Hanoi (VNA) – Prime MinisterNguyen Xuan Phuc has ordered that more drastic solutions to be taken to speedup the disbursement of public investment capital, which he described as anurgent task from now through 2020.

He made the request while chairing ateleconference on September 26 that was attended by officials of allministries, sectors and 63 provincial-level localities.

According to the Ministry of Planning andInvestment (MPI), the allocation and disbursement of public investment capitalis a “dark point” in the bright panorama of the economy.

Disbursement of public investment capital in thefirst nine months of 2019 met only 45.17 percent of the yearly target set bythe National Assembly and 49.14 percent of the target set by the PM.

There are 31 ministries and central agencies and19 localities with the disbursement rates under 50 percent of their assignedfigures. Among them, 17 ministries and agencies and one locality only met under30 percent of the target.

The MPI attributed the snail-pace disbursementpartly to some institutional obstacles. 

It noted there remain much confusion in theimplementation of the laws on land, construction, bidding and natural resourcesprotection; site clearance is still time-consuming; and the preparation forprojects using public investment capital remains problematic. Besides, the provisionof counterpart funds for some projects did not meet schedule, subsequentlyaffecting the disbursement of foreign capital, the ministry said.

Addressing the conference, PM Phuc said publicinvestment plays a major role in socio-economic development, especially thebuilding of important infrastructure facilities. It accounts for 10.7 percentof the total GDP and about 32 percent of total investment in society in 2019.

However, the sluggish disbursement of publicinvestment capital over the past nearly one decade has created a bottleneck inthe economy, he noted.

Pointing out consequences of the slowdisbursement, he said it will affect economic expansion since capital is one ofthe important factors of GDP growth. 

Additionally, as public investment capital isusually among the resources of big projects, slow disbursement will also deceleratethe mobilization of private and foreign parties’ reciprocal capital, whichsubsequently affects the prestige of Vietnam and undermines investors and donors’trust in the country.

The snail-pace disbursement will also lead toconsiderable wastefulness because while the capital is not disbursed, theGovernment still has to pay the cost of capital, the PM noted, adding thatbusinesses and investors will also have to face floated expenses and debts,fewer jobs, and eroded prestige.

The Government leader demanded all ministries,sectors and localities speed up the allocation of public investment capital, anurgent key task from now through 2020 – the final year of the medium-termpublic investment plan for 2016-2020.

He said ministers, heads of sectors and leadersof localities must take full responsibility for this task, asking them toenhance coordination in the settlement of hindrances to the implementation ofprojects using public funds.

Assigning tasks to ministries, PM Phuc showedhis support for the establishment of a special working group for monitoring andpromoting construction projects funded with public capital.

He also requested ministries, central agenciesand localities to clarify the responsibility of collectives and individuals whohamper the disbursement progress./.