On June 27, the National Assembly discussed the use of the general reserve of the medium-term public investment plan of the central budget for the period 2021-2025, corresponding to the increased central budget revenue in 2023 for public investment projects.

Presenting the proposal, Minister of Finance Ho Duc Phoc mentioned that it is expected to allocate a total of 26,900 billion VND ($1.03 billion) from the increased central budget revenue in 2023 to 20 projects across four sectors.

Specifically, the allocations include 2,000 billion VND for national defense, 4,000 billion VND for security, 19,380 billion VND for transportation, and 1,520 billion VND for judicial reform.

The Minister of Finance stated that out of the 26,900 billion VND, 18,220 billion VND is expected to be allocated to 14 projects that need to be reported to the National Assembly to supplement the medium-term public investment plan limit. Therefore, the Government submitted a proposal to allow the use of this amount.

Regarding the four projects, namely Gia Binh airport, the construction of a new Supreme People's Court headquarters at 262 Doi Can, investment in repairing, renovating, upgrading, and constructing headquarters of People's Courts at all levels (phase 1), and the Tuyen Quang - Ha Giang expressway phase 1 through Tuyen Quang province, the Government proposed to allow competent authorities to decide on investment policies for these projects.

These four projects currently do not have enough resources to approve or adjust investment policies. Therefore, the Government plans to allocate 2,000 billion VND for the Tuyen Quang - Ha Giang expressway project (phase 1), 1,000 billion VND for the Gia Binh airport project, and 1,520 billion VND for two projects of the Supreme People's Court.

Presenting the subsequent review report, Chairman of the Finance and Budget Committee Le Quang Manh stated that the Government's submission to the National Assembly for permission to use 18,220 billion VND is appropriate. This amount is expected to be allocated to important and urgent projects to implement the conclusions of the Party Central Committee and the Politburo on the Judicial Reform Strategy, organizing the Vietnam People's Army for the period 2021-2030 and the following years, promoting the building of a truly clean and strong People's Public Security force, and building a synchronous infrastructure.

For the four projects that have not yet balanced enough capital sources to approve investment policies, the appraisal agency requested the Government to ensure the sources and balancing capacity to allocate sufficient capital compared to the total estimated investment of the projects in accordance with the provisions of the law.

The Finance and Budget Committee requested the Government to take responsibility for the proposed content and project list, ensuring the allocation of capital for focused and key projects, ensuring efficiency, accelerating the disbursement of public investment capital, and avoiding loss and waste.

Tran Thuong