Inadequate preparation, poor estimates in assessing total investments needed, and illogical surveys and approvals still exist in public investment projects, repeatedly causing cost overruns, the 15th National Assembly Supervisory Delegation said in a recent report.

The number of projects lagging behind schedule has grown over the years. The year 2016 saw 1,448 projects missing deadlines. The number added up to 1,609 in 2017, 1,778 in 2018, 1,878 in 2019, 1,867 in 2020 and 1,962 in 2021. Among them are key projects such as the Nhon-Hanoi Station, Nam Thang Long-Tran Hung Dao, Ben Thanh-Suoi Tien and Ben Thanh-Tham Luong metro lines.

In the southern province of Binh Duong, for example, 55 projects have been moving far slower than planned and 15 have been suspended. Meanwhile, the NA’s supervisory teams have inspected 225 projects and found irregularities in spending VND442 billion on 109 of them.

According to the NA’s supervisory delegation, some VND31,795 billion has been lost due to abnormal costs in 1,086 public investment projects.

Meanwhile, the slow progress has been attributed to slow site clearance, late capital disbursements, and developers’ and general contractors’ weaknesses.

The disbursement of foreign official development assistance and concessional loans in 2021 reached over 76%, while the figure stood at 46% in the 2016-2020 public investment plan.

In addition, disbursement rates of loans from six development banks dropped to 11.2% in 2018 from 23.1% in 2014.

Source: Saigon Times