The National Steering Committee for ODA and Preferential Loans and theMinistry of Planning and Investment have jointly organised a conferenceseeking ways to speed up disbursement for ODA- related projects.
Accordingto Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung, thetotal amount of ODA disbursed in 2013 reached 5.137 billion USD, ofwhich 4.686 billion USD was ODA loans and concessional loans and 451million USD was non-refundable aid.
Big donors still maintainedtheir high rate of disbursement like Japan with 1.686 billion USD -through JICA and the World Bank (WB) with 1.359 million USD.Particularly, ADB made a breakthrough disbursement in 2013, with 1.3billion USD, said the Vietnam Business Forum.
Deputy MinisterNguyen Chi Dung said the total amount of ODA set to be distributed in2014 is some 8 billion USD, much bigger than the value in 2013.Therefore, this will be a big challenge for operators as well as theGovernment of Vietnam.
He cited that, in 2013, Vietnam expendedmore than 5.1 billion USD of ODA and preferential loans, up 23 percentover the previous year. Nevertheless, the undisbursed value remainedvery high. According to statistics, more than 20.9 billion USD of ODAhas not yet been disbursed, led by the Ministry of Transport.
Referring to solutions to the challenge, in view of the Ministry ofPlanning and Investment - a standing member at the National SteeringCommittee for ODA and Preferential Loans, Deputy Minister Nguyen ChiDung frankly raised fundamental solutions.
The first isregulatory and institutional solutions. Procedures and processes need tobe simplified to facilitate the disbursement and projectimplementation. Related legal documents like the Law on Construction,the Law on Investment, the Law on Bidding, ODA and preferential loansprovisions in the Law on Public Investment need to be revised andsupplemented.
The second package of solutions is the harmonisedprocesses and procedures with donors, particularly in land acquisition,resettlement, procurement, financial management and auditing. The nextpackage of solutions related to policy enforcement. The roles of theNational Steering Committee for ODA and Preferential Loans need to beenhanced to better settle problems arising from the preparation andimplementation of programmes and projects. It is also necessary to builda coordination mechanism among the National Steering Committee for ODAand Preferential Loans and six development banks to better respond tosluggish disbursement and slow-moving projects.
The next groupof solutions refers to Vietnam's commitments. We need to strengthen ourapparatus capacity as well as the management capacity of projectinvestors and project management units; timely arrange enoughcounterpart capital; and quickly carry out land compensation, siteclearance and resettlement works.
The final group of solutions heproposed concerns supervision and assessment works aimed to deal withemerging problems that hinder the progress of ODA projects.
Speakingto the meeting, Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai reiterated thatthe wastefulness of this economic resource is unfortunately caused bydelayed ODA disbursement. Regarding counterpart funds, he assigned theMinistry of Planning and Investment to submit the capital balancing planin the spirit of ensuring enough counterpart capital regardless of howdifficult it may be. He urged elimination of ineffective projects asthey may slow down the overall progress.
He asked ministries andproject management units to perform a thorough review of projectimplementation and adopt transparent, close and responsible workingpractices.-VNA
Accordingto Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung, thetotal amount of ODA disbursed in 2013 reached 5.137 billion USD, ofwhich 4.686 billion USD was ODA loans and concessional loans and 451million USD was non-refundable aid.
Big donors still maintainedtheir high rate of disbursement like Japan with 1.686 billion USD -through JICA and the World Bank (WB) with 1.359 million USD.Particularly, ADB made a breakthrough disbursement in 2013, with 1.3billion USD, said the Vietnam Business Forum.
Deputy MinisterNguyen Chi Dung said the total amount of ODA set to be distributed in2014 is some 8 billion USD, much bigger than the value in 2013.Therefore, this will be a big challenge for operators as well as theGovernment of Vietnam.
He cited that, in 2013, Vietnam expendedmore than 5.1 billion USD of ODA and preferential loans, up 23 percentover the previous year. Nevertheless, the undisbursed value remainedvery high. According to statistics, more than 20.9 billion USD of ODAhas not yet been disbursed, led by the Ministry of Transport.
Referring to solutions to the challenge, in view of the Ministry ofPlanning and Investment - a standing member at the National SteeringCommittee for ODA and Preferential Loans, Deputy Minister Nguyen ChiDung frankly raised fundamental solutions.
The first isregulatory and institutional solutions. Procedures and processes need tobe simplified to facilitate the disbursement and projectimplementation. Related legal documents like the Law on Construction,the Law on Investment, the Law on Bidding, ODA and preferential loansprovisions in the Law on Public Investment need to be revised andsupplemented.
The second package of solutions is the harmonisedprocesses and procedures with donors, particularly in land acquisition,resettlement, procurement, financial management and auditing. The nextpackage of solutions related to policy enforcement. The roles of theNational Steering Committee for ODA and Preferential Loans need to beenhanced to better settle problems arising from the preparation andimplementation of programmes and projects. It is also necessary to builda coordination mechanism among the National Steering Committee for ODAand Preferential Loans and six development banks to better respond tosluggish disbursement and slow-moving projects.
The next groupof solutions refers to Vietnam's commitments. We need to strengthen ourapparatus capacity as well as the management capacity of projectinvestors and project management units; timely arrange enoughcounterpart capital; and quickly carry out land compensation, siteclearance and resettlement works.
The final group of solutions heproposed concerns supervision and assessment works aimed to deal withemerging problems that hinder the progress of ODA projects.
Speakingto the meeting, Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai reiterated thatthe wastefulness of this economic resource is unfortunately caused bydelayed ODA disbursement. Regarding counterpart funds, he assigned theMinistry of Planning and Investment to submit the capital balancing planin the spirit of ensuring enough counterpart capital regardless of howdifficult it may be. He urged elimination of ineffective projects asthey may slow down the overall progress.
He asked ministries andproject management units to perform a thorough review of projectimplementation and adopt transparent, close and responsible workingpractices.-VNA
