Nghe An proposes solutions to promote disbursement of foreign investment capital

On the afternoon of May 21, the Ministry of Finance held an online conference with localities on the disbursement of foreign investment capital in the first months of 2024 and measures to increase disbursement in 2024.

In recent times, ministries, branches and localities have implemented many drastic disbursement measures, such as urging investors to register monthly disbursement plans. At the same time, reviewing and perfecting steering committees to assign ministry leaders to directly monitor and direct the implementation of projects; strengthening inspection and supervision to direct, handle or recommend competent authorities to promptly resolve difficulties and problems arising, speeding up the implementation and disbursement of projects. However, the disbursement rate has not met expectations.

According to reports from central ministries and branches and data from the Treasury and Budget Management Information System (TABMIS), as of May 15, the disbursement rate of foreign capital public investment by ministries and branches reached 8.58% of the assigned capital plan.

At the conference, localities reported on the disbursement of public investment capital and foreign investment capital in the localities; made recommendations to ministries and branches to remove difficulties and obstacles, and promote the disbursement of foreign public investment capital for localities.

Speaking at the conference, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Bui Thanh An emphasized: Nghe An province identifies public investment disbursement as a key political task in 2024 and resolutely directs all levels and sectors to implement specific plans.

Accordingly, the State capital plan assigned by the Central Government to the province is 37,970 million VND. The Provincial People's Committee has allocated and assigned 37,970 million VND in detail, reaching 100% for 1 project (sub-project 3: Improving urban infrastructure of Hoang Mai, Hoang Mai town, under the project to Improve urban infrastructure to minimize the impact of the sea on climate for 4 coastal provinces of North Central Vietnam). The total capital plan entered by the Department of Finance through the TABMIS system as of May 20, 2024 is 37,970 million VND (reaching 100%). To date, more than 21.6 billion VND has been disbursed, reaching 56.9%.

During the implementation process, Nghe An province encountered a number of difficulties and obstacles, namely: The process of negotiating, signing loan agreements, and providing legal opinions is often lengthy, involving many steps, affecting the progress of project implementation and disbursement.

Projects using ODA capital and preferential loans must comply with both domestic procedures and regulations and requirements of donors, thus creating many administrative procedures that are prolonged and slow down project implementation progress.

Currently, in Nghe An province, there are 5 projects implementing loan agreements with foreign donors. However, only 1 project has a capital plan to be implemented in 2024.

Nghe An province proposed that the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Planning and Investment continue to consult with donors on reviewing processes and procedures to further harmonize donor regulations and domestic regulations; shorten the time and speed up the review and comment process on bidding, resettlement compensation, and safety policies for projects.

Regarding other differences in bidding, procurement and support and resettlement policy frameworks between Vietnamese law and donors, it is recommended to review and study foreign donors to speed up the negotiation process, sign loan agreements and implement projects.

Nghe An province proposed the Ministry of Planning and Investment to consider allowing Nghe An to extend the implementation time and disbursement plan for the project "Developing tourism infrastructure to support comprehensive growth in the Greater Mekong Subregion, Phase 2 - Nghe An Province Sub-project borrowing capital from ADB to 2024; Supplementing the 2024 capital plan that has not been approved by competent authorities for the project "Basic infrastructure for comprehensive development of Nghe An, Ha Tinh, Quang Binh and Quang Tri provinces - Nghe An Province Sub-project".

Concluding the conference, the representative of the Ministry of Finance affirmed that completing the disbursement of the public investment capital plan in 2024 is an important task, contributing to promoting socio-economic growth, ensuring the achievement of disbursement targets of the medium-term public investment plan 2021-2025 and completing important targets of the medium-term period 2021-2025.

The Ministry of Finance will review and report to the Government on difficulties and problems of localities; at the same time, together with ministries and branches, closely monitor and resolutely implement solutions to accelerate the disbursement of public investment capital of localities.