Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc: Determined to change officials who do not know how to work and have group interests in implementing ODA programs and projects

Attending the conference were Politburo members: Truong Hoa Binh - Permanent Deputy Prime Minister of the Government; Pham Binh Minh - Deputy Prime Minister of the Government; Comrade Vu Duc Dam - Member of the Party Central Committee, Deputy Prime Minister of the Government; leaders of ministries, departments, branches and central agencies.

Chairing at Nghe An bridge point were comrades: Nguyen Xuan Son - Chairman of the Provincial People's Council; Nguyen Duc Trung - Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee.

At the conference, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc reminded ministries, branches, central and local agencies to urgently overcome the consequences of storms and floods, conduct rescue operations, and not let people in flooded areas suffer from "the open sky and the bare ground", especially for the five provinces that have been submerged in floodwaters for the past half month.

Emphasizing that storm No. 9 has severely devastated the central provinces, the Prime Minister requested relevant agencies to urgently search for fishermen missing at sea and victims buried by rocks and soil in Thua Thien Hue and Quang Nam provinces. The central localities must not let people go hungry and cold; ministries and branches continue to mobilize, support and provide relief to people affected in the past days. The Government will direct the work of storm prevention and control throughout, and will consider financial and budgetary issues, especially the upcoming plan to deal with natural disasters and floods.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc chaired an online conference with ministries, agencies and localities on the implementation and disbursement of ODA programs and projects. Photo: VGP

Many central ministries and branches disburse low levels

According to the report of the Ministry of Planning and Investment, the disbursement of the foreign capital investment plan by October 31, 2020 is estimated at VND 18,089 billion, equal to 30.15% of the plan assigned by the Prime Minister, of which the disbursed capital of ministries and central agencies is VND 5,824 billion, reaching 27.07% of the assigned estimate; the disbursed capital of localities is VND 12,265 billion, reaching 31.87% of the assigned estimate.

According to the Ministry of Finance, it is estimated that by October 31, 2020, most central ministries and branches had low disbursement levels. The Ministry of Transport had the highest disbursement level, at 44.8%. The provinces havedisbursement level is quite good,including: Tay Ninh (91.74%), Binh Dinh (73.26%), Cao Bang (62.58%), Ha Nam (61.64%), Bac Kan (60.66%), Lai Chau (60.61%), Khanh Hoa (53.89%), Kien Giang (52.82%), Hai Phong (52.71%), Soc Trang (52.37%), Dien Bien (51.55%).

Cua Hoi Bridge on the day of its closing. Photo: Nguyen Xuan Thuy

In the first 10 months of 2020, especially in September and October, ministries, central and local agencies have seriously implemented the Prime Minister's direction on promoting the disbursement of public investment capital, including ODA capital and foreign preferential loans, thanks to which, the implementation and disbursement of foreign capital have had positive changes.

At the online conference, ministries, branches and localities assessed and reported on the implementation of disbursement of ODA programs and projects, foreign preferential loans and discussed measures to remove obstacles, in order to solve the disbursement problems pointed out by the Prime Minister: Backlogged capital (having money but not being able to spend it), backlogged debt (ie construction items completed but not settled, "just sitting there forever") and backlogged procedures.

Proposal to cut capital and return it to projects that are unable to disburse

Chairing the Nghe An bridge point were comrades Nguyen Xuan Son - Chairman of the Provincial People's Council; Nguyen Duc Trung - Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee. Photo: Dao Tuan

In Nghe An, as of the end of October 2020, the average ratecapital disbursementForeign capital sources reached 40.88% of the plan and 57.62% of the proposed adjusted plan, of which, as of October 28, 2020, the total foreign capital disbursed according to the 2020 plan was: VND 204,175 billion/VND 397,682 billion, reaching 51.34%; Disbursement of foreign capital assigned to supplement the 2019 plan was: VND 126,998 billion/VND 265,683 billion, reaching 47.8%.

The proposed capital to be returned to the central budget is: 56,019 million VND.

Regarding the disbursement of foreign capital plan in 2019 extended to 2020, there are 5 projects with implementation and disbursement period extended from 2019 to 2020 with a total capital of more than 147,999 billion VND, of which 2 projects are disbursed under domestic financial mechanism with extended capital of more than 66,585 billion VND.

Conference scene at Nghe An bridge. Photo: Dao Tuan

To strive to disburse 100% of the capital plan target for 2020, based onactual disbursement status of projects,Nghe An Provincial People's Committee proposed to cut capital for projects that have no need and no ability to disburse. For the additional capital plan assigned in 2019, it is proposed to cut and return to the central budget 56,019 billion VND, of which 2,153 billion VND of the Flood Area Restoration Project is in excess due to the disbursement of all completed and accepted volumes; 6,242 billion VND of the Secondary Education Development Project in the Most Difficult Areas Phase 2 and 47,624 billion VND of the LRAM project is in excess due to the capital arrangement and disbursement in the 2020 plan.

The amount of capital re-borrowed from the Government's foreign loans that is not needed to be used is proposed to be reduced by 45,206 billion VND to correspond to the disbursement rate of the allocated source from the central budget.

Don't let the paradox of having capital and money but not being able to spend it exist.

Speaking at the conference,Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc requires localities nationwide to continue to accelerate the disbursement of public investment capital. Because after 9 months, the whole country has only reached 66% of the total state budget capital. The remaining capital is very large and has not been disbursed. Requires localities to promote each project, disburse state investment capital to achieve the target of 90-100% this year.

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

In addition to assessing and agreeing with the reports of the Ministry of Planning and Investment and the Ministry of Finance on the implementation of ODA capital disbursement, and acknowledging the efforts of some localities in this work, the head of the Government also reminded localities in allowing projects to drag on and slow down progress. According to the Prime Minister, it is impossible to blame difficulties in site clearance and land prices to justify the lack of determination in directing the disbursement of ODA project capital.

Sharing about the difficulties and obstacles in project implementation, the Prime Minister said that it is impossible to "consolidate" projects, making investors and contractors have to travel back and forth many times. This negativity exists before and during project implementation and even in the disbursement process...

The Prime Minister requested that the causes be clarified, including the role of the investor and the responsibility of the project owner. There is also a problem of coordination between central ministries and branches, and the Government Office is still "incompatible".

Conference scene at Hanoi bridge. Photo: VGP/Quang Hieu

According to Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, ODA is an important resource for national development in the context of low public debt ceiling. The country is seriously lacking development capital and ODA resources are the responsibility of ministries and sectors in finding resources for development. "Infrastructure, culture, society, transport infrastructure... there are many urgent issues but the State budget is not enough to implement. To carry out this task, each ministry, sector and locality must proactively implement it, considering it an important resource" - the Prime Minister affirmed.

Along with that, ministries and branches must continue to complete the legal framework. The two ministries: Planning and Investment and Finance must clarify the roadmap and methods of ODA implementation, which need to be more convenient, methodical and unified.

To implement the remaining 2 months of 2020 and prepare for the 2021 plan, the Prime Minister requested ministers, heads of sectors and localities to resolutely, synchronously and continuously disburse ODA capital, considering this a key political task of 2020 to improve the spirit, attitude and working capacity of the staff, especially those in positions of budget implementation. It is necessary to immediately end the situation of stagnation, fear of responsibility, term mentality, bureaucracy and harassment. Assign people to monitor, urge and take responsibility for each project; leaders at all levels focus on resolving backlogs and removing difficulties, especially for large investment projects.

The Prime Minister emphasized the need to resolutely change cadres who do not know how to work, lack responsibility, lack initiative, and negative cadres who do not work for their duties but for group interests in investment and ODA projects.

Sectors, ministries and localities are responsible to the Prime Minister for arranging sufficient counterpart funds for ODA programs and projects this year. Find legal sources to balance, including land revenue to ensure ODA capital disbursement.

The Prime Minister assigned that after this conference, each ministry, each sector, each province and city must meet to review, clarify responsibilities, and remove difficulties for each project. We must not let the situation of "you finish the meeting, put the notebook in your pocket, then go around, meet here and there without implementing the task" - the Prime Minister said and asked leaders at all levels to pay more attention in directing, it is unacceptable to have capital and money but cannot spend it, still be poor. That is a paradox that shows weakness in management, it must be resolutely changed.