Removing disbursement bottlenecks in the Central Key Economic Zone

Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Hoa Binh chaired a meeting to urge the disbursement of public investment capital in five provinces and cities in the Central Key Economic Region held in Quang Nam. Photo: TD

Reasons for low disbursement

According to statistics from the Ministry of Planning and Investment , as of September 30, 2024, the disbursement of public investment capital of the 5 provinces and cities of the Central Key Economic Region was low, reaching only 46.21% of the capital plan (the whole country 47.29%, the provinces in the North Central and Central Coast regions 52.99%; Binh Dinh was the highest with 69.37%, Thua Thien Hue 58.47%, Da Nang 48.27%).

Quang Nam and Quang Ngai have disbursement rates below the national average (40.99% and 33.4%). The first difficulty cited by localities is the trouble in determining land origin and land price.

Compensation and resettlement plans were not agreed upon by the people, who complained about the compensation prices. Many projects were forced to recalculate the cost of site clearance according to the provisions of the newly issued Land Law.

Representatives of many localities admitted that some investors were slow in preparing for investment; many projects had to adjust their investment policies and projects, increasing the total investment, leading to slow implementation.

The capacity of some design consultants is not commensurate with the bidding documents, not meeting the actual requirements of the project, leading to prolonged investment preparation time and disbursement progress of newly started projects. The capacity of some investors and project management boards is still limited...

Lack of common construction materials has caused construction projects to stagnate.

Disbursement of public investment capital encounters too many problems, from completing investment procedures according to law, specialized fields, project bidding takes too much time to appraise and grant licenses (fire prevention and fighting, restoration of relics, equipment packages for medical and educational projects)...

The process and procedures for implementing ODA projects are quite complicated and take longer than a normal public investment project. Many localities cannot collect land fees to allocate for public investment projects.

Lack of earth and sand for construction makes the cost higher than the estimated unit price. Many contractors are holding back, waiting for updates and adjustments to the construction price index to match the market unit price.

The unfavorable weather, overlapping documents, lack of coordination, unity and high determination in direction and management from the Party Committee to the government have caused the national target programs (NTPs) to stagnate...

Chairman of Quang Nam Provincial People's Committee Le Van Dung said the process of creating a sand and soil mine is very long. There are too many procedures, complicated and difficult. The price difference between the inter-departmental announced price and the market price. Many contractors are losing more and more money, there is no way to handle it.

Determining the origin of land for compensation and site clearance is an extremely difficult task for localities.

Small national target programs, projects of a few billion also have to complete all kinds of documents, mountainous areas take time to travel or determine the origin of 5% of land is very difficult. Compensation prices in some areas are not close to reality. Bidding is cumbersome, making it difficult to speed up investment progress... These are factors affecting disbursement progress.

According to Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Do Thanh Trung, the low disbursement but in the special conditions due to shortage, the need to improve the apparatus in provinces such as Quang Nam and Quang Ngai shows that the localities have made many efforts. These difficulties and problems are not newly identified.

However, the reason for the slow disbursement is that many localities have not been really determined. The role and responsibility of the leaders have not been promoted and are not clear.

And it is not excluded that from inspection and audit, many officials who have committed violations have been punished, leading to a mentality of hesitation, fear of mistakes, fear of responsibility, leading to some investors being really indecisive in directing the disbursement of public investment capital.

Will decentralize, strong decentralization

Many localities in the Central Key Economic Region have proposed amending legal regulations to facilitate the disbursement of public investment capital.

Specifically: regulations on capital allocation time for project implementation, separation of site clearance projects, decentralization of authority to decide on extending capital allocation time, implementation time and disbursement of annual local budget capital, unifying land classification, land use principles, difference between compensation price according to State regulations and market price, licensing process, exploitation of common construction material mines, especially the issuance of land price list.

Localities committed to making efforts to accelerate the disbursement of public investment capital in 2024 to reach 95%.

Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Thua Thien Hue Province Phan Quy Phuong said that the land price has been adjusted to the ceiling but it is only 1/4 of the market price. This issue needs to be unified nationwide. Without a land price list, it is impossible to remove the bottleneck of site clearance and land cannot be sold.

Why only delimit land for transportation and irrigation projects and not open it to all other public investment projects? Why not do something easy? If it were open to all, public investment disbursement would certainly increase.

The laws and policies that have been issued are difficult to amend in the short term. According to Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Hoa Binh, public investment disbursement is important and has a major impact on growth. Localities need to closely follow the Government's directives, closely follow the local situation, and be determined to disburse 95% of capital. It is difficult to collect land use fees, but if there is room, we need to consider collecting to ensure spending.

Efforts to resolve difficulties in site clearance, land origin identification, and resettlement. Although we know that the national target program is fragmented, deeply decentralized, and the capacity of lower-level officials to implement projects is limited, we cannot allow the situation where there is money but people have to wait. Not only does it affect disbursement, it also affects social security and people's lives.

In the future, the shortage of materials will be more and the price will be higher. The trend of increasing construction material prices will not stop. Localities have to accept and calculate into project costs. In the immediate future, focus on material sources for key projects and large projects.

Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Hoa Binh emphasized that five provinces and cities have been allowed to separate the site clearance project from the investment project, but in reality, only Khanh Hoa is implementing it. The Government has noted the recommendations of the localities, from separating the compensation and site clearance projects, to decentralizing and delegating power to localities to implement large investment projects. The Government will seek opinions from localities. It is requested that localities have opinions supporting the Government so that the Government can submit them to the National Assembly for consideration.

According to Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Hoa Binh, the Government is listening and trying to solve all the problems for localities. However, there may still be some issues that depend on many factors or have not been fully collected and need to be considered. The Government is looking forward to the drastic action of localities, accompanying the Government, determined to achieve the disbursement target of 95% in 2024.

“There will be strong decentralization and delegation of power so that the province will no longer have to report to the Government and central ministries; all issues related to public investment will be handled by the province. Even the problems of real estate projects so that localities can collect money from land will be resolved. The Government's viewpoint is to build innovative laws. Not only creating a legal corridor, only convenient for state management, but also managing tightly, creating and creating an open corridor for businesses and society to develop.

"The bills that the Government is about to submit to the National Assembly this time have mostly resolved the recommendations of localities. If the laws, mechanisms and policies are really obstacles, bottlenecks, causing too much congestion, then it is impossible not to remove them, creating favorable conditions for localities," said Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Hoa Binh.

Source: https://baoquangnam.vn/go-diem-nghen-giai-ngan-vung-kinh-te-trong-diem-mien-trung-3142704.html