Unanticipated damage
According to information from Masan Group, the WinMart/WinMart+/WiN supermarket system in areas affected by storms and floods is facing many difficulties with damages to facilities and goods.
According to preliminary statistics up now, nearly 700 stores of the system have suffered damage in the Northern region. The most serious is damage to goods due to flooding, prolonged power outages, and assets such as freezers, refrigerators, and computers being soaked in water.
All four WinEco farms in the Northern region, namely Ha Nam, Quang Ninh, Tam Dao and Hai Phong, have been completely destroyed; fields have been flooded; garden houses have collapsed; roofs have been blown off; and almost all production has been lost.
At the industrial park, Diep Thi Kim Hoan, Chief Sustainability Officer at DEEP C Industrial Park, said that although the damage has not been estimated, most businesses have the faced same situation of factory roofs being blown off, power outages, water outages, and production interruptions.
“Some businesses even have to repair their entire infrastructure and factories, which may take 2-3 months to restore; and some factories that are more severely damaged than expected will only be able to resume production by the end of the year,” Hoan expressed with concern.
According to Hong Sun, Chairman of the Korean Business Association in Vietnam, before the storm hit, factories of Korean enterprises had taken careful precautions. Therefore, direct damage was relatively limited, mostly collapsed walls and blown-off roofs.
However, in Hai Phong City, many areas had their power cut to ensure safety or due to incidents, causing major damage to factories, especially chip production lines.
In Phu Tho Province and Thai Nguyen Province, workers could not go to work due to widespread flooding, causing factories to face a serious labour shortages.
95% of businesses resume operations
According to the Hai Phong Economic Zone Management Board, in terms of general damage, businesses in industrial parks all had trees broken, with the highest damage reaching 90% and the lowest damage being 30%. Some areas were flooded locally during the storm.
Many businesses had their roofs blown off; some walls were torn down; gates, fences, signs, camera systems, garages, and sliding metal doors were overturned; water flooded into factories, but no human casualties were recorded.
However, immediately after storm No. 3, Hai Phong City mobilised all resources with the highest determination to overcome the consequences; especially trying to restore traffic clearance, restore electricity and clean water as soon as possible, and stabilise telecommunications networks and environmental sanitation.
In particular, industrial parks and enterprises are one of the subjects that the city is interested in focusing on quickly restoring electricity, water, and telecommunications networks to support enterprises to quickly overcome damages, stabilise production and business, ensure signed orders, as well as ensure the supply chain of goods in the global market.
As of September 9, most industrial parks and enterprises in them have been supplied with electricity and clean water, and telecommunications networks have also been basically restored.
In industrial parks, enterprises have made efforts to overcome the consequences of the storm and about 95% of enterprises have resumed operations since September 10.
"If enterprises encounter difficulties in the process of overcoming damage and restoring production, within the permitted authority, the Hai Phong Economic Zone Management Board will be ready to promptly support and resolve the problem. For matters under higher authority, the Hai Phong Economic Zone Management Board will report directly to the city leaders to direct the sectors to support businesses as quickly and conveniently as possible," the Hai Phong Economic Zone Management Board stated.
Appreciating this effort, Hong Sun also said that in Hai Phong, immediately after the storm passed, the local government quickly deployed disaster recovery work, especially power restoration.
Therefore, foreign-invested enterprises, especially Korean enterprises such as LG, are gradually recovering production. However, the business community hopes that the government will try to quickly restore infrastructure to facilitate travel, thereby helping businesses stabilise their business situation.
Recently, Deputy Prime Minister Ho Duc Phoc has signed the Government’s Decision No. 943 on emergency support to overcome the damage caused by storm No. 3.
According to this decision, 100 billion VND from the central budget reserve in 2024 will be spent to support 5 localities in overcoming the consequences and stabilising people's lives after storm No. 3. Of which, Nam Dinh will receive 20 billion VND, Thai Binh - 30 billion VND, Hai Duong - 20 billion VND, Yen Bai - 20 billion VND, and Hung Yen - 10 billion VND.
The Prime Minister requested the authorities of the five provinces of Nam Dinh, Thai Binh, Hai Duong, Yen Bai and Hung Yen to be responsible for specifically allocating and using the additional funds to ensure compliance with the provisions of the law on the state budget and other relevant legal documents.
According to the request of government leaders, the support funds must be used for the right purposes, in an economical and effective manner, without loss, waste, or negativity.
The Prime Minister directed localities to use the central budget support together with local budgets and other legal capital sources to promptly overcome the damage caused by storm No. 3.
Localities in Quang Ninh and Hai Phong have reported on the current self-balancing of local resources to overcome the consequences of storm No. 3. Therefore, the central budget will consider supporting proposals from localities.
Northern enterprises were generally heavily affected by storm No. 3. However, most enterprises tried to proactively overcome the consequences and restore production. Initial signals have shown optimism, maintaining confidence in continuing to maintain the growth momentum, despite difficulties.
