The intersection between Belt Road No.3 and Hanoi – Hai Phong Expressway is open to traffic last weekend. Its construction was funded by Hanoi’s budget. (Photo: nhandan.com.vn)

Hanoi (VNA) – The capital city of Hanoi disbursed close to 34.3 trillion VND (nearly 1.49 billion USD) in public investment last year, representing 88.1 percent of the goal set by the government.

The percentage was higher than to 2019’s 76.7 percent; and the city is among 17 cities and provinces with disbursement rates of 80 percent or higher.

However, it was reported that a number of local units have seen sluggish disbursement of public capital and failed to realise the goals.

In a recently-issued notice, the municipal People’s Committee has requested its departments, agencies and district- and town-level administrations to take more drastic actions to speed up the disbursement of public investment in the city by the end of January.

The entire city must make all-out efforts to increase the 2020 disbursement rate to the highest possible, the notice said.

Vietnam’s disbursement of public investment was estimated at 398 trillion VND (17.24 billion USD) as of the end of December, meeting 82.8 percent of the Government’s plan – the highest rate in the 2016-20 period, according to the Ministry of Planning and Investment.

In comparison, the disbursement rates were 80.3 percent, 73.3 percent, 68,87 percent and 67.46 percent in 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019, respectively.

The disbursement of public investment sourced from the State budget was estimated at 91.1 percent of the 2020 plan, the highest rate in the past ten years.

Seventeen ministries, central-level agencies and 17 provinces and cities had disbursement rates of 80 percent or higher. However, 13 ministries and central-level agencies and five localities reported public investment disbursement rates of below 60 percent.

Still, the disbursement missed the Government’s target though public investment was identified as the key driver for economic growth in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The ministry said that the COVID-19 pandemic was also significantly affecting the progress of public investment disbursement as well as the implementation of public-funded projects./. VNA