This information was stated by the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee in a report on the allocation and disbursement of the state budget investment plan in 2024.
This year, Ho Chi Minh City was assigned to disburse more than 79,263 billion VND, but as of October 11, it had only disbursed nearly 16,800 billion VND, reaching 21.2% of the plan.
One of the main reasons for the delay in disbursement is that the tidal flood prevention project in Ho Chi Minh City, considering climate change factors (phase 1), encountered difficulties in legal procedures and is under the authority of central agencies.
The project is allocated VND6,800 billion in capital this year. After assessing the actual situation, Ho Chi Minh City has determined that disbursing this capital in 2024 is not feasible. Therefore, the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee has reported and proposed the City People's Council to adjust the medium-term and 2024 capital of the project to other projects. After the problems are resolved, the city will re-allocate capital for the tide prevention project.
In the medium-term plan for the period 2021 - 2025, Ho Chi Minh City has allocated nearly VND 8,883 billion for the flood prevention project. However, the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee determined that the project is not capable of disbursing all the capital allocated in this period, so it proposed that the Ho Chi Minh City People's Council transfer this capital to the period 2026 - 2030.
The flood control project has a total investment of nearly 10,000 billion VND, started in 2016 intending to control flooding for 570 km², serving about 6.5 million people in the central areas and along the Saigon River.
Although more than 90% of the project has been completed, the project still faces many legal problems, leading to the suspension of construction in November 2020.
The main reason for the project's stagnation is that the investor no longer has enough financial resources to complete the remaining items, with the additional amount of up to 1,800 billion VND needed. Meanwhile, the project's funding unit cannot continue lending due to lack of legal basis.
Faced with this situation, Ho Chi Minh City once proposed a plan to entrust the budget to the Ho Chi Minh City State Finance Investment Company (HFIC) so that this unit could lend to investors and complete the project. However, this plan was assessed by the Ministry of Finance as inappropriate. The project also encountered difficulties in paying for the BT contract, with the total investment exceeding VND10,000 billion - a national important project.
Ho Chi Minh City has reported to the Government and the National Assembly several solutions, including adjusting the total investment and project implementation time. However, this adjustment process may take a long time.
Therefore, the city proposes to allow adjustment of payment terms in the BT contract in parallel with the overall adjustment of the project. After adjustment, Ho Chi Minh City will have a legal basis to pay by land fund, helping to solve capital sources for investors and reduce costs arising from interest during the waiting period.
According to the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Construction, the city currently has 8 main roads flooded due to high tides that have not been resolved, including Tran Xuan Soan, Dao Su Tich, Le Van Luong, National Highway 50, Pham Huu Lau, Huynh Tan Phat, Nguyen Binh, Binh Quoi. The flooding situation on these routes will only be fundamentally resolved when the tidal barrier project is completed.
