Vietnamese Ambassador to Indonesia pays pre-Tet visit to detained fishermen

Vietnamese Ambassador to Indonesia Pham Vinh Quang (R) visits fishermen detained in Indonesia

Vietnamese Ambassador to Indonesia Pham Vinh Quang on January 30 and 31 visited Vietnamese fishermen who are being kept in a detention centre of Tanjung Pinang immigration office ahead of the lunar New Year (Tet) festival.

Quang encouraged them to strictly follow the detention centre’s regulations and the host country’s laws.

Ahead of Tet, the ambassador presented gifts to the detained fishermen with a hope they could overcome difficulties and be repatriated home as soon as possible.

He also gave them a sum of money and proposed the detention centre allow them to go out for shopping, under the supervision of detention officers, so they can welcome the lunar New Year with traditional Vietnamese dishes.

Working with representatives from the detention centre, the diplomat suggested the centre adjust the daily diet suitable to Vietnamese tastes and allow the fishermen to go to market with the centre’s officers and get some exercise.

He also urged the centre to exchange information with the Vietnamese Embassy to speed up procedures to help them be repatriated soon.

According to the embassy, since the beginning of 2018, a total of 437 Vietnamese fishermen arrested for illegal fishing in Indonesia’s waters have been repatriated, and around 200 others are currently detained in Indonesia. 

Last year, the number of Vietnamese fishermen seized by Indonesia was down nearly 50 percent compared with that of the previous year.

In the year, the Vietnamese Embassy in Indonesia worked with domestic and Indonesian agencies to carry out citizen protection work. 

Notably, after Vietnamese fishermen-related issues were mentioned at a meeting between Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and Indonesian President Joko Widodo in Hanoi last September, the Indonesian side has sped up procedures to return detained Vietnamese fishermen.

Tet reunion programme brings warmth to poor workers

Thousands of gift packages and free coach tickets have been handed to poor workers throughout the country under a Lunar New Year (Tet) reunion programme launched by the Vietnam General Confederation of Labour (VGCL).

Chu Thi Hoi, a worker at Nisei Electric Vietnam Co., Ltd., said she was very happy to receive the gifts from the company’s trade union and leaders.  

The Tet reunion programme creates an opportunity for workers to express their aspirations to company leaders, she added.

Nguyen Van Minh, a worker at Canon Vietnam Co., Ltd., said he has been working here for four years. 

This is the first time he has been able to return home to enjoy Tet with his family thanks to the support of the company.

The Tet reunion programme was first held by the VGCL in 2015 in Hanoi’s Bac Thang Long Industrial Park, with the hope of bringing a warm Tet holiday to its more than 156,000 workers and trade unionists.

The VGCL has coordinated with the Mobifone Telecom Corporation and the Vietnam Railway Corporation to arrange two trains for 1,200 workers in southern Binh Duong and Dong Nai provinces to come home to enjoy Tet with their families.

As of January 24, 2019, trade unions across the country presented Tet gifts worth around 1.8 trillion VND (77.3 million USD) to nearly 3 million members and employees.

Thanh Hoá master plan approved

A corner of Thanh Hoá City in central Thanh Hoá Province. The city will become a grade-one urban area in the province in 2040 under the urban master plan. 

Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc on Thursday approved the general planning for Thanh Hóa City and Thanh Hóa urban master planning up to 2040.

Per the plans, Thanh Hóa urban area which contains Thanh Hóa City as its centre will become a grade-one urban area in Thanh Hóa Province.

Urban areas in Việt Nam are categorised according to their development, with grade-one only behind the largest cities Hà Nội and HCM City.

The master scheme aims to raise the position and status of the Thanh Hóa urban area to become a connectivity area among the North-Central region, the Red River Delta, the Northwest region, and the Northeast region of Laos. 

Thanh Hóa City is expected to become a modern urban area, with green growth and adaptation to climate change.

The urban area is hoped to include developed industries, services, trade, culture, tourism, history, ecology, land for housing development and a real estate. 

Under the planning, the area will have a total area of 232.64sq.km and a population of 435,300 people. Total population is set to reach about 635,000 by 2030 and 720,000 by 2040. 

The main content of the master plan is to review the development direction for urban areas and review the land fund for urban area development. Urban design, strategic environmental assessment, climate change adaptation capacity and green urban area criteria will be added to the master plan. 

New bridge links An Giang province and Cambodia

Tân An bridge links the Mekong Delta province of An Giang with Cambodia. — Photo tuoitre.vn

Tân An Bridge that helps connect the Mekong Delta province of An Giang with Cambodia was inaugurated on Wednesday.

The bridge, spanning the Xang Canal, is 612m long and 12m wide with a load carrying capacity of 33 tonnes.

The facility, with VNĐ572 billion (over US$24.6 million) of investment sourced from the central and local budget, links the Long An and Tân An communes of Tân Châu Town, thereby connecting provincial Road 952 with the Vĩnh Xương International Border Gate and Cambodia.

Chairman of the An Giang People’s Committee Vương Bình Thạnh said Tân An Bridge will replace Tân An ferry. He described it as a historic milestone for his province as it helps form an artery linking Tân Châu Town with the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh through Vĩnh Xương International Border Gate.

Thạnh voiced his hope that the bridge will facilitate travel and transportation of goods across the border, thus opening up new economic development opportunities. 

Reopening date of Cai Lay tollgate to be determined by end-January

The Ministry of Transport on January 31 will organize a meeting with relevant agencies and units to discuss solutions to toll collection at the long-suspended Cai Lay tollgate, operating under a build-operate-transfer (BOT) format.

The decision on the date for resuming the operations of the tollgate will take center stage at the meeting, which will be chaired by Deputy Minister of Transport Nguyen Nhat. The toll collection is slated to recommence after February 14.

Earlier, at a meeting between the ministry and the Tien Giang government, held on January 25, Deputy Minister Nhat confirmed that the toll collection at the controversial tollgate would be resumed after February 14.

In addition to informing residents of the resumption of toll collection at Cai Lay tollgate, Nhat proposed the operator finish repairing the entire route and upgrading the surface of National Highway 1.

“In particular, it is necessary to install a nonstop toll collection system at the BOT tollgate,” he said at the meeting.

Further, Nhat assigned the provincial Department of Transport to coordinate with the investor to review the number of vehicles subject to toll reductions and exemptions in eight communes near the tollgates.

The project, including a 12-kilometer bypass section around Cai Lay Town and an improved section of National Highway 1 spanning 26 kilometers across Tien Giang Province, was developed by a joint venture between Bac Ai Construction Investment Consultation JSC and Transport Construction and Investment Trading JSC No.1.

The VND1.4-trillion project, which got off the ground under the BOT format in 2014, was completed in 2017.

Some 16,800 vehicles pass through the National Highway 1 section in Cai Lay Town per day, while the bypass is used daily by more than 9,400 vehicles, according to a report by the Ministry of Transport.

Doosan to cover Tet bus travel of 300 employees

Doosan Heavy Industries Vietnam will cover the cost of bus travel for more than 300 of its workers during Tet.

Workers from outside central Quang Ngai province account for 12.8 per cent of its workforce, and the company will provide eight 45 and 50-seat buses to carry 308 employees and their families home for the Tet holiday.

The buses head out in three directions to 14 cities and provinces: Quang Nam, Da Nang, Thua Thien Hue, Quang Tri, Quang Binh, Nghe An, Ha Tinh, Thanh Hoa, Ninh Binh, Hai Phong, Hanoi, Binh Dinh, Gia Lai and Dak Lak.

Doosan Vina is one of only a few companies in the country to implement such a policy for its employees.

After the nine-day break, buses will bring workers back to start work on February 9 and 10, depending on their location.

This is the eleventh year in a row Doosan Vina has implemented the policy and 2,963 employees have benefited.

Doosan Vina is a high-tech industrial complex at the Dung Quat Economic Zone in Quang Ngai province employing 2,000 Vietnamese workers. The company supplies the mega infrastructure that make modern life a reality.

Products include boilers for thermal power plants, desalination plants the size of a football pitch that turn sea water into fresh, material handling systems like cranes that are the heart of logistics at ports around the world, and structural steel for buildings and infrastructure developments. To date the company has exported products worth $2.4 billion.

Vietnam to host League of Legends e-sports tournament

A professional tournament of multiplayer video game League of Legends will be held in Vietnam for the first time this year.

The tournament will be held in May, the game’s developer Riot Games announced on January 29.

The 2019 Mid-Season Invitational (MSI) will also be hosted by Taiwan the same month, making it the first time the league has one of its major international tournaments hosted in Southeast Asia. 

The tournament’s play-in stage will be held in Hanoi from May 1-7, before moving on to the group stage in Saigon from May 10-14 and then the knockout stage in Taipei, Taiwan from May 17-19.

"Riot hopes to recognize the tremendous progress of the region and the enthusiasm of the players by hosting one of the largest global e-sports events in the area," Dot Esports quoted a press release by the California-based game developer as saying.

It also said that the launch of the Vietnam Championship Series in Saigon, the only professional League of Legends e-sports tournament held in the country, was one of the reasons why the upcoming MSI would be hosted in Vietnam. The region’s growing interest in the e-sports and infrastructural improvements were also deciding factors.

The MSI is one of the two annual major international events for League’s competitive scene, the other being the World Championship, Fox Sports Asia reported. 

As such, the MSI has traditionally been hosted in one of the four major countries/regions: the Republic of Korea, China, North America and Europe. This year will be the second time the MSI is hosted outside the four regions, the first time happening in Brazil in 2017.

The MSI is considered one of the newer e-sport tournaments for the online game, having only been launched in 2015 in Talahassee, Florida.

It has been hosted by China in 2016, Brazil in 2017 and both France and Germany in 2018. This year, the tournament will feature teams from 13 countries and regions to fight for the ‘MSI Champion’ title.

The venues for the 2019 tournament have yet to be announced, and ticket sales will begin mid-March.

League of Legends, also known as LoL, is a multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) video game first launched in 2009. Players controls a "champion" with special abilities and battle against a team of other players or AI-controlled champions in a pre-defined arena. The goal is to destroy the other team’s "nexus," a structure located in the heart of base which is protected by other defensive structures.

League of Legend was well-received by the public upon its initial release, and has been growing in popularity ever since. Recent figures show that the game has an active player base of over 80 million monthly players, translating to over 27 million players daily. The game has been a hit in Vietnam, too, especially among the youth, and homegrown competitive teams have risen in global prominence thanks to their performance in previous international tournaments.

The game is ranked first in terms of global gaming traffic share at 26.42 percent, according to a 2018 Global Internet Phenomena Report by California-based networking equipment firm Sandvine.

Authorities see red over Tet envelopes mimicking Vietnamese currency

Lucky money envelopes looking like Vietnamese currency are trending in Ho Chi Minh City this year, but the central bank's not amused.

The State Bank in HCMC has asked police forces and relevant agencies to tighten control and take tougher action against people selling such envelopes, saying that it is an illegal activity.

The use of Vietnamese currency images for any purpose, and the production and sale of lucky money envelopes with the banknotes images without permission from the State Bank violate the nation's laws and can be punished with fines of up to VND80 million ($3,451).

With only more than a week until Tet, Lunar New Year, Vietnam’s longest and most important holiday, the business for lucky money envelopes is vigorous.  

The offending envelopes bear the same appearance as Vietnamese bills with denominations of VND50,000, VND100,000, VND200,000 and VND500,000. ($1 = 23,256). 

Tet falls on February 5 this year, and it is an indispendable tradition of the festival to give lucky money, li xi in Vietnamese, to children and elders in red.

Holiday traffic blamed as Hanoi air quality turns 'very unhealthy'

Air quality in Hanoi has been hitting alarming levels of late, with experts pointing fingers at Tet traffic.

The Real-time Air Quality Index on aqicn.org on January 29 afternoon ranked pollution in the capital at an "unhealthy" level. The index measured by the Hanoi-based US Embassy hit 154, a level that would require old people and those with heart and respiratory problems to stay indoors.

On January 28, the index measured by the Hanoi’s Department of Natural Resources and Environment at a monitoring station on Pham Van Dong Street, to the west of Hanoi center, reached 202, an alarming pollution level that was classified as "very unhealthy."

The same day, the air quality recorded on Hang Dau Street reached 201 while other tracking stations across the capital recorded figures ranging from 158 to 200.
 
Aqicn.org uses data collected from the Vietnam Center for Environment Monitoring under the Environment Ministry, the United Nations International School of Hanoi and the US Embassy in Hanoi.

Data from environment agencies in Hanoi showed that the PM2.5 concentration in Hanoi between January 20 and 26 was at a really bad level.

Ambient air pollution is measured by the concentration of particulate matter 2.5 (PM2.5), a fraction of the width of a human hair, which is released from vehicles, industry and natural sources like dust.

The PM2.5 concentration in Hanoi on January 25 was 400 μg/m3, a level that prompted experts to warn local residents to limit outdoor activities so as to prevent respiratory diseases.

The safe concentration limit according to the World Health Organization is 25 μg/m3, so the Hanoi level was 16 times this limit.
 
Hoang Duong Tung, a senior environment official, told Giao Thong Newspaper that heavy traffic has exacerbated the air pollution level in the capital in recent days.

"High demand for travel in the lead up to Tet, Vietnam’s biggest and most important holiday, has resulted in increasing number of private vehicles on the road, causing dirty air in the capital," he said.

Pham Ngoc Dang, vice chairman of Vietnam Association for Conservation of Nature and Environment, said vehicles' emissions produce around 70 percent of PM2.5 in the air.

"Heavy traffic during the Tet season is the main reason for the serious pollution in Hanoi the past days," he said, as cited by Giao Thong. He added that the cold weather also helped worsen the problem.

Air pollution in Hanoi has been worsening in recent years, with classifications of "unhealthy" and even "hazardous", which means everyone should avoid outdoor exertions.
 
The 2018 Sustainable Cities Index, commissioned by Arcadis, an Amsterdam-based design and consultancy firm, ranked Hanoi among the least environmentally friendly cities in the world.

Jacques Moussafir, director of French company ARIA Technologies, which specializes in pollutant dispersion and air quality, warned that the number of people suffering from severe respiratory and mental health damage from air pollution would double in 2020 if nothing was done to fix the problem.

The city of eight million people has more than five million motorbikes and 550,000 cars. Data shows the number of private vehicles has been increasing at a rate of 4.6 percent annually, but the amount of land allocated for transportation projects has only been expanding at a rate of 0.4 percent.

In its pollution fight, the Hanoi People’s Council, the municipal legislature, made a controversial decision last July to approve a ban on motorcycles by 2030.
 
The ostensible aim was to boost use of public transportation, including a new metro system, but this is poorly developed sector in the capital city.

While public buses are cheap and affordable, most vehicles are old and have to share congested roads with cars and motorbikes, making them an unpopular choice for most commuters.

Officials have said that unbridled construction, road works and industrial operations that pay little regard to the environment have also worsened the situation.