The minister of Transport, Dinh La Thang, has stated that Vietnamese contractors would be able to carry out the planned projects if the Chinese government banned companies from bidding for contracts in Vietnam.

Contract for Haiphong Thermal Power Plan project goes to Chinese company

The Chinese government has temporarily ceased all bids from its state-owned companies for new contracts in Vietnam. This move is in the context of continuing tensions over a Chinese oil rig that has been illegally operating in Vietnamese waters. 

Dinh La Thang, Minister of Transport, said that the abilities of local contractors has improved greatly and that they are able to take on the jobs. "If Chinese contractors decide to not have anything to do with Vietnam, it's not a big problem," Thang said.

Meanwhile, the minister of Planning and Investment refused to comment.

Tran Hoang Ngan, member of National Assembly's Committee for Economics, said that Vietnamese contractors should focus increasing the skills of their workforce. 

According statistics from the National Assembly Finance and Budget Commission, as of 2010, 90% of engineering, procurement and construction contracts in Vietnam were given to Chinese contractors. It also registered a number of cases in which construction projects were behind schedule and the contractors had asked for more investment. 

One example is the Tan Rai Alumina Plant, which was managed by the Chinese contractor Chalieco, which exceeded its original budget by VND3.8 trillion (USD180 million).

In an attempt to improve transportation infrastructure, Minister Dinh La Thang reprimanded both Vietnamese and Chinese contractors for their inefficiency. Many Chinese contractors were responsible for very important projects in Vietnam.

NA deputy, Dang Ngoc Tung, said, "We don't understand why 90% of our electricity projects and 80% transport projects have been granted to Chinese contractors. Is it because of their cheap price?" Tung went on to say that it would be great if Vietnam could have high-quality works that were completed on time at low cost, however most of these projects became stagnant and exceeded their estimated budgets. The quality of many has turned out to be substandard and the Chinese contractors did not employ Vietnamese workers, he added. 

Economist Pham Chi Lan said that this is a chance for Vietnam to be less dependent on China and create more favourable conditions for domestic firms.