Deputy Prime Minister - Le Minh Khai works on handling Phuong Nam Pulp Factory project

Attending the meeting were representatives of the Government Office, central ministries and branches; Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the People's Committee of Long An - Nguyen Van Ut; Vice Chairman of Long An People's Committee - Nguyen Minh Lam, leaders of departments, branches and leaders of Thanh Hoa district.

Deputy Prime Minister - Le Minh Khai asks Ministry of Industry and Trade to coordinate with relevant ministries and branches to propose solutions to handle in accordance with the legal order in the spirit of terminating the project

Phuong Nam Pulp Factory Project is located in Thuan Nghia Hoa commune, Thanh Hoa district, Long An province with an area of over 45 hectares. The project was approved by the Prime Minister to Transport Development Investment Company (TRACODI) as an investor in October 2003 with a capital of more than 1,487 billion VND and the scale of 100,000 tons of pulp/year. In November 2007, TRACODI adjusted its total investment to nearly 2,287 billion VND.

Due to the investor's difficulties, in June 2009, Prime Minister decided to transfer the project investor from TRACODI to Vietnam Paper Corporation (VINAPACO). The total amount of capital TRACODI invested in the project was over 2,000 billion VND. In June 2012, VINAPACO basically completed construction, equipment installation and no-load test. However, the load test failed. VINAPACO continued to adjust the total investment to nearly 3,410 billion VND and looked for ways to put the project into operation but the factory could not operate.

Deputy Prime Minister - Le Minh Khai (center, front row) visits the field at Phuong Nam Pulp Factory project, Thanh Hoa district

VINAPACO also negotiated many times to re-sign the test run contract with the ANDRITZ Contractor, but ANDRITZ did not commit to guarantee the final product results because of the contractor's obligations with the contract to provide equipment and technical service had ended. After comprehensively reviewing and evaluating the current status of the project, relevant ministries, branches and units, the Ministry of Industry and Trade found that the project had not achieved its goals, was not feasible to put into operation and propose to the Government to allow the project to be stopped.

In 2014, the Prime Minister agreed to the proposal of the Ministry of Industry and Trade to stop the project investment, and at the same time assigned the Ministry of Industry and Trade to develop a plan to handle the project such as liquidation, sale,etc.

At the meeting, representatives of ministries, sectors and investment units said that this is a project of a State-owned enterprise, having gone through many different legal stages and facing many difficulties. Up to now, the factors to keep the project operating are not feasible, and selling and liquidating the entire line is also impossible. Therefore, it is necessary to consider the solutions of equipment cluster auction or liquidation. The project handling must be based on the law, which must clarify debts, debt settlement plans, plans for handling assets on land, etc.

Delegates attending the meeting

Speaking at the meeting, Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee - Nguyen Van Ut emphasized the project was stalled for too long, for nearly 20 years. Central and provincial ministries, branches and provinces have also repeatedly removed difficulties, yet the project could not be put into operation because the production technology was not suitable for raw materials, and the planning area for raw materials is no longer available; calculating input costs and output products are inefficient; wasting land for a long time, causing frustration of people in the project area, etc. Therefore, Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee proposed that the Government and the Politburo should stop the project.

Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee - Nguyen Van Ut speaks at the meeting

Concluding his speech, Deputy Prime Minister, Head of the Steering Committee to handle shortcomings and weaknesses of a number of projects that are behind schedule and inefficient in the Industry and Trade sector - Le Minh Khai said that the Phuong Nam Pulp Factory project was started construction nearly 20 years ago. This is one of 12 inefficient projects of the Industry and Trade industry in recent years. The delayed processing of this project causes a huge waste of resources.

The Deputy Prime Minister asked the Ministry of Industry and Trade to analyze, evaluate and have specific solutions according to its competence to propose the final plan in a feasible spirit. In the spirit of terminating the project, the Deputy Prime Minister noted that the relevant property, land and debt should be handled in accordance with the law.

The Deputy Prime Minister requested the Ministry of Industry and Trade to coordinate with relevant ministries, branches, units as well as localities to summarize before April 15, 2023, report to the Steering Committee to submit to the Government Party Personnel Committee for opinions. direction of the Politburo.

Before the meeting, the delegation also had a field survey at the Phuong Nam Pulp Factory project./.

By Staffs - Translated by Q. Thien

Source: https://baolongan.vn/pho-thu-tuong-chinh-phu-le-minh-khai-lam-viec-ve-xu-ly-du-an-nha-may-bot-giay-phuong-nam-a152128.html