Deputy PM urges faster public investment reimbursement

May 25, 2018 - 09:00

Deputy Prime Minister Vương Đình Huệ on May 24 worked with leaders from the ministries of health; education and training; and culture, sports and tourism, on the reimbursement of some public investment in these sectors.

Deputy Prime Minister Vương Đình Huệ on May 24 worked with leaders from the ministries of health; education and training; and culture, sports and tourism, on the reimbursement of some public investment in these sectors.— Photo vov.vn

HÀ NỘI — Deputy Prime Minister Vương Đình Huệ on May 24 worked with leaders from the ministries of health; education and training; and culture, sports and tourism, on the reimbursement of some public investment in these sectors.

The Deputy Prime Minister said the three ministries were the slowest reimbursing State investment.

In 2018, the health ministry was set to reimburse VNĐ5.2 trillion (US$234 million), the ministry of culture, sports and tourism VNĐ337 billion ($14 million) and the education ministry more than VNĐ1.3 trillion ($57 million).

However, by April this year, the rate of capital reimbursement of the health ministry was just 1.36 per cent, while the culture ministry’s number was 6.28 per cent and education ministry’s was 17 per cent.

Besides this, none of the foreign capital assigned to these three ministries had been reimbursed.

Deputy Prime Minister Vương Đình Huệ was not happy about this, citing the construction of Bạch Mai Hospital’s second unit and Việt Nam-Germany Hospital’s second unit in northern Hà Nam Province, which had been put on hold for 18 months.

“While we’re experiencing hospital overloading and patients have to suffer, and while we have already allocated capital for such projects, these projects are being very tardy in terms of reimbursing,” Huệ said.

Huệ said he reckoned the delay was caused by the health ministry’s shift in contract packages. Initially, the two projects were supposed to be completed under an engineering and construction contract, when later it was divided into smaller contracts assigned to different contractors.

For the education ministry, three projects funded by official development assistance (ODA) lagged behind the initial schedule. The Cần Thơ University upgrade project won’t be able to begin until the end of 2018; the general education renewal assistance project is still in the contractor-selection phase; and another project on strengthening health examinations and treatment at Huế University of Medicine and Pharmacy is lagging behind schedule due to long-winded procedures required from sponsors.

Deputy Minister of Finance Huỳnh Quang Hải said the Prime Minister had agreed to chop down projects that are prolonged and lagging behind the reimbursement plan.

“It means there’s something wrong with the budget management,” Hải said.

The Ministry of Investment and Planning had given the health ministry a deadline of October this year for the approval of three projects on building the Paediatrics Hospital’s second branch, the National Obstetrics’s second branch and the K (Cancer) Hospital.

If these projects are not approved by October 31, the capital will be transferred to other projects.

Deputy PM Huệ asked relevant ministries to review and identify the reasons behind these delays and shortcomings, and clarify the responsibility of concerned individuals.

He also requested these ministries to seek out solutions to foster the reimbursement of public investment within their management areas. — VNS

 

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