the documents have to be re-evaluated many times. There are more than 10 projects that have had to adjust their investment policies. Some projects at schools and universities have been disbursed very slowly.

The progress of the "Development of Vietnam National Universities" project is slow, some universities have applied for capital refunds because they cannot disburse. Up to now, the "Development of National Universities" project at Danang University, Hanoi National University; and the Hue University Capacity Building Project are all very slow, with continuous requests for capital and project adjustments.

According to a representative of the Ministry of Education and Training, for the project at the University of Da Nang, the project owner has requested to return more than 525 billion VND, and from now until the end of the year, the disbursement will reach 41 billion VND. "The disbursement procedures and internal implementation steps can sometimes take up to 80 days to resolve, so the disbursement progress is slow," said a representative of the Ministry of Education and Training.

The project using loans from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) allocated to the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs is currently undergoing procedures to extend the loan agreement and request a partial return of capital. According to the Ministry of Finance, if vocational schools had been in charge of procurement and responsible for procurement from the beginning of the project, the project would have been implemented more quickly. The delay in disbursing funds for project implementation has made representatives of vocational schools quite upset.

At the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, there are two projects, of which the satellite launch project is quite important and has been allocated 1,273.9 billion VND. The representative of this institute said that the ground items have been completed, but the satellite has not been launched into orbit, so the completed work has not been accepted. It is expected that by 2025, the remaining capital can be disbursed. Currently, the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology has to handle the capital plan for 2024 and complete procedures to supplement the planned capital for 2025.

The representative of the State Budget Department, Ministry of Finance said that with the current disbursement situation and the project receiving units only reporting like that, it is necessary to reconsider the capital arrangement. This year, the units are struggling with the mentality of not being able to do it, then return it and ask for an extension of the capital arrangement time. This is not a problem that can be solved by promoting disbursement. This is just a technical measure to reduce the responsibility for slow disbursement, it must be resolved soon...

The representative of this department also recommended that in 2025, the Ministry of Planning and Investment should stop allocating this capital source so that ministries, branches, and organizations can spend all their remaining capital, avoiding consequences in implementing contracts with foreign countries, capital repayment plans, and even placing the burden of debt repayment on the state budget.

Quyen Thanh

Source: https://tienphong.vn/giai-ngan-von-dau-tu-cong-nguon-vay-nuoc-ngoai-thap-nhieu-du-an-tien-do-rua-post1697072.tpo