HCM City accelerates disbursement of public investment capital

A corner of Ho Chi Minh City (Photo: VNA)

HCM City – Ho Chi Minh City had disbursed nearly 21.28 trillion VND (920 million USD at current exchange rate) of public investment capital as of August 23, fulfilling 50.5 percent of the assigned capital this year, the city’s Department of Planning and Investment reported.

At a recent online meeting on the issue, Director of the Department of Planning and Investment Le Thi Huynh Mai said both the amount of disbursed capital and the rate of disbursement were higher than the figures for the same period last year.

Specifically, the amount of disbursed capital was up 2.35 times year on year and the rate of disbursement up 1.89 times.

The official stressed that the achievement was a bright spot in the city’s performance in 2020 considering the complicated developments of the COVID-19 pandemic.

To fulfill the target for this year, the city has set a range of solutions. In early September, the Department of Planning and Investment will submit to the municipal People’s Committee a plan of actions for the last three months of the year, designed to remove difficulties for production and business activities, thus supporting enterprises and economic recovery.

Those who hold the top positions will be required to bear responsibility for the disbursement of public investment capital. Agencies, organisations or businesses that fail to complete targets in this work will not be considered for any emulation titles or awards.

The municipal authority will hold regular meeting, once every two weeks, to review the pace of work and capital disbursement of each major project. Capital will be transferred from projects with low disbursement rate to those with high rate. The city’s inter-sectoral working group will select key projects with low disbursement rate due to obstacles in procedures regarding investment, construction, bidding and land clearance to help them handle the problems.

Regarding projects using Official Development Assistance (ODA) capital, the city will work with the Ministry of Finance to reach agreement on the value of capital in Vietnamese dong in September.

Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee Nguyen Thanh Phong required drastic actions towards the goal of disbursing 80 percent of public investment capital before October 15 and 100 percent by the end of the year.

He said district authorities should cut the time for procedure processing by at least 30 percent as well as reduce the time taken for land clearance.

Looking into the collection of contributions to the State budget, Phong required the city’s taxation and customs agencies to review tax dossiers and tax policies to prevent tax losses and fraud.

Director of the municipal Department of Finance Pham Thi Hong Ha reported that in the first eight months of the year, the city collected an estimated 216.76 trillion VND (9.35 billion USD) for the State budget, fulfilling 53.4 percent of the yearly plan. She attributed the drop in State budget revenue to the decline in production and business activities under the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

To support the recovery of production and business activities, the city will continue to implement policies to exempt or reduce taxes and fees in accordance with policies adopted by the Government and the municipal People’s Council.

Ho Chi Minh City aims to fulfill at least 85.45 percent of the task on State budget collection, equivalent to 347 trillion VND.

The city’s authorities also plan to provide another support package for businesses affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Speaking at a recent meeting, Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee Nguyen Thanh Phong said the city is considering another support package, especially for enterprises that have suspended operations due to the impact of the outbreak.

The city will issue specific policies to help enterprises or industries heavily affected such as travel, restaurants, hotels, and transport and tourism-related services, he said.

More than 21,000 businesses in the city have suspended operations and laid off a large number of employees, said Phong.