Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has issued a strong rebuke to 22 central ministries, agencies, and 12 localities for disbursing public investment capital at levels below the national average.

The Prime Minister recently signed an official dispatch urging acceleration of public investment disbursement during the final months of 2025.

The directive was sent to cabinet ministers, heads of central agencies, and secretaries and chairpersons of provinces and centrally governed cities.

As of the end of November, disbursement of public investment capital was estimated at 60.6% of the annual plan - an improvement over the same period in 2024 (58.2%) and approximately 155.7 trillion VND (about $6.4 billion) more in absolute terms.

The Prime Minister commended 12 ministries and 20 localities that exceeded the national average in disbursement, including areas severely affected by flooding that still managed to meet their targets. However, he sternly criticized 22 ministries and 12 provinces for underperformance.

Despite improvements over last year, the current disbursement rate still falls short of the set goal. With only 55 days left, roughly 360 trillion VND (~$14.8 billion) remains to be spent.

Replacing ineffective officials and enforcing strict accountability

To accelerate progress and achieve full disbursement of 2025’s public investment capital - thereby helping to stabilize the macroeconomy, foster growth, and create jobs - the Prime Minister emphasized the urgency of decisive and synchronized action.

Cabinet members, central agency heads, and provincial leaders are required to assume full responsibility for implementing solutions to boost fund allocation and disbursement.

Public investment must be treated as a top political priority and a key metric in evaluating leadership performance. The Prime Minister stressed the importance of “6 clarity principles”: clear personnel, clear responsibilities, clear authority, clear timelines, clear tasks, and clear outcomes.

He urged ministries and provinces to swiftly allocate any remaining 2025 capital not yet assigned to specific projects and implement aggressive, timely solutions to boost disbursement of both public investment and national target program funding.

Efforts must focus on advancing key public infrastructure projects, including expressways, national priority initiatives, and projects with wide regional impact.

This is a central political task tied directly to the accountability of heads of ministries and local governments.

Additionally, the Prime Minister called for the prompt resolution of procedural and legal bottlenecks, while enhancing the effectiveness of special working groups led by provincial chairs.

Discipline in public investment disbursement must be strengthened. Authorities must strictly penalize investors, management boards, organizations, or individuals who deliberately delay capital allocation or hinder project implementation.

Of particular note, the Prime Minister demanded the immediate replacement of incompetent, sluggish, or corrupt officials who cause disruptions or obstacles in public investment.

He ordered intensified inspections and sanctions against practices like awarding mining rights to improper parties, which leads to speculative trading and inflated material prices.

Local governments must also resolve issues in land clearance, licensing for mining materials such as stone, sand, and soil, and ensure the timely publication of local construction material prices.

Thu Hang