Accelerating the disbursement of investment capital through the State Treasury

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The accumulated investment under the 2019 plan to control spending through the State Treasury disbursed to November 30 is over VND 244,973 billion. Photo: ThuyLinh.

Still entangled due to many inherent causes

According to the aggregate data from the State Treasury, the estimated accumulated investment capital under the 2019 plan to control expenditures through the State Treasury disbursed to November 30 is over VND 244,973 billion. The disbursement progress of public investment has reached 63.7% of the plan, slower than the same period in 2018. There are a number of localities that have disbursed at a rate of over 70%, but there are still 28 ministries, branches and 14 localities withdisbursement rates lower than the national average. Ofwhich, there are 20 ministries, branches and 7 localities with disbursement rates below 50%.

One of the localities with the highest "disbursement" rate is Hung Yen State Treasury. According to a report from this unit, as of the end of November, VND 3,156 of VND 4,217 billion was invested in capital construction from the state budget, accounting for 74.8% of the plan, increasing 9.8% compared to the same period in 2018.

Along with that, HaiPhong State Treasury also has a higher rate of disbursement of investment capital than the national average, reaching 65.48% of the plan assigned. In general, at these units, the State Treasury always follows the requirements of the State Treasury's Directive No. 5465/CT-KBNN dated October 16, 2019 on strengthening the solutions in the State Treasury system to accelerate implementation and disbursement progress of public investment plans in 2019.

The main solution is still proactively sending documents urging investors and project management boards to urgently complete documents to complete procedures and pay with the State Treasury immediately after the completed volume is tested; strengthening discipline in the control of budget expenditures, thoroughly grasping the entire public servants performing the task of expenditure control without causing any harassment or trouble to investors, project management boards and not to delay, outstanding any payment records at the State Treasury for unknown reasons.

Ngo Hai Truong, Deputy Director of HaiPhong State Treasury, said that the unit has actively applied the method of controlling investment capital according to the principle of "pay first, control later" for the payment contract with many times to withdraw. Short payment time down to one working day as prescribed. Therefore, the capital disbursement progress in the unit is always guaranteed.

There are also a number of provincial State Treasuries witha lower rate of disbursement of investment capital than the national average. For example, Dien Bien State Treasury. According to Ms. Pham Minh Hue, Director of Dien Bien State Treasury, in 2019, the total public investment capital managed by the locality in Dien Bien province was nearly VND 2,621 billion (including capital transferred from 2018). By the end of November 2019, Dien Bien State Treasury disbursed over VND 1,312 billion, reaching over 50% of the plan. It can be said that, although the public investment capital is allowed to disburse until the end of January 31 of the following year, with over 50% of new capital disbursed to this point, this is a low rate compared to the level of the country today.

The director of the State Treasury of Dien Bien explained that inherent reasons for slow disbursement areproblems in site clearance anda number of new groundbreaking projects are taking steps to select contractors. Besides, there are a number of subjective reasons in the implementation organization such asplanning is not close to reality and the ability to allocate capital, the ability to disburse capital; the task of planning delivery is behind schedule.

Moreover, Ms. Pham Minh Hue acknowledged that another reason for this situation is because Dien Bien has many projects in remote areas and the limited management capacity at commune level leads to slowly appraisal of projects and disbursement.

Strong hands with weak capacity units

There is only a little time left for units in the entire State Treasury system to complete the assigned investment disbursement plan in 2019. Up to this point, the units are continuing to solve difficulties and firmly grasp the situation of disbursement of investment capital in the 2019 plan of each project; closely coordinate with financial agencies at all levels, agencies, branches and investors to find out the causes of problems for projects with low disbursement rates and projects still in the work of solving ground clearance, the organization of contractor selection to take timely measures to accelerate the disbursement of capital construction investment capital in 2019.

At HaiPhong State Treasury, Deputy Director Ngo Hai Truong said the unit has thoroughly grasped each of the civil servants to guide investors, project management boards in completing the payment documents and procedures or there are changes in the mechanisms and policies related to the control of investment capital payment.

"With the responsibility of controlling the final stage of the project, the HaiPhong State Treasury continues to require its affiliated units to strictly control the payment of public investment capital according to the list of projects and plans,as well as capital allocated by competent authorities; strictly comply with current law provisions on public investment and administrative procedures in the control of state budget spending; strictly abide by the regulations on publicity, records and time of payment control," said Ngo Hai Truong.

The Dien Bien State Treasury also resolutely requires the People's Committees of districts to direct their units to accelerate the implementation of investment, construction and disbursement procedures for the maximum allocation of assigned capital. "If any project is incapable of being implemented, the State Treasury will proactively propose to transfer sources to other projects. By the end of the fiscal year, the investors may not disburse all the assigned capital. In case of cancellation, capital recovery must be accountable to the provincial People's Committee, and the provincial People's Committee will not allocate local budget balances or other lawful capital sources to pay the outstanding debts in these cases," the Director of the State Treasury Dien Bien affirmed.

In order to ensure the progress of disbursement of investment capital in 2019, the whole State Treasury system is continuing to implement the mode of expenditure control according to the principle of "prepayment, control later" for multiple payment contracts, ensuring payment control time is within three working days at the latest. In addition, the units in the system will continue to promote the delivery and receipt of electronic control records through the State Treasury's Portal, creating favorable conditions for investors in the inspection of state budget expenditure process through the State Treasury, in order to accelerate the capital disbursement progress.