Da Nang Party Committee Secretary Nguyen Van Quang, municipal People's Council Chairman Luong Nguyen Minh Triet, municipal People's Committee Vice Chairpersons Tran Phuoc Son and Ngo Thi Kim Yen on Tuesday morning, September 28, joined an online meeting which discussed ways to accelerating the disbursement of public investment capital nationwide.

Da Nang Party Committee Secretary Nguyen Van Quang (left) and municipal People’'s Committee Vice Chairman Tran Phuoc Son attend the online meeting. Photo: THANH LAN

The national online meeting was chaired by Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh.

In his remarked at the virtual event, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh highlighted the vital role that public investment has played in promoting socio-economic development. Viet Nam plans to outlay VND 500,000 billion on public investment in 2021 but disbursement rate has so far stood at 47.38%.

Da Nang’s delegates attend the online meeting. Photo: THANH LAN

According to Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung’s report, an estimated VND 187,285 billion worth of public investment capital had been disbursed across the country as of August 31, or 40.6 percent of the plan assigned by the Prime Minister. The figure was 46.41% lower than the same period in 2020. Of which, the disbursement of domestic capital reached 44.7% while that of foreign capital hit 7.94% compared to 21.26% recorded in the same period last year.

The Ministry of Planning and Investment attributed the slow disbursement to COVID-19 outbreaks in many Vietnamese localities and the suspension of projects in areas due to the imposition of social distancing order in line with the Prime Minister’s Directive No.16/CT-TTg.

Other causes relate to site clearance, changes in planning in some localities, and import of equipment in need of foreign consultants’ approval.

In Da Nang, the total disbursement of public investment capital had reached an estimated VND 3,500 billion as of September 30, or 50.5% of the 2021 plan.

The disbursement rate of public investment in Da Nang stood at 49%, and it is equivalent to the average figure of other Vietnamese localities. Da Nang faced difficulties in disbursing its public investment for many projects due to the complex developments of COVID-19.

Besides, there are difficulties in disbursing public investment capital from the national budget for inter-regional projects. Included is a project to build intersections at the Hue T-junction. VND 727 billion worth of public investment have yet been disbursed for this project due to project cost adjustments. Public investment is expected to be fully disbursed for this project within 2021 after project cost adjustments are completed.

Moreover, the city is encountering difficulties and challenges in allocating public investment capital for the construction of the shared infrastructure in the new Lien Chieu Port project due to adjustments to the project and the impact of COVID-19.

Reporting by THANH LAN – translating by H.L