I think we're arguing past each other, or at least have are operating with different assumptions.
The utility EVN and its subsidiaries is fairly hands off because of incompetence and corruption.
What ended up happening was most of the regional utilities went broke, and consolidated together, but are still kinda broke, so maintenance is weak and construction of capacity isn't the greatest, yet demand was only growing.
To solve this issue, there were some additional reforms pushed in the mid-2010s along with the FTAs skewed in Japan and South Korea's favor to allow majority ownership of capacity and infra by foreign players (most of whom are Japanese, Korean, and increasingly Chinese).
The utility EVN doesn't have a make or break stake in most of these JVs, and unlike China or even India, cannot push back, because VN just isn't a large enough market to justify those headaches.
The state capacity in VN sucks, but I think you are automatically assuming stuff in Vietnam works the same way as it does in China. It does not, because VN isn't the same size of market that China is, and the largest investors in the Vietnamese market (Japan, South Korea, China) can make Vietnam's life hell if they make it too business unfriendly. This has already started with Korean FDI increasingly moving to PH and TH recently.
I'm just speaking from mine and my SO's experience on this.
The utility EVN and its subsidiaries is fairly hands off because of incompetence and corruption.
What ended up happening was most of the regional utilities went broke, and consolidated together, but are still kinda broke, so maintenance is weak and construction of capacity isn't the greatest, yet demand was only growing.
To solve this issue, there were some additional reforms pushed in the mid-2010s along with the FTAs skewed in Japan and South Korea's favor to allow majority ownership of capacity and infra by foreign players (most of whom are Japanese, Korean, and increasingly Chinese).
The utility EVN doesn't have a make or break stake in most of these JVs, and unlike China or even India, cannot push back, because VN just isn't a large enough market to justify those headaches.
The state capacity in VN sucks, but I think you are automatically assuming stuff in Vietnam works the same way as it does in China. It does not, because VN isn't the same size of market that China is, and the largest investors in the Vietnamese market (Japan, South Korea, China) can make Vietnam's life hell if they make it too business unfriendly. This has already started with Korean FDI increasingly moving to PH and TH recently.
I'm just speaking from mine and my SO's experience on this.