Deputy PM urges acceleration of projects in localities least-impacted by COVID-19

Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh on September 14 chaired a meeting of the PM's special working group on removing bottlenecks and promoting the implementation of investment projects across the country.

Deputy PM Pham Binh Minh speaking at the meeting. (Photo: VGP)
Deputy PM Pham Binh Minh speaking at the meeting. (Photo: VGP)

At the event, participants said that one of the reasons why capital disbursement in the first eight months lagged behind the pace in the same period last year is that 2021 is the first year of the mid-term public investment plan for the 2021-2025.

This means new construction projects need time for completing necessary procedures.

However, the main cause of the slow capital disbursement is the prolonged social distancing due to the complex developments of COVID-19, which affected both public investment projects and those funded by official development assistance (ODA).

Deputy PM Minh underscored that the Government is determined to fulfil tasks in public investment capital disbursement set in the Government’s resolution and the dispatch dated August 16 of the PM.

He assigned the Ministry of Planning and Investment to continue identifying current difficulties facing ministries, sectors and localities in carrying out public investment projects, so as to promptly seek solutions to remove them.

Ministries and agencies were asked to complete the allocation of this year’s remaining capital.

The Deputy PM also ordered management agencies of national target programmes to quickly finish their investment dossiers to submit to the PM for approval.