Binh Duong expedites disbursement of public investment capital

The project of the 1,500-bed hospital in Binh Duong province is urgently completed. Photo: TL.

The construction sector faces many difficulties

At the end of November, the construction unit of the project of the 1,500-bed hospital in Binh Duong province urgently completed disbursing capital from the State budget soon.

According to Mr Nguyen Vinh Toan, Director of the Construction Investment Project Management Board of Binh Duong Province, this project started construction in 2014 with a capital of more than VND2,300 billion. However, the project has not yet been completed.

This is a big project on medical equipment, with advanced technology and high-value equipment. During the implementation, there are some problems in legal procedures that need to be consulted and agreed upon by ministries and sectors. Therefore, it takes much time.

In addition, many health sector policies have been revised, so the Management Board must update them following the new regulations. Moreover, the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2022 and the fluctuation of the world situation have caused a high increase in prices of raw materials, fuel, materials, supplies and equipment, and the supply chain disruption has led the difficulties in production, import and export activities, especially for the import of materials and equipment from European countries.

In 2022, the Management Board is assigned a total public investment capital of VND299,137 billion, including 17 project portfolios, of which 13 projects have been disbursed, and four projects are about to be disbursed. In addition, the public investment capital in 2021 transferred to 2022 is VND 833,100 billion for 8 project portfolios. As of November 21, the total disbursed capital has not reached 40% of the plan.

This is typical of most state budget-funded projects that have been implemented in recent years. However, the situation results from the complicated development of Covid-19 pandemic has affected the implementation progress of public investment projects, so the disbursement rate is low.

The remaining capital plan in 2021 transferred to 2022, and the large remaining advance balance of previous years is large, so 2022 must prioritise using the transferred capital from 2021 and recover the advance. Therefore, the disbursement rate under the 2022 plan is estimated to be lower than the assigned plan.

Processing records in the fastest manner

According to Mr. Ngo Hoai Linh, Deputy Director of the State Treasury of Binh Duong province, the local treasury has quickly processed 100% of records of investment capital disbursement. However, by the end of October, the total disbursed capital under the plan 2022, and transferred capital from 2021 in the local treasury only reached about VND4.4 trillion.

The main reason for the delay in disbursement still results from the site clearance. Specifically, the difficulties include disputation and complaints of people; price imposition, verification of land origin; fluctuation of the land price that makes excessing of compensation costs in the total investment of the project, leading to the adjustment of the project and affecting the disbursement progress.

Mr Ngo Hoai Linh said that to speed up public investment capital’s disbursement, the State Treasury of the province has regularly coordinated and dialogued with investors to remove difficulties and create favorable conditions for treasuries to process records in the fastest manner. In the last months of the year, State Treasury officers have made great efforts to quickly perform disbursements.

Binh Duong State Treasury will strictly control expenditures following the law in the last months of the year. Furthermore, the State Treasury will actively coordinate with other departments, agencies, investors and project management boards to recover advance investment capital and offer solutions to remove difficulties in the disbursement and prevent the backlog of records without reasons.