There are reasons that have existed for several years, such as slow site clearance, the restricted ability of investors and contractors, indecisive direction and management, the complicated situation of the Covid-19 pandemic afecting projects’ progress, and rising raw material costs. In addition, 2022 is the first year of the implementation of the medium-term public investment plan in the 2021-2025 period approved by the National Assembly last July. Therefore, the beginning of this year just saw the continuity and transition of projects. A new project usually takes about six to eight months to complete investment procedures and one year to implement disbursement, he explained.

Especially, there is still a choice of unnecessary projects without mid and long-term visions while resources are limited. Some ministries and localities have not yet prepared plans for using State capital in the development of projects, and synchronization between the preparation and implementation of projects, he added.

Regarding regulations of the Law on Public Investment creating some challenges for localities, the Minister of Planning and Investment said that a public investment project complies with not only the Law on Public Investment but also with Planning Law, Law on State Budget, Construction Law, Land Law, Environment Protection Law, Legal Documents on Natural Resources and others, especially international treaties and agreements. If a problem occurs, it will affect the steps of the implementation process.

He noted that the careful preparation that must be carried out early to ensure the project’s feasibility is one of the most important factors, especially site clearance. The government is studying to propose a special mechanism allowing the site clearance to be separated as a self-contained project to the National Assembly.

Source: SGGP