A report presented at the latest meeting discussing city development showed that VND10.895 trillion was disbursed in the first five months of the year. Meanwhile, the city has set a goal of disbursing VND80 trillion this year.

HCM City Mayor Phan Van Mai has expressed his concern about the slow disbursement and requested investors to be more serious in work to gain a disbursement rate of at least 95 percent by this year end.

“We planned to disburse VND3.5-4 trillion each week in April and May, but we could disburse VND200 billion only, much lower than planned. There must be a breakthrough in June,” Mai said.

Nguyen Hoang Anh Dung, deputy director of the HCM City Urban Infrastructure Investment and Development Management Board, said the biggest obstacle many projects are facing is slow site clearance.

Managing two public investment projects, including Xuyen Tam arroyo and the northern side of Doi Canal, the management board has also encountered difficulties.

In the case of the Xuyen Tam arroyo project and site clearance in Binh Thanh district, the district authorities still have not approved the plan on compensating residents for site clearance. The same problem is occurring with a site clearance component, worth VND2.7 trillion, under the Doi Canal project. 

According to Luong Minh Phuc, director of the HCM City Transport Work Investment and Construction Management Board, for transport projects, the disbursement is mostly implemented in the third and fourth quarters.

Phuc said the management board is applying solutions to speed up the execution of projects. It is expected that VND1.4 trillion will be disbursed each month in the last months of the year. Detailed disbursement plans have been designed for every project.

The project on executing the remaining sections of Belt Roads 2 and 3, 11 kilometers in length with a total additional investment capital of VND30 trillion, is also behind schedule.

The construction of Section 3, from Pham Van Dong Road to Go Dua Crossroad, 2.7 kilometers began in 2017 under the BOT (build, operate, transfer) mode with a total investment capital of VND2.7 trillion. However, the execution stopped in March 2020 when only 44 percent of work had been implemented. This was attributed to slow site clearance and tardiness in following procedures to adjust the project.

In a document released recently criticizing eight units, the HCM City People’s Committee named 60 projects slow in public investment disbursement though municipal authorities had given instructions to solve problems.

Another 29 projects/works were also mentioned as being slow in disbursement, though municipal authorities twice instructed them to solve problems.

The projects include one on expanding Highway No 50 in Binh Chanh district. As of April 30, 2024, only VND22 billion had been disbursed, or 5 percent of total investment capital.

As for Belt Road No3, by April 30, only VND15.91 billion out of VND110 billion worth of capital for site clearance component project had been disbursed. The municipal authorities have ordered disbursement of VND33 billion by the end of the second quarter, or 30 percent of total capital.

Regarding the project on Tran Quoc Hoan – Cong Hoa connection road in Tan Binh district, capitalized at VND940 billion, only VND38.9 billion has been disbursed so far (4 percent). The HCMC People’s Committee has told them to raise the disbursement rate to 50 percent by the end of the second quarter (VND474 billion).

According to deputy director of the HCM City Planning and Investment Department Pham Trung Kien, projects are classified into four groups. Of these ,150 projects with total capital of VND25.46 trillion can obtain full disbursement this year, while the other 43 projects, capitalized at VND3.108 trillion in total, won’t be fully disbursed this year.

A project to settle tidal flooding, VND10 trillion, still has problems related to the competence of the government and central agencies.

Fifty-five projects are stuck at site clearance and 41 projects are facing obstacles because of project adjustment procedures.

HCM City Mayor Phan Van Mai said the city will inspect every project and every contractor in June, and discipline the units responsible for slow project implementation.

Mai in person will give instructions on the implementation of two projects on Xuyen Tam arroyo and Doi Canal.

Ho Van