The amount represented 33.93% of the public investment plan assigned by the Prime Minister and 31.03% of the plan approved by the Provincial People’s Council. Although Gia Lai ranks among localities with a relatively high disbursement rate nationwide, provincial authorities said progress remained below expectations.
The Gia Lai Provincial People’s Committee has instructed departments, agencies and local authorities to resolve bottlenecks and accelerate project implementation, while assigning specific key performance indicators, or KPIs, to strengthen accountability for public investment disbursement.
According to Trần Cang, Director of the Department of Finance, the central government allocated Gia Lai VND 30.043 trillion in public investment capital for 2026, including VND 9.1 trillion for the Quy Nhơn-Pleiku Expressway project.
Of the total, VND 14.78 trillion comes from the central budget, with the remainder financed by the provincial budget.
By the end of July, Gia Lai had disbursed more than VND 9.322 trillion. Of VND 9.69 trillion sourced from land-use fee revenues, VND 2.512 trillion had been spent, equivalent to 25.93%. The portion of land-use fee revenue allocated to the provincial budget had been fully disbursed.
Major investors record uneven progress
Among provincial-level investors, 10 units had achieved disbursement rates above 60% by the end of July. However, several agencies managing large capital allocations continued to record relatively low rates.
The Provincial Project Management Board for Construction Investment had disbursed 59.5% of its allocation, while the Provincial Land Fund Development Center reached 42.94% and the Project Management Board for Agriculture and Rural Development 40.36%.
The Provincial Economic Zone Management Board recorded a rate of 25.62%, while the Project Management Board for Transport and Civil Projects stood at 21.8%.
Ngô Tùng Sơn, Director of the Provincial Land Fund Development Center, said the center had disbursed more than VND 683 billion of its VND 1.598 trillion allocation by the end of July, equivalent to 42.94%.
Most of the spending went toward compensation and site clearance for Nguyễn Văn Linh Road in Pleiku Ward.
Progress has been much slower on a project to relocate businesses from the Nhơn Bình Industrial Cluster in Quy Nhơn Đông Ward. Of the VND 500 billion allocated to the project, only more than VND 14 billion had been disbursed.
The relocation has been held up because infrastructure at the Bùi Thị Xuân Industrial Cluster in Quy Nhơn Tây Ward, where the businesses are due to move, remains under construction and is expected to be completed in early September 2026.
In the photo: Construction of the bridge over the Côn River in Bình An Commune. Photo: N.H
The Provincial Project Management Board for Construction Investment, meanwhile, was allocated more than VND 5.383 trillion in 2026 and had disbursed VND 3.203 trillion by the end of July.
Trần Huy Hùng, Deputy Director of the board, said most of the disbursed capital was concentrated in Component Project 3 of the Quy Nhơn-Pleiku Expressway, covering km 90 to km 125. The project had disbursed VND 2.274 trillion of its VND 2.47 trillion allocation.
Other projects have moved more slowly, particularly those financed by the central budget, including the construction of boarding schools for ethnic minority students in seven border communes.
Wide disparities among communes and wards
Disbursement rates also vary considerably among Gia Lai's communes and wards.
By the end of July, 32 communes and wards had disbursed at least 60% of their allocated capital, with Ia Ly, Ia Chia and Ia Krêl exceeding 90%.
Another 16 communes and wards recorded rates from 50% to below 60%, while 49 were between 35% and below 50%. Thirty-eight remained below 35%, with Ia Lâu and Ia Mơ yet to record any disbursement.
The Department of Finance attributed the slow pace to delays in construction, project acceptance and payment documentation, as well as slow reviews and adjustments or transfers of capital plans.
Other obstacles include lengthy procedures for determining land origin and land prices, compensation, support and resettlement, along with unresolved problems during project implementation.
Gia Lai sets quarterly disbursement targets
To accelerate spending, the Provincial People’s Committee issued Official Dispatch No. 9778/UBND-KTTH on July 23, assigning KPI targets to 24 departments and sectors and 135 communes and wards.
Under the targets, units must disburse at least 60% of their capital plans by the end of the third quarter of 2026 and at least 90% by the end of the fourth quarter. The province aims to complete 100% of the capital plan before Jan. 31, 2027.
For the third quarter, the Provincial Project Management Board for Transport and Civil Projects has been tasked with disbursing more than VND 4.717 trillion, while the Provincial Land Fund Development Center must disburse more than VND 1.183 trillion.
Ia Lâu and Ia Mơ, which had recorded no disbursement by the end of July, have been assigned third-quarter targets of VND 2.888 billion and VND 2.092 billion, respectively.
At a Provincial People’s Committee meeting on July 31, Standing Vice Chairman Nguyễn Tuấn Thanh said public investment disbursement would be a key criterion in evaluating agencies’ completion of their 2026 tasks.
The province will review the responsibility of leaders of units whose low disbursement rates result from subjective causes, failure to meet commitments, delays in reporting obstacles or failure to propose capital transfers when projects are unable to spend their allocations.
Authorities target bottlenecks and contractor delays
The Provincial People’s Committee has ordered departments and agencies to urgently review projects with slow disbursement and clearly identify the causes of delays.
Authorities must set deadlines for completing individual procedures, assign responsibility to relevant agencies and units, and prepare detailed disbursement plans for each project, contract package and month.
The plans must specify expected disbursement values, acceptance schedules, payment submission dates and obstacles requiring resolution.
Investors have also been instructed to take action under contract terms against contractors and consultants that fall behind schedule, are slow to prepare documentation or fail to coordinate effectively.
Where necessary, cases may be referred to competent authorities to review whether those contractors and consultants should be allowed to participate in future contract packages.
The Provincial People’s Committee has assigned the Department of Finance to coordinate with the State Treasury of Region XV to closely monitor progress toward the KPI targets.
The department will also advise authorities on transferring capital from slow-disbursing projects to those with greater capacity to use the funds and propose commendations for units that exceed their assigned targets.