VnSAT proposed to be extended six more months

Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Quoc Doanh on September 7  chaired an online meeting with representatives of  Central Highland and Mekong Delta provinces, seeking solutions to speed up the implementation of the Vietnam Sustainable Agriculture Transformation Project (VnSAT).

According to the ministry’s Agriculture Projects Management Board, the implementation of the project failed to follow planned schemes as the COVID-19 pandemic has been developing complicated since July 2021 in Central Highlands and Mekong Delta Province.

Agriculture projects manage boards in the provinces planned to organise 520 training classes with a fund of VND 14 billion this year. However, the training classes were delayed due to social distancing order during the pandemic.

As of August 31, 2021, only 106 classes were organised with the disbursed fund of 3.9 billion, accounting for only 28 per cent of the allocated fund.

The training classes were suspended since April 30, 2021, due to the social distancing measures under Prime Minister’s Directive 15 were implemented in provinces.

Under the VnSAT, the World Bank Group and provinces’ People’s Committees approved 119 public investment sub-projects with a total investment of VND 1.604 trillion including VND 1.234 trillion from the International Development Association (IDA) and counterpart capital of VND 370 billion.

Economic technical reports relating to the public investment sub-projects were approved in progress that met requirements from the agriculture ministry and the donor (reaching 98 per cent).

However, as of August 31, 2021, bidding work was 45 days behind the planned scheme.

Only 30% of bidding packages can get construction contracts until October. Only 5 out of 114 bidding packages have signed construction and installation contracts.

In 2021, the VnSAT received a total fund of VND 955 billion with 766 billion from IDA and 189 billion from the provinces’ counterpart capital.

However, as of August 31, only 52.8 billion accounting for 5.5 per cent of total funds was disbursed.

If Vietnam could control the pandemic well in the last three months of this year, the project management board expects to disburse about 42 per cent of the fund at maximum.

Le Van Hien, Director of the Agriculture Project Management Board said that it was impossible to complete 117 sub-projects and disburse about VND 1.6 trillion in the remaining eight months of the project period.

He recommended the ministry adjust the investment decision and extend the project term to December 31, 2022.

The management board also proposed that localities add about VND 200 billion as counterpart capital and allocate unused funds from IDA to Gia Lai and Dak Lak provinces.

The management board called for the World Bank Group’s agreement over the proposed extended time.

Deputy Minister Le Quoc Doanh said that project management boards in provinces need to review the progress of every sub-project, particularly when the rainy season is coming and amid the unpredicted development of the pandemic.

As soon as the COVID-19 vaccination in the provinces was done to ensure community immunity, the projects must be sped up as soon as possible, he said.

“VnSAT is an opportunity that would bring much better infrastructure for production. If the opportunity is missed, it will be a great pity for farmers,” Doanh said.

Steffi Stallmeister from the World Bank Group said it was difficult to extend VnSAT to December 31, 2022.

The World Bank Group and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development would review the progress of the sub-projects to see if the extension is possible, she said.