To accelerate the disbursement of public investment, ministries and agencies should remove obstacles in this work, completing the 2021 budget disbursement plan amid the complex Covid-19 pandemic.

Accelerate the disbursement of public investment to speed up the economic recovery
Photo: ST

"Bright spot" Thai Binh

According to a report from the Ministry of Finance, by the end of May, the disbursement rate for the 2021 capital plan was just more than 22%, nearly 4% lower than the same period last year. The reason for that is the return of the Covid-19 pandemic in many localities, affecting construction and disbursement.

However, public investment disbursement in the first months of the year still saw some localities which performed this work well like Thai Binh State Treasury which is the "top" unit in terms of disbursement rate. By the end of May 31, 2021, Thai Binh State Treasury disbursed VND 1,602 billion, or 61% of the plan. This is not the first time Thai Binh State Treasury is ranked this position, the unit has always maintained its "performance" as one of the "top" units. At this time, despite the complex developments of the Covid-19 pandemic, thanks to previous experiences, investment disbursement of Thai Binh province has not been affected.

Thai Binh State Treasury said as soon as receiving the decision about the 2021 capital plan, Thai Binh urgently allocated capital for projects. As the agency in charge of control and payment of capital sources, Thai Binh State Treasury has also requested its specialised divisions and affiliated State Treasury units to coordinate with financial authorities to promptly import capital into TABMIS (Treasury and Budget Management Information System) for projects.

In addition, Thai Binh State Treasury has grasped and promptly handled problems in the process of disbursement for each project in accordance with its authority. For problems beyond its authority, the unit reported to competent authorities.

In addition, Thai Binh State Treasury always has regular exchanges with investors, asked them for explanations and coordination to solve problems together in the process of disbursement. Thus, Thai Binh State Treasury has created consistency and consensus in capital disbursement, boosting the completion of documents and procedures of capital payment.

One of the "tips" to help Thai Binh State Treasury achieve high results in disbursement even though it is the first province to implement social distancing during the fourth Covid-19 outbreak is the launching of online public services. Since 2020, all budget-using units in the province have conducted online public services, so despite social distancing, investors can send documents andaccepted work volumes to the online public services for the State Treasury to control and carry out the payment. As a result, disbursement is ensured.

Hurry at the end of the year

As well as objective reasons such as the Covid-19 pandemic, another important reason is slow capital allocation from some investors. The disbursement rate in the first five months of the year was low, because January 2021 is when investors focused on completing payment documents and the disbursement of the 2020 capital plan which is allowed to extend to 2021 with capital of about VND51,065 billion. February 2021 coincides with the Lunar New Year holiday, so it also affected the disbursement progress of the 2021 capital plan.

As many localities delayed in capital allocation, some new start-up projects have not yet been assigned medium-term public investment capital plans for 2021-2025, ministries, central agencies and localities do not have the basis to implement new groundbreaking projects. For many years, the disbursement of public investment capital often occurs in a situation of "slow at the beginning of the year, hurry at the end of the year". At the end of the year, investors often make contract advances to be able to meet the target of disbursing public investment capital.

To speed up the disbursement rate, the Ministry of Finance has requested ministries, agencies and localities to hasten the disbursement of public investment capital for projects assigned with a number of important tasks and solutions such as speeding up the site clearance, focusing on solving difficulties and obstacles related to land and resources,urging and speeding up the construction progress,carrying out acceptance and making payment documents as soon as the volume is ready.

At the same time, ministries, agencies and localities will review and transfer capital plans of slow disbursement projects to good disbursement projects and projects facing capital shortages establish a working group to promote capital disbursement in each ministry and locality to remove obstacles in the disbursement of public investment associated with the responsibility of the head, conduct online bidding to ensure publicity and transparency, and select qualified contractors.

The State Treasury has also proposed ministries, central and local agencies urgently assign the remaining 2021 capital plans to affiliated investorsand enter timely estimates on TABMIS to ensure capital for the disbursement needs of the projects.