Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc: Slow disbursement of public investment has created a bottleneck for the economy.

On the morning of September 26, under the chairmanship of Politburo member and Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, the Government held a national online conference on promoting the allocation and disbursement of public investment capital in 2019.

Attending the Conference were Politburo member, Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue, Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung, Vice President Dang Thi Ngoc Thinh, leaders of ministries, branches and 63 provinces and cities at online television stations.

At Nghe An bridge, there were comrades: Nguyen Dac Vinh - Member of the Party Central Committee, Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Head of the Provincial National Assembly Delegation; Thai Thanh Quy - Alternate Member of the Party Central Committee, Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee; Cao Thi Hien - Member of the Provincial Party Standing Committee, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Council; Nguyen Thanh Hien - Deputy Head of the Provincial National Assembly Delegation; representatives of leaders of provincial departments, branches and sectors. Photo: Thanh Le

Slow disbursement of public investment

In his opening speech at the conference, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc stated that public investment contributes greatly to the country's socio-economic growth and development, especially important infrastructure projects. Public investment accounted for 10.7% of the total GDP value, about 32% of the total social investment in 2019.

“The slow disbursement of public investment over the past decade has created a bottleneck for the economy. This slow disbursement has not only happened this year but over the past many years, but this year the disbursement is especially low,” the Prime Minister emphasized.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc speaks at the conference. Photo: VGP/Quang Hieu

The Prime Minister requested that the conference clarify the basic objective and subjective causes of slow disbursement.

Reporting on the results of allocation and disbursement of public investment capital, Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung assessed that, in general, the disbursement status of public investment capital plan in the first 9 months of 2019 was basically similar to previous years, the disbursement rate in the first months of the year was low, with a strong increasing trend in the last months of the year.

At the conference, ministries, branches and localities nationwide pointed out successes, limitations as well as objective and subjective causes; proposed new and feasible solutions to improve the disbursement of public investment plans.

Speaking at the conference, Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue suggested: Ministries and local branches should step up the assignment of authority and delegation of responsibility to determine the responsibilities of leaders; it is necessary to assign each leader to attach personal responsibility to each specific project.

At the same time, it is necessary to prepare well the public investment plan for the period after 2020. For the Ministry of Planning and Investment, it is necessary to soon complete 6 Decrees guiding the Law on Public Investment; promptly urge local ministries and branches to complete documents and disburse the remaining capital; propose to cut down capital that is not eligible for disbursement; promptly implement the capital allocation plan until 2020 in accordance with the provisions of law.

In addition, localities should establish working groups and special task forces to urge the removal of obstacles; submit to the Government resolutions and solutions to accelerate public investment capital.

The comrades presiding at the Nghe An bridge point. Photo: Thanh Le

Disbursement results in the first 9 months of 2019 are estimated at VND 192,136 billion, equal to 45.17% of the plan assigned by the National Assembly and 49.14% of the plan assigned by the Prime Minister, lower than the same period in 2018, in which disbursement of government bond capital and ODA were both low.

There are 7 ministries, branches and 14 localities with disbursement rates reaching over 70%, including Nghe An province.

Attach responsibility to the head

Concluding the conference, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc acknowledged and highly appreciated practical opinions from local, ministerial and sectoral levels.

Regarding the slow disbursement of public investment plans, the Prime Minister said that there are many reasons, the main of which is subjective factors, especially in project management and the responsibility of the investor agency, which is not being closely monitored, there is still harassment, lack of inspection and supervision, and failure to directly resolve difficulties and problems.

"It is necessary to seriously learn from this "disease" at all levels and sectors," the Prime Minister emphasized.

According to the Prime Minister, progress must go hand in hand with the quality of the project. The quality of the project must be given top priority, preventing theft of standards, embezzlement of projects, and preventing loss, waste, and negativity during the implementation process.

To do that, it requires raising the responsibility from the investor to the construction and supervision units... The responsibility of the leader is very important and decisive; along with that is the responsibility of setting an example for the staff in the process of managing the project and construction.

Perspective of Cua Hoi Bridge across Lam River. Photo: Thanh Le

Regarding tasks in the coming time, the Prime Minister requested ministries, branches and localities to be imbued with the guiding viewpoint: Focus on drastically and synchronously implementing solutions to accelerate the disbursement of public investment capital, considering this a key and urgent political task from now until the end of the year and 2020.

At the same time, strictly handle organizations and individuals who violate the implementation of public investment capital disbursement; strengthen effective coordination with ministries, branches and localities to remove difficulties and obstacles to ensure timely and effective disbursement of public investment capital in terms of quantity and quality.

At the conference, the Prime Minister assigned specific tasks to ministries, branches and localities in implementing the disbursement of the 2019 public investment plan; and better preparing the plan for the next phase.