Disbursement pressure of nearly 148,000 billion VND
To achieve the growth target of over 10% in 2026, Ho Chi Minh City identifies disbursement of public investment capital as one of the important driving forces.
In 2026, Ho Chi Minh City was allocated 147,599 billion VND of public investment capital by the Prime Minister, an increase of 22.6% compared to 2025. This is the highest capital level among 34 localities, accounting for about 14.6% of the total public investment capital of the country.
However, by the end of July 31, Ho Chi Minh City had only disbursed 63,775 billion VND, reaching 43.2% of the plan.
According to Mr. Hoang Vu Thanh - Director of Ho Chi Minh City Department of Finance, the disbursement progress is still slow due to some projects facing site clearance, relocation of technical infrastructure and legal issues of land and mud receiving yards.
Typically, the project to renovate the Tham Luong - Ben Cat - Nuoc Len canal, nearly 32km long, is expected to dredge more than 3 million m3 of mud but the receiving location has not been determined.
Meanwhile, the scarcity of embankment soil, sand, and rocks, along with the increase in raw material and gasoline prices, also affect the construction progress.
Ho Chi Minh City sets a target of disbursing 70% of public investment capital by the end of the third quarter and 100% for the whole year.
The city will tighten the responsibility of heads, study the "yellow card", "red card" warning mechanism for units with low disbursement; at the same time, strengthen field inspections, remove obstacles in site clearance, investment procedures, bidding and promote digital transformation in progress management.
The city will also accelerate the licensing, extension and capacity increase of material mines, ensuring supply for key projects.
Slow-progress projects will be cut, and capital will be transferred to projects with good disbursement capacity, prioritizing large projects with spillover effects.
More than 119,000 billion VND of private capital awaits disbursement
Not only focusing on disbursing budget capital, Ho Chi Minh City is setting a goal to use public investment to lead and activate private capital flows.
According to Mr. Hoang Vu Thanh, the city is actively working with corporations, businesses and strategic investors who are implementing large-scale projects in the area, thereby mobilizing more social resources to serve the double-digit growth target.
From August to the end of the year, Vingroup plans to disburse about 56,132 billion VND, Masterise 9,995 billion VND, Sun Group 3,945 billion VND and Trung Nam 1,800 billion VND for the tidal prevention project...
BOT projects such as Ring Road 4 HCMC and HCMC - Thu Dau Mot - Chon Thanh expressway are expected to disburse 3,499 billion VND and 1,221 billion VND respectively...
The total capital expected to be disbursed from private investment projects, including PPP projects, from now until the end of the year is about 119,270 billion VND.
In addition, Ho Chi Minh City is expected to disburse about 263,000 billion VND of foreign investment capital. Projects related to the International Financial Center in Ho Chi Minh City are expected to reach about 50,000 billion VND.
Thus, along with public investment capital, Ho Chi Minh City is expecting to create a spillover effect, attracting private capital and foreign investment into large-scale projects.
Focusing resources on a series of large projects
According to Director of the Department of Construction Tran Quang Lam, on the occasion of September 2nd holiday, Ho Chi Minh City is expected to start construction of 11 projects and inaugurate 5 large projects, focusing on transportation, housing and urban embellishment.
Among these are many important transportation projects such as Thu Thiem - Long Thanh railway, Ho Chi Minh City Ring Road 4, National Highway 1 expansion, National Highway 13, and some social housing projects.
Since the beginning of the year, Ho Chi Minh City has started construction of 14 projects with a total capital of more than 466,000 billion VND. Specifically, on September 2nd, 6 traffic projects expected to start construction have a total capital of more than 165,000 billion VND.
Mr. Tran Quang Lam said that Ho Chi Minh City is expected to continue to start construction of 9 projects in the third and fourth quarters of 2026, including major transport projects such as Thu Thiem 4 bridge, Can Gio bridge, Phu My 2 bridge, Cat Lai - Phu Huu inter-port road to Ring Road 3, Go Cong intersection and the branch connecting Hanoi Highway with this intersection.
The city will implement dredging, environmental improvement, and urban embellishment projects at Van Thanh canal, Ong Be canal, and Ba Lon canal.
