The Politburo is resolute to handle 12 loss-making megaprojects, affirming the State budget would no longer be used to finance these projects.
At a meeting on June 17 chaired by Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, the Politburo catalogued measures to cope with these inefficient projects managed by the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Government news website reports.
Drastic measures are needed to ensure the effective cooperation between relevant agencies to put an end to losses.
The trade ministry is asked to put forward solutions for each project this year, and then send them to relevant agencies for input.
The ministry must partly bring fundamental changes in dealing with the problems faced by these projects by the end of next year, and solve them in a proper manner by 2020.
Notably, the ministry will have to clarify the responsibilities of and strictly handle those organizations and individuals that have committed violations in the investment and operation processes.
The Politburo’s view is to resolutely handle loss-making State-owned enterprises (SOEs) and their inefficient projects in line with the market mechanism; and respect the principle of their self-control, and self-responsibility. Especially, the State would not finance these projects anymore.
The Politburo will take inspection and audit results, and legal reviews into consideration to strictly tackle disputes between investors and contractors in a timely fashion.
The restructuring of these projects and enterprises must be done by mainly selling and divesting State stakes. Otherwise, they will be declared bankrupt.
In addition, it is necessary to minimize State-owned asset losses and negative impacts on the State budget and the Vietnamese economy as a whole.
Measures must be designed in line with legal regulations in a transparent manner. Relevant organizations and individuals should take more responsibility for implementing policies and solutions in a determined effort to counter negative effects of loss-making enterprises and projects.
They also should keep a watch on the valuation of assets, especially land and landed assets, to safeguard the State money.
The Politburo said the inspection, audit, and investigation should clarify mistakes and legal violations towards each project or enterprise, and hold relevant agencies and individuals legally accountable. Hence, legal proceedings against violators should be soon completed.
The Politburo noted the weaknesses and shortcomings in the management and operation of SOEs should be a thing of the past.
The Politburo assigned the Government’s party members and the Prime Minister to direct the trade ministry, and relevant ministries to execute contingency plans for these projects and enterprises.
Data shows the 12 big-ticket projects under the Ministry of Industry and Trade are moving at a snail’s pace or operating poorly with total accumulated losses of more than VND16 trillion as of the end of last year.
They include four fertilizer plants, three bio-fuel projects, two steel projects, Dinh Vu polyester fiber factory, Dung Quat Shipbuilding Industry Company Limited, and Phuong Nam paper pulp mill.
The total initial investment of these 12 projects was some VND43.67 trillion, which was later adjusted up 45.65% to VND63.61 trillion, or roughly US$2.7 billion at the current forex rate. Of this sum, VND14.35 trillion, or 22.56%, was their equity, while loans made up 74.6%, about VND47.45 trillion, and the remaining 2.84% came from other sources.
Loans from domestic banks totaled more than VND41.8 trillion, including VND16.8 trillion from the Vietnam Development Bank and VND6.6 trillion from foreign sources guaranteed by the Government.
SGT
