Real estate firms struggling due to lack of trained staff
Poor human resources and management were among the reasons why real
estate companies were facing so many difficulties, Nguyen Ngoc Thanh,
deputy chairman of the Viet Nam National Real Estate Association, said
at a conference held earlier this month.
Investors at the Ecopark real estate trading floor in Ha Noi.
Viet Nam is facing a serious shortage of well-trained staff in the real estate sector.
His statement mirrored the same opinion held by Dr Nguyen Minh Ngoc,
deputy head of the National Economics University (NEU)'s Real Estate and
Resource Economics Faculty, who attributed failure in the real estate
sector to low professionalism.
That was partly because the majority of people working in real estate
did not receive proper training or any training at all, Ngoc said.
According to Thoi bao Kinh te Viet Nam (VNEconomy) e-newspaper, a survey
conducted by Ernst and Young revealed that 70 per cent of people
working in the real estate sector said they struggled to do business and
benefit from the industry.
The Viet Nam National Real Estate Association said Viet Nam currently
had 446 colleges and universities, but only a few offered proper
training in real estate.
The country, therefore, was facing a serious shortage of staff
professionally trained in real estate, especially those who met
international standards.
Ngoc said the NEU was currently the only university with a real estate faculty.
There were only several other universities in Ha Noi and HCM City that
taught real estate related subjects, while training centres only offered
short-term courses that lasted a few months.
Ngoc said that society as a whole, including policy makers, was not aware of the importance of training in real estate.
Many people, including business owners, thought they just needed money and some experience to invest in real estate.
Real estate investors, Ngoc pointed out, made investments either through
real estate brokers or following their own ideas of the real estate
market.
"Some people do not even consider taking short-term courses, let alone going to university to get a degree."
Nevertheless, there were dozens of thousands of people working in real
estate or real estate-related sectors and there were about 10,000
operating real estate brokerage agencies.
Nguyen Thanh Nam, a former real estate agent in Ha Noi, said he had a
major in banking, but did not receive any training in real estate before
he was employed by his former company.
"Most of my former colleagues did not study real estate at college,
although they did have degrees in business administration or banking,"
Nam said, adding that real estate companies often did not require their
employees to have a degree in real estate.
Dr Ngoc said every economy was dependent on the development of the real estate industry.
He added that in many countries including Singapore and Japan, training
in real estate was deemed very important, and most economics and
technical universities either had a real estate department or offered
courses in real estate.
In these countries, training in real estate was regarded as important as
banking and finance, but there were only a few hundred people receiving
university-level training in Viet Nam each year as opposed to 25-30,000
people pursuing a major in banking or finance, said Ngoc.
"Only two third of these graduates pursue real estate as a profession, while the rest pursue other areas."
In the past four years, around 50,000 people have received short-term training in real estate and obtained certificates.
Ngoc said it was important to raise social awareness about the importance of training in real estate.
He added policy makers in particular must be more aware.
The Viet Nam National Real Estate Association said it would organise
training courses in the third and fourth quarters of this year. The
programme is currently recruting learners.
But Ngoc of the National Economics University said that his university was not involved in these programmes.
He said there was a lack of co-operation among universities that offered
training in real estate and between those universities and State
management organisations.
British Telecom eyes Vietnam market
The British telecom giant is seeking business opportunities in Asian
countries with high growth and large population, including Vietnam.
Channelnewsasia.com reported that BT regards those potential markets of
Vietnam, the Philippines and Indonesia as key drivers of its expansion
strategy in the near future.
The news wire quoted Tim Harris, CEO of British Telecom Southeast Asia, as saying BT plans to double its market share in Asia.
"We're very positive on Asia. We grew a double digit growth last year,
and our intention is to grow twice the size at the market,” said Harris.
“We'll be investing significantly further into the region. Because
that's where we see our customers investing a lot at the moment."
BT said the Asian market for its services is growing strongly at 6
percent a year overall and 15 percent for managed services. It estimates
that the Asian market for its services is worth 8 billion pounds
(US$12.56 billion).
EWEC 2012 Fair attracts 30,000 visitors
The 2012 International East-West Economic Corridor (EWEC) Trade and
Tourism Fair in the central city of Danang has drawn 30,000 visitors and
fetched more than VND3 billion.
There were 300 stalls put up by nearly 200 domestic and foreign
businesses, including those from Laos, Thailand, Myanmar, Finland, to
showcase different kinds of products such as wood furniture, coffee,
cosmetics, household commodities, electronic spare parts, and
high-technology equipment.
The fair successfully closed on August 21, creating favourable
conditions for domestic and foreign businesses to seek trade and
investment opportunities and promote tourism services.
Global crisis under discussion in Hanoi
Forty scholars from Vietnam and abroad discussed the global financial
crisis and assessed strategies from left-wing and progressive social
movements throughout Southeast Asia.
The August 21-22 conference, held by the Vietnamese Peace and
Development Foundation (VPDF) in coordination with the Rosa Luxemburg
Stiftung (RLS) and the South-South People’s Solidarity Network, aimed to
identify the impact of the current crisis and develop new solutions to
it.
Addressing the event, Former Vice-State President Nguyen Thi Binh
reviewed the world’s complicated socio-economic situation to date as
well as the responses from various social movements in Southeast Asia
over recent years.
The 2007-08 global financial crisis, compounded by the recent public
debt problems in the eurozone, have led to serious consequences facing
global prosperity, especially considering other challenges such as the
environment, food security, climate change, and society, she said.
Binh, who is also VPDF President, highlighted the development of progressive social movements in Southeast Asia.
She also noted that social institutions have promoted the exchange of
information and fostered cooperative partnerships, contributing to the
establishment of an ASEAN community that ultimately aspires to world
peace, economic development and political stability.
Binh then briefed participants on the socio-economic situation in
Vietnam, saying that the Renewal Process has paid off well to make
Vietnam become a middle-income nation.
It not only offers opportunities but also poses challenges for Vietnam given the global context, she said.
During the two-day event, participants reviewed the impact of the
interlocking crises – ecological, debt, financial, food, energy and
climate - which confronts everyone.
They said that measures taken by states and international institutions
so far have not been able to get to the root of the problem, but have
merely transferred the burden from financial institutions to the public
as well as worsened the situation across economic, social, and political
spheres.
Youth unemployment in the EU has increased 22.6 percent since 2008 with
Greece, Spain, Portugal, and Italy having the highest rates at over 50
percent, they cited.
In Asia, more than 900 million people live in extreme poverty, 1.08
billion work in insecure employment and 600 million go hungry every day.
The conference also discussed the situation of people’s movements and
the strategies of Southern countries in dealing with the crisis.
Denmark assists agricultural development in Dak Lak
More than VND30 billion out of the VND56.5 billion committed by Denmark
for the Central Highland province of Dak Lak has been disbursed so far
this year.
Provincial leaders reported the figure at a working session with the Deputy Ambassador Lis Rosenholm in Dak Lak on August 22.
Dak Lak is one of the five provinces which benefit from the agricultural
and rural development programme funded by the Danish Government.
This year, VND56.5 billion has been assigned to the province to develop
rural areas, improve living standards for the poor, build irrigation
works, increase competitiveness, expand markets and protect natural
resources and the environment.
Nguyen Huu Chung, Vice-Director of the Provincial Department of
Agriculture and Rural Development, said the province has established
steering boards to manage the funding, which will deliver numerous
socio-economic benefits to local people.
At the working session, the provincial leaders also proposed that Demark
provide additional aid of VND55 billion for the province to implement
the support programme in 2013.
Ms Lis agreed with the proposal and said the aid will be announced in September.
Vietnam-China int’l roads open to public
An opening ceremony for new overland routes that link Hanoi to Nanning
and Shenzhen took place at the Huu Nghi Border Gate in the northern
province of Lang Son on August 22.
The event is a landmark in Vietnamese-Chinese economic and trade cooperation, deepening their comprehensive ties.
The roads will shorten waiting times, reduce transport costs and make it
more convenient for people to travel and exchange trade between the two
countries across their land borders.
They also testify to the close ties between Lang Son and the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (GZAR) in recent years.
The two localities are working together to develop the Nanning-Lang
Son-Hanoi-Haiphong economic corridor, in line with the agreement on “two
corridors, one economic belt” signed by top Vietnamese and Chinese
leaders.
The new corridor makes up part of the greater Nanning-Singapore economic
corridor that has boosted relations between China, Vietnam and other
ASEAN countries.
During the past year, Lang Son has endeavoured to create preferential
conditions for transport activities from Vietnam to China and vice
versa.
There are presently over 30,000 vehicles carrying goods and 40,000-50,000 taking people across the border region every year.
Hanoi, Hoi An listed in Asia’s top ten attractive destinations
The capital of Hanoi and the central ancient city of Hoi An have been
listed in the 2012 top-ten attractive travel destinations in Asia.
The Hanoi Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism announced on August
22 that Hong Kong-based Smart Travel Asia, a leading online travel
magazine, voted Hanoi as the 6th most attractive venue and Hoi An as
7th, successfully maintaining their positions from the previous year.
On the top of the list is Bali in Indonesia, followed by Phuket in Thailand, then Hong Kong.
The honour also means the capital will have new opportunities to promote
its image and prestige to international tourism and business.
Rice prices tipped to remain high
The price of rice, especially the low-quality IR 50404, rose sharply
this week, 10 days after the completion of a Government programme to buy
500,000 tonnes of the grain for reserve.
Yesterday farmers in the Mekong Delta sold undried IR 50404 paddy for
VND4,800 to VND5,000 per kilogramme, and dried IR 50404 for VND5,600 -
VND5,700.
Pham Thai Binh, director of Can Tho-based rice export firm Trung An Co,
said rice prices increased by VND300-400 in the Mekong Delta provinces
of An Giang, Dong Thap, and Tien Giang and Can Tho city in the past
week.
Unpolished IR 50404 rice was sold for VND7,450-7,750, and long-grain
rice for up to VND7,700. If polished, they fetched VND1,000 more.
Tran Ba Dai, a farmer in Vinh Hanh Commune in An Giang Province's Chau
Thanh District, said these prices would fetch him profits of VND15
million per hectare.
"Farmers are very happy because they are selling paddy at the highest
prices during this summer-autumn crop," Duong Nghia Quoc, director of
the Dong Thap Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, told Viet
Nam News yesterday.
At these prices, Dong Thap farmers can earn profits of 30 per cent as mandated by the Government, he said.
Tran Van Thom, a trader in An Giang Province's An Phu District, said it
was the high demand for paddy from exporters and news about a new
contract to sell 500,000 tonnes of rice to Indonesia that had helped
push prices up.
The increasing volumes of rice bought by Cambodian traders across the
border - for selling to Thailand — could push prices further up, he
said.
Nguyen Trung Kien, general director of Gentraco Can Tho and deputy
chairman of the Viet Nam Food Association, said rice export prices rose
by US$5 per tonne from last week.
Now, 5 per cent broken rice fetched $430-440 per tonne, and 25 per cent broken rice, up to $415.
At a meeting held in Kien Giang in mid-August to collect opinions for
drafting regulations on the rice reserve purchase, VFA chairman Truong
Thanh Phong said paddy-rice prices would continue to rise for the rest
of this year.
Binh Thuan halts new industrial parks
The People's Committee of the central province of Binh Thuan late last
week asked the Ministry of Industry and Trade for approval to remove 13
industrial complexes with a combined area of over 430ha from its
masterplan for 2015.
A decade ago, Binh Thuan mapped out a plan to develop more than 40
complexes with a total area of 1,628ha, but only 12 have been put into
operation.
They have attracted 220 projects with total registered capital of VND513
billion (US$24.4 million), and generated 3,520 jobs for local
residents.
The remaining complexes had been ratified by the province for investment
development, but construction has been slow and some investors have
gone out of business.
For instance, Hamico Binh Thuan Mineral JSC had registered to build
infrastructure for the Ba Dang Shipbuilding Industrial Complex on an
area of 50ha. However, the province decided to withdraw the project's
investment certificate due to slow investment and construction.
Also under the original plan, six complexes were to be built in Duc Linh
District covering a combined area of 260ha, but 10 years later, these
complexes are covered by hundreds of low-tech brick kilns.
Provincial chairman Le Tien Phuong attributed the situation to the fact
that the masterplan had not defined the practical demands of local
enterprises, and was hence unfeasible.
According to the provincial People's Committee, slow construction at
some key sites such as Ke Ga Port and the Dau Giay – Phan Thiet Highway;
poor transport infrastructure; and limited water supplies and
wastewater treatment systems had also hindered investment.
"The province has petitioned the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the
Government to issue preferential policies to create favourable
conditions for localities and provinces to attract investment in
infrastructure construction and complex development, especially in
disadvantaged areas," he said.
Forum examines mobile marketing
The Mobile Marketing Association will host the MMA Forum for the first time in Viet Nam on October 25 in HCM City.
The forum, organised in cooperation with Goldsun Focus Media, will be an
opportunity for brands, agencies and service providers to learn more
about mobile marketing from a distinguished group of speakers
representing global brands.
The day-long conference will discuss the unique market dynamics of Viet
Nam and also share insights on global and regional mobile-marketing best
practices.
The event is expected to attract 300 industry experts and marketers from Viet Nam and other countries.
Delegates will have the opportunity to meet and exchange experiences
with outstanding speakers from Google, GroupM, Mobext, Cherrypick, Opera
Software, Madhouse, TeliBrahma, Ford, Millennial Media, Amobee and
Yoose, among others.
The event is designed to be helpful for agencies, technology innovators
and publishers looking to chart an effective mobile-marketing strategy
to woo customers by integrating mobile with other channels.
Viet Nam is a key mobile market in the APAC region with over 120 million mobile subscribers.
According to global market research firm Cimigo, mobile internet users
make up 60 per cent of the total number of internet users in the
country.
Boom expected in mobile management software
SAP, the German technology leader in business management software and
solutions, plans to double its global income, from US$110 billion in
2010 to $230 billion by 2015.
The goal was announced yesterday in HCM City at SAP's biggest annual
event, the SAP Forum Viet Nam to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the
company.
More than 300 customers and partners attended the forum, which discussed
the latest innovations in sales, services, marketing, human resources,
procurement, finance, supply chain and IT.
Smartlink expands co-operation with banks
Smartlink Card JSC is offering inter-bank money transfer services via
credit cards for cardholders of two local banks (Oceanbank and
VietABank).
Accordingly, cardholders of the Ocean Bank and VietABank are able to
perform their transactions in the inter-bank money transfer service or
receive money to cardholders of both local or international banks such
as Vietcombank, ACB, Sacombank and Eximbank, TienPhongBank, SHB, HDBank,
MB, GP.Bank, VPBank and VIB.
Life insurers offer new intergrated products
Generali Life Vietnam, which came to the country around a year ago from
Italy, has launched GVL-Link, a client portal for group insurance that
integrates products, services, and healthcare services, and benefits
both customers and medical partners.
The first software of its kind, it enables customers to have information
at their fingertips about the benefits and progress of claim
settlement. It also helps medical partners streamline paperwork for
insured customers.
Fuji Xerox to set up plant this year in Hai Phong
Construction of the Fuji Xerox Hai Phong factory will begin in December
this year, with the plant set to begin operations from November 2013.
The Fuji Xerox Hai Phong project will have a charter capital of US$36
million and total investment in this project is at $113.5 million.
The plant will manufacture components for devices such as printed wiring boards and drum cartridges.
The project, to cover 176,700sq.m in the Viet Nam- Singapore Industrial
Park with 46,700sqm reserved for building the plant, will also
manufacture digital multi-functional devices and small-sized
light-emitting diode (LED).
Domestic airlines to increase aircraft fleets
Managing director of Air Mekong Luong Hoai Nam said the airline would
lease two more Airbus 321 planes, bringing the firm's total fleet to six
aircraft.
The two new planes would arrive Viet Nam in December this year.
In another development, a representative of JetStar Pacific said the
airline would lease four more Airbus A320 planes from now to the end of
this year. It is expected to receive the first two aircraft this month.
Firms overlook provisional funds in first-half reports
Many listed companies, in order to report profits for the first half of
the year, have omitted provisions for risky financial investments in
their required financial reports to the nation's two stock exchanges.
Many reports were given "qualified opinions" by auditors due to the
decision to delay reporting these provisions until full-year reports are
prepared. A qualified opinion suggests that the information reported
was limited in scope and/or the report had not adhered to GAAP
accounting principles.
Petrolimex International Trading Co (PIT) posted a net profit of almost
VND97 billion (US$4.6 million) in the first six months of this year, but
in the reviewed first-half report, auditing firm Deloitte noted that
PIT had not made the required allowance of VND3.36 billion ($160,000)
against a bad debt of Derya Ticaret Co Ltd totalling VND4.85 billion
($231,000).
American Auditing Co also noted that textile company Mirae (KMR) had not
made an allowance for the bad debt of its major shareholder, Fiber Tech
Co, totalling VND47.33 billion ($2.3 million). By delaying the
provision to the end-of-year report, KMR was able to report a net profit
of VND1.08 billion ($51,400) in the first half of the year.
Reports from Vinavico Investment Construction & Mining Co (CTM), Da
Nang Construction Building Materials & Cement Co (DXV) and Thang
Long Telecomunications Co (TLC) were also given "qualified opinions" for
the failure to make provisions for bad debts, risky financial
investments or foreign exchange losses.
Semiannual reports were provided for reference for investors and were
not bound by strict accounting standards like audit reports, said the
head of the financial investment department of HCM City University of
Economics, Le Dat Chi, in remarks made to Thoi bao Kinh te Sai Gon
(Saigon Economic Times) newspaper.
In fact, auditors would not verify accounts receivable, delayed payment,
or bad debts of companies in the review reports, Chi said.
"Companies are forced to make provisions for inventory changes, bad
debts and securities investments in the reporting period, but if they do
not do this in the first six months, it will only be deemed missing but
not a violation of the regulation on setting up provisional funds," Chi
said.
Nevertheless, he said, qualified opinions in the six-month reports were
notable as they reflected on the financial situation of businesses and
could affect their profitability at the end of the year.
New 1,300km route boosts China trade
Trucks and coaches yesterday began using a new 1,300km route linking Ha Noi in Viet Nam with Shenzen in China.
The route, together with another between Ha Noi and Nanning, was
inaugurated at Lang Son Province's Huu Nghi (Friendship) border gate in
the presence of leaders and transport officials from the two countries.
Previously, transport operators were only allowed to travel up to 20km into each other's national territory.
"The new agreement will have a profound impact not only on bilateral
trade and tourism, but also on Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS) transport
facilitation," said Yushu Feng, principal economist for regional
co-operation at the Asian Development Bank, which backed the agreement.
The removal of restrictions is expected to reduce travelling costs and
time, boosting two way trade and developing an economic corridor taking
in Nanning, Lang Son, Ha Noi and Hai Phong.
Under the agreement, trucks and coaches are allowed to travel between
major economic zones in China's Yunnan province, Guangxi Zhuang
autonomous region, Guangdong Province and six provinces in Viet Nam,
including Lang Son, Quang Ninh and the cities of Ha Noi and Hai Phong.
Each country will be able to issue up to 15,100 permits for trucks and
coaches for travel within the border province area, and each will be
able to issue up to 500 permits for trucks and coaches to go to inland
provincial areas.
Another significant route, connecting Kunming to Ha Noi and Hai Phong, was inaugurated in Kunming last Thursday.
BOT thermal plants make slow progress
Thermal power plants under the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) model are
expected to significantly increase the power supply in Viet Nam once
they are up and running. However, some projects have stalled due to
problems with land clearance and capital allocation.
According to the National Power Grid Development Plan for the 2011-20
period with a vision to 2030, eight BOT thermal power plants should be
completed, but progress at some sites has been slow.
Investors have asked the Government to make tax exemptions for imported
materials, and said that developing infrastructure should be a common
responsibility for all investors.
A representative from the Mong Duong 2 plant, which is 40 per cent
completed, said that under the BOT contract, by December this year,
infrastructure such as trainlines for the plant will have been
completed, but progress had been slow.
Electricity of Viet Nam (EVN) had said they would provide a 500KV
transmission line to plants in Quang Ninh, but work is yet to start on
these projects.
Nguyen Chien Thang, deputy director of the Viet Nam National Coal and
Mineral Industries Corporation (Vinacomin), told online newspaper Cong
Thuong (Industry and Trade) that his corporation was determined to
supply coal to Mong Duong 2 Plant, and in the worst scenario, would
transport coal by road.
The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) needed to deal with land
clearance issues at the Vinh Tan 1 and 3 thermo-electric plants.
Vinacomin had spent VND800 billion (US$38.4 million) on land clearance
but they didn't know how they would make their money back, Thang said.
Dang Hoang An, deputy general director of EVN, said that they would
complete the 25-km transmission line to connect the Mong Duong 2 Plant
and Quang Ninh's Ha Long City.
The cost of land clearance would be covered by electricity prices. The
main issue was where to source investment capital, An said.
Party members told to strive hard to increase production
Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong has called on 75,000 party
members employed by corporations and banks to work harder to accomplish
their objectives of business and production development.
Speaking at a meeting to review the last five years of the Party
Committee of the Central Business Bloc in the capital yesterday, Trong
was full of praise for the achievements gained by the Party Committee
and its affiliates nationwide in the context of the global economic and
financial crisis and difficulties and challenges that many state
corporations had been coping with.
"Despite all this you have accomplished the tasks that the Party and
Government assigned you. You have supplied essential commodities to the
national economy and provided jobs for many people to ensure stable
incomes," Trong said.
He said State corporations played a key role in helping the Party and
Government regulate the market and stabilise the macroeconomy while
promoting national economic development and defending the homeland.
In the past five years since April 2007 when the Party Committee of the
Central Business Bloc was established, annually, State corporations and
groups have contributed about 40 per cent of GDP – a key factor to
ensure the success of social security programmes.
Trong said the bloc had made remarkable progress, particularly in the
fields of personnel planning and training for future leaders.
However, he also criticised weaknesses in Party building work in many parent and affiliate companies.
"Production efficiency at many state corporations and banks has not met
their potential given the amount of State investment and advantages they
have been given. Many corporations have invested in non-core business
activities causing huge losses to the State while undermining the
reputation of State enterprises."
He asked all business party committees to pay more attention to the work
of party building – a very important task laid down in Resolution 4 of
the Party Central Committee.
"Strong party building work will ensure the effective implementation of
political tasks assigned by the Party and Government, and promote
business and production development," Trong said.
In his report, Bui Van Cuong, alternate member of the Party CC and
Secretary of the Party Committee of the Central Business Bloc, said that
at present the bloc had nearly 75,000 party members in 1,108 affiliate
party committees and 4,798 party cells nationwide.
"We have realised our key role in national socio-economic development.
We have successfully completed many projects, particularly in the
northwestern and Central Highlands regions," Cuong said.
In the past five years, State corporations and groups have extended
support of VND1,480 billion ($72.2 million) to 54 of the 62 poorest
districts in the country, and contributed VND6 trillion ($292.7 million)
to national social security programmes.
Urban railway contractor sacked
A contractor on the new Nhon-Ha Noi railway line route has been sacked for failing to meet construction deadlines.
State-owned Vinaconex 2 will be replaced after falling three months behind schedule.
The sacking was ordered by Ha Noi People's Committee Vice Chairman Nguyen Van Khoi.
The city's Urban Railway Management Board has been assigned to propose a
contractor to replace Vinaconex 2, which is an offshoot of the Viet Nam
Construction and Import-Export Corporation.
Work on the $865m section of railway, which includes 8.5km of aerial
track, 4km of underground track and 12 stations, began in September
2010.
How is the execution of the project to date?