Directive No. 683-TTg Regarding the Reorganization of Housing Funds Managed and Used by Ministries, Agencies Equivalent to Ministries, and Government Agencies

 DIRECTIVE

ON THE REORGANIZATION OF HOUSING FUNDS MANAGED AND USED BY MINISTRIES, MINISTERIAL-EQUIVALENT ORGANIZATIONS, AND ORGANIZATIONS UNDER THE GOVERNMENT

UNDER THE MANAGEMENT AND USE OF THE GOVERNMENT

Currently, housing funds managed and used by ministries, ministerial-equivalent organizations, and organizations under the Government for offices, agencies, conference halls, guesthouses, rest houses, etc., are very large, but their usage is still unreasonable, leading to waste and inefficiency.

To address this situation, to put state-owned housing funds into appropriate and effective use, with the agreement of all members of the Government at the meeting on November 10, 1994, the Prime Minister instructs the immediate implementation of the following matters:

1- Regarding guesthouses, rest houses, and hotels.

For guesthouses, rest houses, and hotels currently managed by ministries, ministerial-equivalent organizations, and organizations under the Government (hereinafter referred to as ministries), which have been constructed from various sources, if ministries consider it necessary, they may continue to manage and use them, but must immediately implement measures to upgrade physical facilities, improve management work, ensure that buildings are maintained and not deteriorate, and truly shift operations entirely towards business, achieving higher efficiency and better serving officials' needs.

Ministries must develop specific plans to upgrade each facility under their responsibility: invest in renovation and expansion of physical facilities (through various sources of funding, including bank loans, shareholding, joint ventures, etc.), ensuring business standards and meeting customer requirements. From now on, guesthouses, rest houses, and hotels belonging to state assets shall not be transferred to any other organization without permission from the Prime Minister. Cases of unauthorized transfer prior to the issuance of this Directive are invalid and must be recovered into state assets.

Each guesthouse, rest house, and hotel must improve internal management, truly engage in accounting according to current accounting, statistical, and auditing regulations, fully comply with business management regulations stipulated by law and local government management as with other hotels in the area.

The Tourism General Department is responsible for guiding the operation of these facilities to meet hotel business requirements, such as implementing business regulations, standardizing managerial and staff qualifications, assisting in training hotel professionals, etc.

If upper-level ministries managing guesthouses, rest houses, and hotels have requests, they can normally use these facilities, such as sending their own officials to rest and recuperate. Ministries without their own facilities can still use them as if directly managed. These hotels, guesthouses, and rest houses must prioritize providing quality service to officials sent down by ministries. To ensure accurate accounting, payments for meals and accommodations for officials should follow a common price list.

2- Regarding office premises.

- In Hanoi, where two to three ministries were previously merged into one, the new ministry may retain the office premises of one of the former ministries. Excess houses and land must be returned to the Government, as they are state assets. Ministries may not arbitrarily lease, transfer to other units within the industry for office use, service provision, or allocate to officials for residence or construction purposes.

- In Ho Chi Minh City, due to the situation upon takeover, many houses were assigned to ministries as office premises (secondary bases), but usage has been wasteful, with some houses being used beyond their intended functions. Long-standing issues of reorganization have not been strictly implemented, and now thorough implementation is required. Meetings of ministries and living quarters for officials working in Ho Chi Minh City will be used jointly at government facilities as specified in point 3 below.

3- Regarding the system of government facilities.

Clearly identify conference halls and guesthouses currently managed by the Government Office, such as the Government Conference Room, Guesthouse 37 Hung Vuong, Guesthouse 12 Ngo Quyen, and Guesthouse 2 Le Thach (currently managed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs) in Hanoi, Conference Hall 7 Le Duong, Thong Nhat Conference Hall, and Guesthouse Tao Dan in Ho Chi Minh City, Ly Thai To Villa (currently managed by the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Foreign Affairs), and a large guesthouse in the compound of 7 Le Duong being prepared for construction by the Government, as government facilities shared among ministries. This system of facilities needs to be regularly consolidated, upgraded, and uniformly managed to ensure the needs of ministries for meeting places, including accommodation for officials from ministries and sectors working in the South.

When ministries have requirements, they can register to hold meetings at these facilities without paying rental fees. When there is a need for meals and accommodation at government guesthouses, officials from ministries do not have to pay room rental fees, only meal costs.

These facilities have the responsibility to serve government meetings and meetings of ministries carefully, protect the aesthetics of the facilities, and not engage in food service business. Thong Nhat Conference Hall can continue to allow public visits as usual, but when requested by the Government or government-affiliated sectors, it must first meet those requirements.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will complete the procedures to transfer Guesthouse 12 Ngo Quyen, Guesthouse 2 Le Thach, and Ly Thai To Villa to the Government Office by December 1994.

The Government Office is responsible for drafting management and usage regulations for government facilities shared among ministries as mentioned above, to be submitted to the Prime Minister for consideration and decision, no later than December 1994, to be implemented from January 1995.

4- On the organization of implementation of this Directive.

a) Each ministry should establish a team of officials responsible for the matters outlined in this Directive, led by a senior official, to work together with government task forces and the State Asset Management Bureau (Ministry of Finance) to quickly resolve issues within their respective agencies; primarily, they should compare with current state policies, proactively reorganize to effectively utilize the housing funds managed by their ministry; the Government will decide to reclaim properties and facilities that ministries and sectors are no longer authorized to manage.

The bases transferred to the Government by the Ministries must ensure their original condition, including land area and equipment currently in use at the premises. The Ministers shall be responsible for any loss of state-owned land or property at these premises before transfer.

b) The Government will establish two special task forces to direct the implementation of cross-sectoral matters; each task force will be directly led by a representative appointed by the Prime Minister:

- One task force to handle excess office premises (including houses and land) resulting from the reorganization of Ministries;

- One task force to handle the second offices of Ministries in Ho Chi Minh City now transferred to the Government.

c) The Ministry of Finance (State Asset Management Department) shall participate in the two aforementioned task forces and organize the reception process carefully to prevent any loss of premises and facilities of Ministries due to reorganization and facilities in Ho Chi Minh City after the task forces have completed handling each facility.

The Ministry of Finance together with the Ministry of Construction shall be responsible for guiding the Ministries and facilities on reassessing the value of assets of these facilities (including buildings, land, equipment, etc.).

The Ministry of Finance, along with the task forces and relevant agencies, shall propose effective utilization plans for these facilities to submit to the Prime Minister for decision, no later than the end of March 1995.

Reorganizing the housing fund according to the above contents is an urgent matter to truly utilize state assets effectively, combat waste, and ensure favorable conditions for the work of Ministries and sectors. The Prime Minister requests the heads of Ministries, ministerial-level agencies, government agencies, and Chairmen of People's Committees of provinces and cities related to strictly and promptly implement this Directive./.