Six-month ODA disbursement rate in localities remains low

Speaking at a conference in Hanoi on June 28, Truong Hung Long, Director of the Department of Debt Management and External Finance under the Ministry of Finance, said that the disbursement rate of ODA-funded public investment remains very low while a total of over VND34.5 trillion ($1.5 billion) was allocated to provinces and centrally-run cities this year.

Just 8 out of 50 provinces and cities had a disbursement rate of over 15% while 13 localities have yet to disburse any capital they were allocated.

According to Long, the slow disbursement was caused by the adjustments of investment policies, projects, extension of disbursement, extension of project implementation term, and use of surplus capital.

Meanwhile, other public investment projects using ODA have problems in bidding or commercial contracts, land clearance, design adjustment, fluctuations in raw material prices, and a shortage of workers.

To speed up the disbursement, according to the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Construction should study and propose solutions to handle problems in design appraisal to ensure the progress of projects. The Ministry of Health was called on to find solutions to handling problems relating to medical equipment purchase and use.

For its part, the Ministry of Finance will implement measures such as ensuring the correct processing time for capital withdrawal applications, removing difficulties in public investment, and discussing with donors to solve their problems.

In addition, localities need to conduct a detailed and specific review and assessment of the disbursement ability of each project, and transfer capital from projects with slow disbursement progress to projects with better disbursement.