Deputy PM Trần Lưu Quang at the Central Steering Committee meeting on National Target Programmes on March 13. VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — Deputy Prime Minister Trần Lưu Quang has requested ministries, sectors and localities to speed up disbursement and remove difficulties and obstacles in implementing the National Target Programmes to ensure higher efficiency and quality.

The Government Office has just issued Notice 93/TB-VPCP dated March 13 on the conclusion of Deputy PM Trần Lưu Quang at online meeting of the Central Steering Committee discussing the implementation of the National Target Programmes in 2023 and the first two months of 2024, and key upcoming tasks and solutions.

The notice highlighted that in 2023, the National Assembly (NA), the Government and localities have been very proactive in completing the legal corridor, mechanisms and policies to accelerate capital disbursement for projects in the National Target Programmes.

Specifically, the NA, Government, ministries and branches have issued several resolutions, decrees, circulars, instructions amending and supplementing resolutions of the People's Councils and Committees on mechanisms and policies implementing the National Target Programmes.

So far, the progress of capital disbursement for the National Target Programme implementation has been improved and had positive changes.

The disbursement rate of investment capital reached about 83 per cent of the assigned plan, while non-business capital reached 36.3 per cent.

Some localities have applied creative and flexible methods to assign responsibility to local departments and branches to commit to disbursing 100 per cent of the allocated capital this year.

In the meeting, the Deputy PM highly appreciated the positive results and firm actions of the ministries, branches, agencies, Party committees and local governments in the implementation of the National Target Programmes in recent years.

However, he also noted limitations and obstacles such as deterioration of infrastructure, especially rural transport infrastructure, with lack of investment, maintenance and repair due to limited capital resources; limited counterpart funds from the local budget to due to the decline in revenue; and weak capacity and sense of responsibility of staff performing tasks in some areas, agencies and units.

Moreover, co-ordination, sharing, and learning from experiences between ministries, central and local agencies are not effective.

He requested ministries, agencies and localities to be firmer in accelerating capital disbursement, removing difficulties and obstacles in order to achieve the highest goals and targets assigned by the NA and disburse 100 per cent of the allocated capital this year, as well as ensure efficiency, quality and focused investment avoiding fragmentation, loss and negativity.

He also asked ministers, heads of central agencies and chairpersons of People's committees of provinces and centrally-run cities to raise the responsibility of their leadership, proactively and decisively direct affiliated units to carefully research and immediately implement specific mechanisms and policies in the NA’s resolution.

Ministers, heads and chairpersons have to promptly amend and supplement documents guiding, managing and implementing the National Target Programmes within the scope and field of their management, reporting to competent authorities any difficulties.

The Ministries of Planning and Investment; Finance; Agriculture and Rural Development; and Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs; the Ethnic Committee, and the State Bank of Vietnam are responsible for guiding and responding to difficulties, problems and recommendations of localities in implementing the National Target Programme.

The Ministry of Planning and Investment has to co-ordinate with relevant ministries, agencies and localities to receive opinions to complete a draft decree on policy mechanisms encouraging businesses to invest in agriculture and rural areas, and report to the Prime Minister this month.

The ministry will also submit to the Prime Minister regulations on building a national database and an online reporting system to monitor and evaluate National Target Programmes next month, and the ministries of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), and Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs (MoLISA), and the Ethnic Committee will complete a management system on National Target Programmes and data connection with the Ministry of Planning and Investment’s system by the second quarter this year.

MARD needs to propose solutions to remove difficulties and obstacles in identifying low-income workers as beneficiaries of the National Target Programme for Sustainable Poverty Reduction in the period 2021 – 2025.

The Ethnic Committee chairs the implementation of the socio-economic development programme in ethnic minority and mountainous areas for the period 2021 – 2030.

The list of extremely difficult villages and ethnic minority and mountainous villages must be approved before March 15. — VNS