'Super committee' managing $99 billion state capital deals with two challenges

Nearly two months after its official debut, the Committee for Management of State Capital (CMSC), otherwise known as "super committee" has officially taken charge of managing state capital worth VND2.3 quadrillion ($99 billion) invested at 19 State corporations and groups.

According to Nguyen Hoang Anh, Chairman of CMSC, the super committee will reorganize, renovate and restructure State-owned enterprises (SOEs). 

"The point is that how CMSC will be able to "preserve and develop capital" as directed by the Prime Minister," he emphasized.

Meanwhile, the reality shows that numerous projects and plans of these SOEs are still pending and have been delayed. Even, some of these SOEs are operating ineffectively such as Vinalines, Vinachem, Vinafood II.

Answering the question on how CMSC can run these SOEs effectively to avoid risks in capital management, Prof. Dr. Nguyen Mai, Chairman of the Vietnam Association of Foreign Investment Enterprises, former Deputy Chairman of the State Committee for Co-operation and Investment, said that CMSC was now facing two challenges which need to be overcome soon.

Firstly, these SOEs, which are operating in various fields, were previously managed by ministries such as the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, etc. Now, only CMSC is managing these SOEs with various areas, which is challenging the committee.

Secondly, although CMSC was established one year ago, its ordinance has just been issued.

For effective operation of CMSC, there must be an excellent apparatus, which should have better management and operation than previous ministries did. Meanwhile, the transference took a short time, but as planned, CMSC is likely to complete its entire apparatus by 2019.

That means, in the coming time, both CMSC and SOEs must jointly coordinate to ensure smooth operation and compliance with the law.

More importantly, the human resources, especially the heads of CMSC should be qualified and compassionate enough to manage the State’s assets.

Sharing the same point of view, Phan Duc Hieu, Vice Chairman of the Central Institute for Economic Management (CIEM), said that the transference of the rights of State representatives at 19 SOEs includes nine rights such as the right to appoint officials, approve production and business plans and the right to make decisions on financial investment issues, so on.

Thus, the super committee will be responsible for the profits and losses at 19 SOEs of which it is taking charge and responsible for the total value of the State assets assigned for management before the Government.

As a result, the super committees will take a huge responsibility for ensuring the efficient production and business operations of these SOEs as well as preserving and developing the capital to bring profits to the entire State enterprises.

In order to fulfill the assigned tasks, CMSC should pay great attention to the resources, especially the personnel and technology.