2025 - the final year of the medium-term public investment plan for 2021 - 2025, sees a strong increase in the volume of projects completed and handed over for use in Điện Biên province, leading to immense pressure on the work of preparation, verification, and approval of settlements.

Fully aware of that fact, along with accelerating construction progress, the province has focused on drastically directing investors, project management boards, and specialized agencies to proactively review and complete documents right from the beginning; timely remove arising difficulties and obstacles; and strengthen coordination and responsibility to ensure settlement work is carried out according to regulations and on time, contributing to improving investment and budget use efficiency.

By the end of November, the whole province had approved the settlement of 603 projects and works with a total approved value of over VND 5,261 billion. This figure is much higher than the same period in 2024, demonstrating the efforts of investors, project management boards, and financial agencies in accelerating file processing, while affirming the determination not to let work pile up at the end of the planning period.

Accelerating the progress and improving the quality of settlement work helps projects promote efficiency, creating a positive effect on the entire public investment management process. After settlement, the realized value is determined clearly and transparently, thereby avoiding bad debts, losses, or prolonged receivables and payables. Settlement results are also an important basis for evaluating capital use efficiency, screening the capacity of investors, contractors, and consultants, while releasing resources to create room for capital allocation for new projects in the next stage.

In 2025, the Project Management and Land Fund Development Board of Area 3 has a total of 120 projects, with a total investment of nearly VND 983 billion, of which the approved settlement value is VND 832.2 billion. To accelerate settlement progress, the Board proactively reviewed and classified each project according to the level of completion; strengthened coordination with relevant departments, branches, and consulting units to timely remove obstacles regarding documents and procedures. Simultaneously, clear responsibilities were assigned to each department and officer in charge, linking settlement progress with emulation assessment and public service discipline. Thanks to that, settlement work has step-by-step become orderly, ensuring strictness and compliance with regulations, contributing to improving the efficiency of public investment capital management and use.

After the merger, the Board proactively consolidated its organization, reviewed transitional projects, and unified management focal points, ensuring no interruption in settlement progress. At the same time, strengthening information technology application and coordinating closely with related units to timely handle existing issues regarding documents, volumes, and payments. Thanks to that, settlement work was accelerated, minimizing backlog, and contributing to improving the efficiency of public investment capital management and use.

To date, the Board has completed the settlement of 87 projects, with a total approved value of over VND 500.8 billion. In which, 18 projects are under the approval authority of the Provincial People’s Committee, with a settlement value of over VND 223.8 billion; 69 projects are under the approval authority of the (former) district-level People’s Committee with a total value of nearly VND 277 billion. Besides, 24 projects have submitted full settlement reports to financial agencies for verification. Reality shows that projects, after completion and settlement, have promoted efficiency, contributing to the economical and purposeful use of investment capital sources.

Typically, the internal traffic road project of Tà Huổi Tráng - Tà Si Láng Resettlement Area, Tủa Thàng commune, with a total investment of VND 6 billion. The completed project helps people travel and transport agricultural products conveniently, step-by-step perfecting infrastructure. Quàng Văn Hải, Tà Si Láng village, Tủa Thàng commune, said: “The route contributes to improving the lives and activities of resettlement households, promoting local socio-economic development, ensuring social security, and consolidating people’s trust in State investment programs and projects.”

Currently, the whole province still has 280 projects and works that have not been approved for settlement (an increase of 128 projects compared to the same period in 2024), with a total approved investment of up to over VND 5,858 billion. This is a very large figure, showing a significant backlog of files and the risk of prolonging settlement time, affecting the summary and evaluation of public investment capital efficiency for the whole period.

Some large-scale projects experienced a long investment period and were affected by many changes in mechanisms and policies, making the synthesis of documents, comparison of regulations, and verification of arising volumes and values difficult. Examples include the road to the border Hua Pe - Marker B11; the public service road and national border marker construction project; projects using state budget capital for martyrs’ graves and cemeteries; or the wastewater drainage, collection, and treatment system of Điện Biên Phủ city (former).

2025 is the final year of implementing medium-term public investment capital for the 2021 - 2025 period allocated for investment projects, especially with the termination of district-level operations under the 2-level government model, so the number of completed projects has increased compared to the same period last year. Some files lack continuity, archival documents are incomplete, or even lost in some cases, causing great difficulties for new investors when taking over tasks. A section of investors has not been truly proactive in preparing and submitting settlement reports. Coordination between investors, consulting units, contractors, and specialized agencies lacks tightness, causing file preparation progress to be slower than regulations. In addition, handling responsibilities for units violating settlement file submission deadlines has not been truly resolute, leading to delays lasting many years without thorough remedy.

To overcome long-standing limitations and accelerate settlement progress, the province determines that tightening discipline and order in implementation is a prerequisite. Personal responsibility and the responsibility of the head must be linked to the settlement implementation results of each unit. Strengthening inspection and supervision of the acceptance process, preparation of payment documents for completed volumes, and contract settlement documents of contractors and investors.

Financial agencies and the treasury need to coordinate more closely in guiding, urging, and removing difficulties for investors. For projects with files pending for many years, a comprehensive review is needed to assess each specific group of obstacles and propose suitable handling directions according to regulations. For investors, it is necessary to soon complete documents, especially for projects that have been completed, handed over, and put into use but have not had settlement approved. Document management and archiving must be carried out seriously, especially for projects handed over from the district level after implementing the 2-level government model. Inspection and supervision of contractors and consulting units also need to be performed more frequently. Investors must be comprehensively responsible for the quality of files submitted to financial agencies, avoiding the situation of invalid, incomplete, or incorrectly prepared files.