Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - The Ministry of Planning and Investment hasproposed withholding investment next year for projects that had been slowto disburse their allocated funding in 2019.

According to the proposal, projects that had disbursed less than 50 percent oftheir assigned public investment as of November 30 this yearwould not be eligible for continued funding for next year.

According to the General Statistics Office, total public investmentdisbursement in the first 11 months of this year reached 299 trillion VND(13 billion USD), equivalent to 78.6 percent of the annual target and anincrease of 5.5 percent compared to the same period last year.

However, the disbursement rate was assessed to have remained low.

The Ministry of Planning and Investment blamed the delays on a lack of properplanning and direction from ministries and local authorities.

Compensation for land clearance lacked transparency, leading to publiccomplaints and delays.

Minister of Transport Nguyen Van The recently said most projects on theNorth-South Expressway had been delayed due to slow land compensation payments.

NguyenTrung Hoang, vice chairman of the People’s Committee of Tra Vinh Province, oneof the localities that recorded the slowest investment disbursement, saidtoo many projects had been assigned to a single contractor,leading to overloading. 

The province had disbursed only 45 percent (about 2 trillion VND)of its total public investment for the year.  

According to Do Thanh Trung, deputy head of the Department of National EconomicIssues at the Ministry of Planning and Investment, this year’s disbursementof Government bonds and Official Development Assistance had been slower thanlast year due to changing mid-term financial plans and other adjustments.

Major projects that took up almost 50 percent of Government bonds this yearsuch as the North-South Expressway, Long Thanh International Airport and othertransport infrastructure had recorded slow disbursement, affecting theallocation process for the whole country.

To accelerate the process with one month of the year left, Prime Minister NguyenXuan Phuc has ordered agencies to review and complete a legal framework oninvestment management, and to lift barriers to facilitate disbursement.

Public investment disbursement must be accelerated without wastefulnessor loss. There was no room for corruption or group benefits, thePM highlighted.

The Government has instructed ministries, sectors and localities to imposestrict punishments on individuals and organisations which delayed projects ortried to siphon off the top.

Weak officials who abused their power to direct public investmentmanagement and bidding must be replaced, he said.

The Ministry of Planning and Investment has proposed four solutions toaccelerate the allocation, including holding heads of ministries, sectorsand localities responsible for delays.

Economic expert Vu Dinh Anh told Vietnam News Agency that low-efficiencyprojects where investment procedures had not been set should not receiveany more funding.

Investment should focus on efficient projects where we could speed updisbursement ahead of schedule to put them into operation, he said.

According to Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung, therevised Law on Investment would facilitate public investment disbursement.

In 2020 when the new law takes effect, the improvements might not beimmediately clear, but in 2021 we will start to see positive changes,he said./.