Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - After social distancing orders were eased in manyprovinces and cities, businesses have been working to resume operations,ensure orders are fulfilled and production chains restored.

Factories in industrial parks are reopening, but can’t run at full capacity dueto preventive measures for COVID-19. 

“Currently, leather and footwear companies in the industrial park only operateat about 30-40 percent of capacity,” said Phan Thi Thanh Xuan, GeneralSecretary of the Vietnam.
Restrictions arebeing lifted at a normally busy time of the year with festivals andcelebrations, which is also the main shopping season in many countries.However, not all businesses are benefiting this year. 

“Our southern companies have missed this Christmas season since we have toprepare from August. At the moment, only northern factories can meetdemand for the Christmas and year-end holidays,” Xuan added. 

“And actually they are speeding up.”

However, disruptions during social distancing still strongly affectedindustries, causing many enterprises to struggle in restarting production.

Each province carries out different requirements, with some very open insupporting businesses, while others were not, said the general secretary ofLefaso.

“Workforce is not a problem for us at the moment as we run at low capacity, butlocal rules are,” Xuan said.

The special working group of the Ministry of Industry and Trade noted that in BinhDuong province, most businesses’ concerns were over procedures to return toproduction, testing requirements, operating under the “three-green” modeland vaccine issues. 

All enterprises in Binh Duong’s industrial cluster have resumed operations, butthe capacity has only reached 44 percent compared to the pre-pandemic period. 

As soon as the normal state returns, the Department of Industry and Trade of Binh Duong suggested that businesses wishing to return to operation developplans in the new situation, send them to all related agencies andimmediately start the work. 

Binh Duong province will give the rights to enterprises to resume production,and the local government will carry out post-inspection work. 

The Department of Industry and Trade of Binh Duong has issued a guidingdocument approving the granting of initiative rights for enterprises to reopen,while the State management agency will perform post-check to acceleratethe restoration of production. Currently, Binh Duong province has allowedbusinesses to test and issue certificates for workers to travel by themselves. 

Moreover, Binh Duong’s authorities also allowed businesses to access qualitytest kits for only a few tens of thousands of dong pertest. Enterprises are allowed to combine 3-5 samples, so the cost of testingfor each worker will be very low. At the same time, the time limit for testresults is up to 7 days. Workers in Binh Duong have received the first dose ofvaccine and it is expected that the second dose will be completed this month.

A report on industrial production from the southern special working group ofthe Ministry of Industry and Trade showed that in Ben Tre province, theactivities of enterprises are relatively stable, with obstacles basically beingsolved, creating favourable conditions for enterprises to resume businessactivities, as well as deploy disease prevention measures.

As of October 13, the whole province recorded 2,258 enterprises in operationwith 67,015 employees.

Of which, there are eight companies operating under the “three-on-site"model with 863 employees, while 2,250 businesses operating in the new situationwith 66,152 employees.

Southern governments also implemented plan No 6601/KH-UBND on bringingworkers back to HCM City and the provinces of Binh Duong, Dong Nai andLong An to work.

Data showed that as of October 8, there were 1,056 registered workers in BenTre city. 
Currently, Bến Tre provincehas 2,224 enterprises operating with 65,430 employees, accounting for 54 percentof the total number of operating enterprises and up 1,559 enterprises comparedto when Directive 16 was applied. 

Accordingly, 19 companies operate under the “three-on-site" modelwith 3,393 employees, while the rest operate in production in the newsituation with 62,037 employees.

In Dong Nai province, there were a total of 3,898 companies completing theself-assessment on the risk of COVID-19 infection at the enterprise, accordingto the special working group of the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

The result showed that more than 3,180 businesses are in the low-risk group,while only 49 in the medium-risk group.

Businesses in the province are restoring production activities accordingto plans to ensure safety against the pandemic.

Of which, as of October 11, in the industrial park, the total number ofenterprises implementing the "three-on-site" model is 1,176,with a total of 154,699 resident workers. Meanwhile, there are 139enterprises implementing the plan for workers to go home every day with a totalregistered workforce of 41,762 people./.