Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - Thanks to a scheme for State-owned enterprise (SOEs)restructuring during 2016-2020, many unprofitable plants have beenreinvigorated, according to reports.

Vietnam Oiland Gas Group (PVN) revealed that in 2021 four of its plants were taken off thelist of 12 large-scale lossmaking plants in the industrial and commercialsector.

These fourplants include Dinh Vu polyester plant under Vietnam Petrochemical and FiberJSC (VNPOLY) and Dung Quat bioethanol plant under Central Petroleum BiofuelJSC.

Dinh Vupolyester came into operation in May 2014 but frequently ran at a loss as itsrevenues were dwarfed by operation costs. The plant accordingly had to ceaseoperation in September 2015.

In April 2018,three of its production lines was put back into operation thanks to the schemefor SOEs restructuring. In late 2018, the number of active production linesrose to 10.

VNPOLYreported that the company had up to 27 production lines operating in 2021 witha total capacity of 10,700 tons of yarn per year. Its yarn carved outa niche in the international market and received orders from such leadingbrands as Adidas and Target.

“Earningsbefore fixed charges were estimated at 16 billion VND (704,691 USD). In 2021,VNPOLY successfully renewed nine out of 11 contracts with Vinatex’s agenciesand became an agent of several major fibre manufacturers including Xiangly andHengyi,” said a VNPOLY representative.

As the planthas begun to pick up steam, VNPOLY now can stand on its own feet and no longerneed stakeholder financial support, the representative added.

Dung Quatbioethanol began production in February 2012. As ethanol market prices werenormally lower than the plant’s costs, it was unable to break even and it hadto close down in April 2015.

In October2018, the plant was brought back to life and won its first contract with SàiGòn Sundries Investment and Trading JSC to produce 42,000 cubic metres ofethanol.

DAP-1 Hai Phongunder DAP VINACHEM JSC was another plant that did quite well last year.

DAP-1 Hai Phongproduced its first fertiliser batch in April 2009. It made the first loss of 461.8billion VND (20.4 million USD) in 2016 and found itself among the 12 ailingplants of the industrial and commercial sectors.

Afterrestructuring, the plant began to operate profitably and had its name removedfrom the list. By late Q3 2021, its earnings hit around 158 billion VND (7million USD), 232 percent higher than the full-year target. Eleven-month outputreached 239,362 tonnes, up 31 percent compared to 2020.

It is alsoworth noting that the Government has urged agencies to clear all thebacklogs to have Thai Binh 2 thermal plant connected to the national power gridin 2022.

Thai Binh 2 isan unfinished billion-dollar project that incurs a daily expense of billions of VND to the State Budget to service itsdebts. The project began construction in March 2011 but was unable to finishafter ten years. Its financial burden caused public dismay.

Deputy PrimeMinister Le Van Thanh carried out on-ground inspections of the project lastyear and requested workers to complete the remaining work. People had towork in a rush to finish the project on time. Thanks to their efforts,everything went according to plan.

“GeneratorNumber 1 will connect to the power grid on May 19, 2022. Coal combustion startson June 16 and power generation in Number 1 begins on November 30. GeneratorNumber 2 follows suit on December 31,” said the manager in charge of theproject.

Currently, theoverall project is 87 percent complete, construction 85 percent and design 100 percent.The number of workers employed on the ground stays at 459, the manager added.

Thai Binh 2power plant is expected to add 1,200 megawatts of power to the nationalgrid./.