HÀ NỘI — Disqualified projects will be removed from the list of mid-term public investment projects in the 2016-20 period, National Assembly (NA) Vice Chairman Phùng Quốc Hiển said on Thursday.

The 14th session of the NA Standing Committee continued its ninth meeting on Thursday with a discussion of projects and specific sums of capital allocated for projects under the middle-term public investment plan for the 2016-20 period.

National Assembly Vice Chairwoman Tòng Thị Phóng urged the review of 249 projects for which the capital source has either not been fully disbursed or is unknown, or some that lack capital altogether.

National Assembly Deputy Chairman Phùng Quốc Hiển asked the Government, Minister of Planning and Investment, and chairs of people’s committees to take charge of these projects to ensure their completion between 2017 and 2020, and proposed removing those that are not finished.

According to Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyễn Chí Dũng, the NA has approved total capital for 2016-20 mid-term public investment of VNĐ2 quadrillion (US$88.1 billion). Investment disbursed for projects of ministries, sectors and localities is VNĐ1.74 quadrillion ($76.6 billion).

The Government has allocated over VNĐ1.13 quadrillion ($50 billion) for the first phase, accounting for 56.7 per cent of approved mid-term investment.

About VNĐ163.34 billion ($7.2 million) has been used by the Government to support 458 communes of 12 Mekong Delta provinces in the national target programme to build new style rural areas. Localities received VNĐ7.3 trillion ($325 billion) to assist people who made contributions to the nation. About VNĐ1.03 trillion ($46 million) of Government bonds have been spent on relocation and resettlement of those affected by the Sơn La Hydropower plant project.

In the detailed investment disbursement of the second phase, the Government has directed ministries and localities to address climate change adaptation programmes and green development, investment in coastal roads and dealing with disadvantaged localities.

According to Dũng, the Government allocated the Việt Nam Bank for Social Policies a mid-term public investment sum of VNĐ20.865 trillion ($900 million).

The Government proposed allocating VNĐ12.67 trillion ($546.64 million) that the State budget owed to the Việt Nam Development Bank and another VNĐ15.01 trillion (647.6 million USD) for the bank.

National Assembly Deputy Chairwoman Tòng Thị Phóng ordered the allocation of VNĐ2 trillion ($88 million) for the Việt Nam Bank for Social Policies to support developing social houses with a priority for families who made contributions to the nation.

The committee also asked the Government to review urgent trans-provincial projects, projects related to forests, Ninh Thuận Province’s nuclear power project and projects with specific mechanisms for ethnic minority groups, while ensuring these projects’ equality. — VNS