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Unlocking Record-Breaking Funds for Transportation Projects: A Strategic Approach to Securing Investment

Administrator

11 March, 2025

Transportation projects will accelerate construction this year to expedite the disbursement of public investment capital. (Photo: PV/Vietnam+)

The disbursement of capital for transportation projects this year could reach a record high as the government has allocated funds and the Ministry of Construction has directed its units to make serious efforts to focus on directing the work from the beginning of the year, including planning, organizing, and implementing the projects, as well as disbursing the investment capital.

Disbursement slower than the country’s average

According to a report by the Finance and Planning Department at the Ministry of Construction’s conference on the work in February and key tasks for March 2025, in 2025, the ministry was assigned by the Prime Minister to disburse 82,073 billion VND. By the end of February 2025, the ministry had disbursed approximately 3,188 billion VND (about 4%).

“The disbursement in the first two months was slow and lower than the average disbursement rate of the country (the country’s average disbursement was 7.6%) and lower than the same period in 2024 in both rate and absolute number (in the same period of 2024, the disbursement was about 6,500 billion VND, reaching 9%),” added Mr. Tran Minh Phuong, Director of the Finance and Planning Department.

Among them, the North-South Expressway projects disbursed 1,755 billion VND out of 34,971 billion VND, achieving 5% of the yearly plan. This group of projects has the best disbursement rate in the ministry, but the progress is slower than the same period last year (disbursement of 4,300 billion VND, reaching 10%). For the North-South Expressway projects in the 2017-2020 period, the disbursement rate was only 0.5% (7 out of 9 projects have not disbursed yet); many projects with large allocated capital have a lower disbursement rate than the ministry’s average, such as Quy Nhon-Chi Thanh (Project Management Unit 85) with 2%; Van Phong-Nha Trang (Project Management Unit 7) with 2.8%; Hoai Nhon-Quy Nhon (Project Management Unit 85) with 3%…

For other expressway projects, 413 billion VND out of 17,163 billion VND was disbursed, achieving 2.4%. This group of projects has a low disbursement rate because 6 out of 12 projects with large allocated capital have not started construction yet, such as Cho Moi-Bac Kan Expressway, Dau Giay-Tan Phu Expressway, the expanded North-South Expressway section of La Son-Hoa Lien, Cao Bo-Mai Son Expressway, and the connecting route of the Noi Bai-Lao Cai Expressway.

Regarding ODA projects, up to 25 out of 33 projects have not disbursed yet. Many projects with large allocated capital have not disbursed or have a very slow disbursement rate, such as the Northern Transport Connectivity project with no disbursement, My An-Cao Lanh Expressway with 0.2% disbursement, and Tan Van-Nhon Trach Expressway with 1.1% disbursement…

Assessing that in 2025, ODA projects were assigned a large capital plan (nearly 10,000 billion VND, 1.8 times higher than in 2024), the Director of the Finance and Planning Department requested the investors to focus on promoting the progress and disbursement of ODA projects from the beginning of the year, without affecting the ministry’s overall disbursement results.

Contractor constructing the roadbed at the North-South Expressway Eastern Cluster project. (Photo: PV/Vietnam+)

To disburse the full capital plan for 2025 assigned by the Prime Minister, an average of nearly 7,000 billion VND needs to be disbursed each month. However, due to the slow disbursement progress in the first two months, the leader of the Finance and Planning Department requested the investors to rebuild the disbursement plan for the remaining months to ensure the compensation for the delay in the past two months (the remaining months need to disburse an average of about 7,500 billion VND).

Disbursement of capital up to more than 100,000 billion VND

In 2025, the Ministry of Construction was assigned and extended the capital plan of 82,073 billion VND. Soon, the Prime Minister is expected to allow the extension of 5,790 billion VND of capital from 2024 to 2025, allocate 6,062 billion VND from the central budget surplus in 2022 and 2023, and additionally allocate capital from the surplus in 2024 and government bonds to the ministry to implement some key and urgent projects. Mr. Phuong said that the total capital of the Ministry of Construction could reach more than 100,000 billion VND (the highest ever).

Recognizing that disbursing a minimum of 95% of the plan as directed by the Prime Minister is a very difficult and challenging task, the Finance and Planning Department requested the investors/project management boards to continue considering this as the most important political task in 2025. They need to seriously focus on directing the work from the beginning of the year, including planning, organizing, and implementing the projects, as well as disbursing the investment capital.

“The leaders of the investors/project management boards must directly lead and be responsible to the Minister for the results of the project disbursement. The disbursement rate at the end of the year will be one of the criteria to evaluate the performance of the leaders of the agencies and units,” Mr. Phuong affirmed.

Currently, some investors have not registered for a detailed monthly disbursement plan on the system for monitoring and urging as required. The Finance and Planning Department requested the investors to urgently build a monthly disbursement plan for the projects and upload it to the system for the ministry’s advisory agencies to monitor and urge in a timely manner.

The investors need to speed up the progress to soon start some key projects (expanding the North-South Expressway in the Cam Lo-La Son and La Son-Hoa Lien sections, Cho Moi-Bac Kan, Ho Chi Minh City-Long Thanh, Quy Nhon-Pleiku, Dau Giay-Tan Phu, and the Lao Cai-Hanoi-Hai Phong railway); review the accurate capital needs to ensure the completion of key projects according to the directed progress and other projects with completion progress in 2025. Based on this, they need to register the additional capital demand plan for 2025 right in March to promote the progress of disbursing the allocated capital.

Contractor constructing a bridge over the North-South Expressway. (Photo: Viet Hung/Vietnam+)

The investors need to build specific and detailed plans for implementation and disbursement and commit to disbursing all the allocated capital; carry out advance payments, acceptance, payment, and recovery of advances as soon as there is volume according to regulations; proactively review and report to the ministry to timely adjust the capital flexibly between projects, giving priority to allocating capital for expressways, key projects, and regional connectivity projects, as well as projects that must be completed in 2025.

The leader of the Finance and Planning Department requested the Department of Economics and Investment Management to study the establishment of task forces of the Ministry of Construction to inspect, urge, and remove difficulties and obstacles to promote the progress of implementing and disbursing the projects, especially key projects such as the North-South Expressway Eastern Cluster project, Bien Hoa-Vung Tau Expressway project, Khanh Hoa-Buon Ma Thuot Expressway project, Dai Ngai Bridge project, and Ho Chi Minh Road project…

Viet Hung

– 15:07 07/03/2025