Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Do Thang Hai

Hai, at a press conference on August 11, said localities have a different understanding of and application of the social distancing policy, thus creating problems for goods circulation and industrial production as materials cannot be carried to production facilities.

The Ministry of Investment and Trade (MOIT) discussed solutions with the Ministry of Transport, local authorities and associations but the problem still has not been fixed.

On July 27, MOIT sent a document to the Government, proposing a solution to facilitate goods circulation. All goods serving people’s daily life and production can circulate, except ones on the list of banned goods.

Deputy PM Le Van Thanh later released an instruction based on MOIT’s proposal. The goods circulation congestion has since eased. However, drivers still complain that they face difficulties carrying goods in some localities.

Hai stressed that localities have to focus on fighting the pandemic, but also ensure smooth production and goods circulation.

Regarding the ‘three on-the-site model’, Hai said the model was successfully applied in the northern provinces of Bac Ninh and Bac Giang. However, problems have arisen in 19 southern provinces. The solution can be implemented for a short time.

He explained that the Industrial Zones in Bac Ninh and Bac Giang have fewer workers, but each enterprise in the south has thousands of tens of thousands of workers. They are from many provinces and cities and they cannot stay at the same places for a long time.

The cost of the ‘three on-the-site’ model is high and enterprises can apply it for only 7-20 days.

Meanwhile, local authorities apply different Covid-19 prevention regulations. In some localities, entire IZs are closed when F0 cases are discovered, and enterprises have to make many preparations for ‘three on the site’. So many enterprises refused to apply the model.

MOIT has asked the health ministry to discuss measures to fix the problem, emphasizing that it is necessary to set conditions that enterprises find easy to implement.

“We have also proposed amending production conditions, as well as creating clear regulations on what enterprises have to do when discovering F0 cases and other requirements,” Hai said.

Nguyen Duy Lam, Deputy Minister of Transport, said in late July, the Government Office released a document conveying the PM’s instruction on facilitating goods circulation.

The vehicles granted a QR Code by the transport sector do not have to have their vehicles examined. If vehicles don’t have a QR Code, drivers need to show certificates of negative tests for SARS-CoV-2.

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