Revealing violations at Vietnam Airports Corporation

The Government Inspectorate (GIA) has just concluded a series of violations by the Airports Corporation of Vietnam (ACV) during its inspection of this unit. Notably, these violations have caused damage to customers as well as the State.

Recently, Deputy Inspector General of the Government Ngo Van Khanh signed Inspection Conclusion No. 2569/KL - TTCP on compliance with policies and laws on management, use of capital, assets, equitization, divestment and restructuring at ACV in the period 2012 - 2016.

Bidding and overcharging

In April 2016, the Government Inspectorate signed a decision to inspect ACV, at which time the enterprise officially operated under the model of a joint stock company.

According to the inspection conclusion, the Government Inspectorate discovered that from 2012 to 2015, ACV did not organize bidding but instead assigned bidding to organizations and individuals to rent terminal space for business purposes, which is not in accordance with the circular issued by the Ministry of Transport on the management and exploitation of Vietnamese airports and airfields with civil aviation activities.

Specifically, in 2014 and 2015, ACV signed 803 contracts to lease terminal premises with a total area of ​​120,221 m2, with a total revenue of VND701.1 billion. All of these cases were carried out in the form of designated bidding, without public bidding or auction.

According to the conclusion of the Government Inspectorate, 21/22 ports managed by ACV are collecting entrance fees from cars picking up and dropping off passengers.

In addition to the illegal bidding, the Government Inspectorate held ACV primarily responsible for overcharging and illegally charging some non-aviation service prices.

TTCP believes that the collection of fees not in accordance with the provisions of the Land Law and the Civil Aviation Law, although beneficial to ACV and the State (when ACV has not been equitized), seriously violates the provisions of the law, causing damage to passengers and there is currently no way to completely remedy the situation.

Accordingly, currently, 21/22 ports managed by ACV are collecting service fees for using the access roads to the airport terminal for cars picking up and dropping off passengers (not using parking services; only stopping for less than 3-5 minutes to pick up and drop off passengers) with ticket prices ranging from 7,000 - 30,000 VND and monthly tickets ranging from 600,000 - 1.65 million VND.

During the period from January 1, 2012 to December 31, 2015, total revenue from collecting entrance fees at 19/21 airports was VND 551 billion.

TTCP also stated that, in addition to the main responsibility belonging to ACV, if relevant agencies such as the Airport Authority and the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam did not loosen management; conduct inspections and handle promptly... then the airport management unit would not be able to commit such violations.

Millions of square meters of land have not been leased yet

Through inspection, the Government Inspectorate found that at the time of inspection, ACV had not completed procedures to lease 2 million square meters of land from the State.

Specifically, according to the inspection conclusion, ACV and 22 airport branches nationwide are managing and using more than 3,000 hectares of land.

The area that ACV has not completed land lease procedures for includes 1.97 million m2 of land at airports; 19,241.6 m2 of land outside airports (including 6 land addresses in Ho Chi Minh City with a total area of ​​over 13,212 m2; 5 aviation transaction centers and 1 apartment building with a total area of ​​about 6,000 m2.

At the time of inspection, ACV had not completed procedures to lease millions of square meters of land from the State.

This violates the provisions of Clause 2, Article 107, Land Law 2003 and Clause 2, Article 107, Land Law 2013 because the land lease procedures have not been completed.

In addition, the Government Inspectorate affirmed that ACV's failure to complete land lease procedures before switching to operate as a joint stock company also violated the provisions of Point c, Clause 3, Article 31, Decree No. 59/2011/ND-CP dated July 18, 2011 of the Government on converting 100% state-owned enterprises into joint stock companies.

This is the reason why ACV has not yet completed the equitization settlement until the time the Inspection Team issued the Conclusion (October 2017).

Regarding the management and use of land and assets on land of ACV, the Government Inspectorate affirmed that there are many cases of "deviation" from legal regulations.

According to Dan Viet Newspaper