It is difficult for state-owned enterprises to handle weak projects because of few shares

At a discussion on how to handle weak projects on April 5, Mr. Nguyen Hung Dung, a member of the Board of Directors of the Vietnam Oil and Gas Group (PVN), said that the group involved in 5 difficult projects, including: Binh Phuoc, Phu Tho biofuel, Central biofuel, Dinh Vu fiber factory, Dung Quat shipyard.

But with Binh Phuoc and Phu Tho Biofuel projects, PVN does not have the right or cannot participate in restructuring or thoroughly handling these projects because it does not hold a controlling stake.

Accordingly, in Binh Phuoc project, the Group only holds 29% of the shares, the foreign side holds a controlling stake. Similarly, in the Phu Tho Biofuel project, PVN holds 35%, the rest belongs to outside enterprises.

“Participating in the direction, administration or intervention to support these businesses is extremely difficult,” Mr. Dung said.

With the Central Biofuel project, Mr. Dung said, because the Group’s subsidiaries invested and controlled, faced many difficulties in the market, so the handling was not simple.

When this project was deployed, the price of oil was 120-130 USD per barrel, but when completed, there was an energy crisis, leading to a decrease in business efficiency. On the other hand, the financial investment in this project is large, there are times when PVN’s businesses contribute capital with a loan interest of 25-27% per year, causing a strong impact on production and business.

As for Dung Quat shipyard, according to Mr. Dung, when received from Vinashine, the project is in the unfinished investment stage. Up to now, the factory has built a number of super-long and super-heavy ships, carried out a number of repair and new construction activities for domestic and foreign ship owners, gradually moving towards restructuring the entire project. ..

Information at the panel also said that, out of 12 losing projects in the Industry and Trade sector, there are currently 5 projects: Dinh Vu fiber factory, 3 biofuel plants and DAP 1 – Hai Phong project that have been approved. removed from the list of weak projects.

With the remaining 7 projects, Mr. Ho Sy Hung, Vice Chairman of the Committee for the Management of State Capital at Enterprises, said that there are two outstanding problems that are hindering the handling.

The first is the problem of the EPC contract (the package contractor contract for the project). In the contract of all these projects, there is a dispute between the investor and the contractor about the content, including volume, equipment, equipment type, tax policy.

Mr. Hung said that the investor and contractor have not yet reached an agreement and negotiated on this issue. This is the biggest problem at Thai Nguyen Steel Plant Extension, Dung Quat Shipyard, Ninh Binh Fertilizer Plant, and Ha Bac Fertilizer Plant.

Second, the financial costs are too high. According to him, there were quite a few projects that were included in the financial support for investment in the period 2010-2015, but during that period the interest rates were high, while the implementation process was slow, often several years, leading to High interest rates are also fined, mother’s interest is child’s interest.

For example, Ha Bac Fertilizer Plant (expansion phase 2 project) has a financial cost of more than 30%, making it difficult to compete in the market, leading to accumulated losses in recent years, lasting up to several years. thousands of billions.

To handle weak and loss-making projects, experts say that there is no absolute solution, only the optimal solution and must follow market principles.

Mr. Phan Duc Hieu, Standing Member of the Economic Committee of the National Assembly, commented that it is impossible to break the principles of corporate governance under the Law on Enterprises or the Law on Investment and the use of capital of enterprises.

According to him, when handling projects, it is necessary to calculate the benefits, restructure the project itself, and reduce costs to improve efficiency. Even, it is necessary to take into account the appropriate product restructuring plan, restore the original product correctly if there is no market…

Mr. Hung also said that, with all 5 projects removed from the watch list, the way to deal with problems for businesses is to stick to the market, respect the legal entity of the business… rather than intervene violently.

Accordingly, projects are considered according to the principle of efficiency, classifying each project and group of projects. Especially for projects with resilience, seeing effective and stable prospects, they will be focused on handling soon…

Duc Minh