Addressing an on-line conference in Hanoi on October 8, Mr Nhan, who is also Minister of Education and Training, expressed his concerns about the slow progress in carrying out these projects and said local administrations will bear the responsibility before the Government if no improvements are made.

According to the Ministry of Education and Training, it has planned to carry out 10,000 projects in 2008 to build more than 25,600 classrooms. However, only 1,600 classrooms have been built so far, making up 6.25 percent of the yearly plan. Nine provinces and cities have not yet developed plans to disburse capital sourced from the sale of Government bonds for these projects.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Finance reported that localities have registered VND3.3 trillion for healthcare projects. However, about VND1.5 trillion has so far been disbursed for eligible projects, accounting for 45 percent of the yearly plan.

The Ministry of Health also reported that it has just spent VND58 billion out of a total of VND3.75 trillion on its projects, fulfilling only 2 percent of the yearly plan. The disbursement of capital for healthcare projects in the provinces of Lao Cia, Son La, Dien Bien, Lai Chau, (former) Ha Tay, Lam Dong, Soc Trang and Dong Thap has been slow going.

The Ministry of Finance has asked the Ministry of Education and Training, the Ministry of Health and the provincial People’s Committees to speed up the disbursement of capital from the Government bond sale for these projects.

At the online conference, local administrations pointed out difficulties in land clearance and inconsistent bidding regulations, considering them major obstacles to the implementation of education and healthcare projects. They pledged to raise the disbursement rate to 70-80 percent by the end of this year.

Concluding the conference, Deputy PM Nguyen Thien Nhan asked the Ministry of Education and Training, the Ministry of Health and localities to finalise the list of investment projects before October 20. He said the chairmen of the provincial People’s Committees are the persons who will decide on the investors of the projects. He asked localities to complete these projects before March 31, 2009.