He was earlier chairman of giant rival Coteccons and takes over from Tran Quang Quan, who remains CEO.
Cong, 48, will be paid VND60 million a month ($2,600), while the other four members of the board will get VND50 million.
All of them used to work for Coteccons, for which Ricons used to be a major subcontractor until it started to leave the former’s ecosystem in 2019.
Ricons targets a 2 percent increase in revenue this year to VND8.1 trillion, but post-tax profit are likely to halve to VND150 billion.
The construction industry faces major difficulties caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and surging steel prices, the board said.