Nghe An: Disbursement of nearly 29 billion VND in loans to build new fishing boats according to Decree 67

(Baonghean.vn) - On the afternoon of August 31, the Provincial People's Committee held a Conference to review 1 year of implementing Decree 67/2014/ND-CP dated July 7, 2014 on a number of policies for fisheries development.

Comrade Dinh Viet Hong - Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, Head of the Steering Committee chaired the conference. Attending the conference were Comrade Tran Huu Tien - Deputy Head of the Steering Committee; leaders of the State Bank, the Department of Exploitation and Protection of Aquatic Resources; related districts and towns and a number of banks in the area participating in this program.

Delegates attending the conference.

Comrade Dinh Viet Hong - Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, Head of the Steering Committee gave a speech at the conference..

Up to now, the province has directed the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development to review and compile a list of aquaculture infrastructure investment projects to submit to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development for inclusion in the list of priority projects according to Decree 67, including: upgrading and expanding Cua Hoi fishing port, Lach Quen fishing port, Lach Con fishing port; upgrading and expanding Lach Lo storm shelter area and Quynh Luu farming area infrastructure investment project. Of which, the Cua Hoi fishing port upgrading and expansion project has been approved by the Ministry and allocated investment capital in 2015 with a total investment of 107 billion, expected to start construction at the end of October 2015.

Mr. Tran Huu Tien - Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Deputy Head of the Steering Committee reported on the results of 1 year of implementing Decree 67.

In addition, 75 ship owners have been approved by the Provincial People's Committee as eligible for loans; 35 ship owners have submitted documents to the Bank for loans; the total disbursed loan value (bank capital portion) is 28.832 billion/99.75 billion VND and currently 6 wooden-hulled ships have been completed and put into production.

Mr. Nguyen Trong Thuan - Deputy Director of BIDV Phu Dien Bank: "The issue of VAT refund is very difficult when fishermen are not supported with this amount".

The province has also directed districts and towns to review and approve 1,295 ship owners with 15,044 crew members eligible to participate in insurance policies under the Decree; 1,127/1,295 ships, 10,296/15,000 crew members have participated in insurance; there have been 165 cases of loss, 14 crew members had accidents, the estimated compensation amount is 4.5 billion VND and up to now, 1 billion 345 million VND has been paid in compensation.

Mr. Phan Xuan Vinh - Vice Chairman of Dien Chau District People's Committee: "Banks need to have documents guiding fishermen in making loan applications."

In his concluding remarks at the conference, comrade Dinh Viet Hong stated: After one year of implementing Decree 67, Nghe An has achieved quite comprehensive results, especially in infrastructure investment policies, credit policies for loans to build offshore fishing vessels and fishing vessel insurance. Decree 67 has really come into effect, the capital source for fishermen to borrow to build offshore fishing vessels is gradually being cleared, contributing significantly to the restructuring of the fisheries sector.At the same time, frankly point out the remaining limitations. The results of implementing the fisheries policy according to Decree 67 have not been high, not meeting the expectations of fishermen; the implementation of tax policies (import tax and VAT) still has many problems, which greatly affects the implementation process; the ability to prepare and appraise loan applications, especially for steel-hulled vessels, is still limited.

Mr. Cao Van Hoi - Deputy Director of the State Bank: "The province needs to assign responsibility for close coordination with the bank throughout the entire lending and capital recovery process."

Mr. Tran Thanh Hai - Director of Hai Chau Shipbuilding Company: "Propose that the state have more policies to support shipbuilding units in implementing Decree 67".

Concluding the meeting, the Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, Head of the Steering Committee emphasized: To achieve the target of signing credit contracts to build 20 new ships and 100% of ships over 90CV with crew members to be insured in the last 4 months of 2015, relevant sectors and localities need to promote the dissemination of Decree 67 widely to all fishermen through training sessions, seminars and commune radio systems; continue to review and select ship owners who are qualified and have a need to borrow capital to build offshore ships to submit to the Provincial People's Committee for approval; need to support fishermen in choosing ship models and preparing loan applications./.

Phu Huong