HÀ NỘI – The Ministry of Transport divested from several companies following Government directives, gaining more than VNĐ2 trillion (US$88.9 million) during the first half of this year, said an official from the ministry.

Vũ Anh Minh, Director of the Enterprise Development Department, told the local press that the amount represented about 130 per cent of the book values of the firms, and the ministry sent it to the enterprise rationalisation fund of the State Capital Investment Corporation (SCIC).

The ministry withdrew all State stakes from four companies, including Civil Engineering Construction Corporation No 6 (Cienco 6), Transport Engineering Design Inc, Waterway Transportation Corporation, and Việt Nam Motors Industry Corporation. It withdrew a 23 per cent stake from Cienco 5.

During H1, the ministry also directed its corporations to divest from 11 joint stock companies, collecting nearly VNĐ141 billion, or 160 per cent of their book values.

It was conducting schemes to divest from two inland waterway management and maintenance joint stock companies, Wamico No 1 and Wamico No 10.

It proposed with the Government plans to divest from some other joint stock companies, including three road construction and management firms, a company of the Việt Nam Maritime University, and a company of the HCM City University of Transport.

Minh said the ministry transferred the right of State ownership at Thăng Long Corporation, a traffic infrastructure construction company, to the SCIC. A similar transfer process is underway at the Transport Investment Cooperation and Import Export JSC.

The SCIC will also represent the rights of State ownership at Cienco 5, Cienco 8 and Waterway Construction JSC, instead of the ministry, in the future.

Minh said the ministry will continue to direct some other corporations, including Việt Nam Railways, Việt Nam Maritime Safety – North and Việt Nam Maritime Safety – South, to withdraw capital from non-core lines of business.

Vietnam Airlines, Cửu Long Corporation for Investment Development and Project Management of Infrastructure, Việt Nam Expressway Corporation and Việt Nam Maritime University are also to do the same, he said.

The ongoing divestments, along with the equitisation of State-owned enterprises, are part of national efforts for economic reforms that need to be accelerated in Việt Nam.

In a related development, the Government is mulling the establishment of a special committee to manage capital at dozens of SOEs in various areas, in a context that they are ineffectively administered by ministries and sectors.

Although the SCIC was established 10 years to manage State interests in companies and projects, ministries and sectors still reportedly assume a dominant role in administering State utility firms for certain interests. – VNS