HA NOI — Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung signed an order late yesterday that sets the agenda for insolvent shipbuilder Vinashin.
The group must spearhead a shipbuilding, repair and auxiliary industry of suitable scale while training skilled labour during the next five years with a vision toward 2020.
The prime minister also instructed the Transport Ministry to quickly and thoroughly assess the business of Vinashin group, its subsidiary companies, joint venture companies and existing projects.
Final solutions for dealing with its accumulated difficulties must go to the prime minister within the last quarter of the year.
The Transport Ministry will have responsibility for stabilising production and business as well as ensuring works and income for it employees.
More than 5,000 Vinashin workers, or almost 10 per cent of its work-force, had lost their jobs and the group had failed to pay VND234 billion (US$12.18 million) in salaries and social insurance as of June.
The Finance Ministry will restructure Vinashin's financial system; settle its debts; assess its debt-payment capacity - especially due-debts- balance the books and ensure capital for business and production.
It will also re-scale the group's charter capital.
Vinashin was the single recipient of the proceeds from Viet Nam's maiden $750 million sovereign bond issue in October 2005.
It has invested the money in ship building and will start repaying the debt from 2012.
The State Bank of Viet Nam has been instructed to work with commercial banks to reorganise the group's debt and provide it with new loans.
The Home Affairs and Transport Ministries will work together to find key personnel for the shipbuilder.
Vinashin - a pilot scheme to reform State-owned enterprises - has to review investment porfolio and propose proper plans for sale, transfer and equitisation of its non-core businesses.
Vinashin's debts totalling VND86 trillion ($4.48 billion) as of June against charter capital of VND90 trillion ($4.69 billion).
The group's management allegedly made numerous illegal decisions; falsely reported the use of capital for investment and made faulty decisions about the use of its investment capital.
Deputy Prime Minister Hung has told a media briefing that the Government will work to halt the group's losses by 2012 and become stable by 2015.
The prime minister has also instructed eight ministries and the State Bank of Viet Nam to make a general review and assessment of the business methods, capital raising and spending, investment as well as the development of State-owned enterprises with particular reference to Vinashin.
Their findings must go to the prime minister before the end of October.
The ministries are Transport, Planning and Investment, Home Affairs, Construction, Trade and Industry, Natural Resources and the Environment and Labour - Invalids and Social Affairs. — VNS
