Deputy Prime Minister Le Minh Khai has urged ministries and agencies to work closely with localities to tackle difficulties and accelerate project implementation and payment in order to boost the disbursement of public investment capital.

Chairing a meeting in Hanoi on April 13 between the Prime Minister’s Working Group No. 1 and 17 ministries and centrally-run agencies on public investment disbursement, the Deputy Prime Minister said progress is extremely slow.

The Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) has reported that the Prime Minister allocated over VND38.3 trillion ($1.66 billion) to 17 ministries and centrally-run agencies to conduct 22 tasks and implement 80 projects this year, including 34 transferred projects and 46 new projects. More than VND34.9 trillion ($1.46 billion) has been allocated to date, or 91.2 per cent of the plan.

Disbursement, however, meets just 0.04 per cent of the Prime Minister’s plan, which is well short of the national average of 10.35 per cent, according to the MPI. In particular, 13 ministries and centrally-run agencies did not disburse any funds while disbursement at the remainder was below 2 per cent.

Deputy Prime Minister Khai asked ministries and agencies to identify difficulties and obstacles and propose solutions.

He emphasized that the volume of public investment capital allocated to the 17 ministries and centrally-run agencies is not huge, accounting for only 5 per cent of all public investment capital. Therefore, he urged them to work to complete disbursement as planned and contribute to the country’s common goals.