Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Sinh Hung

The National Assembly heated up Saturday when a representative asked a deputy prime minister why the government had not submitted a major bauxite mining project to the legislature for ratification.

On Thursday, deputy Nguyen Dang Trung had pointed out that the Ministry of Industry and Trade had divided the projects into smaller ones of less than VND20 trillion (US$1.12 billion) to bypass the assembly’s approval process. The national plan for bauxite mining includes 12 projects all linked to each other, Trung added.

According to a National Assembly resolution passed in 2006, only key national investment projects valued at VND20 trillion or above required approval of the legislature.

On Thursday, the Minister of Industry and Trade Vu Huy Hoang had shrugged off the allegation that project planners had tried to bypass the legislative body by saying the projects were all independent and unrelated.

Saturday, representative Duong Trung Quoc asked Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Sinh Hung if the projects had been separated into smaller ones.

Hung dodged the question by saying it was best that the projects were implemented separately.

The government had conducted comprehensive feasibility studies for each project and they were set up in accordance with the law, he added.

“The bauxite plan has been the party and government’s policy for the last decade, aiming for the socioeconomic development of the Central Highlands, both in the short and long term,” Hung told the session.

Outsourcing?

Hung also defended the projects against allegations that they would be used to employ foreign laborers instead of Vietnamese.

He said the projects have employed 667 foreigners, including 663 Chinese laborers and 4 Australian experts.

A Vietnamese firm, not a joint venture, is the main investor of the two projects, said Hung.

In April, the Politburo, the decision-making body of the Central Communist Party, instructed the Vietnam Coal and Minerals Group (Vinacomin), the main investor, not to sell stakes to foreign partners.

Chinese Aluminum International Engineering Co. (Chalieco) was contracted to build an alumina extraction plant at the Tan Rai project in Lam Dong Province.

Overspending pegged at 7 percent of GDP

Deputy Prime Minister Hung said the government could strive to keep the state budget deficit at 7 percent or less of the gross domestic product (GDP) this year due to the higher crude oil prices, stronger tax and revenue management, and the prevention of inflation.

At the opening of the session, the government had proposed that the legislature increase this year’s state budget overspending to a maximum 8 percent of GDP from the previous goal of 4.82 percent.

Reported by Ngan Anh