Hanoi gov't makes progress in IT

Newly-elected chairman of Ha Noi People's Committee Nguyen Duc Chung believed that Ha Noi will soon reach the top position in IT application.

Chung's statement is based on a report on the city's application of information technology over the past years.

Efforts to apply information technology (IT) at State agencies between 2012 and 2015 have been stepped up, the municipal Department of Information and Communications said at a conference on Tuesday to review the department's activities in 2015.

According to the department's report, its management on infrastructure has been improved. The department is currently controlling and maintaining 54 underground urban infrastructures.

In 2015, the department worked with relevant agencies to discard, reorder and bundle electrical wires and cables on 150 streets.

Last year, 58 inspections were conducted by the department, imposing administrative punishments on 82 organisations and individuals who swindled telecommunication service users.

Addressing the event, Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Truong Minh Tuan praised the department's achievements, saying that Ha Noi must not be satisfied with ranking third among Vietnamese cities in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Index.

The index aims to assess readiness of cities and provinces nationwide for ICT application and development. In 2015, Da Nang and HCM City topped the list, statistics from the Information and Communications Ministry show.

Phu Yen people resist resettlement

Loose soil and stones that have not been reinforced along the road surface fall into people's houses, disrupting their daily life.

More than half of 901 affected households have not shifted to resettlements following the upgrade of National Highway 1 in the central Phu Yen Province.

The upgrade project has affected more than 4,600 families in the province, of which 901 households had to shift to 16 resettlement zones.

Till date, about 98.7 per cent of the infrastructure, comprising street lights, roads and communal houses, has been completed in the resettlement areas.

However, most of them are deserted despite the upcoming Tet (Lunar New Year) festival.

"Most of the households have not moved here because they continue to live in their old houses that have been left standing after the land clearance. Some live with their relatives," Nguyen Thi Ut, one of persons who have shifted to the resettlement area, said.

People said they were not ready to move to the resettlement zones because there was no water supply.

"The new place has electricity, but no domestic water supply. Every day, I have to collect water 300m away from my house. We have also not received the land use certificates," Nguyen Thi Loan, a resident, said.

During the process of the upgrade work, hundreds of houses developed cracks, but no compensation was given.

"The weight of the road-rollers put pressure on the land, causing our houses to crack. We reported the problems to the authorities, but have not received any reply," Truong Thi Nhi, a local resident of An Chan Commune, said.

"I had to use my own money to repair my house," she said.

According to Phu Yen's Department of Transport, insurance agencies have given more than VND3.5 billion ($156,000) in compensation to 675 households that have given their land for the upgrade project.

"Under the land clearance plan, the investors gave compensation only for the land within the area of the project, and not outside. Therefore, the incurred cost, which is about VND5 billion ($223,000), has not been counted," Nguyen Thanh Tri, director of Phu Yen transport department, said.

"The transport ministry reported the problems to the Prime Minister and proposed that the money left from land clearance should be used to support families whose houses have developed cracks," he said.

The local people's lives have also been disrupted by many other problems.

There are no drainage systems along the road. So, when it rains, the water flows into the residents' houses that are located one to three metres lower than the road surface.

Additionally, the loose soil and stones that have not been reinforced along the road surface fall into people's houses and affect farming land.

Traffic safety corridors have also not built along the project road, endangering the lives of people living near the road.

"The authorities will soon solve all problems that remain after the upgrade and expansion project of National Highway 1," Tri said.

The project started in 2013, with a total investment of VND 4.35 trillion (about US$ 194 million).

The road section is 66km long and was finished in October last year.

HCM City targets 5.1 million int’l visitors in 2016

Ho Chi Minh City set a goal of welcoming 5.1 million international visitors and 21.8 million domestic travelers this year, earning a total of 103 trillion VND (nearly 4.8 billion USD) in revenue.

The figures were revealed at a conference to review the city’s tourism performance in 2015 and propose orientations for the sector for 2016.

The sector also set a target of promoting the image of Ho Chi Minh City as a friendly, attractive and safe destination.

To achieve the targets, it will focus on improving the quality of tourism products and services and develop waterway tourism, said La Quoc Khanh, Deputy Director of the municipal Department of Tourism.

Efforts should be exerted to step up tourism promotion programmes as well as further ensure public order, with a view of enhancing the attractiveness of the city in the eyes of tourists.

Last year, the city received 4.6 million foreign visitors and 19.3 million domestic tourists, up 4.6 and 13 percent year-on-year, respectively.

Tourism earnings reached 94.6 trillion VND (over 4.1 billion USD), a year-on-year increase of 10 percent.

Voluntary social insurance buyers to get Gov’t subsidy

Voluntary social insurance buyers will be able to get a maximum subsidy of 30% of the total required premium payment and choose different modes of payment as specified in a decree recently issued by the Government.

Under Decree 134/2015/ND-CP guiding the 2014 social insurance law, the Government will provide subsidies for monthly premium payments, with 30% for the poor, 25% for the near-poor and 10% for others.

Those voluntarily buying social insurance will get pensions and survivorship allowances similar to those buying compulsory social insurance but cannot get benefits for occupational accidents, illnesses and maternity.

The new decree provides more flexible methods of payment, which enable the insured to pay premiums on a monthly basis, every three months, every six months and every year, or once in a period of no more than five years.

In addition, if people retire but lack social insurance premium payments for less than ten years, they can continue paying until they have 20 years of payment to be eligible for receiving retirement pensions.

If retirees lack more than ten years of payment, they should pay until the payment duration is less than ten years and then pay once for the remaining period in order to get monthly pensions.

People can pay voluntary social insurance equivalent to 22% of monthly incomes they select, with the lowest equivalent to the poverty line in rural areas and the highest equivalent to 20 times of the base salary at the time of payment.

The decree will come into force on February 15, but the Government’s subsidies will not be available until 2018. The decree also says payment subsidies will be adjusted in line with actual socioeconomic development and the state of the State budget.

According to the Department of Social Insurance, there were around 12 million compulsory social insurance buyers in Vietnam last year but voluntary social insurance purchasers numbered only 250,000, or 0.4% of the workforce.

Most voluntary social insurance buyers have high incomes, have not paid insurance premiums fully and continue paying to meet the retirement pension requirements. This means a large number of laborers in the unofficial sector and poor people are unable to access the service.

Nguyen Thu Giang, deputy head of the Institute for Development and Community Health, told the Daily that the new decree is a big step towards helping workers in the informal sector benefit from social insurance.

According to Giang, payment subsidies will be based on the poverty line applicable to rural areas. In addition, the social insurance agency should design different voluntary insurance packages with different benefits instead of only offering pensions and survivorship allowances so that people can choose the packages that fit them most.

Procedures for voluntary social insurance should be simplified and made transparent so that people can fully understand the requirements for payments and benefits and its difference from common life insurance products.

Unpaid social insurance premiums still high

Though Vietnam Social Insurance (VSI) has taken many enterprises to court for long-unpaid social insurance premiums for staff, a small fraction of the arrears has been collected as many firms have gone bust or foreign business owners have left Vietnam.

According to VIS, around 30% of businesses have paid social insurance for their staff following lawsuits, some 40% have agreed to go to court and the remainder have gone bankrupt or are waiting for dissolution.

Data of social insurance agencies showed the total unpaid insurance premiums of enterprises exceed VND7.5 trillion (US$336.3 million) last year, up by some VND300 billion from a year earlier. Of which, social insurance arrears totaled around VND5.7 trillion, health insurance VND1.56 trillion and accident insurance VND315 billion.

Many firms do not have money to pay social insurance arrears as ordered by court. In addition, payments of social insurance arrears are not a priority of the asset liquidation process.

Tran Dinh Lieu, head of the insurance collection department at VSI, said suing those owing social insurance premiums is not an efficient way to deal with this problem. VSI has had to handle 170 cases in which leaders of foreign direct investment (FDI) enterprises, especially Taiwanese and Chinese ones, have left Vietnam.

VSI said the existing regulations allow FDI enterprises in Vietnam to employ bosses, laborers, machines and production facilities. However, these businesses do not have money or assets to settle social insurance arrears though they had collected social insurance from workers.  

Lieu said more than 6,000 laborers of such enterprises have been affected.

VSI has proposed the Government work out an effective mechanism to protect laborers but this remains a hard job, Lieu said.

Many National Assembly (NA) deputies queried the Minister of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs about unpaid social insurance at the legislature’s meetings in the past.

Lieu of VSI said the agency will take bold measures, including filing legal action. VSI will inspect companies and coordinate with customs agencies to share information about social insurance debtors.

The Penal Code, effective from July 2016, clarifies that those who fail to pay social insurance, delay payments or make fake documents in the social insurance sector can be sued.   

Health insurance card holders can go to any medical facilities in their regions for examination and treatment since January 1, 2016,

As per new decree, medical health insurance card holders are eligible for any medical centers which are not their first choice of hospital provided that medical centers are located in cities or provinces where a patient live.

According to the new decree, if a patient register to  have medical check-up  in a medical center in a commune, they can register for examination and treatment in same medical centers or a hospital even a traditional medicine hospital in district  provided that these medical centers are located in a patient’s locality.

A medical insurance card holder lives in different district for business or study for less than 12 months, they are eligible for examination and treatment at a same level medical center with their first choice of registered hospital in the cities or provinces they move to.

Official backs student recruitment cap for universities

Nguyen Van Ang, deputy head of Education Ministry's Finance Department, said he saw no problem with capping student enrolment numbers for university despite opposition.

Circular 32 issued by the Ministry of Education and Training stated that the total number of students at each university must not exceed 15,000. Ang said this circular was aimed to ensure that quantity will go with quality and it was already approved by the NA Committee for Culture, Education, Youth and Children.

According to Ang, only 18 out of 219 universities have more than 15,000 students so there was no ground to say that no universities could follow the circular.

Many universities have expressed concern that they would have redundant lecturers if their recruitment quota is capped. But Ang encountered that in reality many universities had received more students than they were capable of teaching and had to hire more lecturers later.

"We haven't seen any problem with the circular. This is the most suitable solution for the current situation in our country," he said.

He went on to say that if after checking the current number of students and lecturers, university recruitment quotas were lower than 2015, but higher than 15,000, then the ministry might allow it to recruit more students than regulated; but if student numbers were higher than 2015 then the figure for 2015 would be the university's cap on student numbers. The ministry would review each case and assign the most suitable recruitment quota for each university, he said.

Bank staff profiteer from demand for small value bank notes

With the Lunar New Year two months away, there is rising demand for small denomination bank notes for lucky money or votive gifts and bank staff have used this demand to make more money.

If there is sufficient amounts of small banknotes in the vault, bank staff are often given VND5m (USD227) worth of small banknotes for their family and close acquaintances. Higher personnel can be given higher amount of money.

A banking employee in Hanoi, who wished to remain anonymous, said, "demand for small denomination banknotes is palpable every year. Everyone asks me to exchange small banknotes for them."

She went on to say that employees of commercial banks would definitely have higher amounts of banknotes to exchange. However, some employees collect small banknotes then gave them to other people to open exchange service outside to earn money from charging more for the notes, she said.

Nguyen Tri Hieu, an independent director on the board of Ocean Bank, said, "A regulation issued by the State Bank in June stated that people could exchange worn-out or damaged bills at banks without any additional fee. But in reality, this exchange is difficult as banks often claim that they are running out of small banknotes."

Meanwhile various exchange service stalls pop up on the streets and at many jewellery shops. In order to provide new small banknotes, these service providers work with bank employees. Last Tet Holiday, in order to change VND50,000 into VND10,000 notes, customers had to pay VND5,000 in fees. The service fees get higher with smaller value notes. Many providers offered to get 80% of total money worth in exchanging for VND500 banknotes.

"Small banknote exchange service outside banking system was banned but still occur because the regulations still have loopholes," Hieu said.

Hanoi brings warm Tet to policy beneficiaries, poor people

Hanoi will spend nearly 283 billion VND (12.6 million USD) on gifts to policy beneficiaries and impoverished households on the occasion of the upcoming Lunar New Year 2016, said Le Toan Khang, Deputy Director of the municipal Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, on January 5.

Accordingly, people who rendered service to the nation, retired officials and employees, and poor families will receive presents worth from 300,000 VND (13.35 USD) to 500,000 VND (22.25 USD) each.

Meanwhile, old people aging from 70 -100 will be presented gifts worth from 500,000 VND (22.5 USD) to 1 million VND (45 USD) each.

In addition, the city will visit and present Tet gifts, each worth 1.1 million VND (48.9 USD), to outstanding organisations and individuals.

It also sets to grant gift packages to centres caring for people who made contributions to the revolution, war invalids’ production establishments, associations for disabled people, Agent Orange/dioxin victims, political prisoners and young ex-volunteers, and social protection centres.

Financial support will also be given to officials from caring and vocational guidance centres under the management of the Public Security, Heath, and Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs sectors.

Total money set aside for Tet gifts increases 50 billion VND (2.2 million USD) from last year, Tran Thanh Binh from the municipal department said, adding that the city will set up a number of teams inspecting the gift presentation.-

Vinh Long to develop rural electricity network

The Electricity Company of Vinh Long province in the Mekong Delta plans to spend 35 billion VND (1.6 million USD) to develop the rural electricity network.

The investment will be spent on 26 power projects, such as installation of 10km of mid-voltage lines and 30km of low-voltage lines, and setting up of transmission stations with a total capacity of 4,700kVA.

The plan will help to improve the lives of rural people as well as reduce power losses during transmission.

The company will also complete the 500kV Duyen Hai – My Tho line, the 220kV Duyen Hai-Mo Cay line and 110kV transmission station in Long Ho District's Hoa Phu industrial zone this year.

In 2005, the company spent 159 billion VND (7.2 million USD) to implement key projects on connecting rural areas to the national grid.

The projects, funded by the German Development Bank, were implemented in the province's 92 wards and communes, providing power to nearly 3,000 households.

Thanks to the projects, the percentage of local people getting electricity has risen to 99.62 percent.

Over 6,500 administrative inspections conducted in 2015

Inspectors conducted more than 6,500 administrative inspections and more than 243,600 regular inspections in different sectors last year.

These results were declared at a conference on January 5, attended by Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc.

The inspection authorities checked the implementation of laws in several corporations and examined the re-organisation and privatisation process of several enterprises.

They also evaluated construction investment projects, land and mineral management, and the management and use of construction investment funds.

Inspectors discovered violations resulting in losses of 97.4 trillion VND (4.3 trillion USD) and more than 16,400ha of land.

The authorities reclaimed 16.2 trillion VND (721 million USD) and 316ha of land, delivering it to the state budget.

The officials issued more than 161,600 administrative penalties to organisations and individuals, amounting to 11.4 trillion VND (509.3 million USD).

The inspectors forwarded 67 cases involving 74 people to the criminal investigation authority.

It also transferred 40 cases involving 133 people to the concerned departments to initiate legal proceedings.

Tien Giang ensures power access for successful countryside building

The Mekong Delta province of Tien Giang has made efforts over the last five years to facilitate the local residents’ access to electricity to realise the national target programme on building new-style rural areas.

The State-run Tien Giang Power Company said it has spent over 240 billion VND (10.7 million USD) since 2011 on building 64 transformers with a total capacity of 1,715 kVA, and installing more than 685km of low voltage lines and nearly 54km of medium voltage lines in key communes under the programme.

The firm has directly sold electricity to more than 114,000 households province-wide and guaranteed fair electricity quality and prices.

Director Luu Thanh Nam said the business has focused resources on completing power networks to assist local communes to fulfill the electricity-related criterion in the national target programme and serve rural socio-economic development.

All communes in Tien Giang have connected with the national power grid so far, helping raise the number of new-style rural communes to 12.

The national target programme on building new-style rural areas, initiated by the Government in 2010, aims to modernise rural regions in Vietnam. It sets 19 criteria covering infrastructure, production, living standards, income and culture, among others.

As many as 1,300 communes were recognised as new-style rural localities, or 14.5 percent of the total, as of November 2015, according to a report delivered by Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Cao Duc Phat on December 8.

Vietnam aims to have 50 percent of all communes nationwide meet all the requirements by the end of 2020.

Localities active in caring for AO/dioxin victims

Localities throughout the country have held a wide range of activities to support Agent Orange/dioxin victims, many of whom live in poverty and suffer from serious diseases as consequences of exposure to the toxic chemical.

The Association of Agent Orange/dioxin victims in the central province of Quang Nam raised over 7.1 billion VND (317,000 USD) from international and domestic organisations and individuals to help its needy members in 2015.

The money was used to provide scholarships, capital for household economic activities and build houses for the beneficiaries.

The Association also launched a website to update relevant information for benefactors and to facilitate the connection between the victims and donors in the province.

The provincial social welfare centre is taking care of 56 AO victims, providing them with vocational training and creating jobs for them.

The Association has 10,800 members, more than half of them have benefited from social welfare policies.

In a similar move, in 2015, the Association in the Mekong Delta province of Tien Giang presented wheelchairs, built houses and provided free health checks and medical treatment to local AO victims, at a total funding of 10 billion VND (455,360 USD).

Tien Giang is home to more than 10,000 AO/dioxin victims, around 10 percent of them have yet to receive any social welfare benefits, according to President of the Tien Giang Association Le Quoc Bao.

In 2016, the Association aims to mobilise more than 5 billion VND (223,200 USD) to ease the targeted group’s difficulties.-

Binh Duong: Migrant workers given free rides home for Tet

As many as 5,000 workers at industrial parks across southern Binh Duong province will receive free tickets to travel home for family reunion on the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday.

Organised by the local labour confederation, the free-ticket programme has gathered significant support from the business community.

Binh Duong province is now home to 26 industrial parks, covering a total area of 8,800 hectares. The average occupancy rate is 65 percent. A large number of workers in industrial parks come from other provinces and cities, with some as far as the northern region.

The locality plans to lure 1.4 billion USD in FDI in 2016. It vowed to continue to improve the local business climate and its provincial Competitiveness Index by adding support to investors, stepping up administrative reforms and ensuring social welfare.

Electricity comes to 89 percent of rural households

Nearly 89 percent of households in rural areas, or 14.85 million households, had gained access to the national power grid by the end of 2015, according to the Electricity of Vietnam (EVN) Group.

Speaking at a conference to review the group’s operations in 2015 and put forth tasks for 2016 on January 6-7, EVN Deputy General Director Dinh Quang Tri said that as of late 2015, 89.1 percent of rural communes across the country had electricity.

According to Tri, during 2011-2015, the group allocated funding to ensure the completion of power projects in Tra Vinh, Soc Trang, Kien Giang, Bac Lieu, Lai Chau, Dien Bien, Son La and Bac Kan provinces, which has helped raise the proportion of Khmer people in the southwestern region using electricity to 90 percent and the rate of ethnics in the northwestern region to over 85 percent.

From 2009 to 2015, the EVN also completed several programmes totaling 575 billion VND (25.6 million USD) supporting the three poor districts of Tan Uyen, Than Uyen and Phong Tho in the northern mountainous province of Lai Chau, raising the rate of local households having electricity from 40 percent in 2011 to 90 percent in 2015.

The group and the Lai Chau provincial People’s Committee also signed another assistance agreement worth around 200 billion VND for the 2016-2020 period.

Over the past five years, it invested nearly 900 billion VND in resettlement for power source projects, and plans to add more 181 billion VND for the work in 2016.

This year, the EVN strives to finish projects in the electricity supply programme for rural, mountainous and island areas in 2013-2020 in order to ensure all rural households gain access to electricity.-

EVN urged to ensure sufficient electricity for economy

The Electricity of Vietnam (EVN) should continue playing a crucial role in supplying adequate electricity for the economy while taking the lead in the development of new and renewable energy sources, said Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai.

Speaking at a conference in Hanoi on January 6 to review the group’s 2015 performance, Deputy PM hailed the sector for ensuring sufficient power for the economy and preparing standby resources.

The group has basically changed its perception in serving customers and increased the transparency of electricity prices, he said, adding that the rising number of multi-purpose hydropower plants has helped balance the water demand for daily activities and agriculture production.

However, he noted that it will be difficult for the national group to mobilise investment capital for power projects as the capital market is incomplete. Meanwhile, customers have increasing demands for better and more transparent services.

The current standby electricity generating system could not work within two years, hence, the EVN needs more drastic investment measures to cope with the issue, he suggested.

Proper changes in planning and scientific calculation and research are essential to ensure a safe and stable system, he said, recommending boosting administrative reform and encouraging e-payment.

EVN Deputy Director General Dinh Quang Tri reported that in 2015, the average use of electricity per capita was 1,536 kWh per annum, up 56 percent over 2010.

Over the past five years, the commercial electricity posted an average growth of 10.84 percent. Electricity generated for industry and construction climbed by 11.7 percent on a yearly basis, while that for consumption up 9.6 percent, trade-services 14.1 percent, and agriculture 20.1 percent.

The commercial electricity output reached 143.34 billion kWh in 2015, surpassing the yearly target by 1.54 billion kWh and increasing 11.44 percent year-on-year.

Tri said the total electricity capacity for 2016 is estimated at over 38,800 MW. The commercial electricity output is expected to expand by 11-12 percent over 2015.

The southern power system will still have to cover around 25 percent of demand from the northern and central regions (about 20 billion kWh for the whole year), he said, stressing the importance of ensuring gas fuel and coal for stable and safe operation of power plants in the south such as Vinh Tan 2 and Duyen Hai 1.

According to Tri, in order to realise this year’s targets, the EVN has coordinated with the Vietnam National Coal and Mineral Industries Group (Vinacomin), the Vietnam National Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam) and the PetrolVietnam Gas (PV Gas) to ensure the smooth operation of the power generating system across the country.

The EVN National Power Transmission Corporation (EVN NPT) is responsible for operating safely power transmission lines and transformer stations, especially the 500kV North-South power system in the dry season.

Electricity companies must improve procedures to increase the electricity access index.

Son La strives to earn more new rural area titles

Building new-style rural areas has been a top priority of northern Son La province as the mountainous locality sets goals to beat poverty as fast as it can to achieve sustainable development.

Over the past three years, the province concreted more than 960 kilometres of roads at a total cost of 1.06 trillion VND (47.17 million USD) as part of its new-style rural area programme.

Some 31 percent of the investment was sourced from the State while the remaining was contributed by local residents.

Many locals volunteered to donate land, money and work hours for the construction of over 39 kilometres of roads in Yen Chau district, worth 35.5 billion VND.

Roads in Son La now stretch the length of more than 9,000 kilometres, 67 percent of which have been solidified.

Thanks to the locality’s great effort, three of its communes – Chieng Xom in Son La city, Muong Giang in Quynh Nhai district and Chieng Ban in Mai Son district – were recognised as new-style rural areas in 2015.

It has ten communes that almost meet all 19 new-style rural area criteria. On average, each commune has fulfilled 6.5 criteria.

Chieng Xom, the first commune that earned the title, has advantages in agribusiness. It has established three agricultural cooperatives and an agriculture extension club to support the sector’s development.

Vocational training was provided for nearly 340 farmers while authority encouraged local merchants to trade the farmers’ products.

Income per capita of the commune is currently 19.5 million VND per year (approximately 868 USD).

Meanwhile, Chieng Ban is the largest “coffee plantation” of the North-western region where coffee yields 2.5 tonnes per hectare and farmers earn three times as much as they get from other crops.

Poverty rate in the commune was reduced to below 6 percent and families with yearly income above 100 million VND (4,450 USD) account for around 60 percent of the total households.

According Pham Van Khanh, Chairman of the People’s Committee of Chieng Ban, local coffee growing areas increased from 20 hectares in 1998 to 1,000 hectares today, making up 66 percent of the district’s total farming areas and 11 percent of the province’s coffee areas.

Son La is home to 12 ethnic minority groups. Some five out of its 11 districts and city are defined as poor while 99 communes and 1,340 villages are listed as extremely poor.

The province looks to have five more new-style rural communes and 53 others which fulfill 10-18 criteria by the end of this year.

The national target programme on building new-style rural areas, initiated by the Government in 2010, sets 19 criteria on socio-economic development, politics, and defence, aiming to modernise rural areas.

The criteria cover the development of infrastructure, the improvement of production capacities, environmental protection, and the promotion of cultural values.

The country aims to have 50 percent of all communes nationwide meeting all the requirements by the end of 2020.

VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/TT/TN/Dantri