Hanoi (VNA) – The Ministry of Transport equitised 137 State-ownedenterprises (SOEs) during 2011-16, surpassing the target by 67.

The firms’ initial public offering (IPO) earned 2.7 trillion VND (118.8 millionUSD), up 600 billion VND from the initial valuation, Minister Nguyen Van The saidat the National Assembly’s discussion on the implementation of the law onmanagement and use of State capital and estate in businesses and theequitisation of SOEs in 2011-16 on May 28.

According to statistics, in the period, 18 corporations were turned into jointstock companies, recording a 15 percent increase in revenue, a 194 percentsurge in post-tax profit, and a 32-percent rise in workers’ incomes.

Almost all equitised enterprises have to date reported effective operations andjoined the settlement of jobs for labourers and construction of key transportprojects, the minister added.

Also at the discussion, Government Inspector General Le Minh Khai said duringthe period, the Government Inspectorate conducted 19 inspections at Stategroups and corporations, detecting numerous violations. They proposedrecovering more than 1 trillion VND in violations for the State budget, dealingwith many organisations and individuals and transferring to the investigationagency to handle 16 cases and prosecute 17 others.

He pointed out shortcomings of enterprises such as incorrect and insufficientfinancial reports, which have yet to reflect the reality of State assets and limitationsof a small number of persons in the financial-accounting sector.

He proposed forming mechanisms encouraging leaders of enterprises to dobusiness better.

Meanwhile, Minister of Finance Dinh Tien Dung presented some related contents.He stressed SOEs are an important tool to ensure the effective implementationof policies toward macro stability, inflation control, response to marketfluctuation and creation of big revenue to the State budget, thus contributingto building and developing socio-economic infrastructure and accelerating economicrestructuring. They also contribute to carrying out defence-security and socialwelfare tasks .

Minister Dung affirmed there is no gap in the law in terms of management anduse of State capital and the equitisation of SOEs, adding that legal documentsare available such as laws, resolutions of the National Assembly, Governmentdecrees, the PM’s decisions and ministries’ circulars.

He agreed with the proposals of supervision delegations on the need to build ahigher legal framework on the equitisation of SOEs.

Discussing obstacles in the management and use of State capital, Minister Dungpointed out that regulations on principles, administrative rules and settlementof violations are not strict, leading to violations in obeying legalregulations on the management and use of State capital and assets atenterprises and the equitisation of SOEs.

Besides, the operational effectiveness of SOEs in 2011-16 period needs to beassessed in relation to the global economic downturn, he added.-VNA