Minister of Transport Nguyễn Văn Thể chaired a meeting on transport construction and disbursement on 25 January.  Photo bnews.vn

HÀ NỘI — There is just one week left until the deadline for project management boards to step up disbursement to reach 96 per cent at the Ministry of Transport, Minister Nguyễn Văn Thể said on Tuesday.

Thể said the disbursement was moving at below-average on several projects.

Many agencies spend just four in every five dollars that are pledged for spending. They keep one dollar on hold, bide their time and request project adjustment when deadlines are close, unnecessarily dragging out projects.

Lạng Sơn Province’s Municipal Department of Transport has registered an investment scheme of VNĐ83 billion (US$3.67 million) but has disbursed just 32 per cent 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 to reprimand agencies that have prolonged disbursement to the detriment of the ministry’s target, according to the minister.

He also asked agencies under the ministry, including the Number 2 Project Management Board and Mỹ Thuận Project Management Board, to speed up spending.

“When disbursement suffers a setback, it is all about looking at ways to overcome the setback, not taking the easy way out by requesting project adjustment,” Thể said.

The amount of money to disburse in 2022 will be larger than in 2021, staying at around VNĐ50 trillion ($2.2 billion), but with additional money from the programme for socio-economic recovery and development.

Given such a huge workload ahead, the minister called on project management boards and agencies to make payments at a faster pace right from January and February to get the year off to a good start.

Regarding projects 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 seven projects in Group B and C, which have yet to receive approval, agencies must complete documents faster to the ministry for approval.

43 projects which have been given the green light from the ministry must quickly begin and accelerate disbursement.

Any project management board that has a low disbursement rate in February will be given a warning or face a penalty, warned the ministry’s leader.

Nguyễn Danh Huy, director of the ministry’s Department of Planning and Investment, said that about VNĐ43 trillion ($1.9 billion) was expected to be disbursed in 2021 under the public investment plan.

By January 15, nearly VNĐ40.9 trillion ($1.8 billion), over 95 per cent, had been spent.

Several projects met their disbursement target for 2021, while others are in a rush to clear before January 31, the director reported.

The Maritime Project Management Board has hit its target, the  Number 85 Project Manage Board 99.6 per cent, the Thăng Long Project Management Board 99.4 per cent and Number 6 Project Management Board 99.1 per cent.

In provinces, 23 out of 32 municipal agencies have managed to disburse money according to plan, the rest are falling short of the target.

Bùi Quang Thái, director of the ministry’s Transport Engineering Construction and Quality Management Bureau, noted that 13 projects had missed the mark by January.

These projects include the Vĩnh Hảo-Phan Thiết Section of North-South Expressway (80.2 per cent), the 24-TP2 Highway Project (74.2 per cent) and the Project on Traffic Connection in the Central Highlands (52.4 per cent). — VNS