Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - The Ministry ofTransport (MoT) will punish organisations and individuals in project managementunits whose failure to fulfill their responsibilities cause a slowdisbursement of funds.

The decision followed Prime Minister Nguyen XuanPhuc’s requirement. In the monthly Government meeting last month, PM Phucasked the MoT to implement more measures to speed up disbursement progress.

For example, the Mai Dich-Thang Long flyoverproject is one of the main projects in Hanoi. It planned to disburse more than2.1 trillion VND (90.4 million USD) of official development assistance thisyear. However, by the middle of this month, its disbursement was too lowcompared with schedule. Its first package disbursed 443 billion VND (18.7million USD), reaching 39.4 percent of the plan, whereas in its second packageit disbursed 403.3 billion VND (17.2 million USD), reaching 38.6 percent of theplan.

Duong Viet Roan, Director of the Thang LongProject Management Board – the project’s investor – said the slow disbursementwas because of many reasons.

The project changed technological design thus itneeded more time. Moreover, transporting large girders, each weighing about 100tonnes, must use special vehicles so the licensing procedure was prolonged.

The same situation was also witnessed at the HoChi Minh Trail project management board.

Lam Van Hoang, director of the board, said thisyear the board was given 1.5 trillion VND (64.7 million USD) and 114.8 billionVND (4.9 million USD). So far it has disbursed 96 billion VND (4.1 million USD)from this year’s capital, reaching 6.4 percent of the plan, and 88.2 billionVND (3.8 million USD) from last year’s capital, reaching 71 percent of theplan. 

Nguyen Duy Lam, Director of the Planning andInvestment Department under the MoT, said by the end of last month, the MoTdisbursed about 6.8 trillion VND (295.7 million USD), making up only 27.4percent of the scheduled amount. 

Lam said that one of the main reasons for theslow progress was that the project met difficulties in completing proceduresrelated to capital supplements and the settlement of completed parts.

The department summed up plans for disbursementof every project and submitted it to the MoT. The MoT and concernedorganisations would give guidance to investors and project management units,resolving their difficulties to ensure the MoT’s disbursement progress, Lamsaid.

Roan also confirmed that from now until the endof this year, the Thang Long Project Management Board would ask contractors tospeed up construction work and assign more human resources.

The committee would work with localities toresolve every obstacle related to ground clearance, he added.

Minister of Transport Nguyen Van The said thatthe disbursement progress depended on the project management board.

If any project disbursed less than 95 percent ofits capital, the MoT would not assign more duty in the next year, The said.

The MoT recently also sent a letter askinginvestors and project management boards to strengthen supervision onconstruction site’s quality./.