Construction Contractors - How to Become Winners in the Home Market

 

In its operation programme from 2011 onwards, VACC will be on a development path equal to other countries in the region and the world. As such, VACC is expanding operations in most provinces and cities nationwide and a number of neighbouring countries, aiming to bring the community of contractors closer together and maintain the domestic market.

In order to fulfil its development goal, in August 2010, VACC decided to establish branches in Da Nang, Ca Mau, Binh Dinh, Tien Giang, Bac Ninh and Bac Giang. Via seminars and meetings held at these branches, contractors have the chance to discuss and broaden their knowledge. 

 

VACC is currently a member of the Association of Southeast Asia Contractors. VACC regularly sends delegations to many countries in the region to reach consensus on training programmes so that the quality of workers can be guaranteed and their training certificates be recognised and accepted when they work overseas. Associations of contractors in Cambodia, Thailand and Singapore also have reached an agreement with VACC to boost understanding among each other via their e-magazines and websites.

 

Talking about the capability of Vietnamese contractors and the construction market, Mr Mai Di Tam, General Director of Construction JSC No. 10, thinks that Vietnam’s chances for economic growth are great for the time being and the years to come. But these opportunities will not last long due to competition from emerging countries. There are hardly any nations with as large a team of both national and overseas contractors and consultants like Vietnam to implement investment in and construction of infrastructure system in every area. In the current context, unless Vietnam knows how to enhance contractors’ capability and association, there is a real possibility of losing the competition for the home field. To this end, it is necessary that VACC boost cooperation programmes among the team of domestic contractors, to enhance competition and experience sharing.

 

Mr Vu Gia Quynh, VACC’s Secretary General, says that VACC is enthusiastic in collecting and analysing information of construction and investment projects of contractors in Vietnam, as well as in regional and related countries, to meet demand for investigation of members. Besides, co-operation promotion among construction contractors is also accelerated in order to have timely investigation and information exchange, as well as team building for effective construction.

Mr Le Viet Hai, General Director of Hoa Binh Construction and Real Estate Trading JSC noted, “Vietnamese contractors have been spontaneous and snatched at every project. They do everything to win a bid but are still weaker than foreign contractors in the local market. Vietnam is in the process of development and integration. We can’t continue to act this way since we run a high risk of losing the local market to foreign contractors unless we know to cooperate with each other for the growth of each contractor and the whole nation. We cooperate to create an environment conforming to international practice and having transparent assignment of duties so that we can attain higher growth and bring Vietnam’s construction industry to the world.”

 

Addressing this issue with many contractors, Mr Nguyen Thiem, Deputy Chairman of VACC, said that the main objective in 2011 of the Association is to build a network of contractors nationwide by establishing branches in different localities. VACC will have cooperative programmes with foreign associations of contractors to introduce Vietnam’s contractors to the world via seminars, exhibitions and working sessions.

 

Mr Thiem also adds that the Association of US contractors already has plans to sign an MOU with VACC to improve information exchange and network building between the two nations. VACC will attend the Convention of American contractors in the US, together with many Vietnamese contractors as official delegates. In addition, the American Association of Construction Management has also shown interest in signing cooperative agreements with VACC.

 

Another of VACC’s activities is to boost cooperation with Nguoi Lao Dong Newspaper (Labor Newspaper) to set up an award system to rank member contractors based on experiences of associations of contractors in developed countries. These awards aim at honouring contractors and promoting growth in the local contractor community.

 

However, according to VACC, further research on selection criteria should be conducted and the right time to launch this award system be considered so that there is a meaningful award for contractors.

 

Mr Vu Gia Quynh said, “The objective is to create fairness, competition and transparency in bidding. The award focuses on assessing the capability of local contractors via such criteria as finance, management and technology issues. It is vital that we encourage contractors to keep improving their capability for ever higher growth.”