A section of the Ring Road No. 3 in Hanoi. Nearly 1,500 public investment projects will be scrapped - PHOTO: VNA

HCMC – Nearly 1,500 unnecessary and ineffective public investment projects will be scrapped in the next five years to bring down the total number of such projects to 5,000, according to the Ministry of Planning and Investment.

Reporting the mid-term public investment plan in the 2021-2025 period to Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, the ministry said that 1,050 projects had been abandoned, news site VnExpress reported.

PM Chinh asked the competent agencies to stop unnecessary investments and the dependence on the State and to fight against corruption while executing projects.

He noted that some poor provinces with limited gross regional domestic product and budgets have planned hundreds of projects in the next five years.

With the allocated funds, localities and relevant agencies must reduce regular expenditures to prioritize the funds for key investment projects. They should also adjust projects to serve social welfare, such as for dealing with natural disasters and diseases and taking care of vulnerable people.

He asked for maximum autonomy in public investment. Obstacles in policies must be reported so that solutions can be worked out promptly.

PM Chinh also spoke about a plan to propose that the State capital account for half of the needed capital for all expressway projects executed under the public-private partnership model in the 2021-2025 period.

The specific amount for each project will be considered carefully so that projects that find it difficult to attract investors will receive more State capital and vice versa.

The estimated capital for public investment projects has been revised up by VND120 trillion, sourced from the regular expenditure reduction, to VND2.87 quadrillion. Therefore, the State budget spending will not increase, said Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Tran Quoc Phuong.