WORDS ON THE STREET 70th anniversary of Hanoi's Liberation Day Vietnam - Asia 2023 Smart City Summit Hanoi celebrates 15 years of administrative boundary adjustment 12th Vietnam-France decentrialized cooperation conference 31st Sea Games - Vietnam 2021 Covid-19 Pandemic
Oct 20, 2016 / 11:31

Government asks speed up ODA disbursement

Speaking at a workshop on accelerating the implementation and disbursement of official development assistance (ODA) programmes and projects in Hanoi on October 18, Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh highlighted the need to disburse more than 22 billion USD of ODA and concessional loans committed to Vietnam in the 2017-2020 period.

Deputy Prime Minister (PM) Pham Binh Minh attended a workshop on accelerating the implementation and disbursement of ODA programmes and projects in Hanoi on October 18.
Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh talks with delegates at the workshop.
Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh talks with delegates at the workshop.
According to report of the Ministry of Planning and Investment, as of September 2016, over 4.9 billion USD of ODA and concessional loans were committed to Vietnam, representing a 1.8-fold rise year-on-year.
Of the figure, only 2.68 billion USD was disbursed, accounting for 81.4 percent of the amount from the same time last year.
The projects mainly focus on transport, water supply and sewage, environmental hygiene, urban development and climate change response.
The ministry attributed to the lack of corresponding capital, complicated institutional regulations and difficulties in land clearance for the sluggish implementation and disbursement of the loans.
Addressing the seminar, Deputy PM Pham Binh Minh, who is also head of the National Steering Committee for ODA and Preferential Loans, stressed the need of speeding up the disbursement of ODA and preferential loans for the remaining two months of 2016 in the context of increasing public debts and limited resources.
He also emphasised the need to disburse more than 22 billion USD of ODA and concessional loans committed to Vietnam for 2017-2020.
He explained that slow implementation and disbursement could result in higher project costs.
Deputy PM Minh urged ministries, agencies and localities to prepare for the projects and fulfill their commitments regarding compensation, land clearance, human resources and corresponding capital, noting that land clearance is a big problem for infrastructure projects.
The Deputy PM noted that paying attention to the use of ODA and concessional loans, the Government has implemented solutions to speed up the disbursement and raise the efficiency of the capital.
He asked the Ministry of Planning and Investment to coordinate with the Ministry of Finance and foreign donors in building mechanisms to share information and make the plan for adjustment of projects to ensure the efficient disbursement of foreign capital.
Speaking at the workshop, World Bank (WB) Country Director for Vietnam Ousmane Dione, on behalf of the Asia Development Bank, the French Development Agency, the German Development Bank, the Japan International Cooperation Agency, Korea Exim Bank and the WB, pledged further support to Vietnam.
Ousmane Dione expressed his hope that Vietnam and the banks will join hands in addressing problems to implement these projects.