Experience in disbursing public investment capital in Lao Cai

According to Mr. Hoang Quoc Khanh, Standing Vice Chairman of Lao Cai Provincial People's Committee, to achieve this success, the province has focused on removing three main bottlenecks including: completing investment preparation work early; focusing on site clearance work in key areas; and solving the shortage of common construction materials.

Untie the knots

Analyzing this issue more specifically, Director of the Department of Planning and Investment of Lao Cai province, Phan Trung Ba, said that the Department has advised the Provincial People's Committee to focus on assigning the medium-term public investment capital plan and the annual public investment plan early to investors so that units can proactively implement them.

The technical infrastructure project of urban sub-area No. 15, Lao Cai city is under construction.

In particular, it requires agencies, units and localities to resolutely implement solutions to accelerate the disbursement of public investment capital according to the disbursement plan assigned by the province; at the same time, it requires units to make disbursement plans for each project and each capital source on a monthly basis, ensuring that the total disbursement is completed according to the assigned disbursement plan.

The Department of Planning and Investment shall publicly announce at the regular meeting of the Provincial People's Committee the disbursement rate of public investment capital of all agencies, units and localities every month. This disbursement result is the basis for proposing appropriate forms of rewards and discipline for heads of agencies, localities and units in performing their tasks.

Along with that, the Department has advised the Provincial People's Committee to accelerate the implementation of national target programs, ensuring the correct objectives and tasks of each program assigned by the Prime Minister and the Provincial People's Committee; ensuring the use of concentrated, economical, effective and substantial capital, avoiding dispersion, duplication and waste; and not allowing outstanding debts in basic construction. The Department has allocated and assigned detailed capital investment plans for projects from the beginning of the year, ensuring the correct time limit prescribed by the Law on Public Investment.

Thanks to the consistent efforts from top to bottom, the disbursement of public investment capital in a number of sectors and localities in Lao Cai has achieved impressive results. Bao Thang district is a typical locality. In 2023, the disbursement of public investment capital was implemented urgently and drastically. The total capital plan assigned in 2023 was 459 billion VND. By the end of the year, Bao Thang district had disbursed 449 billion VND, reaching 98% of the plan and in the first quarter of 2024, the district had disbursed 196 billion VND, reaching 39% of the yearly plan...

According to the Director of the Bao Thang District Construction Investment Project Management Board, Do Giang Nam, the district has focused on allocating capital to ensure compliance with the principles, criteria, and order of priority stipulated in the Law on Public Investment, the Resolution of the National Assembly, and the Decision of the Prime Minister, in accordance with the socio- economic development goals, sectors, fields, localities, and approved plans, while at the same time drastically implementing and accelerating the disbursement of public investment capital right from the beginning of the year. In particular, it is ready to transfer capital from slow-disbursing projects to projects with better disbursement capacity. At the same time, the acceptance, payment, and disbursement of projects and works are carried out as soon as there is volume, not to postpone payment until the end of the year...

Flexible capital adjustment

Despite the positive results, according to experts and professional agencies, in 2024, Lao Cai still faces many difficulties and challenges to complete the target of disbursing public investment capital. First of all, objectively, some mechanisms, policies and legal regulations are slow to be issued and amended; there are still conflicts, overlaps and inconsistent application of some regulations; decentralization and delegation of power are still entangled (such as: converting the purpose of using rice land, forest land; separating site clearance into independent projects...).

For example, the project to upgrade provincial road 156 (Kim Thanh - Ngoi Phat) from Quang Kim bridge to the intersection with BV32 and BV28 roads, has a total investment of 780 billion VND. Currently, the project's bid packages are being implemented simultaneously and ensuring progress, however, the project is facing problems with site clearance when most households support the land for the main road, but many households do not agree to the land acquisition for the 25m widening section on each side.

In addition, it is also very difficult for this project to determine the land clearance boundary of the old Provincial Road 156 project, because the land clearance in the previous phase was measured manually, without coordinates, and during the use process, households re-encroached, leading to the inability to determine the reclaimed boundary.

Comrade Vu Trung Kien, Deputy Head of the ODA Project Management Board and Lao Cai Province Construction Investment, said that although the Board has coordinated with relevant parties (Department of Natural Resources and Environment, communes, cadastral surveying units) to propagate, mobilize, and organize dialogues with the people, the progress is still slow. Therefore, the Board has requested the Provincial People's Committee to pay attention to directing departments, agencies, and branches to provide complete documents related to this content to have a basis for specific work with each household.

Subjectively, some units have not really closely monitored and evaluated the progress of construction projects invested by them in order to promptly urge and remind, as well as proactively handle difficulties and problems. Some investors have not fully performed their functions and tasks in inspecting and supervising construction contractors, coordinating with related units to promptly resolve difficulties and problems, and speed up construction progress...

To overcome difficulties and promote disbursement of public investment capital in 2024 and the following years, the Department of Planning and Investment of Lao Cai province has advised the provincial leaders on specific groups of solutions such as: assigning detailed capital disbursement plans for each month, drastically adjusting capital plans from projects and works with slow disbursement to projects with better disbursement...

Standing Vice Chairman of Lao Cai Provincial People's Committee Hoang Quoc Khanh emphasized that the provincial leaders have assigned Party committees at all levels, subordinate Party committees; Party secretaries of districts, towns, cities, commune-level Party secretaries and Party secretaries of departments, and Project Management Boards to focus on directing and taking responsibility before the Provincial Party Committee, People's Council, and Provincial People's Committee for the quality, progress, volume, safety, and environment of the projects.

The Standing Committees of the District Party Committee, City Party Committee, and Town Party Committee regularly listen to, direct, and assign standing committees and standing committees of the district-level People's Committees to directly direct the site clearance work, and have separate disbursement registrations for site clearance work. At the same time, the Standing Committees of the Provincial Party Committee, Standing Committee members, and Standing Committees of the Provincial People's Committees in charge of the area go to the area every month to grasp, urge, and remove difficulties and obstacles at the grassroots level to ensure the progress of project implementation..., thereby contributing to ensuring the disbursement plan for public investment capital.

Source: https://baolaocai.vn/kinh-nghiem-giai-ngan-von-dau-tu-cong-tai-lao-cai-post383064.html