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Railway sector slow to spend dollars
The railway sector was slow to disburse Official Development Assistance (ODA) capital in the first eight months of the year, with only 18.8 per cent of capital disbursed.
This year, total capital earmarked for railway projects that use ODA is more than VND600 billion (US$ 35.9 million), including VND430 billion ($25.7 million) from foreign capital sources and VND173 billion from domestic capital sources.
By the end of August, only 18.8 per cent of capital was disbursed, while the railway sector had targetted 58.7 per cent.
ODA capital is an important financial resource for the country’s traffic projects. As much as 80 per cent of ODA capital is funded by organisations including the World Bank, Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Japan Bank for International Co-operation (JBIC).
In the railway sector over the past year, projects that use ODA capital have helped increase the quality of railway infrastructure, raise transport capabilities, and assure safer trains.
Last year, the sector disbursed up to 99.25 per cent of total capital for its projects.
In the first eight months of this year, the sector disbursed VND107 billion ($6.4 million), accounting for 62 per cent of its domestic capital. However, it could disburse only VND6 billion of VND430 billion in foreign capital.
This limited disbursement has led to serious delays in the sector’s projects.
According to Director of the Railway Project Management Unit (RPMU) Tran Van Luc, the unit now faces challenges ahead.
The unit employs more than 70 staff, and manages 17 projects, with an average of just four people managing each project.
Administrative procedures related to disbursement are still complicated and the capabilities of consultants and officials who implement the projects are limited.
The deputy director of Viet Nam Railway Corporation, Ngo Anh Tao, said that in managing investment and construction, many administrative procedures were quite strict.
The capabilities and qualities of bidders were also limited, therefore most of their projects were slow in their research and design stages, he said.
Also contributing to slow progress were the differences in procedures between Viet Nam and donors, and the changes in regulations for project estimates. These shortcomings also contributed to the limited disbursement of capital.
Site clearance also continues to be consistently slow.
According to the plan, in the last four months of the year, the railway sector needs to disburse another 58.7 per cent of ODA capital, or VND430 billion. Tao said that target would be hard to reach if the sector’s shortcomings were not dealt with soon.
VNN
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