A view of the construction site of a section of the eastern North-South Expressway project in the 2017-2021 period. - Photo: VNA

The Government Office has written to the Ministry of Planning and Investment, informing it of the deputy prime minister’s feedback on the list of projects for the socioeconomic recovery and development program, Tuoi Tre Online newspaper reported.

Deputy PM Khai asked the Ministry of Planning and Investment to coordinate with the relevant agencies to review the projects to ensure that capital would be allocated for the key ones. Projects failing to meet the requirements should not be added to the list, he said.

On April 18, the Ministry of Planning and Investment wrote to the relevant ministries, agencies and localities, asking them to review the proposed projects for socioeconomic recovery and development.

With projects meeting the requirements, if the allocated capital is lower than needed, ministries, agencies and localities should commit to coping with overruns to complete the projects.

As for projects with a change in their information and statistics, compared with those in the earlier report sent to the Government, the Ministry of Planning and Investment also required reporting and explaining the cause of the change.

The ministry stressed that ministries, agencies and localities must bear responsibility before the Prime Minister, the Government and inspection and auditing agencies for the list of projects and the accuracy of their information and statistics.

Earlier, the Ministry of Planning and Investment had sent a report to the prime minister, saying that ministries, agencies and localities had proposed a total of 393 projects to help the local socioeconomy recover and develop after the pandemic, rising 127 projects over the earlier report.

However, the total estimated investment for these projects dropped to 97.75% of the capital approved by the National Assembly (VND135.6 trillion).

The approved capital will be mainly spent on key traffic projects, including the eastern North-South Expressway in the 2021-2025 period, the Bien Hoa-Vung Tau, Khanh Hoa-Buon Ma Thuot, Chau Doc-Can Tho-Soc Trang and An Huu-Cao Lanh expressways, and the Dai Ngai Bridge.

In addition, local authorities had sought capital for provincial roads and expressways, such as a provincial road in Bac Ninh, the Ring Road No. 4, and a road connecting National Highway 1A with the Cau Gie-Ninh Binh Expressway, among others.

Source: SGT