What's wrong My Dinh?

My Dinh Stadium used to be the pride of Vietnamese sports but is now seriously degraded - Photo: NGUYEN KHANH

Recently, on April 3, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh directed the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MOCST) Nguyen Van Hung to urgently direct research and have a plan to exploit My Dinh National Stadium.

Ensure effective exploitation, avoid waste and degradation, and report to the Prime Minister before April 15, 2025. This is the second time in the past two years that the Prime Minister has had to speak up about the state of sports facilities, including My Dinh Stadium.

Million dollar project

My Dinh Stadium is located in the National Sports Complex, located in Nam Tu Liem District (Hanoi). This is one of the most modern sports facilities in Vietnam. The stadium was inaugurated and put into use in 2003, with a capacity of about 40,000 spectators, and the construction cost at that time was about 53 million dollars.

My Dinh Stadium was the venue for the 2003 and 2022 SEA Games. It is also the venue for important international matches of the national men's football team.

The National Sports Complex (complex) is a public service unit under the Department of Sports and Physical Training. Before 2012, the complex lived on the state budget, receiving about 10 billion VND per year. Since 2012, the complex has been allowed by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to implement a 100% financial autonomy mechanism.

To support itself, the complex leases land and services here to pay salaries for staff and maintain the project. However, in the process of financial autonomy, the complex has committed many serious violations.

In 2021, the Government Inspectorate announced the conclusion of a comprehensive inspection of compliance with legal regulations on the management and use of land and public assets at the complex.

This was a surprise inspection under the direction of the Prime Minister. In its conclusion, the Government Inspectorate pointed out a series of serious violations, with the amount of violations amounting to nearly 777 billion VND. Two cases of violations have been transferred to the investigation agency.

Over the years, the Hanoi Tax Department has repeatedly enforced invoices and frozen the complex’s accounts because of this huge debt. Due to the inability to pay the debt, the complex’s debt has increased due to late payment.

The complex's tax debt as of 2024 has reached about 1,000 billion VND and this unit has repeatedly sent documents to the authorities stating that it is completely unable to pay.

Deep in debt, seriously degraded infrastructure

Although it was inaugurated in 2003, My Dinh Stadium has never undergone a major repair. There is no funding for maintenance, so the deterioration of the grass, function rooms, and equipment has been a matter of public concern for many years.

In 2009, the My Dinh Stadium track began to deteriorate, causing the national athletics system to not be held here for many years. However, it was not until 2016 that the track renovation project was slowly repaired and completed in early 2020.

The grass surface of My Dinh Stadium was replaced in 2011, after 14 years of deterioration and has always been a nightmare for football teams when they come here to compete.

In December 2024, the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) was unable to register My Dinh Stadium as the home ground for the Vietnam national team to play in the ASEAN Cup because the grass surface did not meet standards. The national team then moved to play at Viet Tri Stadium in Phu Tho province.

In 2022, the complex was granted 408 billion VND by the Government to repair and purchase equipment to serve the organization of the 31st SEA Games in Vietnam. However, only about 150 billion VND was available to repair My Dinh Stadium. With the total degradation of My Dinh Stadium, this amount of money is like a drop in the ocean.

As a result, after the 31st SEA Games, My Dinh Stadium is still shabby, leaking, and has bad grass. In 2025, because My Dinh Stadium's surface has not been repaired, VFF will continue to send the national team to Binh Duong Stadium to play in the Asian Cup qualifiers and international friendly matches.

Previously, in documents sent to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the complex had repeatedly requested to defer the state tax debt of about 1,000 billion VND that it could not pay.

This huge debt occurred between 2009 and 2018, when Mr. Can Van Nghia (now retired) was the director of the complex. Currently, each business contract of the complex must pay 8% to pay tax debt to the State.

However, since 2023, the Ministry of Finance has issued a document confirming that there is no basis to freeze debt and not charge late payment fees of VND 941.7 billion for the complex.

The Ministry of Finance believes that according to the provisions of the Law on Tax Administration on cases of tax debt deferral, the complex is not eligible for tax debt deferral and late payment fees are not charged.

The last time My Dinh Stadium changed its grass was in 2011 - Photo: K.XUAN

What is the solution for My Dinh Stadium?

Despite being a million-dollar project, My Dinh Stadium has been a real nightmare for the teams that have to play here and the fans who come to the stadium for many years. On March 30, the coaches of the two teams The Cong - Viettel and Hoang Anh Gia Lai affirmed that with the poor quality of the pitch, playing at My Dinh Stadium is likely to cause injuries to the players.

Speaking to Tuoi Tre, the leader of the Department of Physical Education and Sports said that it is expected that by mid-year the budget will allocate 8 billion VND to replace the grass of My Dinh Stadium after 14 years of use. Hopefully, when the new grass is replaced, this situation will be remedied.

Mr. Nguyen Trong Ho - director of the complex - said that the complex has faced many difficulties in recent years due to the huge tax debt that cannot be paid. As a 100% autonomous public service unit, if the complex is not allowed to exploit a variety of facilities for rent, it will be difficult to have revenue to operate and have money to maintain the infrastructure.

Mr. Ho said: "In 2021, the complex submitted a project to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to exploit public assets and was approved by the ministry in 2023. However, there are some problems that make it difficult to implement, such as most rental items are only signed for a 1-year contract.

Because the time is too short, it is difficult to work with large partners, the business exploitation items are limited so it is difficult to find investors, there are still many vacant land areas of the complex but the mechanism is not open so it cannot be exploited.

Previously in 2021, the complex also submitted to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism a project to use public assets for association purposes, but this project is still "suspended" with no response.

Following the direction of Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on April 3, 2025, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism will have to urgently find a solution to exploit My Dinh Stadium, helping this unit overcome difficulties in the process of financial autonomy.

At the same time, there will be more funds for maintenance and repair, limiting the serious degradation here. According to Tuoi Tre's research, the total revenue of the complex in 2024 is about 30 billion VND while the actual demand is about 70 - 80 billion VND.

Authority of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism

Recently, on February 27, 2025, Deputy Minister of Finance Bui Van Khang signed a document responding to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism regarding the use of public assets for joint venture and association purposes of the National Sports Complex.

In this document, the Ministry of Finance affirms: The Minister or head of a central agency decides or delegates the decision to approve the project of using assets at a public service unit under its management for joint venture or association purposes to the head of the agency or unit under the ministry or central agency or the head of the public service unit.

There is no longer a requirement to obtain written opinions from the Ministry of Finance on projects to use public assets at public service units for joint venture and association purposes.

Based on the above regulations, the Ministry of Finance said that the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism is the unit directing the use of public assets of the National Sports Complex in accordance with the provisions of law.

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KHUONG XUAN

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/sao-the-my-dinh-oi-2025040422160796.htm