Central government agencies and ministries were told to speed up the disbursement of public investment funds, during a meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam in Ha Noi on Wednesday.

Citing the pandemic and prolonged lockdown as the reasons behind the slow disbursement, government officials asked the central government to grant more time, especially for projects that have been hit by the lockdown.

Other contributing factors to the problem included higher prices for construction materials, mobility restrictions due to COVID-19 prevention, difficulties in land clearing and poor management capacity among investors and contractors.

Deputy Minister of Information and Communication Pham Anh Tuan said his ministry only started receiving funding in the third quarter of 2021. Given the sheer amount of paperwork and protocols that were to be followed, the ministry expects full disbursement of their projects by the end of June next year.

Deputy Minister of Sport, Culture and Tourism Doan Van Viet said his ministry has disbursed over 62 per cent of its allotted public investment fund for the year 2021. As paperwork has been completed for a number of projects by the end of September, the ministry has set a target to disburse 98 per cent of all received investment funds for the year.

A representative from the Ministry of Health voiced a number of difficulties in carrying out two construction projects at Viet Duc Friendship Hospital 2 and Bach Mai General Hospital 2.

Dam asked the Ministry of Planning and Investment to hand in a report on all projects using public investment funds in 2021 and analyse factors that have been causing delays. — VNS