Transport Minister Nguyen Van The chairs the meeting (Photo: VNA) Thesaid the disbursement was moving at below-average on severalprojects.
Many agenciesspend just four in every five dollars that are pledged for spending.They keep one dollar on hold, bide their time and request projectadjustment when deadlines are close, unnecessarily dragging out projects.
Lang Son province’sDepartment of Transport has registered an investment scheme of 83 billion VND (3.67million USD) but has disbursed just 32 percent of the registered money.They are requesting an adjustment for the National Highway 4A Project.
In such cases,the ministry is going to reject their request and urge local authorities toreprimand agencies that have prolonged disbursement to the detriment ofthe ministry’s target, according to the minister.
He also askedagencies under the ministry, including the Number 2 Project ManagementBoard and My Thuan Project Management Board, to speed up spending.
“Whendisbursement suffers a setback, it is all about looking at ways to overcome thesetback, not taking the easy way out by requesting project adjustment,” Thesaid.
The amount ofmoney to disburse in 2022 will be larger than in 2021, staying at around 50trillion VND (2.2 billion USD), but with additional money from theprogramme for socio-economic recovery and development.
Given sucha huge workload ahead, the minister called on project management boardsand agencies to make payments at a faster pace right from January and Februaryto get the year off to a good start.
Regardingprojects in Group A, which are subject to the approval of the Prime Minister,agencies must spare no effort to have them completed on time.
For sevenprojects in Group B and C, which have yet to receive approval, agencies mustcomplete documents faster to the ministry for approval.
43 projectswhich have been given the green light from the ministry must quicklybegin and accelerate disbursement.
Any projectmanagement board that has a low disbursement rate in February will be given awarning or face a penalty, warned the ministry’s leader.
Nguyen DanhHuy, director of the ministry’s Department of Planning and Investment,said that about 43 trillion VND (1.9 billion USD) was expected to bedisbursed in 2021 under the public investment plan.
By January 15,nearly 40.9 trillion VND (1.8 billion USD), over 95 percent, had beenspent.
Severalprojects met their disbursement target for 2021, while others are ina rush to clear before January 31, the director reported.
The MaritimeProject Management Board has hit its target, the Number 85 Project ManageBoard 99.6 percent, the Thang Long Project Management Board 99.4 percent andNumber 6 Project Management Board 99.1 percent.
In provinces,23 out of 32 municipal agencies have managed to disburse money according toplan, the rest are falling short of the target.
Bui Quang Thai,director of the ministry’s Transport Engineering Construction and QualityManagement Bureau, noted that 13 projects had missed the markby January.
These projectsinclude Vinh Hao-Phan Thiet Section of North-South Expressway (80.2 percent), 24-TP2Highway Project (74.2 percent) and Project on Traffic Connection in the CentralHighlands (52.4 percent)./.
VNA
