Six-month ODA disbursement rate in localities remains low
The disbursement of public investment funded by official development assistance (ODA) in localities in the first six months of this year has reached only 7.6% of the year’s target, according to the Ministry of Finance (MoF).
Hanoi (VNA)♛ – The disbursement of public investment funded by officialdevelopment assistance (ODA) in localities in the first six months of this yearhas reached only 7.6% of the year’s target, according to the Ministry ofFinance (MoF).
Speakingat a conference in Hanoi on June 28, Truong Hung Long, Director of the Department ofDebt Management and External Finance under the Ministry of Finance, said thatthe disbursement rate of ODA-funded public investment remains very low while atotal of over 34.5 trillion VND (1.5 billion USD) was allocated to provinces and centrally-run cities this year. Just8 out of 50 provinces and cities had a disbursement rate of over 15% while 13localities have yet to disburse any capital they were allocated. Accordingto Long, the slow disbursement was caused by the adjustments of investmentpolicies, projects, extension of disbursement, extension of projectimplementation term, and use of surplus capital. Meanwhile,other public investment projects using ODA have problems in bidding orcommercial contracts, land clearance, design adjustment, fluctuations in rawmaterial prices, and a shortage of workers. Tospeed up the disbursement, according to the Ministry of Finance, the Ministryof Construction should study and propose solutions to handle problems in designappraisal to ensure the progress of projects. The Ministryof Health was called on to find solutions to handling problems relating tomedical equipment purchase and use. Forits part, the Ministry of Finance will implement measures such as ensuring thecorrect processing time for capital withdrawal applications, removingdifficulties in public investment, and discussing with donors to solve theirproblems. Inaddition, localities need to conduct a detailed and specific review andassessment of the disbursement ability of each project, and transfer capitalfrom projects with slow disbursement progress to projects with betterdisbursement./.
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Illustrative photo (Photo: VNA) 
