The Vietnam National Coal-Mineral Industries Group (Vinacomin) must build itself into a powerful economic group, which will base on mining and energy industries as two pillars, said Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung.

PM Dung made this request during a working session in Hanoi on February 24, which was attended by the cabinet members and the leaders of the group.

The PM praised Vinacomin’s efforts to ensure a sufficient supply of coal for domestic consumption and exports, as well as carry out a number of projects regarding non-ferrous metals exploiting and processing, mining mechanical engineering and chemicals, thermo-electric power, shipbuilding, storage service and cement production, providing stable employment and income for 1.2 million workers.

However, he asked the group to improve its management capacity to prevent illegal coal mining and trading, and pay a special attention to labour safety and environmental protection in order to limit the number of labour accidents and adverse impacts on the environment.

The government leader also urged Vinacomin to pool more efforts to fulfill its output target of 100 million tonnes of coal in 2015 and act as a major coal importer to serve the nation’s industrialisation and modernisation process as well as domestic consumption.

The group needs to establish a subordinate corporation which will be in charge of thermo-electric power projects, he added.

Vinacomin General Director Tran Xuan Hoa reported that the group posted revenues of VND 6.1 trillion (US$348.5 million) in the first two months of 2009, an 8% increase compared to the same period last year.

The figure is estimated to hit VND 47 trillion (US$2.68 billion) by the end of this year, including VND 29.5 trillion from coal sales, Hoa said.

To reach the set targets, Vinacomin is focusing on promoting the sale of products, maintaining production and business efficiency, ensuring the implementation rate of infrastructure projects and improving its management capacity.

VietNamNet/ND