Minister of Finance Ho Duc Phoc pointed out problems in the Law on Public Investment at the ongoing National Assembly session.

According to the Ministry of Planning and Investment by the end of last month VND66.3 trillion from the programme was disbursed.

Analyst’s Pick: Besides making all-out efforts to have better preparation, heads of ministries and localities should be free of wariness and dare to take risks.

Some ministries, agencies and localities have given back public investment capital as they had not used up the capital.

Several State agencies, ministries, cities and provinces have proposed returning thousands of billions of Vietnamese dong of the allocated 2022 public capital due to slower-than-planned disbursements.

Only 50 percent of public capital was disbursed in January-September 2022, but in September alone, the figure was VND40.92 trillion, or 1.5 times higher than the average in the first eight months.

The government has submitted a report to the National Assembly on public debt in 2022 and predictions for 2023.

Though Hanoi five years ago created a bus rapid transit (BRT) system to reduce the use of private vehicles and ease traffic jams, the goals have not been met.

The 15th National Assembly’s supervisory mission has released a report on the results of supervision over policies and laws on practicing thrift practice and combating waste in the 2016-2021 period.

The Ministry of Transport expects to draw out some VND7 trillion (US$286.6 million) to pay off defaulted loans from Korean and German financers in the construction of the Hanoi-Hai Phong Expressway.

Wrongdoings have been draining public investment funds, wasting nearly VND32 trillion, the 15th National Assembly’s (NA) supervisory delegation reported.

The National Assembly supervision mission’s report on thrift practice and combating of waste in 2016-2021 said several major projects were ineffective, including the Hanoi Museum and Cat Linh - Ha Dong bus rapid route in Hanoi.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has recently spent weekends traveling to many localities to examine delayed construction works which have been exposed to sun and rain.

Overcoming a number of socioeconomic difficulties, local public spending disbursement has been accelerating nationwide to ensure goals are reached.

“Pressure”, “increased difficulties” and “high risks and challenges”: these are the words used by the Minister of Planning and Investment to describe how hard it will be to fulfill Vietnam’s growth goals this year.

Hanoi is set to allocate VND52.6 trillion (US$2.23 billion) for public projects in 2023, up 1.97% from the amount for 2022.

As of September 2, the disbursement of the relief package for economic recovery and development had totaled a mere VND55.5 trillion (US$2.36 billion), Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung told a monthly Cabinet meeting on September 6.

HCM City is seeking approval for an additional $5.13 billion USD of public investment from the central government and the disbursement of previously approved public investment ito speed up the progress of major public projects.

The authorities of Ho Chi Minh City have decided to suspend investment in the Thu Thiem opera house project worth nearly VND2,000 billion (US$83.3 million) in order to have capital for other projects and the post-pandemic economic recovery program.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has tasked six working groups to inspect disbursement of public investment capital in 41 ministries, state agencies and 18 localities where disbursement is below the national average rate of 34.47 percent as of July 31.