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The Minister of Planning and Investment visited to support the people of Central Vietnam

On October 22, Minister Dung arrivied to Le Thuy district of Quang Binh province to check the damage wrought by the storm and the local authorities’ answer.

On the same day, he and the delegation of the Ministry of Planning and Investment visited households and gave gifts worth VND300 million ($13,040) for the people in Cam Hung and Cam Thanh cummunes of Ha Tinh province.

Permanent Deputy Prime Minister Truong Hoa Binh and Minister Dung visited Quang Tri

Determined to “Leave no one behind”, the minister also joined the work delegation of the Politburo lead by Permanent Deputy Prime Minister, Head of the Government’s PAR Steering Committee to visit and encouraged people in a number of communes in Quang Tri province as well as work with leaders of Quang Tri People Committee to discuss emergency measures.

Deputy Prime Minister Truong Hoa Binh presented 15 gifts for households and gave VND100 million ($4,350) to the Study Encouragement Fund of Tay Giang district. In addition, Minister Dung gave VND200 million ($8,700) to support Tay Giang district of Quang Tri to deal with the aftermath of natural disasters.

On this occasion, Minister Dung and the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development presented VND1 billion ($43,480) and essential goods for people impacted by the floods and storms.

Nguyen Duc Tuan, Chairman of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee of Hai Duong province (third from left) received the VND20 billion donation from the representative of An Phat Holdings

The donation was presented by Pham Van Tuan, acting deputy CEO of An Phat Holdings, and was received by Nguyen Duong Thai, Chairman of Hai Duong People’s Committee and head of the National Assembly delegation of Hai Duong as well as COVID-19 Disease Control and Prevention; Nguyen Duc Tuan, Chairman of the provincial Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee; and Pham Manh Cuong, director of the Hai Duong Department of Health. Recipients expressed their appreciation to the Board of Directors and employees of the group.

This VND20 billion support ($869,570) was the largest contribution by An Phat Holdings to a province to fight against COVID-19.

This VND20 billion support ($869,570) was the largest contribution by An Phat Holdings to a province to fight against COVID-19.

At the event Pham Van Tuan shared, “Due to the urgent need for vaccination, helping to set the mind of Hai Duong residents at ease and the province to contain COVID-19, not only An Phat Holdings but all individuals and businesses want to contribute. We are willing to contribute human and material resources to help Hai Duong overcome this difficult period.”

Hai Duong is the key production area of An Phat Holdings with a system of 10 manufacturing plants and company head offices with about 3,500 labourers. Therefore, the Board of Directors and more than 5,000 employees of the whole group are willing to share the province’s difficulties at any time.

Nguyen Duong Thai, Chairman of Hai Duong People’s Committee (third from left) expressing appreciation for the support of An Phat Holdings

Aside with community support activities, An Phat Holdings have strictly adhered to pandemic prevention measures across all of the group’s production plants and office spaces, and conducted COVID-19 testing for all employees.

Earlier, on February 1 and 17, the company had donated VND11.35 billion ($493,480) in cash and in kind including diverse essential goods to the province’s management authorities. Thus, in February alone, An Phat Holdings have donated a total of VND31.35 billion ($1.36 million) to assist the government and the people of the province in fighting COVID-19.

Simultaneously, the company has teamed up with the Youth Union of Hai Duong as well as diverse individuals and organisations to launch a programme to boost the consumption of farm produce from Hai Duong, the epicentre of the current COVID-19 resurgence.

Earlier, in early 2020 when COVID-19 broke out in Hanoi, An Phat Holdings had donated compostable products to 300 residents and soldiers on quarantine duty in the Truc Bach area and donated 5,000 medical masks and hand sanitisers to the Vietnamese Embassy in the US.

The Hanoitimes – Taking into account the size of the Vietnamese economy, a large proportion of the state budget allocated for infrastructure development would affect the balance of payment and the economy.

Vietnam is currently struggling to mobilize funds for infrastructure development, evidenced by the country’s state budget allocation of 5.7% of the GDP for such projects, the highest ratio in Southeast Asia, according to Lynn Tho, representative of Ernst & Young.

Overview of the conference. Source: VGP.

As funding from state budget remains limited, mobilizing private funds for infrastructure projects is a viable option for Vietnam, said Tho at a conference discussing the public-private partnership (PPP) mechanism in Vietnam’s context on January 15, the governmental portal reported.

According to the Global Competitiveness Report 2017 – 2018 of the World Economic Forum, Vietnam ranked 79 ^th out of 137 countries and territories in terms of quality of the infrastructure system.

Additionally, only 20% of Vietnam’s roads are asphalted, significantly lower than other countries such as Malaysia, India and Indonesia.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) estimated Vietnam would need around US$480 billion for infrastructure development in the 2017 – 2030 period.

However, given the fact that Vietnam’s modest economic size is restricting capital accumulation capacity, a large proportion of state budget allocated for infrastructure development would affect the balance of payments and cause public debt to swell.

Addressing the conference, Country Director of the World Bank in Vietnam Ousmane Dione said the PPP mechanism would bring benefits for Vietnam, but fiscal risk remains the most challenging issue.

Dione said some think the PPP investment is a way to have free infrastructure, or a solution to overcome financial difficulties.

Moreover, most PPP projects in Vietnam are direct contracting, posing potential risks of losses to the state budget and unqualified contractors, while the supervision process remains inefficient.

Dione added PPP capital from foreign investors would help Vietnam finance large scale projects that the domestic funds are unable to cover, suggesting the government should provide more support to facilitate the PPP mechanism in Vietnam.

A South Korean expert said his government offers financial support to investors to ensure their minimum revenue. Once the PPP mechanism was widely adopted, South Korea replaced such support to a risk-sharing program with a financial support of 30 – 50% of total investment capital.

In Turkey, the government is committed to ensuring minimum revenue for transportation projects.

Sanjay Grover from the ADB said the risk-sharing mechanism should only be used for feasible projects or in case of necessity.

According to Vice Minister of Finance Tran Xuan Ha, the Ministry of Planning and Investment is responsible for drafting the PPP Law, which is subject for approval of the National Assembly.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, in a discussion at the National Assembly last November, said a PPP law is an urgent matter. In PPP projects, benefits would be divided among the state and the investors.

Phuc also suggested greater deregulation and transparency during the bidding process, as the state role in this case should be limited to drafting regulations and monitoring the process.

Nguyen Duc Kien, former vice chairman of the Economic Committee under the National Assembly, said it is essential to maintain the principle of “the state is a fair partner of investors”, meaning that both the state and the enterprises are on the “same boat” with equal risks and benefits.

However, a number of National Assembly deputies expressed concern over the risk sharing mechanism mentioned in the draft law.

The government proposed two options for risk sharing mechanism in terms of revenue. Firstly, the government would bear the maximum of 50% of losses between the actual revenue and the committed one in the contract. Secondly, the investors commit to share with the government no less than 50% of the difference in revenue between the actual and the committed figure.

A National Assembly deputy in Hanoi said such a mechanism is unfair and inappropriate, as investors must bear all risks, if any, and should be applicable to special projects only.