Preparing to expand Lach Quen fishing port with a total investment of over 200 billion VND

Comrade Hoang Nghia Hieu - Member of the Provincial Party Committee, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee chaired the conference. Also attending were representatives of the State Bank of Vietnam, Nghe An branch, relevant departments and branches, representatives of commercial banks and coastal districts and towns.

Representatives of relevant departments, branches and People's Committees of coastal districts and towns attended the conference to review policies to support offshore fishing. Photo: Nguyen Hai

Implementing Decree 67/2014/ND-CP of the Government on support policies for building new offshore fishing vessels, after 5 years of implementation. Nghe An has supported the building of 104 new fishing vessels, including 9 steel-hulled vessels, 5 composite-hulled vessels and 90 wooden-hulled vessels; the total value of the new construction is 1,246.9 billion VND. To date, people have paid off 156.741 billion VND; outstanding debt is 703.2 billion VND (of which overdue debt is 40 vessels and bad debt is 210.35 billion VND, accounting for 30% of total outstanding debt).

Lach Quen Port (Quynh Luu) needs upgrading and expansion. Photo: Xuan Hoang.

Since 2018, on the basis of Decree No. 17/CP amending and supplementing Decree 67/CP, the province has built 3 new steel-hulled ships with a total investment of 72 billion VND, of which fishermen invested 48 billion VND and the State supported 24 billion VND, but so far the policy source has not been supplemented, so fishermen are facing difficulties. In addition to interest rate support, the province also implements policies to support hull insurance and crew insurance and a number of support policies, training for chief engineers, captains, etc.

Propagating and supporting fishermen in exploiting, catching and protecting coastal aquatic resources. Photo: Nguyen Hai

Along with implementing interest rate support, the province also prioritizes investment resources to upgrade and expand a number of fishing ports, dredge estuaries and boat anchorage areas, and shelter from storms. The most prominent projects are the Cua Hoi fishing port upgrade project worth VND107 billion and Quynh Phuong fishing port worth VND67 billion. Currently, the provincial People's Committee is submitting for approval the upgrade and expansion of Lach Quen fishing port (Quynh Luu) with a total investment of over VND200 billion.

To implement Directive No. 45/CT-TTg dated December 13, 2017 of the Prime Minister on overcoming the European yellow card, the province has implemented synchronous solutions. In parallel with completing the system of monitoring, supervising and controlling fishing vessels to manage fishing activities and trace the origin of caught seafood, the province has established working groups to propagate and facilitate fishermen to register and inspect fishing vessels according to the new regulations of the Fisheries Law. In addition, the province has also established many working groups to monitor and enforce the law at the estuary and at sea.

In addition to the above results, the implementation of Decree 67/CP of the Government also revealed some limitations when the rate of overdue debt has increased, the steering committee of Decree 67/CP has not coordinated smoothly and closely; some insurance service providers have not really fulfilled their responsibilities in paying benefits as well as selling hull and hull insurance to fishermen according to regulations, people have not properly understood their responsibilities and obligations to repay loans for building ships. Decree 17/CP, which recently supplemented Decree 67/CP, also created some new problems, making it even more difficult for fishermen to access capital...

At the conference, representatives of the State Bank, commercial banks, insurance companies, People's Committees of districts and towns and representatives of fishermen spoke about the results and shortcomings and difficulties in implementing Decree 67/CP as well as Decree 17 amended in the past.

Overview of the conference. Photo: Nguyen Hai

Based on the comments of the delegates, Comrade Hoang Nghia Hieu - Member of the Provincial Party Committee, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee highly appreciated the role of departments and localities in implementing Decree 67/CP on supporting offshore shipbuilding and removing the European yellow card on combating illegal fishing.

Up to this point, it can be said that the implementation of Decree 67/CP in Nghe An has been successful with an offshore fleet and outstanding increase in fishing output. However, in reality, some limitations have been revealed, localities have not really accompanied in implementing the policy, fishermen have not really understood and complied with the Government's regulations on interest rate support.

Comrade Hoang Nghia Hieu - Member of the Provincial Party Committee, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee delivered a concluding speech emphasizing a number of contents that need to be implemented in the coming time. Photo: Nguyen Hai

In the coming time, along with perfecting the members of the Steering Committee for Decree 67/CP, members must continue to promote their roles and responsibilities, closely coordinate with banks and local authorities to propagate for people to fulfill their debt repayment obligations; work with insurance units on payment for cases of fishing vessels having accidents, remove difficulties to continue selling insurance according to regulations for fishing vessels and fishermen; supervise the installation of full technical safety equipment; for overdue debt collection, it is necessary to specifically review each specific debt case to find solutions, resolutely handle and sue cases of deliberate procrastination to serve as a basis for implementing new policies on shipbuilding for fishermen to go offshore fishing./.

Comrade Hoang Nghia Hieu - Member of the Provincial Party Committee, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee