Public investment disbursement slow in southern region
Public investment disbursement slow in southern region
The disbursement of public investments in the Mekong Delta and Southeast regions remains slow, whereas the demand for capital in public projects in the two regions by 2020 is huge.
Speaking at a conference in Vinh Long Province today, August 14, Tran Duy Dong, head of the Department for Local and Regional Economy at the Ministry of Planning and Investment, said that more than VND73 trillion, or 99.63% of the total public capital approved by the National Assembly (NA), has been disbursed for the Southeast region.
As for the Mekong Delta, Dong said that the Government has set aside VND46 trillion plus, or 98.08% of the total.
The disbursement rate for public investment projects had been 38.56% in the Mekong Delta region in the year through July 30, higher than the country’s average of 36.11%.
“The Southeast region had the lowest disbursement rate among the country’s six regions, at 25.35%,” Dong said.
The highest disbursement rate in some of the two regions' provinces and cities was reported at only 40%, Dong said, adding, “This pressing problem should be handled as soon as possible.”
Dong attributed such slow disbursements to the fact that some localities have yet to adjust investment decisions, in line with the NA Standing Committee’s Announcement 102.
Additionally, the reason for the slow disbursement was because approval and signing procedures for official development assistance (ODA) capital have yet to be completed.
Despite the slow disbursement, the need for funding in the two regions in 2020 has greatly increased.
The report, made by the Ministry of Planning and Investment, indicated that the Southeast region needs VND91.76 trillion for public investments in 2020, 23.3% higher than the figure approved in 2019.
Of the total, the region’s budget has VND68.5 trillion, up 10.3% against 2019, ODA capital amounts to VND10.7 trillion, a five-fold increase against the 2019 plan, the funding from Government bond sales is over VND7.1 trillion, and capital from supporting programs is VND5 trillion, which is double the 2019 figure.
In its 2020 plan, the Mekong Delta needs a total of VND80.5 trillion for development projects, soaring by 44%, compared with the allocation in 2019.
Addressing the conference, entitled “Building a plan for the socioeconomic development and public investment in 2020 in the Southeast and Mekong Delta regions,” Ben Tre Chairman Cao Van Trong made a proposal related to the budget allocation to localities that the Ministry of Planning and Investment should keep part of the budgets to invest for the development of the entire region.
