Hanoi, (VNA)ཧ – The Ministry of Transport disbursed 10.7 trillion VND in public investment in the first quarter, 19.2% of the total capital it was assigned to spend this year, it was reported at the ministry’s conference on April 1.

The Department of Planning-Investment’s report at the conference reviewed the ministry’s work in the first quarter and identified key tasks for the second quarter. The ministry was assigned 56.666 trillion VND in public investment this year. The disbursement rate in Q1 this year (19.2%) is higher than the 17% recorded in the same period in 2023. Projects to build the North-South Expressway continued to account for the lion’s share in the disbursed capital volume in Q1, with 6.773 trillion VND, or 65% of the total. Specifically, North-South Expressway projects in Phase I disbursed 1.2 trillion VND in Q1 out of the assigned 5.476 trillion VND (21.9% of the yearly plan). The pace of disbursement met schedule (fulfilling 89% of the plans built by projects’ investors). Three projects are behind schedule, namely the Dien Chau-Bai Vot section (under the Project Management Unit (PMU) 6) that met only 58% of the plan, the Nghi Son-Dien Chan section (under PMU 6) with 78% and the My Thuan 2 bridge (under PMU 7) with 77%. The North-South Expressway projects in Phase II disbursed 5.573 trillion VND out of the assigned 29.036 trillion VND (19.2% of the yearly plan). The speed of disbursement overall is even faster than investor plans. But two projects lagged behind, namely the Hoai Nhon-Quy Nhon section (under PMU 85) with only 63% of the investor’s plan fulfilled, and the Chi Thanh-Van Phong section (under PMU 85) with 73%. Meanwhile, ODA projects disbursed 665 trillion VND, meeting 12.9% of the yearly plan of disbursing 5.178 trillion VND. The Department of Planning-Investment said that the overall disbursement pace met requirements, fulfilling 91% of the plans devised by investors. Two projects are behind schedule, which are the Khe Net railway route (Railway PMU) with a disbursement rate of only 34%, and the Ben Luc-Long Thanh Expressway (Vietnam Expressway Corporation-VEC) with only 42%. Among project management units under the Transport Ministry, three reported lower-than-average disbursement rates. These are the PMU 85 with a rate of 15%, PMU 2 – 16%, and the Vietnam Road Administration - 16%. According to plans submitted by investors and PMUs, an estimated 4.9 trillion VND would be disbursed in April. Some PMUs will have to disburse a large volume of capital, such as PMU 85 with 864 billion VND, PMU 7 with 802 billion VND and PMU 6 with 824 billion VND. Although the total volume of public investment capital to be disbursed this year is smaller than that in 2023, the Department of Planning-Investment urged investors and PMUs not to relax. It stressed that public investment disbursement should continue to be considered a leading political task that requires close guidance. Regarding projects in the preparation phase, the department highlighted the need to accelerate the pace of completing investment procedures. This is especially the case with projects using capital from excess revenue of the central budget in 2022, so that the National Assembly can allocate capital to them under the medium-term investment plan during the May session. Those projects include the Cho Moi-Bac Kan route, the road connecting Noi Bai-Lao Cai expressway and Tuyen Quang-Phu Tho expressway. It also includes bridges and tunnels on National Highway No.1, National Highway No. 24B, the Cao Bo-Mai Son route, and the Cam Ly railway bridge.    The Department of Planning-Investment also asked units to speed up the evaluation of designs and bidding process for the early start of pending projects. It stressed that four projects are scheduled to commence in the second quarter. These are the Vinh Yen-Viet Tri and Cho Chu-Trung Son T-junction sections on National Highway No.2, and the Vinh-Nam Dan and Lo Te-Rach Soi sections on National Highway No. 46./.