Provincial People's Council proposes solutions to combat waste in the use of public assets

On the afternoon of August 2, the Economic - Budget Committee of the Provincial People's Council continued to meet to review reports and draft resolutions on finance - budget to submit to the second session of the Provincial People's Council for the 2021 - 2026 term.

Attending the meeting were members of the Provincial Party Standing Committee: Nguyen Nam Dinh - Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Council and Le Hong Vinh - Permanent Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee; representatives of a number of provincial departments and branches.

Tax debt increases

Audit of the report on the implementation of revenue and expenditure estimatesbudgetState and report on practicing thrift and fighting waste in the first 6 months of the year, tasks and solutions for the last 6 months of 2021; members attending the meeting assessed the drastic direction and management of the Provincial People's Committee and the Finance sector with many solutions to increase revenue,savespend.

Although the Covid-19 epidemic has severely affected the production and business situation of enterprises and people, the budget revenue in the province in the first 6 months of the year reached 10,042 billion VND, reaching 71.6% of the Provincial People's Council's estimate and increasing by 37.8% over the same period in 2020.

Comrade Nguyen Nam Dinh - Member of the Provincial Party Standing Committee, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Council requested the Provincial People's Committee to implement solutions to practice thrift and combat waste in the use of public assets. Photo: Mai Hoa

Along with increasing revenue, many solutions to save and prevent waste are being implemented.

Savings in the fieldinvestIn the first 6 months of the year, more than 246 billion VND was cut; in the preparation, appraisal, approval of estimates, final settlement, management and use of state budget funds, more than 228 billion VND was cut; in the management, exploitation and use of natural resources, nearly 4 billion VND and more than 192 hectares of land were recovered; in the appraisal, management and purchase of public assets, 7.2 billion VND was cut...

Comrade Phan Thi Hoan - Secretary of the Party Committee of the Enterprise Bloc, member of the Economic - Budget Committee of the Provincial People's Council, is concerned about the decrease in development investment expenditure targets for the period 2021 - 2025 compared to the period 2016 - 2020. Photo: Mai Hoa

In addition, some opinions also raised concerns when land use fee revenue in the first 6 months of the year increased dramatically, reaching 102.7% compared to the estimate and increasing 52.2% compared to the same period; meanwhile, infrastructure investment costs are high, meaning actual revenue is limited.

On the other hand, tax debt continued to increase, increasing by VND 218 billion compared to December 31, 2020. The practice of saving and combating waste in the use of public assets such as using cars according to Decree No. 04/2019/ND-CP of the Government and the land recovery of some old headquarters of some agencies and units have not been effectively implemented.

Deputy Director of the Department of Finance Nguyen Thanh Tung explained some issues that members were interested in. Photo: Mai Hoa

Concerns about development investment costs

Examining the draft resolution on the 5-year financial plan for the period 2021 - 2025, the issue that members are concerned about is that the development investment expenditure target for the period 2021 - 2025 is only over 30,361 billion VND and regular expenditure is over 105,405 billion VND; meanwhile, in the period 2016 - 2020, development investment expenditure was over 43,168 billion VND and regular expenditure was over 86,442 billion VND.

This is going against the policy of reducing regular expenditures and increasing development investment expenditures.

Comrade Le Hong Vinh - Member of the Provincial Party Standing Committee, Permanent Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee received and discussed to clarify some contents raised by the meeting members. Photo: Mai Hoa

In addition, some opinions also proposed that the Provincial People's Committee should focus on solutions to increase revenue through support, removing difficulties and obstacles for businesses, promoting economic growth; speeding up the equitization of enterprises; having solutions to effectively manage and use public assets...

Also this afternoon, the Economic and Budget Committee reviewed the draft resolution on investment policies for public investment projects; the draft resolution on adjusting and abolishing investment policies for projects.

Deputy Director of the Department of Planning and Investment Phan Van Hoan explained a number of issues raised by meeting participants related to the draft resolution on investment policies for public investment projects. Photo: Mai Hoa