A view of the long-deserted plant owned by the State-run Thai Nguyen Steel and Iron Corporation. It is among 12 loss-making megaprojects in the industry and trade sector

At a meeting on Tuesday, Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh and Chairman of the CMSC Nguyen Hoang Anh signed an agreement to hand over the 11 delayed, ineffective projects to the commission.

These projects comprise four fertilizer plants, three bio-fuel production projects, two steel production projects, the Dinh Vu polyester fiber plant and Dung Quat Shipbuilding Industry Co., Ltd.

The Phuong Nam paper pulp mill, which is being liquidated, is not on the list.

Since the establishment of the CMSC, many ministries have gradually transferred the ownership of State capital at businesses, which means they have relinquished their management rights. Instead, they play a role in State management only.

Even though the trade ministry has worked closely with the Government to improve the situation of these loss-making projects, their settlement processes remain slow.

Some projects, such as the second phase of the Thai Nguyen iron and steel project, and the Phuong Nam paper pulp mill project, are very close to bankruptcy since the Government has adopted a strong stance against injecting additional capital into the 12 projects.

Duong Duy Hung, head of the Planning Department, under the MoIT, said at the meeting that since 2018, two projects – the DAP No.1 Haiphong fertilizer plant and the Viet-Trung steel plant – have reported profits.

He added that the Dinh Vu polyester fiber plant and Quang Ngai bio-fuel plant, which were suspended earlier, have resumed operations, while the Binh Phuoc bio-fuel plant has completed preparations to resume operations.

Dao Van Ngoc, chairman and general director of Petrochemical and Textile Fiber JSC, told the Vietnam News Agency last month that the Dinh Vu polyester fiber plant earned VND50.55 billion (US$2.1 million) from the sales of more than 1,300 tons of yarn since it reopened on April 2018.

Its drawn textured yarn has been qualified to enter the United States, South Korea, Thailand and some European countries, while its AnPoly yarn has won the favor of both the domestic market and many other demanding countries. SGT

Lan Nhi

 

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