The National Assembly's Finance and Budget Committee works with Nghe An province

On the afternoon of July 21, in Cua Lo town, the working delegation of the National Assembly's Finance and Budget Committee led by Comrade Le Quang Manh - Member of the Party Central Committee, Member of the National Assembly Standing Committee, Chairman of the Committee had a working session with the leaders of Nghe An province to survey and evaluate the implementation of the state budget and public investment in the first 6 months of 2023; Mid-term assessment of the implementation of the Medium-term Public Investment Plan 2021 - 2025; The implementation of Resolution No. 36 of the National Assembly on piloting a number of specific mechanisms and policies for the province's development.

The delegation included Vice Chairmen of the National Assembly's Finance and Budget Committee: Nguyen Van Chi, Nguyen Huu Toan, Vu Thi Luu Mai, Pham Thuy Chinh and Standing Committee members.

Receiving and working with the delegation, on the side of Nghe An province, there were comrades: Thai Thanh Quy - Member of the Party Central Committee, Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the Provincial People's Council, Head of the Provincial National Assembly Delegation; Nguyen Duc Trung - Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee; Nguyen Nam Dinh - Member of the Provincial Party Standing Committee, Permanent Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Council; Nguyen Nhu Khoi - Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Council; Thai Thi An Chung - Deputy Head of the Provincial National Assembly Delegation; leaders of the Provincial People's Committee Office and departments and branches.

ESTIMATED 6-MONTH BUDGET REVENUES: 8,489 BILLION VND

Reporting to the working delegation, Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Nguyen Duc Trung said that in the first 6 months of 2023, despite many difficulties, Nghe An's socio-economic situation continued to achieve important and quite positive results.

The GRDP growth rate in the first 6 months is estimated at 5.79%. Investment attraction includes 66 newly licensed projects and 84 adjusted projects; the total newly licensed and increased capital is over 22,300 billion VND. Notably, the province's FDI attraction reached 725.4 million USD, ranking 8th out of 63 localities nationwide.

The province coordinated with the Central Economic Commission, ministries and branches to complete the Summary of 10 years of implementing Resolution No. 26 on the development of Nghe An province, in which the Politburo agreed to issue a new Resolution; submitted to the Prime Minister for approval the Provincial Planning for the period 2021-2030, with a vision to 2050.

The fields of culture, education, health, and social security have received attention. In particular, the province has promptly and effectively implemented the Program to mobilize and support the construction of houses for poor households and people with housing difficulties in the province in the period of 2023-2025. As of June 30, individuals, units, and enterprises have registered to support the Program with a total of 12,549 houses, equivalent to 636 billion VND; the total number of houses that have been and are being built is 3,076 houses.

State budget revenue in the first 6 months of the year is estimated at VND 8,489 billion, reaching 53.5% of the estimate assigned by the Provincial People's Council and equal to 80.5% compared to the same period. Although budget revenue exceeded the estimate assigned by the Provincial People's Council, it was lower than the same period, not reaching the set scenario.

Up to now, Nghe An has basically completed the detailed assignment of the 2023 public investment capital plan; completed the assignment of 100% of the capital under the Socio-Economic Recovery and Development Program. As of July 10, the province has disbursed VND 3,174,193 billion, reaching 35.14% of the 2023 plan. Of which, the central budget source reached 27.59% of the plan; the local budget source reached 41.03% of the plan.

ALLOCATE PUBLIC INVESTMENT CAPITAL WITH FOCUS AND KEY POINTS

Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Nguyen Duc Trung also said that the allocation of medium-term capital for the 2021-2025 period and annually in the province basically ensures the correct principles and order of priority according to regulations and has focus and key points; overcoming the situation of scattered and prolonged investment.

Compared to the 2016-2020 period, for the central budget, the number of projects decreased by 61.36% (from 308 projects to 119 projects), the investment rate per project increased by nearly 3.31 times. For the local budget, the number of projects decreased by 65.36% (from 869 projects to 301 projects), the investment rate per project increased by 3.48 times.

Regarding the allocation and disbursement of the medium-term public investment plan for the 3 years from 2021-2023, the central budget (excluding the National Target Program) is 11,195.42 billion VND allocated for 119 projects, with 118 projects expected to be completed. From 2021-2023, 117 projects with a capital of 8,573.929 billion VND have been allocated; 55 projects have been completed and 35 projects are expected to be completed in 2023, reaching 76.27% in the period 2021-2025.

Regarding local budget sources, the capital plan for the 2021-2025 period is VND 8,532.8 billion, allocated to 301 projects, with an expected completion of 291 projects. From 2021-2023, 287 projects with a capital of VND 4,661.761 billion will be arranged; 138 projects have been completed and 34 projects are expected to be completed in 2023; reaching 59.11% in the 2021-2025 period.

Regarding the national target program source, the total plan for the 2021-2025 period has assigned 1,740 projects/4,931,108 billion VND to 3 National Target Programs; of which 1,220 projects/2,214,521 billion VND were assigned for the 2021-2023 period, with an estimated disbursement of 2,126 billion VND, reaching about 96%.

MANY PROBLEMS AND DIFFICULTIES IN IMPLEMENTING RESOLUTION NO. 36 OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY

Regarding the implementation of Resolution No. 36 of the National Assembly, Nghe An is submitting 3 ODA projects with a total capital of 2,041.1 billion VND from the Government's foreign loans. Thus, the province still has room to propose loans for new projects in the period 2024 - 2026.

Regarding the policy of increasing revenue from import and export activities, the province has not yet increased revenue to promote the effectiveness of the policy. In addition, each year the province is supplemented with about 1,800 billion VND of expenditure calculated according to the population norm when building the regular expenditure norm of the state budget. This additional source is allocated by the province for the tasks of education, health, social security and investment in key projects.

Regarding forest and land management policies, the province has implemented a number of projects but there are still problems in converting the purpose of single-crop rice land. Regarding planning management policies, the Provincial People's Committee has made partial adjustments to the general planning of Vinh city for the period up to 2030, with a vision to 2050.

The Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee emphasized that in the coming time, the province will carry out many key and important tasks, especially implementing the new resolution of the Politburo on building and developing Nghe An province until 2030, with a vision to 2045; Organizing the announcement and development of a plan to implement the Provincial Planning for the period 2021 - 2030, with a vision to 2050 after being approved by the Prime Minister.

In addition, focus on speeding up the completion of procedures to soon start the implementation of two strategic infrastructure projects: Cua Lo Deepwater Port and the expansion of Vinh International Airport; complete the Project to expand the administrative boundaries and urban space of Vinh city; strengthen investment attraction, administrative reform, and carry out tasks of budget collection and public investment according to the targets of 2023.

At the working session, the Vice Chairmen of the National Assembly's Finance and Budget Committee analyzed, evaluated, and discussed the implementation of tasks on budget collection, public investment, and the implementation of Resolution 36 of the National Assembly; and at the same time, gave their opinions on the province's recommendations.

NGHE AN PROVINCE PROPOSALS 3 IMPORTANT CONTENTS

Speaking at the working session, comrade Thai Thanh Quy - Secretary of Nghe An Provincial Party Committee discussed and clarified issues on disbursement of public investment capital; implementation of the policy of converting the purpose of using rice-growing land according to Resolution 36 of the National Assembly on piloting a number of specific mechanisms and policies for the development of Nghe An province.

Provincial Party Secretary Thai Thanh Quy said that in the process of implementing public investment projects, the weakest stage is still the preparation for project implementation. On the other hand, slow capital allocation also affects the province's implementation progress; in the management work, there are still limitations in site clearance, inspection, supervision, handling...

However, in the first 6 months of the year, Nghe An province has implemented drastic measures with many strong solutions, such as requiring progress reports every 10 days, transferring capital from the middle of the year, assigning responsibility to leaders, researching and considering replacing staff at project management boards, weak investors, transferring investors...

Provincial Party Secretary Thai Thanh Quy emphasized that in recent times, the province has been united and unified in all aspects of work; focused on key areas of management with very high political determination, creating a consensus voice in many important tasks.

In addition, the province also focuses heavily on infrastructure investment, especially industrial park infrastructure. The province has attracted three strategic industrial park infrastructure investors, namely VSIP, WHA, and Hoang Thinh Dat, thereby attracting many secondary investors, contributing to increasing the scale of the economy, creating jobs, increasing income for workers, and contributing to exports.

At the working session, Provincial Party Secretary Thai Thanh Quy hoped that the National Assembly's Finance and Budget Committee would consider and support the province in developing and proposing specific mechanisms and policies to implement the new resolution of the Politburo on the development of Nghe An province; supplementing the compensation and site clearance budget for the project to upgrade and expand National Highway 1 through Nghe An province, about 1,282.52 billion VND; and removing difficulties in implementing Decree No. 67 of the Government on a number of policies for fisheries development.

Concluding the working session, comrade Le Quang Manh - Chairman of the National Assembly's Finance and Budget Committee acknowledged, highly appreciated and congratulated the results in socio-economic development of Nghe An province in recent times, especially the results of attracting foreign investment capital of the province.

The Chairman of the National Assembly's Finance and Budget Committee also discussed with leaders of Nghe An province recommendations on difficulties in implementing Resolution No. 36 of the National Assembly, Decree 67 of the Government and additional funding for compensation and site clearance for the project to upgrade and expand National Highway 1A.