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Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Tran Quoc Phuong
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Impressive figures and comprehensive solutions across all sectors
In 2024, the demand for growth-driving forces has increased, and more rapidly so, including in public investment. How do you assess the current status of public investment capital disbursement?
Deputy Minister Tran Quoc Phuong: Investment is one of the important drivers of growth. In terms of investment, we always pay attention to the aspect of public investment because this is the government’s expenditure, which can be proactive in terms of policies to promote growth. Public investment also has a spillover effect on the development of other sectors in the economy.
In recent years, the government has paid great attention to public investment and has taken concrete actions in directing and managing the promotion of public investment capital disbursement. The results show that in recent years, the rate of public investment capital disbursement has been continuously improved. Specifically, in 2023, a special year with a very large amount of public investment capital disbursed, we achieved a rate of nearly 95%. This is a very impressive number.
In 2024, from the very first months, the Prime Minister has directed very strongly on strengthening solutions to promote public investment capital disbursement. As a result, in the first three months, we also disbursed a large amount of capital, more than VND 80,000 billion, with a rate of more than 13.7%. Compared to the same period last year, the result we achieved is much higher (last year we achieved more than 10%), higher in both relative and absolute numbers.
An interesting story here is the absolute number, because 2023 was the year with the highest public investment capital so far. In 2024, it is a little lower because the Economic Recovery and Development Program has ended. The amount of capital for disbursement in 2024 is lower by about VND 100,000 billion. However, the special point in the first three months of this year is that the absolute number of public investment disbursement is higher than in the same period last year. The reason is that the solutions proposed by the Government and the Prime Minister have been effective and have had a very great meaning in promoting public investment capital disbursement.
Can you share more specifically about the solutions that have been implemented to promote effective public investment in the past time?
Deputy Minister Tran Quoc Phuong: We can see that the solutions have been comprehensive across all sectors. First of all, there is the institutional aspect. Many reforms and innovations have been made in the institution. In particular, there are new mechanisms and special mechanisms that have been submitted to the competent levels and the National Assembly for issuance in the past time, which are applied to large-scale and important projects.
Second is the direction and administration. The solutions in the direction and administration that the Government has applied and deployed very strongly in recent years. From 5 working groups on urging disbursement, there are now 26 groups, led by ministers and members of the Government, to urge and implement. In addition, there are many resolutions, directives, and instructions from the Government and the Prime Minister to organize the synchronous implementation of solutions in the direction and administration.
Third, I think the most important solution is the self-awareness and determination of units, organizations, ministries, branches, and localities in organizing and implementing construction works. We can see the working atmosphere at the construction site, as the Prime Minister often says, “working in 3 shifts and 4 teams”, “overcoming the sun and rain”…
Almost all the common obstacles at the construction sites have been overcome with solutions to work as fast, as well, and with as high volume as possible, so that the disbursed capital volume will increase accordingly. This is a very important factor.
Finally, there are solutions for smooth coordination between central and local agencies in handling situations. In public investment, there are countless situations that arise in the process of implementation, such as project adjustment, changes in mechanisms and policies, or solutions… Obviously, one agency cannot do it, but it requires smooth coordination from the central to local levels. Each solution now, each change and adjustment, has specific and clear regulations and must go through these processes. The most important thing is to be quick so that the public investment process is not interrupted.
Quick response and timely handling of arising situations
This year’s target is to disburse 95% of public investment capital. Although we have had successful experiences from last year, this is still a challenging number. What tasks will we deploy in the coming time and will there be any specific solutions?
Deputy Minister Tran Quoc Phuong: In the reports submitted to the Government, the MPI always summarizes the causes and draws lessons learned to have actions and key tasks for the next time.
In disbursing public investment capital, we have a lot of lessons learned that can be easily applied in the coming time. I think that the four solutions that we have just gone through are effective, and in 2024, we need to emphasize and upgrade them to be higher, more effective, in order to strive to achieve the set goals.
Although we have had a lot of experience, in order to achieve the goal of fully disbursing public investment capital, in addition to the four solutions that we have implemented and promoted well, we need to add one more solution, which is to handle arising situations for projects, especially large projects.
At present, the National Assembly has a supervisory delegation on the implementation of important national projects decided by the National Assembly, which are projects with a very large scale and a lot of investment capital. However, in the process of implementation, there are unavoidable arising situations, from site clearance, to obstacles in the procedures for compensating the people… Just a few households can affect the progress of the project. Or adjustments arise, for example, in the survey design, project design arises with factors that were not available when the project was approved.
All these arising situations need to be handled quickly, otherwise, the project will be interrupted and affect the disbursement progress. It is impossible to foresee the situation of each project, but the general spirit is that investors and project management units must be very sensitive and flexible in the situations. Only then can we ensure the progress.
Minh Ngoc
