PM asks Mekong Delta to develop smart, sustainable agriculture

The Mekong Delta, the largest granary of Vietnam, must work for smart and sustainable agriculture with high added values, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said at the end of the Conference on Sustainable and Climate-Resilient Development of the Mekong Delta held in Can Tho on September 27.

He envisioned the Mekong Delta as an innovation valley of a multifunctional agriculture with strong application of modern science and technology which is highly adaptable to an environment of salinity and lack of fresh water and alluvium.

The PM outlined three main viewpoints on the development of the Mekong Delta, one of which is to facilitate the region’s sustainable development and prosperity via the proactively adapting to and turning challenges into opportunities, thus ensuring stable lives for local people and preserving traditional cultural values.

Secondly, it is necessary to shift the way of thinking in agricultural development from mainly rice cultivation to an agricultural economy, from quantity to quality and from chemical-based  agricultural production to organic and hi-tech practice, he said, adding that attention should also be paid to processing and support industries.

Thirdly, the PM said it is important to respect natural rules, thus selecting development models adaptive to natural conditions with minimum interference into nature.

He said the Mekong Delta must strive to raise the ratio of ecological and hi-tech agriculture in the regional economy to over 80 percent and per capita GDP to 10,000 USD by 2050.

PM Phuc suggested the region develop tourism based on its specific natural and biological conditions and local culture, such as garden, waterway tourism, and eco-tourism.

He said the construction of coal-fired thermal power plants in the region should be limited to the best and encouraged the development of renewable energy which has large potential to tap in the Mekong Delta.

The Government leader suggested building a development fund for the delta from various sources, adding that from now to 2020, the region must disburse at least one billion USD and build cooperation mechanisms with countries and international organisations, especially the world’s big deltas, to obtain their experience and technical support for climate change adaptation.

He said the conference on the Mekong Delta will be held at least once every two years to discuss specific measures to develop the region.

The PM concluded that ensuring livelihood for people is the core task of the Mekong Delta in the context of climate change.

At the conference, German Ambassador to Vietnam Christian Berger affirmed that his Government will closely work with Vietnam to address challenges in the Mekong Delta.

Japanese firms seek partners in Dong Nai province

A trade conference took place in the southern province of Dong Nai on September 27 with the participation of more than 80 Japanese-invested and local enterprises.

Representatives from Japanese businesses said most of them have had to import 60-90 percent of production materials while operating in Dong Nai. Therefore, they expressed their wish to find suitable Vietnamese partners to reduce imports and increase the localisation rate.

Keiichi Kadowaki, President of the Japanese Business Association in Ho Chi Minh City (JBAH), hoped the conference will open up more joint projects, particularly in raising the use of made-in-Vietnam materials among Japanese firms operating in the country. The cooperation would reduce costs and contribute to increasing trade between Vietnam and Japan, he added.

Le Van Loc, Deputy Director of the Dong Nai Department of Industry and Trade, said the event is an opportunity for local companies to connect with their Japanese partners.

Loc said Dong Nai is working to improve its business climate, facilitate partnerships between local and foreign-funded firms, and increase the number of supporting industry, services and high-tech projects to gradually reduce the need for cheap materials imported from overseas.

According to the official, Japan is now the third biggest foreign investor in Dong Nai with 220 projects worth 3.95 billion USD.

Participating enterprises also brought their products for display on the sidelines of the conference.

Dong Thap, Champasak agree on multi-sector cooperation

Senior officials of Dong Thap and the Lao province of Champasak held talks in the Mekong Delta province on September 27.

The talks ended with the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on directions for bilateral cooperation for 2017 – 2021. 

Under the pact, Dong Thap and Champasak will facilitate the exchange of experience on agro-fishery production methods between their relevant agencies and firms.

The two provinces will encourage and create favourable conditions for their respective enterprises to carry out market studies and form partnerships.

Collaboration in research activities and human resources training is also included in the MoU.

Speaking at the talks, Chau Hong Phuc, Vice Chairman of the Dong Thap People’s Committee, said he expects the pact will help stimulate bilateral social-economic engagements between the sides in contribution to the growth of Vietnam – Laos relations.

Champasak Vice Governor Voualin Vongphachanh reported that the province enjoys an annual economic growth of 8.4 percent, with strengths in agriculture and eco-tourism. Champasak has attracted 390 investment projects, both foreign and domestic, with total capital of 17.5 billion Lao kip (around 2.1 million USD), of which around 22 percent was Vietnamese investment.

Draft Law on Special Administrative-Economic Units discussed

The National Assembly’s Law Committee convened its eighth plenary session on September 27 in Nha Trang city, the central province of Khanh Hoa, with debates focusing on the draft Law on Special Administrative-Economic Units.

The event draw the participation of more than 60 delegates from the NA’s Committees, relevant ministries, sectors and the provinces of Kien Giang, Quang Ninh, Khanh Hoa.

Hoang Thanh Tung, Vice Chairman of the NA’s Law Committee, said the bill is complicated and unprecedented in Vietnam, hence, there remains much work to be done so that the draft law could be submitted to the NA for approval in the 5th or 6th sessions.

According to the Ministry of Planning and Investment’s report, the draft law will be a legal framework for building and developing special administrative-economic units, namely Van Don (Quang Ninh province), Bac Van Phong (Khanh Hoa province) and Phu Quoc (Kien Giang province).

The three areas are expected to grow strongly in the fields of tourism, services, trade and finance with new management methods and a favourable investment climate.

The report underlines that the draft law needs to build breakthrough institutions and policies, particularly in socio-economic aspects, administration and judiciary, in line with the Constitution, and international treaties to which Vietnam is a member, and with international competitiveness.

Participants discussed major contents of the draft law, including the apparatus of the local administration of the special administrative-economic units; building favourable business environment; incentives on taxes and land; and mobilising resources for building infrastructure in these areas.

According to Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Van Trung, by the end of 2016, there were about 4,500 special administrative-economic units in 140 nations and territories in the world.

In Asia, a number of special administrative-economic units have witnessed outstanding achievements, such as those in China, the Republic of Korea and the United Arab Emirates.

VNA, PRD agree to boost news exchange cooperation

The Vietnam News Agency (VNA) and Thailand’s Public Relations Department (PRD) have agreed to intensify reporting on the two countries and increasing cooperation in various fields to develop the relations between the two government-level information agencies.

The agreement was reached at the 14th Joint Technical Committee (JTC) meeting held in Bangkok on September 27 under the co-chair of VNA Deputy General Director Dinh Dang Quang and his PRD counterpart Charoon Chaisorn.

The two sides recognised their effective cooperation in implementing the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed at the previous JTC meeting in Hanoi in 2016.

They also pinpointed shortcomings in some cooperative contents and discussed measures to increase the efficiency of joint activities.

Deputy General Director Dinh Dang Quang said the professional partnership between VNA and PRD has been developing in recent years in line with the sound cooperation and friendship between Vietnam and Thailand.

For his part, PRD Deputy Director General Charoon Chaisorn hailed the diverse cooperation between VNA and PRD which has incessantly expanded over the past decade.  

On the occasion, the VNA Deputy General Director presented award certificates to TV reporters from the PRD’s National Broadcasting Services of Thailand (NBT) for their work on the celebration of traditional Lunar New Year (Tet) and socio-economic and cultural life in Vietnam, which won the consolation prize in Vietnam’s National External Information Service Award 2016.

VNA and PRD signed a memorandum on professional exchange in 2003, and since then the bilateral cooperative ties have been expanded to various fields such as the exchange of delegations and information, especially in television, training, and website linkage.

The State-owned VNA has established cooperative ties with many media agencies in the region and around the world, including PRD.

900 firms attend Vietbuild exhibition in HCM City

The second 2017 Vietbuild International Exhibition, one of the most prestigious real estate and furnishing fairs in Vietnam, began in Ho Chi Minh City on September 27.

The event featured more than 2,500 stalls from nearly 900 Vietnamese and foreign enterprises. Highlight products included realty services, construction materials, interior and exterior decorations, and home vegetable farming model.

Bui Pham Khanh, Deputy Minister of Construction, said the domestic property market has recorded stable growth in the first nine months of 2017, with increasing demand for social housing noticed.

In that context, the expo offers information and potentials products for investors and consumers to gain better insight and access to the market. Through seminars and programmes, the event is also a place for new partnerships to be formed.-

Dien Bien cooperates with northern Lao provinces to develop agriculture

A delegation from the Lao Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry visited the north-western province of Dien Bien from September 24-27 to share experience in encouraging agricultural expansion and increase values of farm produce.

Dien Bien has cooperated in agriculture with northern Lao provinces since 2012, and has allocated nearly 7 billion VND (308,000 USD) to those joint programmes.

Under the programme, the Vietnamese locality has assisted Luang Prabang, Phongsaly and Oudomxay provinces in farming rice, growing mushrooms, raising chickens and ducks, and preventing plant diseases.

Particularly, Dien Bien helped Laos build an agro-forestry technical transfer centre and sent experts to help with the centre’s activities.

The province will continue to coordinate with the three northern provinces of Laos in developing animal raising and aquaculture in the time ahead.

The two sides agreed to share more experience in preventing animal and plant diseases and increase education campaigns on forest protection and anti-poaching of wild animals in border areas.

During the working trip to Dien Bien, the Lao delegation visited several models of clean farming and processing in the province.

HCM City seeks multifaceted experience from Netherlands

A delegation from Ho Chi Minh City, led by Vice Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee Le Thanh Liem, has been on a working visit to the Netherlands.

The delegation held on September 26 a working session with the Vietnamese Embassy in the Netherlands, during which Ambassador Ngo Thi Hoa said the two nations have cooperated closely in five strategic partnership fields and several new cooperation priorities that HCM City wants to partner with the Netherlands such as sustainable agriculture, water management, climate change adaptation, and smart city building.

The Netherlands is a leading European investor and trade partner of Vietnam, she said, noting that Dutch firms have been investing in many projects in HCM City and want to get better access to the local market.

Liem said during its working sessions with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Economic Affairs, and economic and cultural establishments of the Netherlands, the delegation exchanged experience in smart city building, urban management, climate change adaptation, flood prevention, urban agriculture and marine economy.

Currently, the Netherlands is the 8th biggest foreign investor in HCM City, while the city’s exports account for one-eighth of the country’s total export value, he said.

Liem expressed his belief that following the official visits to the Netherlands by Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung and the signing of new cooperation agreements, bilateral cooperative relations will continue developing, thereby bringing benefits to both sides, including HCM City.

Conference highlights indicators for green economy in Vietnam

Green growth is a path to achieving sustainable development in the context of climate change, Associate Prof. Dr. Nguyen Danh Son from the Graduate Academy of Social Sciences said at a conference on green growth in Vietnam on September 27.

The conference “Indicators for green economy in natural management, environmental protection, and climate change response: Appropriateness and feasibility in Vietnam” was organised by the Institute of Strategy and Policy on Natural Resources and Environment (ISPONRE) and the Germany-based Hanns Seidel Foundation to share experience and find methods to encourage green growth in the country.

Speaking at the event, Vietnam Country Representative of Hanns Seidel Foundation Axel Neubert underscored that indicators for green economy in natural management, environmental protection, and climate change response should be top of the government’s agenda for national development.

Meanwhile, Son said the impacts of climate change have challenged Vietnam’s sustainable development and the country has struggled in terms of green thinking, natural resource accumulation, human resources, funding, consumption and production behaviours and more.

The indicators for green economy in Vietnam should be selected based on simplicity, representativeness, appropriateness and feasibility, stated Nguyen Thi Yen from the ISPONRE.-

PM suggests Hau Giang develop smart agriculture

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has suggested the Mekong Delta province of Hau Giang develop smart agriculture and processing industry, and spread a new-style cooperative model. 

He made the suggestion during a working session with provincial authorities on September 27, ahead of a conference on local investment promotion the next day. 

The PM hailed the province’s efforts to uphold its role as a rice hub in the Mekong Delta via building high-quality rice, sugar cane and fruit cultivation areas and forming trademarks. 

The province took drastic actions to improve rice quality, reduce poverty and build new-style rural areas. Meanwhile, services and tourism also performed well, he commented. 

On challenges facing the locality, Phuc said it is still affected by drought and saline intrusion. The number of local businesses accounts for only one third of the total nationwide while infrastructure is poor. 

He urged Hau Giang to focus on land use planning, particularly land used for rice farming and aquaculture. The province should expand high-tech agriculture, he said, adding that further attention should be paid to agriculture restructuring and finding resources to upgrade infrastructure. 

Reminding the locality to protect the environment and respond to climate change, the leader expressed hope that Hau Giang will improve workforce quality, particularly in rural areas while linking up with regional provinces and Ho Chi Minh City in economic development. 

In the first nine months this year, the province collected 4.9 trillion VND (214.4 million USD) for the State budget, or 76 percent of the estimate for the period.

FDI firms fret over social, health insurance for foreigners

Foreign invested enterprises in the southern province of Binh Duong are anxious about social and health insurance regulations for non-resident employees, heard a dialogue between the provincial government and foreign investors on September 26.

In particular, foreign nationals who have work permits in Vietnam, trade certificates or practicing licenses will be subject to compulsory social insurance contributions from early next year.

This is the first time they will join the social insurance program in the country. However, local enterprises employing foreign nationals are fretting over the possibly complicated procedures.

Enterprises are wondering who will be obliged to join the program, how much they will contribute, and how they will benefit from it. Another question is how they can recover their fees in case they quit their jobs.

Duong Thi Anh Tuyet, administration and human resources director of Rheem Vietnam Co Ltd in Binh Duong, said the regulation will come into force within the next three months, but there has been no decree or circular guiding its implementation to date. Therefore, her company is deeply concerned.

Foreign workers often work on a fixed term. Thus, after they retire or quit their jobs, they will have to come back to Vietnam to claim insurance allowances. Enterprises asked whether that amount of money might be enough to pay air tickets for foreign employees to return to Vietnam to complete the procedures for their social insurance claims.

A representative of Liwayway Vietnam JSC said the company applies two ways of salary payment. If employees are dispatched to Vietnam, the parent company will pay salaries for them, while those who sign labor agreements with the Vietnam-based company, the local subsidiary will pay them.

As such, the representative pondered how Liwayway Vietnam will have to pay social insurance for its foreign employees starting January 1. Other foreign invested enterprises also shared the same concern.

In addition to social insurance, many enterprises complained purchasing health insurance for their foreign employees is tough. They have already bought health insurance for their foreign staff but most of them do not use such insurance coverage.

They said a majority of health workers in Binh Duong Province could not communicate with their foreign workers in English, so they had no way but to employ interpreters.

Therefore, they suggested social insurance agencies allow the insured to take medical examinations and treatments at international hospitals so that their foreign employees can talk directly with doctors.

However, the problem is that the province does not have many international hospitals and clinics, so purchasing health insurance will put foreign employees in a tricky situation.

In a related development, fresh foreign direct investment (FDI) pledges in the province have amounted to roughly US$2 billion in the year to September, a year-on-year rise of 27% and 40% higher than the full-year target. The figure includes more than US$1.1 billion registered for 148 new projects and US$765 million as additional funds for 87 operational ventures.

Dam projects threaten sustainable development in Mekong Delta

Hydropower projects in the upper reaches of the Mekong River and Thailand’s water transfer projects are posing a big threat to sustainable development in the Mekong Delta, experts said in Can Tho City on September 26.

At a conference on the Mekong Delta’s sustainable development and responses to climate change, Hoang Van Bay, head of the Water Resource Management Department under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, said there are currently 24 hydropower projects in the upstream of the Mekong River.

These dams, either under construction or in preparation, include 13 of China with a total holding capacity of 42 billion cubic meters of water. 

“In the midstream of the Mekong River, 11 hydropower projects are being developed, including nine in Laos and two in Cambodia,” said Bay.

In addition, Thailand is developing several projects that carry water from the Mekong River to its inland areas with a total capacity of 15.2 billion cubic meters a year.

According to Bay, the Mekong River stretch that flows through the Mekong Delta brings 475 billion cubic meters of water, of which 450 billion cubic meters are from the upstream and 25 billion cubic meters are endogenous.

Water overexploitation upstream, especially hydropower projects along the river, will adversely affect the delta.

“The volume of water that flows downstream to the Mekong Delta has significantly declined in recent years, by about 1.8 billion cubic meters per year, or 120 cubic meters per second,” said Bay.
The dwindling water volume from the Mekong River upstream together with endogenous problems has posed numerous challenges to the Mekong Delta.

The first problem is saltwater intrusion that is becoming more serious year by year. In the dry season of 2016, saltwater made its way 100 kilometers from the river mouth.

In addition, overexploitation of groundwater has made some areas of the delta, like Kien Giang, Long An, Tien Giang, Vinh Long, Tra Vinh and Ben Tre provinces, sink by 5-10 millimeters a year, according to a study conducted by Norwegian scientists. More seriously, some coastal regions have subsided by 2-4 centimeters a year.

According to Tran Thuc, vice chairman of the Advisory Council for the National Committee on Climate Change, the amount of silt brought by the Mekong River to the Mekong Delta might decline by 65-90% if all of the hydropower projects are complete and fully operational.

Besides, overexploitation of sand has caused landslides along the delta’s river banks and coastal areas.
Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue said at the conference that the Mekong Delta is one of four deltas most affected by climate change and hydropower development.

According to Hue, there need to be comprehensive policies to solve the above problems and ensure sustainable development for the delta, focusing on water resource and land management, improvement of climate change predictions, science and technology development, investment promotion and human resource development.

Budget revenue from fuels down despite import surge

State budget revenue from fuels has gone down despite a surge in import volume in the first nine months of 2017 compared to the same period last year, according to data of the General Department of Vietnam Customs.

As of mid-September, Vietnam had imported some 9.05 million tons of fuels including 2.14 million tons of gasoline, more than 5.22 million tons of diesel oil 0.05S and 1.25 million tons of jet fuel. The respective numbers in the same period last year were 8.32 million tons, 1.77 million tons and 4.73 million tons.

The average prices of imported fuels also increased sharply such as petrol by 35% and diesel oil by 27%.A senior executive of a southern fuel trader told the Daily that the rise in fuel import volume resulted from the two-month maintenance of Dung Quat Oil Refinery in Quang Ngai Province.

During the Dung Quat maintenance, local traders imported fuels, mainly from markets with preferential import duties such as South Korea, so the contribution of fuel import tax revenue to the State budget was limited.

A source from the import-export tax division at the HCMC Department of Customs, which implements customs procedures of most fuel import shipments, explained that goods were imported via HCMC but customs procedures were done in other provinces. Therefore, revenue for the city’s budget also tumbled.

In addition, auto imports plunged in both volume and value. Therefore, tax revenue from popular cars imported from Indonesia, Thailand and India is only VND100 billion (US$4.37 million) this month compared to VND1,600 billion in August.

The source from the import-export tax division said the city’s customs agency had collected VND76.5 trillion by September 24. The amount is expected to increase to VND79 trillion by September 30, equivalent to 72% of the target this year (VND109 trillion).

In the rest of the year, the HCMC Customs Department will have to collect VND10 trillion a month to meet its budget revenue target. The target is achievable as a large amount of products, especially consumer goods, will be imported in November and December to serve customers in the Lunar New Year holiday, or Tet.

Proposed environmental tax hike on fuels rejected

A Ministry of Finance proposal to impose a maximum environmental tax of VND8,000 on a liter of fuel sold has been turned down for now, as the National Assembly (NA) has made it clear that the issue will not be on the agenda of the NA sitting next month.

The proposal to slap the high environmental protection tax on fuels is included in the draft of the amended environmental protection tax law. However, in a document just sent to NA deputies, the NA Office stated that three draft laws including the environmental protection tax law would not be presented at the next NA sitting which is due to kick off on October 23.

The draft law submitted to the NA Standing Committee on September 14 was considered not convincing, lacking solid grounds for hiking the tax.

Previously, the Ministry of Finance has proposed raising the environmental protection tax rates on plastic bags and goods in transit for re-export. The environmental tax bracket for fuels, except for kerosene, was also proposed to increase to VND3,000-8,000 per liter from the current VND1,000-4,000.

NA Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan said the proposed tax hike without a sound explanation about the burden on taxpayers is unacceptable, especially at a time when the Government is seeking to remove difficulties and cut costs for enterprises.

As a result, fuels whose taxes and fees now account for 55% of the retail price will not be subject to new tax.

Vinalines escapes bankruptcy

Vietnam National Shipping Lines (Vinalines) has been able to get out of the woods after nearly five years of restructuring.

According to a report of the Ministry of Transport, Vinalines’ equity had risen from minus VND8.7 trillion in 2013 to over VND6.4 trillion (US$281.4 million) as of December 30, 2016.

After three years of implementing the scheme for comprehensively restructuring Vinalines (2013-2016), the company has settled nearly VND9.9 trillion in debt out of the total of over VND11.4 trillion, of which VND7.8 trillion is loan principal.

The company has paid nearly VND4.9 trillion in loan interest for the Vietnam Development Bank (VDB) and has plans to settle an additional VND969 billion in debt from now till the end of this year.

With debt having been reduced by over 70%, Vinalines has been discharged from bankruptcy after years mired in debt.

Maritime transport and seaport operations, which the company used to struggle with, have recovered. The company incurred a loss of over VND8 trillion in this sector in 2012 but posted a profit of VND33 billion in 2016. 
As of early 2015, Vinalines posted a profit of VND253 billion from its business activities.

The company has plans to launch its initial public offering (IPO) late this year. According to the IPO plan approved by the Government, the State stake in Vinalines will be retained at 65% at the holding company and its major ports, including Haiphong, Danang and Saigon ports.

Stocks on HCMC bourse continue falling but at slower pace

Stock losses on the HCMC bourse extended on September 26 given the selling pressure but they were not as strong as the day before. Meanwhile, stocks on the Hanoi exchange were still in positive territory.

Though sell orders remained robust, an improvement in cash flow on the Hochiminh Stock Exchange (HOSE) helped prevent the VN-Index from falling as sharply as on Monday. In early trade, transactions were lackluster as investors remained hesitant after the market’s poor performance a day earlier.

This was why the rise of sell orders at lower prices drove the key stock index away from the 805-point mark. But a pickup in transactions at the end of the day, especially those of key bank and oil/gas stocks, eased the index’s loss.

The HCMC exchange saw 122 stocks advancing and 147 others losing, and the VN-Index declined 0.03% at 805.35 points on September 26. The volume of HOSE matched transactions amounted to 155.5 million shares, up 23.38% against the day before, and their value reached VND3.2 trillion, up 16%. 

Oil/gas stocks propped up the VN-Index, with GAS edging up 1.5% at VND69,500 per share. Other key advancers on the HCMC exchange were VNM, VCB, STB, VIC and MSN. Surprisingly, MSN of Masan Group Corporation made a turnaround after a long losing streak, inching up 2.6% at VND55,900 per share.

The stocks which pushed down the index included ROS, SAB, BHN, VJC, PLX, VPB, BVH and HPG. In particular, SAB of Saigon Beer-Alcohol-Beverage Corporation slid 1.3% at VND258,000 per share and ROS of FLC FAROS Construction Joint Stock Company dipped a staggering 6.2% to VND112,800 per share.

Other stocks in the same sector as ROS closed down as well, such as FLC, FIT and AMD. FIT hit its floor price at VND11,000 per share, with 9.27 million FIT shares matched and more than two million shares still unsold. FLC took the lead in terms of liquidity with 12.93 million shares changing hands at VND7,410 per share, down 0.8% from the day earlier.

Actively traded stocks like HAG, HNG, HAR and HAI rallied. HAI of HAI Agrochem Joint Stock Company gained 1.5% at VND10,150 per share, with 7.8 million shares traded. HAR of An Duong Thao Dien Real Estate Trading Investment Joint Stock Company  advanced 2.8% at VND14,600 per share with 2.47 million shares transacted.

On the Hanoi Stock Exchange, oil/gas stocks were also the main support of the HNX-Index which has rallied for a fifth session in a row. The index added 0.53% at 107.91 points.

Trading volume totaled 66.48 million shares worth VND694.93 billion, up 6.62% and 8.99% against a day earlier respectively. Put-through deals amounted to 13.5 million shares valued at VND254 billion.

The market for unlisted public firms, UPCoM, ended down 0.3% at 54.26 points with 3.9 million shares worth VND73.4 billion changing hands.

Budget revenue from fuels down despite import surge

State budget revenue from fuels has gone down despite a surge in import volume in the first nine months of 2017 compared to the same period last year, according to data of the General Department of Vietnam Customs.

As of mid-September, Vietnam had imported some 9.05 million tons of fuels including 2.14 million tons of gasoline, more than 5.22 million tons of diesel oil 0.05S and 1.25 million tons of jet fuel. The respective numbers in the same period last year were 8.32 million tons, 1.77 million tons and 4.73 million tons.

The average prices of imported fuels also increased sharply such as petrol by 35% and diesel oil by 27%.A senior executive of a southern fuel trader told the Daily that the rise in fuel import volume resulted from the two-month maintenance of Dung Quat Oil Refinery in Quang Ngai Province.

During the Dung Quat maintenance, local traders imported fuels, mainly from markets with preferential import duties such as South Korea, so the contribution of fuel import tax revenue to the State budget was limited.

A source from the import-export tax division at the HCMC Department of Customs, which implements customs procedures of most fuel import shipments, explained that goods were imported via HCMC but customs procedures were done in other provinces. Therefore, revenue for the city’s budget also tumbled.

In addition, auto imports plunged in both volume and value. Therefore, tax revenue from popular cars imported from Indonesia, Thailand and India is only VND100 billion (US$4.37 million) this month compared to VND1,600 billion in August.

The source from the import-export tax division said the city’s customs agency had collected VND76.5 trillion by September 24. The amount is expected to increase to VND79 trillion by September 30, equivalent to 72% of the target this year (VND109 trillion).

In the rest of the year, the HCMC Customs Department will have to collect VND10 trillion a month to meet its budget revenue target. The target is achievable as a large amount of products, especially consumer goods, will be imported in November and December to serve customers in the Lunar New Year holiday, or Tet.

Road maintenance fund alone fails to meet demand

The road maintenance fund has collected nearly VND30 trillion (about US$1.32 billion) from automobile owners nationwide over the past five years but it cannot meet the country’s actual financial needs for road maintenance, said the Ministry of Transport.

According to Lao Dong newspaper, since it was established in 2013, the fund has contributed 65% to the country’s total investment in road maintenance.

In 2017 alone, the fund is expected to collect over VND7 trillion. Thanks to the number of vehicles having risen in recent years, road maintenance fee collection revenues have increased 106-255% annually.

However, the fund can only meet 45% of the country’s actual demand for road maintenance, with the balance coming from the State budget.

According to the Ministry of Transport, as of 2012, Vietnam had about 280,000 kilometers of road. Most of the roads have deteriorated and are narrow, causing traffic accidents and jams.

Since the road maintenance fund was established, road maintenance nationwide has improved. Some 65% of the road maintenance fund is distributed to localities to do road repairs and upgrades.

However, many localities have cut their own budget for road maintenance after their projects are financed by the fund. Besides, complicated procedures for capital disbursement have resulted in slow and poor maintenance.

Taxi firms in Hanoi launch apps to compete with Uber and Grab

Many traditional taxi firms in Hanoi have launched their mobile taxi booking apps and cut fares to compete with Uber and Grab ride-hailing companies.

To provide customers with a wide range of options, taxi firms like Sao Hanoi, Ba Sao Taxi and VIC Taxi have put into use their own apps allowing customers to book taxicabs via websites, Facebook Messenger, texting services and hotlines, among others.

In particular, Linh Trang Traserco Co Ltd has cooperated with VTC Pay to operate LB Car app which customers can use to pay taxi fares by QR code.

Other taxi firms also have their own apps and websites like Thanh Cong Taxi with thanhcongtaxi.com and ThanhCong app, Taxi Group with TaxiGroup app, and Noi Bai Taxi with noibaionline.vn.

In addition to technology reform, traditional taxi firms have also cut their fares to attract more customers.

A number of taxi firms have reduced taxi fares for the route from inner-city districts to Noi Bai International Airport to VND150,000-180,000 (US$7-8) per ride since June 2017. Meanwhile, Uber’s current fares for this route range from VND205,000 to VND250,000.

Uber earlier planned to cut fares for this route to VND150,000 per ride. However, Uber drivers strongly opposed the plan, saying that such fare cut will significantly reduce their incomes.

A representative of Noi Bai Taxi said thanks to the application of technology, especially mobile apps, traditional taxi firms can now optimize their operation, reduce costs and offer competitive fares.
  
VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/TT/TN/Dantri/VNEVET