Fund disbursement delayed: inquiry into VND 553 billion irrigation project

The Office of the Kon Tum Party Committee has recently issued a correspondence concerning the inquiry into public investment projects in 2020 with low disbursement rates, as well as the clarification of related responsibilities.

This inquiry is held after a Report on Disbursement produced by the State Treasury of Kon Tum province in 2020.

The Report clearly states that a number of large-scale projects and works carried out by units and localities in the province showed low disbursement ratios as compared with given capital plans.

To be specific, only 5 – 26% of the fund was disbursed for these three projects: Dak Pokei Reservoir, Infrastructure Investment in Sedentary Agriculture and Settlement Sites in accordance with the Prime Minister’s Decision No. 2085 / QD-TTg, and Kon Tum Subproject of Support Development in the Border Area.

In particular, the Dak Pokei Reservoir Project had a disbursement rate of only 5% in 2020. The Kon Tum People's Committee decided to invest over VND 553 billion in the Project in the end of March 2018.

For this Project, Kon Tum province’s Management Unit for Projects of Investment in Agriculture and Rural Development Construction plays the role of an investor. The goal of the Project is to ensure a steady supply of irrigation water for 2,000 hectares of agricultural land in Dak Bla (Kon Tum city), Dak Ruong, and Dak To Re communes (Kon Ray district).

Other goals of the Project are to provide a source of domestic water for more than 35,000 people, to control floods for downstream, and to help tackle wildfire and protect forests in the vicinity of the Project site.

Between 2018 and 2020, within the Project scope, a cluster of key works were to be built: systems of main canal and its branches, domestic water supply; management – operation roads to ensure water sources for the irrigation on about 1,600-hectare production land and domestic use by 15,000 households in Kon Ray district. The total investment for this period is nearly VND 435 billion.

However, the slow disbursement of fund in 2020 has led to lots of works still undone on the construction site.

To overcome those shortcomings and limitations, the Standing Committee of Kon Tum Party Committee has required project inquiries and responsibilities clarification for large-scale projects and constructions with low rates of fund disbursement. The results of those activities should be reported to the Standing Committee before 5 March 2021.