Ministry of Transport under pressure to disburse remaining 37,000 billion VND of public investment capital

According to the report of the Ministry of Transport, in 2023, the Ministry was assigned by the Prime Minister a capital plan of about VND 95,222 billion. Of which, capital from the Socio-Economic Recovery and Development Program is VND 54,549 billion, medium-term capital is VND 40,673 billion.

Specifically, Mr. Bui Quang Thai, Director of the Department of Planning and Investment (Ministry of Transport) said that in 2023, the public investment capital plan of the Ministry of Transport will be allocated mainly for the North-South Eastern Expressway project. Of which, the North-South Expressway project in the period of 2017-2020 (phase 1) is allocated more than 17,500 billion VND; the North-South Expressway project in the period of 2021-2025 (phase 2) is allocated nearly 45,500 billion VND.

Important and urgent projects were allocated nearly 1,600 billion VND. ODA project groups were allocated more than 7,800 billion VND. Other domestic projects were allocated nearly 27,800 billion VND.

By the end of September 2023, the disbursement value of the Ministry of Transport had reached VND 58,000 billion, reaching 61% of the annual plan. September alone recorded great efforts from investors when the disbursement output reached 98% of the registered plan.

"According to calculations, in the last months of the year, the Ministry of Transport needs to disburse 37,000 billion VND. If investors maintain the disbursement rate as in September 2023, the target of disbursing at least 95% of the capital plan assigned to the Ministry will be achieved," said Mr. Bui Quang Thai.

Mr. Phung Tuan Son, Head of Planning and Synthesis Department (Thang Long Project Management Board) said that with the current relatively good disbursement momentum of the unit at 70%, in order to contribute to ensuring the disbursement results of the Ministry of Transport to reach at least 95% of the assigned capital plan, Thang Long Project Management Board has received an additional disbursement of 400 billion VND (previously coordinated from other units' sources for the two projects Mai Son - National Highway 45 and Phan Thiet - Dau Giay) to disburse for the two component projects of the North - South Expressway Phase 2.

According to Mr. Phung Tuan Son, the capital allocated to the two component projects: Bai Vot - Ham Nghi and Ham Nghi - Vung Ang will be disbursed for construction and installation and additional disbursement of the advance payment value at the project within the permitted framework. Thus, after the latest capital adjustment, the total capital plan for 2023 of the Thang Long Project Management Board this year will be more than 9,500 billion VND. Up to now, the disbursement output according to the initial capital plan (more than 9,100 billion VND) has reached more than 68% and more than 65% according to the new adjusted capital.

"In the remaining months, the unit will strive to implement solutions, including close coordination between project management boards and contractors to remove and speed up disbursement procedures, striving for the disbursement results of the Thang Long Project Management Board to reach over 95%," said Mr. Phung Tuan Son.

Meanwhile, the leader of Project Management Board 2 (Ministry of Transport) said that in the last months of the year, the unit still has to disburse about 4,130 billion VND, mainly focusing on the North-South expressway project of Quang Ngai - Hoai Nhon (2,653.8 billion VND); National Highway 45 - Nghi Son (756.5 billion VND). With the political determination of the whole collective, the unit will focus on disbursing at least 95% of the total capital assigned by the Ministry of Transport.

However, to speed up the disbursement progress, Project Management Board 2 recommends that state management agencies need to speed up procedures related to the project's policy of changing forest use purposes; site clearance needs to be directed more drastically and effectively by localities to allow contractors to carry out construction.

According to the leaders of the Project Management Boards, to meet the remaining disbursement volume in the last months of the year, the process of processing acceptance and payment documents will be optimized by the Project Management Boards, shortening the time. Previously, the disbursement was carried out according to the process: The project department reviewed the project site and transferred it to the technical - appraisal department and the planning - synthesis department of the Project Management Boards for evaluation, then transferred it to the finance department to carry out specialized procedures, and then sent it to the directors of the departments to sign the payment authorization. Currently, after being confirmed by the project site department, the documents only need to be sent to the technical - appraisal department for review according to the contract and then immediately transferred to the finance department for the next step. Thanks to that, the time to process disbursement documents for contractors is shortened to only 1 - 2 days.

At the meeting to deploy key tasks for the last months of 2023 of the Ministry of Transport, Minister of Transport Nguyen Van Thang assessed that the tasks in the last months of the year of the Ministry of Transport are still very heavy, especially the remaining 40% of the disbursement volume of public investment capital, so he requested agencies and units to focus on completing this task.

For projects under construction, Minister Nguyen Van Thang requested investors and project management boards to closely follow the construction site, coordinate to remove obstacles in site clearance, dumping sites, materials, conversion of forest land and rice land, support contractors in acceptance and payment procedures, prevent cases of harassment in disbursement procedures, and strictly handle violations according to their authority.

Minister Nguyen Van Thang requested specialized management departments to strictly control the implementation progress in conjunction with the disbursement progress, paying special attention to the quality of the project. Any location showing signs of abnormality must be inspected immediately for assessment and timely handling.

Economic experts acknowledge that although the disbursement progress remains higher than the national average, disbursing the remaining capital (about 37,000 billion VND) in the last months of the year is a huge challenge for the industry. To do so, it requires efforts, determination, and innovation in implementation by investors/project management boards and close supervision and monitoring by advisory agencies. At the same time, ministries, branches, and localities must also support in removing obstacles regarding land clearance and procedures for converting forest land, etc.