State Treasury: Administrative reform promotes public investment disbursement

The total planned investment capital from the state budget in 2022 is over VND549,690 billion. Source: Internet

Actively disbursing public investment capital

According to the report of the Ministry of Finance, by the end of the budget year (as of January 31, 2022), public investment capital under the 2021 plan, the State Treasury has disbursed over VND431,188 billion, reaching 93.47% of the plan assigned by the Prime Minister. There are nine ministries and ten localities reaching a disbursement rate of public investment capital in 2021 by over 95%.

According to the Ministry of Finance, although the disbursement rate of public investment capital in 2021 is high, it is still lower than the same period in 2020 (over 97%). This result also sets the premise for the following years in order to reach the goal set out in the Resolution of the National Assembly on the medium-term public investment plan for the 2021-2025 period.

This result has contributed significantly to the State Treasury industry, especially in the application of information technology and reform of administrative procedures.

For example, in Hanoi, by the end of 2021, Hanoi disbursed the investment capital under the 2021 plan, reaching 79.7%. As the authority controlling the expenditure of capital sources, Hanoi State Treasury had come up with a number of solutions to speed up the disbursement progress of projects. One of the solutions implemented by the Hanoi State Treasury was to continue to reduce the time of expenditures control and make 100% payment of basic construction investment expenditures of investors and project management boards online.

In Hoa Binh, a leader of Hoa Binh State Treasury said that, by early 2022, the disbursement rate of the province's public investment capital would reach over 90%. The unit had been very active in coordinating and urging investors to immediately disburse capital when the volume was completed. In particular, the officers of Treasury followed each investor; investors were also very serious in reporting the progress. Therefore, difficulties in capital disbursement were quickly and promptly resolved, helping to speed up the disbursement progress.

Notably, the administrative reform of the State Treasury system also plays an important role in promoting the disbursement of public investment capital. Accordingly, in 2021, the State Treasury had strongly implemented information technology and administrative reforms, making an important contribution to optimizing application programs, improving system performance and increasing productivity; reducing transaction processing time.

This is also the first year that the State Treasury provides 100% of procedures at level 4 online, reaching 100% of participants. The number of monthly transactions of state budget expenditure vouchers on the online public service system reached over 99%. Budget users can transact with the State Treasury 24/7 via online public services (including weekends/holidays) at any location. This helps to reduce travel time, reduce operating costs for units, makes the process of handling documents and budget expenditures transparent, contributes to reforming and modernizing expenditure control. It also creates a premise towards implementing the electronic expenditure control process of the State Treasury.

Implementing from the first days of the year

According to the Ministry of Finance, the total planned investment capital from the state budget in 2022 is over VND549,690 billion. By the end of January, the estimated disbursement rate of investment capital in 2022 is 2.36%. Currently, most ministries and localities are focusing on allocating capital plans and entering cost estimates for projects, so the disbursement rate in the first month of the year is still low.

To achieve the highest results for capital disbursement in 2022, from the first days of the year, the State Treasury has promoted disbursement. The Ministry of Finance requested ministries, sectors and localities that have not fully allocated the capital plan for 2022 to urgently implement detailed capital allocation for projects complying with the Prime Minister's regulations. In case the remaining capital plan in 2022 has not been allocated in detail due to insufficient procedures, the Ministry of Finance requests ministries, sectors and localities to urgently complete investment procedures of projects in order to continue allocating assigned capital.

For projects that are not eligible for capital plan assignment in 2022 because they have not been assigned a medium-term public investment plan for the 2021-2025 period, the Ministry of Finance requests ministries, sectors and localities to complete investment procedures, report to the competent authority to assign the list of medium-term public investment plans for the 2021-2025 period; implement the capital allocation plan in 2022 after the projects have met the conditions for capital allocation in accordance with the provisions of the law on public investment and the regulations of the Prime Minister.

According to Hanoi State Treasury, in 2022, Hanoi's public investment capital is VND51,072.9 billion. To speed up the disbursement from the beginning of the year, Hanoi will focus on key traffic projects. In particular, the city will adjust the investment policy of the urban railway project of the Nhon - Hanoi Station section; the master plan of underground station C9 urban railway line 2 (Nam Thang Long - Tran Hung Dao section); approved investment policy of urban railway project line 3 (Hanoi - Hoang Mai station section). At the same time, reporting the pre-feasibility study on urban railway project No. Ngoc Khanh - Lang - Hoa Lac); appraise and submit to the National Assembly for approval of the investment policy of the project to build Beltway 4 - Hanoi Capital.

To ensure the disbursement progress of the projects, the Hanoi State Treasury will regularly update the disbursement data of each project and each investor to post information about the disbursement situation on the information page of the Department of Planning and Investment, helping investors. According to the Hanoi State Treasury, key projects that accelerate the disbursement of public investment capital will raise the overall rate of Hanoi, therefore, this agency will actively grasp the situation of disbursing basic construction investment capital and long-term capital plans of each project. From there, coordinating with departments and sectors to promptly report to the Hanoi City People's Committee for consideration and giving direction to handle difficulties and accelerate disbursement progress.