Vietnam to further promote tourism in China

 

The Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) will carry out two promotion programs on destination marketing and meetings with partners in China, the biggest visitor-generating market for Vietnam’s tourism, in September and October.

 

VNAT will participate in the International Travel Expo in Guilin Province, China from September 16-18. The event will be attended by some 800 units from 16 provinces of China and 50 other nations and territories.

 

Later from October 16-22, the tourism sector will organize road shows in Hunan, Jiangxi and Fujian provinces to promote travel to Vietnam and meet with Chinese tour operators.

 

VNAT said China is the tourism sector’s biggest source market, accounting for one fourth of the total number of tourists visiting Vietnam, or about 786,000 visits, as of end-July.

 

Although there are fewer promotion programs for tourism in China this year, the market growth rate still reached 53.5%. However, this figure is mainly attributed to the growth in the northern and central regions while the southern area, especially HCMC, had witnessed a sharp fall in the number of Chinese arrivals via air transport.

 

In Danang City, there are weekly flights from Kunming, Guangzhou and Shanghai delivering tourists to destinations in the city as well as in Thua Thien–Hue and Quang Nam provinces.

 

Last week, Quang Ninh Tourism Association officially set up a club with 27 members to welcome Chinese tourists arriving via Mong Cai border gate. As the club members, travel agencies in the northern region will come up with several activities to improve tour quality, avoiding offering competitive prices but low quality services.

 

Fertiliser sees seasonal price spike

 

The fertiliser market has seen prices surge VND1 million (US$47) per tonne since the beginning of this month.

 

Recently, the price of fertilisers increased suddenly and strongly; they were forecast to continuously increase in the coming days, said chairman of Vinacam Joint Stock Company Vu Duy Hai.

 

Hai added that in the first days of August, prices of urea fertiliser stood at around VND10 million ($470) per tonne. Now, it had jumped to nearly VND11 million ($523) per tonne.

 

Meanwhile, he added, the potassium fertiliser imported from China rose by VND400,000 ($19) to VND11 million ($523) per tonne.

 

Experts predicate the price will continuously increase in coming days when southern farmers start new crop. In fact, fertiliser prices often increase every time a new crop starts. And, it has continued to increase since last year.

 

Meanwhile, the volume of both imported and stockpiled fertiliser was declining. Domestic fertiliser traders have now temporally stopped importing fertiliser due to high prices in the world market.

 

Moreover, fewer companies dare to stockpile fertiliser. High banking interest rate has forced them to sell.

 

Explaining the reason, deputy head of the Price Management Department under the Ministry of Finance Nguyen Anh Tuan said the Government had many policies to stabilise the price such as tax exemption.

 

However, he affirmed, there had been many shortcomings in managing and applying such measure.

 

The Government supported companies in material cost but not control of retail price. Moreover, the market faced many challenges when many companies imported fertiliser through unofficial ways.

 

A weak distribution system was also a big reason, he added.

 

When coming to farmers, fertiliser price was often 30 per cent higher than it was distributed through many retail agents.

 

Gold trading floor plan cops flak

 

The Viet Nam Association of Financial Investors (VAFI) has called on the State Bank of Viet Nam to scrap plans on establishing a national gold trading floor as it would not bring any benefit to the economy.

 

The national gold trading floor, proposed by the Viet Nam Gold Business Association and several experts with the aim of removing the gap between the world and domestic prices and preventing gold "fever", has stirred controversy.

 

In a letter sent to the SBV on Tuesday, VAFI said the gold trading floor would encourage the flow of cash into gold, which undermined the strength of the national currency.

 

According to the association, about 99 per cent of individual investors suffered losses when trading gold via accounts.

 

Nguyen Hoang Hai, general secretary of VAFI, said that in other countries, gold trading floors were set up as part of commodities exchanges, in which groups, organisations and companies operate healthily, unlike individual investors in Viet Nam.

 

The association also disagreed with the SBV's proposal of allowing commercial banks to borrow gold from citizens which they would then in turn loan to individuals or businesses.

 

Hai said that scrupulous businesses would not choose to add capital by borrowing gold and then selling it for Vietnamese dong as the method was too dangerous in the context of fluctuating global and domestic gold prices.

 

The proposal would also cause extreme speculation or even market chaos.

 

VAFI also requested that the central bank continues to ban gold bar trading by individuals, with only authorised agencies allowed to buy gold bullion from citizens.

 

Hai added that the previous draft decree had helped stabilise the gold market by reducing gold trading transactions by 70 per cent while removing major gold speculation.

 

Gold export and import quotas needed to be removed in order for the domestic gold market to operate more effectively, VAFI said.

 

In the past few weeks, continued increases in gold prices both inside and outside the country triggered a frenzy of buying and selling by individual investors, causing a chaotic situation on the domestic gold market.

 

The world spot gold price hit a record US$1,817 per ounce last week on the London Bullion Market.

 

At the same time, the domestic gold price climbed to a record VND46.3 million (US$2,226) per tael (one tael is equivalent to 1.2 ounces).

 

Speculators had taken advantages of the fluctuating gold prices, raising the domestic price to more than VND1 million ($50) per tael than the world price.

 

The chaotic situation had also impacted adversely on the forex market, creating tensions in foreign currency supply and demand.

 

According to VAFI, gold trading was considered a very sensitive field which could affect national monetary security and cause forex fluctuations, inflation and lower public confidence in State management of the sector.

 

Enertec vital to public awareness of energy saving

 

The Enertec Expo 2011 in HCMC is a practical step to popularize power saving in the community, said Vice Chairman Le Manh Ha of the HCMC government at the opening ceremony of the event on Wednesday.

 

The energy saving and green energy technologies exhibition is aimed to enhance public awareness and knowledge of efficient energy use and green energy. Moreover, the event contributes to the process of implementing the national power strategy and helps reducing environment pollution.

 

The expo is organized by HCMC Power Corporation and the city’s Department of Industry and Trade in the context that traditional energy sources are being exhausted, fuel prices keep rising and energy security and sustainable development have become urgent.

 

Tran Tuan Anh, deputy minister of industry and trade, said the Enertec Expo plays an important role to promote power saving under the Law of Energy Efficiency and Conservation. The law took effect in early 2011 to ensure energy security and reasonable exploitation of national resources.

 

At present, in order for Vietnam’s gross domestic product (GDP) to increase by 1%, power consumption must accordingly increase by 2% whereas the number is 1-1.3% in other countries. Power price is accounting for a big proportion of the production cost of goods, thus cutting into competitiveness of local enterprises.

 

The Enertec Expo 2011 has the participation of about 150 stalls of local and foreign companies, showcasing many energy saving and green energy products to consumers. The event’s closing ceremony will take place on August 20.

 

* Dien Quang Lamp Joint Stock Company is investing some US$200 million in a Venezuela-based factory to produce about 70 million energy-saving compact lamps per year for the South American market.

 

The factory is in progress of completion and will start its service in early 2012, said Nguyen Quoc Khanh, in charge of Dien Quang’s technology and business department, to the Daily on Wednesday. This is the company’s first offshore investment project in energy-saving lighting products, he added.

 

Along with the factory in Venezuela, Dien Quang is promoting a similar investment project in Myanmar.

 

Dien Quang is currently holding a 60% market share of fluorescent and compact lamps with some 10,000 sales distributors nationwide. The company is spending 20% of its total annual revenue for research and development of power saving products.

 

Dien Quang sets its goal to achieve VND1 trillion in revenue this year, in which the export turnover is some VND600 billion from the markets of Korea, the Middle East and Egypt among others.

 

Revision of land law management urged

 

The laws that regulate land administration are hindering investment in construction projects, particularly in real estate, legal experts have said.

 

Overlapping and inappropriate regulations regarding investment and construction, coupled with poor management, largely contributed to the ineffectiveness of real-estate investments, Nguyen Viet Hoang of Ha Noi-based Cazpro Law Firm told participants at a workshop held in HCM City on Wednesday.

 

Another contributing factor was the weak enforcement of administration officers, Hoang said.

 

Workshop participants discussed several ways to overcome the obstacles involved in leasing and allocating land to real-estate companies.

 

A survey conducted by the Ministry of Transport in 2008 said construction of investment projects usually takes about three years, reflecting the time needed to fulfil about 33 administrative procedures.

 

"This is one of the main reasons for Viet Nam's low ranking on the transparency of its real estate market, especially compared to other countries," Hoang said.

 

According to a recent report, Recognising and Reducing Corruption Risks in Land Management in Viet Nam, prepared by the Danish and Swedish embassies and the World Bank, 30 per cent of businesses surveyed said they had to give gifts or informal payments to acquire land-use rights certificates.

 

During the 2001-10 period, nearly 1 million ha of agricultural land was converted to land for non-agricultural purposes, and more than 5 million ha of unused land (62 per cent of the total unused land in 2000) were converted into land for various purposes.

 

Although the Land Law, which became effective in 2003, aims at facilitating the development of a land market, there are still impediments to the growth of the land market due to a lack of access to information, according to the Survey Report on Information Disclosure of Land Management Regulations released in November 2010 by the Development and Policy Research Centre.

 

The Anti-Corruption Law 2005, the IT Law 2006, the Ordinance on Grassroots Democracy 2007, and Project 30 were all enacted to enhance public information, reduce red tape and prevent corruption in public administration.

 

The Land Law, later elaborated by Decree 84 (2007) and Decree 69 (2009), requires a certain level of transparency in land management.

 

Authorities at the seminar listened to suggestions on how to improve enforcement of laws and regulations regarding land management and find solutions to make them more practical and effective.

 

Disagreement on some common issues remains, even though land lease and allocation are regulated by different laws, including Criminal Code, Land Law, Real Estate Business Law, Construction Law, Investment Law and Urban Planning Law, Hoang said.

 

"Real estate, for example, is defined differently in the Criminal Code and Real Estate Business Law," said Hoang. "Another example is the disagreement on the land lease and allocation process in legal documents and procedures, which has led to differences in interpretation of who is authorised to recommend the investment site."

 

The 2009 Urban Planning Law requires that authorised bodies for urban planning be responsible for selecting and showing the investment sites to potential investors.

 

However, the Land Law and Decree 69 regulate activities of different authorities who take charge of selecting the investment sites. They are the authorised bodies who process documents on land lease/allocation and investment, respectively.

 

"Regulations of the same law even overlap," Hoang said, adding that this must be dealt with properly.

 

Hoang Van Son, an attorney and manager at HCM City's Vina Code Law Firm, asked to remove a clause in the Land Law's elaborating Decree 181, which he said was unnecessary as it gave the administration officer opportunities to make the issuance procedures even more cumbersome for businesses seeking land-use rights certificate.

 

Son said it was necessary to have a land exchange market where investors and businesses have equal chances to access land.

 

To make it fair for all investors and minimise corruption risks, Son proposed that the land should not be allocated to the investor by the authorised body.

 

The deputy head of the Government's Inspection Research Institute, Nguyen Tuan Khanh, agreed with Son, saying that in many provinces, the allocation, not auction, of land has posed obstacles to the improvement of the investment environment.

 

Khanh said this should be done as part of the Government's commitment to join the World Trade Organisation to give investors a fair competition.

 

For investors, the government's Decree 198 (2004) which regulates the land-use fee collection is the biggest obstacle for real estate investment.

 

A real estate investor from HCM City, Nguyen Canh Ha, said his business had to spend 80 per cent of its total investment for ground clearance, compensation, administrative procedures and even smoothing the land in central Nghe An Province.

 

Under the Decree's regulations, he had to pay 100 per cent of the land-use price which, he said, should only be applied to investors of public land, who do not have to pay for ground clearance, compensation and administration fees.

 

The director of An Thien Ly Company Ltd proposed creating a 10-20 per cent fee on the land-use price applied to investors like his business.

 

The unfairness in allocating land to local and foreign investors was also raised at the workshop, which included experts from the Government's Inspectorate, Viet Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, law firms and businesses.

 

Nguyen Minh Tam, a representative from HCM City's Dac Nhan Tam law firm, complained about unfairness in the Land Law, which outlines different rights and obligations for local and foreign investors in approaching and using land.

 

Local investors can be allocated land by the Government while their foreign counterparts can only rent Government-owned land or land in industrial parks, according to Tam.

 

Lawyers and investors also voiced their concerns about the unfairness in the land-use fee collection, in which Vietnamese businesses have to pay a land-use fee every year while foreign investors pay only once for a 50-year land lease.

 

This has made local investors pay a fee that is a thousand times higher than the foreign fee, ever since the regulations were introduced in June last year.

 

The seminar is part of a programme to increase the capacity of the Government Inspectorate and reduce inappropriate administrative procedures to minimise corruption in land management.

 

Bilingual online booking service makes debut

 

Vi Vu Company has officially introduced a website at iVIVU.com to provide online room booking service both in English and Vietnamese to serve tourists with over 1,000 local and 18,500 overseas places.

 

Vi Vu Company said that the room price on the website will be 40% - 50% lower than the list price. This would be a pioneer website for booking rooms online supported with English and Vietnamese on the website and via the hot line (84.8) 3930.8290.

 

The website also allows for instant confirmation via email and phone messages sent to customers. Payment methods can be made online by such credit cards as Visa, Master, American Express, JCB; or via ATM. Customers can also make direct payment at Vi Vu Company and at some 250 transaction points of Asia Commercial Bank (ACB).

 

On the occasion of the website’s debut, the promotion program for tourists lasting from August 15 to 20 will be launched at iVIVU.com in which iVIVU will offer thousands of iVIVU T-shirts and key rings to all customers who make reservations within the promotion duration.

 

Under the ownership of Vi Vu Company, iVIVU.com is a joint venture between Thien Minh Travel Joint Stock Company and Australia-based Wotif Group.

 

Tran Trong Kien, chairman of Vi Vu Company, was quoted in a press release as saying, “Along with the popularity of the Internet in Vietnam, we realize the potential for online hotel distribution segment was very good.”

 

According to Kien, in 2010 and the first few months of 2011, the search for resorts in Vietnam via the Internet averaged out at 600,000 – 800,000 hits a month, or even one million at the peak season.

 

Thien Minh Travel Joint Stock Company, which brought some 80,000 international visitors to Vietnam each year, is one of the leading businesses in the field of tourism, hotels, and transportation services. Founded in 1994, the company has diversified its business by expanding into operations of hotels and travel service.

 

Government approves docks for liquid gas imports

 

The Prime Minister's office has approved a project to build a system of gas importation docks worth US$1 billion at Ham Tan District in the central province of Binh Thuan, according to PetroVietnam Gas Company (PV Gas).

 

The docks will include a port for ships to load or unload liquid gas and buildings for storing gas.

 

When completed, the docks will be able to receive about 2-3 million tonnes of imported gas a year.

 

Project planning will be carried out by PV Gas later this year. Construction is expected to start by 2012.

 

Airline to launch new routes, discount fares for seniors

 

The privately-owned Air Mekong will open two new routes: Ha Noi to Con Dao on September 6 and Vinh-Buon Me Thuot-HCM City on October 1.

 

The new routes offer a total of seven flights a week, bringing the airline's domestic routes to 13.

 

The carrier is also providing passengers from 60 years old with a 15-per-cent fare reduction for Super Flex-class flights on all its domestic routes.

 

Healthcare exposition to showcase products, services

 

Around 200 domestic and foreign companies will display their products and services at an exhibition that focuses on equipment used in the healthcare and pharmaceutical industries.

 

The four-day Viet Nam Medi-Pharm Expo will open next Wednesday at the Tan Binh Exhibition and Convention Centre in HCM City.

 

Foreign firms from 25 countries and territories including Australia, Bangladesh, Czech, Germany, Hong Kong and India make up half of the exhibitors, according to the organisers.

 

Earnings down for firm after audit

 

The Viet Nam Mechanisation Electrification & Construction Co (MCG) posted a net profit in the first half of only VND12.5 billion (US$606,800), after previously estimated the figure to be VND25.94 billion (about $1.3 million). MCG's audit financial statements showed total earnings of VND688.6 billion ($33.4 million), unchanged from the previous disclosure.

 

However, earnings from financial operations decreased by VND7.7 billion ($373,800) to VND47.3 billion ($2.3 million) following the audit, while expenses related to these operations increased from about VND47.5 billion to VND57.7 billion ($2.8 million). Gross profit therefore fell from VND35.5 billion ($1.7 million) to VND17.5 billion ($849,500), according to the audited report.

 

Insurers returns State capital

 

Bao Minh Insurance (BMI) will transfer US$10.2 million from the Bao Minh-CMG joint venture to the Central Enterprise Arrangement Support Fund. BMI had transfered the funds to the State Capital Investment Corporation (SCIC). However, the Government requested the change since the valuation of State investment in BMI had not included the joint venture. BMI is also consulting with the Ministry of Finance regarding the amount of tax due on the capital transfer.

 

Builder to pay 25% cash dividend

 

Construction company Song Da 505 (S55) has set August 31 as the ex-date and September 5 as the deadline for registration for its dividend payout. Dividends will be paid in cash on September 20 at 25 per cent of face value, or VND2,500 per share.

 

Local enterprise exports trucks to Malaysia

 

Hai Phong-based Chien Thang Auto Co., Ltd. on Monday exported its first vehicles to the Malaysian market.

 

The company shipped two four-wheel drive dump trucks labeled Chien Thang and weighing 2 tons and 4.5 tons. These are the company’s first exported products to Malaysia at the order from its partner Boon Koon Vehicles Industries SDN, BHD.

 

Last week, leaders of Boon Koon Group carried out an inspection of specialized trucks manufactured and assembled by Chien Thang Company before packing the goods to transfer them to Malaysia.

 

Nguyen Van Sinh, deputy director of the company, said the company previously exported a batch of five trucks to the Indonesian market, marking the company’s first success in penetrating Southeast Asian markets.

 

In order to meet requirements as well as standards of production, the company has invested in increasing the localization rate of products. Currently, the localization rate of the company has reached around 60%.

 

Chien Thang Company is a local unit which supplies four-wheel drive trucks for wide consumption in the local market via 100 agencies in 63 cities and provinces.

 

Installment payment turns popular in apartment market

 

Flexible payments, including installment, are becoming more popular among property investors to create liquidity for their products given the gloomy market.

 

Thanh Truong Loc Construction Co. applies a unique installment method for its apartment project 4S2 Riverside Linh Dong in Thu Duc District, HCMC, under which buyers will only pay for a square meter of the apartment, worth from VND14.5 million, every month.

 

Therefore, buyers will spend six years, or 72 months, paying their installments excluding 20% down payment when signing contracts. Buyers can move in after 75% of the apartment’s value is paid.

 

Similarly, Tan Binh Construction and Investment JSC has also succeeded in selling their products via installment method. In July, the company sold 82 out of the total 752 apartments in Tan Mai apartment project in HCMC’s Binh Tan District.

 

Buyers are allowed to occupy the condo after down-paying 50%. The remaining amount will be paid within 36 months with no interest.

 

Lam Vien Construction Co. and Minh Vinh Khang Commercial Co. have also offered installment for their apartment project named Richland Southern. Buyers can move in after half of the apartment’s value is down-paid and installments can be paid within 2-5 years.

 

Phat Dat Property Development Corporation applies similar payment method to its project The EverRich 2 in HCMC’s District 7. The installments, worth some VND40 million each, will be paid in four years’ time.

 

The new payment method will reduce financial burden and bank interest for buyers, said Phat Dat Co.

 

According to Colliers International Co., experienced property project owners have no difficulty finding buyers. However, investors of some medium and large projects under progress experienced hardships to attract buyers.

 

Several apartment and villa project owners announced all of their residences have been registered but the purchase cannot be ensured. Such promotion methods cannot gain customer trust but discount and flexible payment do.

 

Jetstar Pacific looks for pilot candidates for expansion

 

Jetstar Pacific is looking for at least 20 Vietnamese pilot candidates for training at CTC Aviation Training Limited in New Zealand as part of the local low-cost carrier’s preparations for expansion in the years to come.

 

Qualified candidates should be 20 to 35 years old, have English competence equivalent to IELTS 5.5 and meet health standards set by the Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam. Jetstar Pacific will cover up to 90% of the training fees of US$150,000 for each of the selected candidates.

 

Jetstar Pacific told the Daily on Tuesday that it was running its selection process until 20 qualifiers were found and planned to send the first ones to CTC Aviation Training Limited from late October this year. Candidates need some 24 months of training to become pilots.

 

Jetstar Pacific now has only five Vietnamese pilots out of its current 60 pilots, and will have four more locals in the pilot team by the end of this year. The country’s second largest carrier uses seven Airbus A320 and Boeing B737-400 airplanes for some 40 daily flights between HCMC and Hanoi, and from these cities to Danang, Haiphong, Vinh, Hue and Nha Trang.

 

Jetstar Pacific will take delivery of more Airbus A320s in the coming years to gradually replace its five existing Boeing B737s. As planned, the airline will have a fleet of 15 Airbus A320 aircraft by 2014.

 

The carrier transported nearly 1.3 million passengers on more than 8,100 domestic flights in the first seven months of this year, a year-on-year increase of 14%.

 

Vietnam demand for ERP seen strong

 

Tectura Vietnam, a business consulting services provider, sees a strong rise in the number of local companies that need suitable enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions to improve their governance and competitiveness, said country general manager Nguyen Chi Duc.

 

Tectura’s surveys showed the demand for ERP solutions in Vietnam will grow 20-35% annually so the potential in this market is huge, Duc told the Daily on the sidelines of a seminar held by Tectura Vietnam and Microsoft Vietnam here on Wednesday to introduce solutions to better business decision and operational efficiency to executives of chemical and plastic firms.

 

The corporate awareness and need for better governance have increased significantly in Vietnam over the past years. Duc said many companies, especially those in the private sector, had realized the benefits of ERP solutions and their money spent on this as investment, as the ERP helped them cut fees of unnecessary processes and thus they would be able to offer competitive prices for their products and services.

 

Leaders find it convenient to oversee operations of their companies and factories anytime and anywhere when they open their ERP system. The ERP will enable the leaders to have proper and quick decisions for their sales plans, goods orders and selling prices based on their available stocks and comparable market prices.

 

At a time when sales are running slow, Duc said the ERP would make it efficient for companies to balance inventory and purchase of new materials for their production so that they would be able to reduce their spending on inventory control, which often makes up 30-40% of operating costs.

 

Duc estimated an ERP project cost some US$80,000 but stressed that the price varied depending on the options and departments that companies wanted to manage with the ERP solutions.

 

Just last month, Hoang Anh Gia Lai (HAGL) Group began an ERP project costing up to VND100 billion (around US$4.86 million) to enhance management for its business areas of rubber growing, mining, real estate, hydropower, wood and granite production.

 

HAGL chairman Doan Nguyen Duc said the ERP project was part of the group’s heavy investment in new technology to better integrate and manage accounting, manufacturing, sales and services departments.

 

Duc of Tectura said as a Microsoft partner, the company provided small- and medium-sized enterprises with complete ERP packages built on Microsoft Dynamics technology to achieve higher productivity and accelerate business by integrating their critical functions regarding finance, supply chain management, sales and marketing and customer services.

 

Duc said the U.S.-headquartered Tectura also provided advice for enterprises in Vietnam about how to make the most of Microsoft Dynamics ERP solutions to improve their management and operational efficiency.

 

Regional architects urged to improve their co-operation

 

Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai yesterday urged architect associations around Asia to foster co-operation around the challenges facing regional urban development in Asian nations.

 

He made the suggestion at the Architects Regional Council Asia's 16th forum, which opened in the central city of Da Nang yesterday, with the attendance of about 700 architects from 18 countries.

 

According to Hai, Asia was seeing high urbanisation rates with dynamic economies, and regional cities were contributing up to 80 per cent of regional economic growth.

 

"These cities are becoming centres that motivate socio-economic and cultural development not only in Asia but also in the world," he said.

 

But, he said, urban development in this century requires countries to deal with global challenges related to economy, culture, population, food, energy and especially natural disasters.

 

Endy Subijono, a professor at Indonesia's Principal Architect, said the roles of urban and architecture developers in managing disasters has become extremely important since the country's tsunami disaster in Aceh in 2004.

 

Noriyuki Okabe from the Japan institute of Archtects said construction with special architecture for coping with natural calamity is vital, mentioning huge damages that Japan suffered from the great earthquake in March this year.

 

Hai said Asian cities, besides being very vulnerable to impacts of climate change, also saw high pressure from issues such as environmental pollution, increasing immigration and traffic.

 

He cited a quarter of the population of many Asian cities' had to live in the slums with the shortage of vital living services like healthcare and education.

 

Richard Hawkin, an architect from the UK's Norman Foster Co, said Hong Kong's model of high rise living and working and intergrated road, rail and airport public transportation could be an exemplary solution to the increasing density in Asian cities.

 

Ngo Viet Nam Son, an architect and a teacher at the University of Washington, pointed out a problem: most important planning literature today concentrates on city issues and case studies in Western countries.

 

"There is pressing need to study Asian cities in their own terms, from the insider views of Asian people, rather than just from Western views," he said.

 

"I hope architect associations in Asia will continue to boost effective cooperation to find urban development solutions that can help Asian cities adapt to complicated changes and develop sustainably with bold characters," Hai said.

 

Meanwhile, the World Bank assessed that Viet am had the fastest urbanisation rate in Southeast Asia.

 

Tthe number of citizens in the country reached about 26.3 million last year, accounting for 30.5 per cent of its total population. More than 20 years ago, the number was about 11.8 million, representing 19 per cent.

 

Hai said the face and quality of cities in Viet Nam had improved in recent years and they were proving to play more important roles in the development of the country.

 

Domestic cities were also more closely linked together so that socio-economic matters could be better addressed.

 

"However, like in other developing nations, Viet Nam's cities are facing many problems like booming populations, greater gaps between the rich and the poor, and infrastructure weaknesses," he noted.

 

Hai said the Government, with a strategic goal of developing a modern urban system with advanced architecture by 2025, stimulated localities to actively study urban management models in other countries.

 

The Government also urged relevant ministries and sectors to attach special importance to building master plans for green and ecological cities, he said.

 

FDI projects on the rise in HCM City

 

HCM City has granted investment licences to 175 new foreign direct investment (FDI) projects with a combined registered capital of US$1.73 billion in the first seven months of the year, according to the city's Department of Planning and Investment.

 

The registered capital represents an increase of 57 per cent against the same period last year.

 

The first seven months of 2011 also saw 61 existing FDI projects register to bring in additional capital, taking the total registered capital of new and existing FDI projects to more than $2 billion, up nearly 70 per cent from the same period last year.

 

Of the $2 billion, nearly $1.2 billion will be invested in the city's industrial parks and export processing zones.

 

The processing and manufacturing sector led in attracting FDI capital with 25 new projects, accounting for nearly 62 per cent of the total registered capital for new FDI projects.

 

The real estate sector had the second highest registered capital, attracting seven new FDI projects with a total registered capital of $334 million.

 

The education and training sector attracted one FDI project with a registered capital of $200,000.

 

As many as 47 FDI projects with a total registered capital of $141 million are in the wholesale and retail sales sector and the automobile and motorbike repairs sector.

 

Mechanical engineering in dire straits

 

The Vietnamese mechanical engineering industry is in dire need of investment to avoid falling into the hands of foreigners, according to the chairman of the Viet Nam Association of Mechanical Engineering Industry Nguyen Van Thu.

 

The Government has long considered the mechanical engineering industry a key sector for development, ratifying strategies by which domestic production could meet 40-50 per cent of total domestic demand by 2010.

 

However, the industry had so far managed to meet only 20-25 per cent of the country's total demand for mechanical engineering products, Thu said, attributing the failure to unfocused and scattered investment as well as high credit interest rates.

 

"A lack of a strong manufacturing facility has also hindered industry growth," Thu added.

 

He said that the Government had so far decided to offer preferential credit policies to nine projects, but that only three had been able to access loans.

 

Demand for Vietnamese mechanical engineering equipment, especially at coal-run power plants, is very big.

 

While combined coal-run power plant capacities are forecast to reach 106,000MW by 2025, it is estimated that the total equipment costs related to both power and alumina production plants will reach roughly US$100 billion.

 

If the country could design, manufacture and supply equipment for its coal-fired power plants, it would also be able to control investments in power plants, helping ensure national energy security and the reduction of the trade deficit, Thu said.

 

"Money spent on equipment and technologies related to thermal power plants account for between 75 per cent and 80 per cent while technologies change regularly. It would be a heavy but revenues-attractive task for contractors to undertake engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) agreements."

 

However, most Chinese firms are working as EPC contractors, or as big investment partners to 41 large-scaled projects in Viet Nam, mostly related to thermal power.

 

To develop a fruitful market, Thu said, the domestic industry must improve its ability to manufacture synchronous equipment with advanced technology.

 

An investment boost in equipment and technology for casting and forging was also necessary for the mechanical engineering industry to further develop, he said.

 

VN, China probe new trade paths

 

Nearly 80 Vietnamese and Chinese enterprises gathered at a business conference held yesterday in the capital to explore new co-operation opportunities, especially in mining, machinery and clean energy.

 

"Viet Nam's integration into the world market is resulting in more demand for machinery and equipment, as well as clean energy," said deputy head of the Viet Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry's International Relations Department Pham Quang Thinh.

 

He said this would open up huge opportunities for businesses from both countries.

 

Wang Yan Liang, director of China's Kai Luan Tang Shan Group, a large-scale coal enterprise, spoke highly of Viet Nam's high economic growth rate.

 

"There are untapped chances for the two nation to accelerate co-ordination in machinery and mining industries because of Viet Nam's rich natural resources," he said.

 

Bilateral trade between Viet Nam and China increased by 30 per cent to hit US$27.32 billion last year. Just $7.3 billion of the total came from Vietnamese exports.

 

During the first half of this year, Viet Nam exported $4.6 billion worth of goods to China while imports hit $11.1 billion.

 

As of July, Chinese firms had invested $4.15 billion in 805 projects in Viet Nam. That helped China rank 14th among 92 countries and territories making investments in the country.

 

PV