The support solutions of the Customs units in the Central Highlands provinces have helped those units to ‘bumper crop’ of revenue collection amid the pandemic.

Customs officers of Dak LakCustoms Department conduct physical inspection for
goods imported for wind power project. Photo: Dak Lak Customs 

Record high revenue

The Covid-19 pandemic, which has affected many countries around the world since 2020 and broke out again in many provinces and cities of Vietnam in 2021, has severely affected businesses' operations.

In the Central Highlands, local governments have also applied many social distancing measures in order to prevent the pandemic. Accordingly, the sharp decrease in consumption along with the disruption of the supply chain of goods caused difficulties for many enterprises in the area. They had to operate moderately and reduce the production scale as well as import and export activities. This posed a great challenge to the revenue collection of two Customs units located in the Central Highlands that was Dak Lak Customs Department and the Gia Lai - Kon Tum Customs Department.

The positive point is that in 2021, many investment projects for wind power, solar power, and hydropower have been launched in the Central Highlands provinces. Through working with relevant departments in the provinces, Dak Lak Customs Department and Gia Lai - Kon Tum Customs Department have grasped the situation of investment registration of enterprises' projects. Accordingly, the units have actively approached businesses and investors to attract businesses to carry out customs procedures at the unit with the spirit of creating all favorable conditions for companies. Thereby, the revenue collection results of two units both are positive, even setting a record in revenue so far.

Specifically, as of September 26, the total revenue collection at Dak Lak Customs Department has reached VND1,643 billion, up 183% over the same period last year and higher than current appropriation by 228%. It is expected that by the end of 2021, the total revenue of the unit can reach over VND2,000 billion - the highest level ever.

At Giai Lai - Kon Tum Customs Department, the total budget revenue even increased thousands of times over the same period last year, reaching VND2,041 billion, higher than the current appropriation by 688%.

The revenues of the units mainly come from VAT on imports of machinery and equipment to create fixed assets of wind power, solar power, hydroelectric power projects, and imports of electric energy and rubber, sawn timber; export tariff on fertilizers, limestone powder, iron and steel, bauxite.

Sweet fruit from administrative reform, supporting businesses

To achieve the impressive budget revenue results, besides the prosperity in investment attraction of the Central Highlands localities, there was also a huge role of reforming administrative procedures and accompanying businesses of the Customs units.

Notably, in the context of the pandemic, many measures of prevention and control which have been carried out by local authorities have greatly affected the performance of Customs units.

Specifically, at times when localities applied social distancing following Directive 16 of the Prime Minister, the number of customs officers working at the office must not exceed 15%.

Accordingly, the units had prioritized human resources for professional stages, while other divisions had been arranged to work from home. The application of information technology had been thoroughly applied both in internal management and administration of the unit and in handling procedures for enterprises. The units also specifically assign customs officers and employees to support quick processing of procedures for businesses and publicize phone numbers for enterprises.

The two units have worked closely with the Department of Planning and Investment of Gia Lai to promptly grasp information about projects that have been granted investment policies or investment certificates by the authorities of Gia Lai province.

Thereby actively supporting and guiding on the development of a list of duty-free goods expected to be imported in order to enjoy preferential import tariffs for the project as well as instructing regulations on customs procedures to facilitate enterprises in importing machinery and equipment for construction.

Director of Dak Lak Customs Department Le Van Nhuan said: "The proactive and active work of the Customs authority has brought satisfaction to businesses, thereby spreading out to the business community."

Accordingly, despite the pandemic and the application of social distancing measures, the high import-export turnover at the two units is a testament to the trust of the business community. In the third quarter of 2021 - the peak of the Covid-19 outbreak in the area, the import-export turnover at Gia Lai - Kon Tum Customs Department reached $561 million, more than five times higher than the same period a year earlier. While Dak Lak Customs Department reached $1,642 million, up 54% over the same period last year, from the beginning of the year up to now.

For the two Customs units in the Central Highlands, the operation area was very large. In particular, the scope of operation of Dak Lak Customs Department was spread over three provinces of Dak Lak, Dak Nong and Lam Dong, while Gia Lai - Kon Tum Customs Department also includes two provinces of Gia Lai and Kon Tum.

This had created a big obstacle when the pandemic occurred and caused difficulties for travel between provinces. Accordingly, at the two Customs Branches that were Bo Y border gate (Kon Tum province) and Buprang (Dak Nong province), customs officers and employees had performed tasks following the "three on-spot" model for more than three months due to regulations issued by the provinces.

Director of Dak Lak Customs Le Van Nhuan said that the model at the border gate was "eating together, living together, working together", so if there was a customs officer infected with Covid-19, the risk of the whole branch being infected was very high. At that time, the whole branch would have to go to isolation or treatment, suspending the operation of the branch. Therefore, there was no other way, everyone must encourage each other to stay at the branch to keep themselves, their families and the whole branch safe, as well as ensure the smooth operation of the unit.