The Finance Ministry has asked for synchronous and drastic measures from the entire political system, ministries, agencies, and localities to step up the disbursement of public investment capital.

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At a conference with localities in Hanoi on August 31, Deputy Finance Minister Tran Xuan Ha said that although it has improved, the disbursement of public investment and foreign capital in localities have been low so far this year.

As of August 27, disbursement was 21.86% of the target assigned to localities, or 9.14% higher than what was reported at a teleconference on June 25.

 Regarding State capital lent to localities, the figure hit just 29.3% of the estimate.

 Head of the Finance Ministry’s Department of Debt Management and External Finance Truong Hung Long attributed this to focused efforts on capital disbursement throughout 2019, late bidding, and uncompleted procedures for project adjustment or site clearance. Some projects, meanwhile, need verification from the State Audit Office and approval from the World Bank, resulting in a lack of information on the ministry’s system.

 He said that five out of 62 localities had sent documents to the Ministry of Planning and Investment seeking permission to repay capital worth over VND1.61 trillion (US$700 million).

 Vice Chairman of the Hanoi city People’s Committee Nguyen Doan Toan said that despite the COVID-19 pandemic, disbursement of official development assistance (ODA) in the city reached approximately 20% in the first seven months of this year and is expected to hit 69% for the year as a whole.

 He also said Hanoi proposes increasing the capital set aside for the Nam Thang Long - Tran Hung Dao section of the urban railway line No 2.

 The Finance Ministry hopes localities will promptly help investors clear difficulties facing their projects, Toan said, and achieve disbursement targets this year.