HCM City speeds up disbursement of public capital

HCM City (VNA) – Ho Chi Minh City is taking drastic measures to promote disbursement of public funds, which plays an important role in economic development amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to the municipal People’s Committee, nearly 32 trillion VND (1.38 billion USD) was disbursed as of December 31, 2020, some 27.3 trillion VND of which came from the city’s budget (accounting for 74.1 percent of the assigned plan) and the remainder from the state budget (equivalent to 57.2 percent of the plan).

Director of the municipal Department of Planning and Investment Le Thi Huynh Mai said the results did not live up to expectations of the Government and the city leaders, pointing out tardy disbursement of the Official Development Assistance (ODA) capital affected the city’s outcomes.

Since the state budget year 2020 will end on January 31, 2021, the department will ask investors to speed up the work, striving for the disbursement rate of 95 percent for the whole year, she said.

The city plans to disburse more than 35.8 trillion VND for nearly 3,500 projects this year.

In a bid to realise the target, Mai said, the city will abide by legal regulations, particularly the Law on Bidding, and work to ensure the best contractors are chosen to develop local projects.

Along with sharpening focus on making compensation, and giving resettlement support to those who have to relocate, the city will step up examination and supervision in the public investment field so as to assure effective use of public funds.

Mai said her department will continue to make monthly and quarterly evaluation of the disbursement situation of agencies and investors, and give out timely measures to improve efficiency of state budget use./.