Online conference to speed up disbursement of public investment from foreign loans

At the central bridge in Hanoi, Comrade Ta Anh Tuan - Deputy Minister of Finance chaired. Also attending were representatives of relevant ministries, branches, departments, and 59 provinces and cities nationwide.

At Nghe An bridge, comrade Le Hong Vinh - Member of the Provincial Party Standing Committee, Permanent Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee chaired the conference. Also attending were representatives of relevant departments and branches.

Opening the conference, comrade Ta Anh Tuan - Deputy Minister of Finance presented some basic features of the situation.disbursement of public investment capitalfrom foreign loans in the first 6 months of the year. Accordingly, along with a review of the situation and progress of public investment nationwide, including in ministries, branches and localities; difficulties and problems related to regulations as well as the increase in prices of input materials.

According to the Ministry of Finance, in the first 6 months of 2022, the assigned plan is 34,800 billion VND, of which ministries and branches are 12,110 billion VND, localities are 22,690 billion VND, so far imported.Treasury and Budget Management Information Systemreached 100%. However, due to many difficulties and problems, the disbursement rate of public investment capital from foreign loans is not high. Specifically, as of June 30, the disbursement rate reached over 14%, the cumulative disbursement (including capital carried over from 2022 and 2021) reached 9.12%.

The bridge project over Cau Hao canal, Quynh Hong commune (Quynh Luu) was formed from public investment capital of foreign loans in 2021. Photo: Nguyen Hai

In Nghe An, in 2022, the province was assigned by the Central Government a foreign ODA loan plan of VND 482.14 billion. Since the beginning of the year, the Provincial People's Committee has directed the Department of Finance to import the Budget and Treasury Management Information System; at the same time, 100% of the details were assigned to 7 projects, reaching 100%; the capital extended from 2021 to 2022 is VND 53.7 billion/3 projects. As of June 30, Nghe An has disbursed VND 44.273 billion/VND 482.14 billion, reaching 9.18%; the foreign loan capital in 2021 has not been disbursed yet, extending to 2022.

Along with the above source, the plan for re-borrowing capital from the Government's loan source in 2022 assigned by the Central Government to the province is 219.9 billion VND, the Provincial People's Committee has assigned 157,078 billion VND in detail to 7 projects, reaching 71.5%; the total plan for re-borrowing capital imported by the Department of Finance into the Budget and Treasury Management Information System is 157,078 billion VND, reaching 100%; the remaining 62.82 billion VND that has not been allocated in detail will be allocated to projects based on the adjusted foreign capital plan from the Central budget; as of June 30, 10,159 billion VND/plan of 157,078 billion VND was disbursed, reaching 6.47%.

Construction of the Hoang Mai river embankment project in Quynh Doi commune - Quynh Yen to respond to climate change. This is a public investment project using preferential loans. Photo: Nguyen Hai

Like other ministries, branches and localities, at the conference, Nghe An raised a number of difficulties and problems that caused the disbursement rate of public investment capital from foreign loans to be low because the implementation procedures for ODA capital project programs had to go through many steps, the process was all linked to the procedure of asking for donors' opinions; some projects in the first months of 2022 had to carry out procedures for recruiting consultants to prepare, appraise and approve construction designs, bidding, mine clearance, and resettlement site clearance, so construction and installation had not yet begun and there was no volume.

Besides,Prices of construction materials increased sharply, especially steel, gasoline and oil prices, so contractors have had difficulty mobilizing resources and constructing projects; land prices have increased dramatically since the end of 2021 in some localities, making site recovery and clearance difficult...

Comrade Le Hong Vinh - Member of the Provincial Party Committee, Permanent Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee chaired and followed the conference from Nghe An bridge. Photo: Nguyen Hai

Based on the results, lessons learned, difficulties and shortcomings in disbursement in the first 6 months of the year, representatives of ministries, branches, localities and Nghe An proposed that the Government soon amend Decree 114/2021 on management and use of ODA official development assistance capital and preferential loans from foreign donors; proposed that the Government and the Ministry of Planning and Investment and the Ministry of Finance consult with donors on reviewing processes and procedures to better harmonize donor regulations with domestic regulations; component projects in Nghe An requested the managing ministries and the Central Project Management Board to continue to pay attention and direct the implementation of work and bidding plans to ensure the set progress.

Nguyen Hai