'Crying' over low public investment disbursement due to... too much money

The above information was given at the meeting on public investment disbursement for the first 9 months of this year, by the People's Committee of Can Tho City, on the afternoon of October 14. The Department of Finance of Can Tho City said that this year the City was assigned a total capital of more than 28,800 billion VND. Accumulated to October 10, the disbursement only reached more than 9,500 billion VND, more than 33% of the plan, lower than the set requirements.

The project to renovate and expand 5 congested intersections in Can Tho is still in disarray and behind schedule. Photo: CK.

Mr. Le Minh Cuong - Director of the Can Tho Traffic and Agricultural Construction Investment Project Management Board - said that this year the unit was allocated capital of more than 15,760 billion VND, disbursed to date reaching more than 5,000 billion VND (equivalent to 32%). The disbursed volume so far is low, unable to complete 100% disbursement this year, due to excess capital allocation.

According to Mr. Cuong, there are projects that will be completed in 2027, but all capital has been allocated this year, meaning that capital will not be allocated in 2026 - 2027. Specifically, the component projects of the Chau Doc - Can Tho - Soc Trang expressway, due to the large capital ratio, low disbursement will lead to a low overall disbursement rate. The main reason for the delay is due to land clearance problems and weak contractors. The committee has been reviewing and handling weak contractors, and strengthening strong contractors to speed up construction.

"The Board commits to speed up the construction progress when the site is available. As for the surplus capital, the disbursement will be delayed. The Board Director is willing to accept discipline but cannot do anything else because the surplus capital cannot be paid back and cannot be completed because the surplus is beyond the capacity," Mr. Cuong said and requested the Land Fund Development Center and localities to speed up site clearance for the projects.

According to Mr. Cuong, Can Tho has too many projects, if the appraisal is done as usual, it will take a lot of time, and it will be difficult for new projects in the coming period to start construction in 2026. Therefore, it is necessary to inherit the policies, resolutions, and instructions of previous localities to continue, but if we continue to hold meetings and research, it will continue to be slow, and the disbursement next year will be like today.

Mr. Le Minh Cuong - Director of Can Tho Transport and Agricultural Construction Investment Project Management Board.

Mr. Truong Canh Tuyen - Chairman of Can Tho City People's Committee - said that after 9 months of the year, the possibility of achieving double-digit economic growth this year is 'extremely tight'. Disbursement progress is lower than the national average; infrastructure in terms of transportation, health, education is still limited and degraded... The activities of the two-level local government are basically stable and smooth, but there are still many difficulties, especially in terms of professional personnel.

According to Mr. Tuyen, the cause of the limitation, in addition to the previous backlog of issues that need to be consulted with competent authorities, it is also necessary to recognize that the implementation of the two-level local government has a major impact on the implementation of socio-economic tasks and public investment disbursement. This directly affects the site clearance work, slowing down the progress of implementation and disbursement of public investment. Along with that, the responsibility of some officials and leaders has not been closely followed, and has not been timely to resolve difficulties for investors and communes and wards.

The Chairman of the People's Committee of Can Tho City suggested that in the fourth quarter, departments, branches and localities must accelerate and truly unite in developing plans and implementation solutions to have solutions, review targets and tasks of each unit to direct implementation, and strive to ensure the completion of the annual plan. Departments and branches support communes and wards, especially key communes and wards with many projects, to promptly and qualitatively handle arising tasks...