Phương Nam Pulp Mill in Long An Province, one of 12 loss-making projects under the Ministry of Industry and Trade. — Photo tuoitre.vn

HÀ NỘI — Long An Province has proposed to the Government to convert Phương Nam Pulp Mill into a 100-ha eco-urban area as a measure to handle this failing project.

With a total investment of more than VNĐ3.4 trillion and covering about 43ha of land in Thạch Hóa District, the project failed to go operational after more than a decade of investment and now faces huge sums of debt.

According to the People’s Committee of the southern province of Long An, the project was a waste of land and no longer appropriate to local land planning.

The southern province wished to convert the project into an eco-urban area with total area of more than 100ha, which would also help reduce the risk of environmental pollution caused by the plant.

Phương Nam Pulp Mill was one among 12 failed projects under the Ministry of Industry and Trade and had a very dim future for revival. The Ministry of Industry and Trade three times announced the liquidation of the plant’s assets but all failed to find buyers.

Deputy Prime Minister Trương Hòa Bình in a meeting last week asked the Ministry of Industry and Trade to work with relevant ministries and agencies to raise measures to handle Phương Nam Pulp Mill project, including the project liquidation plan, privatisation plan of the Việt Nam Paper Corporation and adjustments to land planning and report to the Government before the end of this year.

Regarding the handling of all 12 inefficient projects under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Bình said that the Government would not pump any more capital into these projects. Instead, capital divestment would be given priority in handling these projects.

Bình also asked conflicts related to engineering, procurement and construction contracts of these projects must be thoroughly resolved.

The Government was determined to let loss-making projects which could not be revived go bankrupt or be dissolved, Bình stressed.

Under the Prime Minister's Decision No 1468/QĐ-TTg, problems at these 12 loss-making projects must be sold by the end of this year or the first half of 2021 at the latest.

To date, three projects escaped this list thanks to more stable operation, including DAP 1 Hải Phòng Fertiliser Plant and Phú Thọ and Bình Phước biofuel plants.

At Dung Quất Shipyard, the handling of problems related to account settlement was being finalised.

The policy about value-added tax on fertilisers would be put into consideration for an amendment to ensure fairness between imported and domestically-produced projects.

Five projects, including DAP 2 Lào Cai fertiliser plant, Hà Bắc nitrogenous fertiliser plant, Ninh Bình nitrogenous fertiliser plant, TISCO-2 and Dung Quất Shipyard were facing EPC contract conflicts.

Bình asked the Committee for Management of State Capital at Enterprises to work with ministries, agencies and organisations to develop feasible restructuring plans for DAP2 Lào Cai, Hà Bắc and Ninh Bình nitrogenous fertiliser plant to minimise losses to State capital and assets and report to the Government by January 2021. — VNS