Ho Chi Minh City works to speed up ODA disbursement

Ben Thanh - Suoi Tien metro route, one of major projects in HCM City using ODA capital. (Source: VNA)

The HCM City People’s Committee set out to accelerate the disbursement of projects using official development assistance (ODA) loans after a low disbursement rate in the first half this year.

The city said it would create a progress plan for each specific construction component and coordination mechanism between relevant units, especially in compensation and site clearance.

The city also instructed project owners and ODA project management units to study and issue internal regulations on measures to prevent corruption.

The city recommended the Ministry of Planning and Investment increase training classes on ODA management, especially new documents.

The municipal People’s Committee will also recommend the Government continue assisting the city in calling for ODA sponsorship of priority infrastructure projects such as urban massive transportation projects, the Ben Thanh central metro station, a wastewater treatment plant and a project on managing flood risks.

The People’s Committee said it is currently monitoring 15 projects using ODA loans with 110 trillion USD (5 billion USD) in combined capital, 93 trillion USD (4.3 billion USD) of which is sourced from ODA funds.

In the first six months, the overall disbursement of ODA capital reached 44 percent, but some individual projects had very low rates, such as phase II of the project on improving water environment at the Tau Hu – Ben Nghe – Doi – Te canal, which disbursed only 10 percent, or the Ben Thanh – Tham Luong metro project with just six percent disbursed.

Compensation, site clearance, changes in designs and bidding issues were cited as major reasons behind the slow disbursement.-VNA