Mr. Phan Van Mai: Ho Chi Minh City will try to spend nearly 46,000 billion in the last 4 months of the year.

Setting the disbursement target this year at 95%, Mr. Phan Van Mai said that in the remaining months, Ho Chi Minh City must "spend" 45,790 billion VND, nearly equal to the results of 2021 and 2022.

This year, Ho Chi Minh City was assigned the largest public investment capital in the country, more than 70,000 billion VND, double last year. By August 25, this locality had disbursed 28% (if ODA capital was not adjusted down, the rate would be more than 27%), an improvement compared to the same period in 2022. However, this figure is not as expected because according to the plan, by the end of June, Ho Chi Minh City must have disbursed 35%. In addition, this locality is also in the group with a low disbursement rate, despite being very drastic in the first months of the year.

Speaking to VnExpress , Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee Phan Van Mai said the first problem lies in the site clearance stage.

"Currently, many districts have to find a valuation unit because some are not interested in participating," he said. For example, at the My Thuy and An Phu intersection projects (investment capital of VND3,622 billion and more than VND3,400 billion respectively in Thu Duc City), the city had to spend 60 days to choose a valuation unit. The same thing happened in Binh Chanh district when looking for a unit capable of meeting the three criteria of compensation, support, and resettlement.

People demolish their houses to prepare the site for the Ho Chi Minh City Ring Road 3 project. Photo: Thanh Tung — People demolish their houses to prepare the site for the Ho Chi Minh City Ring Road 3 project. Photo: *Thanh Tung*

Even if an appraisal unit is found, Mr. Mai said the progress of this activity will encounter some problems due to the difficulty in collecting transaction information.

"In many places, when we conduct appraisals, we find that there is very little information about successful real estate transactions. At the same time, people declare prices in contracts lower than the actual price, making it difficult to determine prices close to the market," he said. According to the Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City, if the prices are not close, it will be difficult for people to agree on land handover.

In addition, the legal documents of real estate are complicated, the verification time is long, sometimes up to a month. The underground technical infrastructure system (electricity, water supply and drainage, telecommunications) in the locality was built over many periods, very complicated, leading to relocation and re-establishment to hand over the site is also less convenient than in other places.

"The city's compensation and site clearance staff are also overloaded, despite the directive to increase the number of people," said Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee Phan Van Mai. Currently, the city has 763 people participating in this work for 21 districts and Thu Duc City. Each person has to handle many tasks from measuring and counting crops and architectural objects (fixed assets of people formed after the construction process) to calculating, supporting compensation decisions, and mobilizing people.

Regarding some projects with low public investment disbursement rates (0-10%), he said most of them are new projects, with the peak falling at the end of the year, after completing compensation procedures or bidding to start construction.

In addition to the site factor, construction and installation are also behind schedule due to the difficulty of contractors' resources after the pandemic. Many investors are not scientific and effective in project planning and implementation. Some projects in the inner city such as An Phu intersection, Nguyen Van Linh - Nguyen Huu Tho underpass are being constructed in areas with high traffic density, having to move and ensure traffic at the same time, greatly affecting the progress of the project.

To overcome these bottlenecks, Mr. Mai said that the City People's Committee has authorized districts, towns, and Thu Duc City to self-approve land price adjustment coefficients, thereby speeding up site clearance and disbursement. For example, the project to upgrade and expand Duong Quang Ham Street (Go Vap District), after the land price adjustment coefficient was approved on July 6, only 1 month later, 847 billion out of 1,750 billion VND was disbursed. 7 months ago, the disbursement rate was 0%.

Units must shorten the time for processing procedures, increase the responsibility of leaders, urge and remove difficulties for projects. The city will resolutely cut down on delayed projects, and sluggish contractors will be severely punished.

"HCMC will persistently disburse 95% of the budget by the end of the year," said Mr. Phan Van Mai. With this target, in the remaining 4 months, the city must disburse 45,790 billion VND, nearly equal to the results in 2021 and 2022. Thus, each day, the city must spend more than 381.5 billion VND.

Acknowledging the challenge is huge, Mr. Mai shared that the entire city has set up clear groups to carry out this plan.

For example, regarding the personnel issue, Ho Chi Minh City has sought to supplement staff to reduce the workload for officials and speed up implementation. Notably, at the Ring Road 3 project (over 76 km long, with a total investment of nearly 75,400 billion VND, the largest of all southern transport projects to date; the section through Ho Chi Minh City is 47 km long), Hoc Mon and Cu Chi districts have added nearly 50 people to each unit. The Compensation and Site Clearance Board in Thu Duc City is also in the process of adding more people to meet the workload. In addition, identifying this as a common task, in addition to specialized personnel, Mr. Mai said, the entire political system from commune to city must roll up their sleeves to do it.

In addition, the implementation of Resolution 98 on special mechanisms for the city will also help this locality accelerate the disbursement of public investment in the near future. Because Ho Chi Minh City will have a basis to issue a list of projects to be implemented, thereby, implementing one step ahead in investigating, surveying, verifying the origin of land, and removing obstacles for site clearance.

Currently, investment, including public investment, along with consumption and export, is the main growth driver of Ho Chi Minh City. The city's economy has improved a lot in the first 8 months of the year (although still slow), because these drivers have not met expectations in the face of common difficulties.

According to the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Planning and Investment, in the first eight months of the year, the index of industrial production (IIP) increased by 2.8% over the same period (four key industries increased by 6%); total retail sales of goods and service revenue increased by 7.6%; total tourism revenue increased by 44.3%; and cargo output through seaports increased by 3.85%.

Phuong Anh

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