Nghe An emerges as a bright spot in public investment disbursement

The province attributes this result to a coordinated set of measures aimed at keeping key infrastructure projects on schedule.

Creating favourable conditions for construction

In late October, contractors at the Vinh-Thanh Thuy Expressway construction site have mobilised hundreds of vehicles and items of equipment, along with large numbers of engineers and workers, to work simultaneously at dozens of locations along the main route.

At the Dai Hue Bridge construction site, Tran Dinh Chien, Director of the Project Management Board at Delta Trading and Construction Joint Stock Company, said the company had completed 90 of the 233 bored piles and was working on pier T1.

At the Dai Hue Tunnel, workers were digging drainage channels on the mountainside and reinforcing slopes at the eastern and western entrances.

More than 20km of the expressway passes through Kim Bang Commune, affecting 301 households and 50 graves. Given the amount of land involved, site clearance in the commune demands strict adherence to deadlines, close coordination and consistent implementation.

Dang Van Tuan, Vice Chairman of the Kim Bang Commune People’s Committee, said: “So far, the commune has disbursed more than 231 billion VND of the 325 billion VND allocated. We aim to hand over the entire site to contractors by October 30, so that site clearance difficulties do not become a bottleneck for the project.”

Nguyen Duy An, Deputy Director of the Nghe An Transport Infrastructure Project Management Board, said the Vinh-Thanh Thuy Expressway project consists of 10 component projects: the main expressway and nine compensation and resettlement projects managed by commune-level authorities.

The project, with a total investment of more than 23.94 trillion VND, is being implemented from 2025 to 2029. Cumulative disbursement has so far reached 3.56 trillion VND, more than 80% of the allocated capital.

Besides the Vinh-Thanh Thuy Expressway, 11 other key projects are under way across Nghe An Province.

Reviewing public investment disbursement in the first nine months of 2026, Nguyen Khac Than, Secretary of the Nghe An Party Committee, credited the positive results to the efforts of authorities at all levels, sectors and localities, as well as the business community and the public.

However, progress on several projects remains slow. Although many have received investment policy approval, site clearance on them has reached just over 50%, and many obstacles remain unresolved.

Than called on relevant agencies and localities to speed up construction on projects already under way and to focus on resolving the procedural and site clearance problems holding up delayed projects.

He also instructed the Department of Construction to coordinate with the Department of Industry and Trade on measures to ensure adequate supplies of construction materials, so that shortages do not disrupt project schedules.

Using disbursement results to assess performance

In an official dispatch sent to localities and agencies on October 7, Vo Trong Hai, Chairman of the Nghe An People’s Committee, commended 120 agencies, units and localities for disbursement rates above 70%.

He also sharply criticised 34 agencies, units and localities for slow disbursement, demanding that they explain the causes and determine the responsibility of the organisations and individuals concerned.

Localities and agencies with large sums still to be disbursed were instructed to focus on fully resolving outstanding problems, draw up detailed weekly schedules for construction and disbursement and assign leaders to oversee construction sites closely and speed up implementation.

The aim is a marked improvement in disbursement performance in the fourth quarter of 2026.

To strengthen discipline and accountability among those involved in public investment disbursement, Nghe An Province has approved a scoring system to assess how departments, sectors, localities and project investors carry out their public investment disbursement plans.

Assessments will be conducted monthly, quarterly and annually. Each unit’s score will be based on its disbursement against its capital allocation plan, covering funds from the central, provincial and commune budgets.

Disbursement results will be compared with the provincial average. If the provincial rate falls below the national average, the national figure will be used as the benchmark.

The annual assessment will use the disbursement targets set by the central government, the Prime Minister and the Nghe An People’s Committee.

Annual scores will be one of the criteria for evaluating the effectiveness of public investment. They will also serve as a basis for departments, sectors, localities and project investors to draw up criteria for assessing and rating the performance of organisations and individuals.

During a working session with the Standing Board of the Nghe An Party Committee on October 22, Deputy Prime Minister Le Tien Chau said he expected Nghe An not only to grow faster but also to improve the quality of its public investment disbursement, economic growth and sustainable revenue generation, and to ensure that its administration operates stably and effectively.

The Deputy Prime Minister urged the province to turn disbursement results into tangible progress on the ground.

He also called on the province to resolve, by the end of 2026, the problems affecting 82 projects for which solutions have already been identified, and to determine measures by November to address the remaining 54 projects.