Long Bien Bridge to get a new urban railway neighbour

Ha Noi's People's Committee has decided to build a new railway bridge spanning the Hong (Red) River, just 75m upstream from the existing Long Bien Bridge.

The new bridge, a part of the on-going Yen Vien-Ngoc Hoi urban railway project, is expected to reduce traffic congestion of the Long Bien Bridge.

The national railway route running across Long Bien Bridge will be shifted to the new bridge when it is completed.

The People's Committee has carefully considered the affects on the Old Quarter's traditional architecture, culture and economic development, as well as the historic Long Bien Bridge.

In addition, authorities have conducted workshops on the construction of the bridge with the general public and experts, including the Ministry of Construction and the Ministry of Transport.

A report released by the People's Committee said this option was the best choice as it would require minimal land clearance and not have a negative affect on the Old Quarter or Long Bien Bridge. — VNS

Cocaine found in passenger's luggage

Customs officials at the Noi Bai International Airport in Ha Noi confirmed that the 30 grams of white powder recovered from the carry-on luggage of a Vietnamese woman is cocaine.

The woman named Pham Thi Nhan was to leave Ha Noi for Moskva in Russia this morning.

Custom officials had examined her checked baggage as well and found some abnormalities there. The luggage has been taken into custody for further examination by the Ha Noi Police.

Directorate orders monitoring of overloaded trucks on expressway

The directorate for roads of Viet Nam (DRVN) has issued a document, ordering tighter control over overloaded trucks on the Noi Bai–Lao Cai expressway.

In Document 1751, issued on Monday, the directorate requested the department of roads number one to work with the transport departments of Vinh Phuc, Yen Bai and Phu Tho, through which the road runs, and the Viet Nam Expressway Corporation (VEC) to increase inspections and to verify a report received by the DRVN hotline that claimed 90 per cent of the refrigerated trucks carrying seafood on this road were overloaded.

The document also asked these agencies to intensify inspections on the branch roads connecting the expressway.

According to Voice of Viet Nam, DRVN General Director Nguyen Van Huyen said between March 18 and March 23, his agency and concerned agencies conducted a week-long inspection of overloaded trucks on the road. They discovered that 48 out of 2,992 trucks stopped for inspection were overloaded.

The 265km-long Ha Noi–Lao Cai expressway, which opened to traffic last September, goes through the five provinces of Ha Noi, Vinh Phuc, Phu Tho and Yen Bai, as well as Lao Cai.

Injured fisherman rescued off Da Nang

A fisherman from Quang Nam Province, who broke his backbone while working at sea, 390 nautical miles off the central city, was rescued today morning.

The city-based Regional Maritime Search and Rescue Coordination Centre No 2 (MRCC Da Nang) said a rescue ship found the injured fisherman and took him to the central port.

Forty-one year-old fisherman Bui Van Hoi, from Quang Nam Provinces Nui Thanh district, fell down from the cargo hold of the fishing boat, QNa 91468 TS, and broke his backboneon Monday evening.

Hoi, who was in coma, was treated by doctors on the rescue ship.

Police arrest illegal online gambling ring's leader

The Thua Thien–Hue Province Police have arrested a ‘most wanted' criminal, who allegedly was one of the two leaders of an illegal online gambling ring busted last July.

Fifty-year-old Pham Huu Loi, deemed extraordinarily dangerous and resident of 481, Le Duan, Hue City, was caught by the provincial police's investigation division of crimes related to economic management order and positions on Monday, while allegedly hiding in Dong Thap Province to avoid the ‘wanted' warrant.

On July 4, 2014, the Thua Thien–Hue Province busted an illegal online gambling ring and prosecuted 17 people for illegal online gambling, xoc dia (a gambling game unique to Viet Nam, originating in 1909, whereby gamblers use four coin-shaped tokens in four different colours and guess their combinations after each toss) and football match-fixing.

The online Cong an Nhan dan (People's Police) newspaper said the police had found documents showing the amount of gambled money to be up to US$37.7 million, and had detained Vo Van Nhan, 31, resident of 319/2, Bui Thi Xuan Road, Hue City, the other alleged leader of the gambling ring.

Loi reportedly ran a xoc dia gambling website called BA049 (no longer in operation). He also allegedly handed over to Nhan a subsidiary gambling website BA0430 last January (no longer in operation).

The ring was allegedly run by dozens of persons at the primary level of its administration, and more than 200 persons at its secondary administration level, involving more than 2,000 gamblers across the nation.

Lack of fresh water hits Ly Son Island

Ly Son Island, 30km off the coast of Quang Ngai Province - known as the Kingdom of Garlic - is experiencing a serious shortage of fresh water, seriously damaging both its onion and garlic crops.

This is due to the worst drought in the island's history - and over-exploitation of the island's ground water.

Vice-chairwoman of the island's people's committee, Pham Thi Huong, said the district had used 83 per cent of its total groundwater reserves.

"The dry weather came earlier this year and the district has warned onion and garlic farmers who dominate the island's farms that it could continue," said Huong. "We have also advised farmers to buy or make metal or concrete tanks to store water."

Huong said that the 20,000 cu.m Thoi Loi reservoir had a limited amount of water for farm and living.

Some areas could not use wells because of the salinity problem, she said.

She said nearly half of the 200 wells used for farming had become saline.

"Islanders will have a poor harvest of onions, but hope remains for the main garlic crop, which is harvested between September and February," the chairwoman said.

Ly Son island has 21,000 inhabitants. They make their living from farming garlic and onions - and fishing. The island provides 3,500 tonnes of onions and 2,000 tonnes of garlic each year.

Suggestions have been made that farmers switch to drought resistant plants, such as maize and sesame.

The district has also asked the province to build a VND100 billion (US$4.8 million) desalination station.

An Binh Islet, five kilometres away from Ly Son Island, benefits from the US$1 million desalination project.

Funded by the South Korean heavy industry group Doosan Vina, it provides 30 cubic metres of water a day.

Drought, saline intrusion crimp Ca Mau shrimp farmers

Drought and saline water intrusion have seriously affected rural production in southernmost Ca Mau province over the past two months. The problem is forecast to last for another month or so.

According to the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, thousands hectares of land used for shrimp farms by 36,000 households face severe water shortages.

Already, 1,200ha of prawn farms have been affected. Losses are estimated to reach billions of dong.

Extensive breeding areas in districts of Dam Doi, Cai Nuoc, and Phu Tan had dried up due to prolonged drought.

Many households pump water from rivers to the shrimp ponds, but this is said not to be very effective.

Meanwhile, nearly 10,000 ha of farmland alo ng the entire 252km coastline of the province are suffering from saltwater intrusion.

Trinh Xuan Hung, director of the National Centre for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting in Ca Mau Province, said salinity in the province's main rivers was higher than last year.

Ca Mau has had no rain for months and the drought is forecast to be more severe than in previous years, Hung added.

According to Nguyen Van Trung, deputy head of Aquaculture Department, the higher salt concentrations in breeding water will harm shrimp growth and encourage diseases to spread. This partly explains why there have already been so many shrimp losses in recent months.

Rice would also die if salt concentrations in paddy fields become higher than 3 per cent, he added.

The agricultural sector recommended local farmers temporarily stop out of season shrimp farming with the exception of industrial shrimp production, Le Van Su, the agricultural sector's director said.

Vietnam, Singapore make joint charitable medical effort

The Vietnam Military Medicine Department has teamed up with its colleagues from the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) Medical Corps to offer free medical treatment and medicine for residents in Binh Xuyen district, northern Vinh Phuc province as from April 15.

A team of 32 military doctors and health experts from both nations will also provide locals with free eye examinations and glasses.

Around 600 local residents turned out on the first day of the 3-day event, which will run through April 17.

Additionally, both sides will exchange experience in their field alongside humanitarian aid, disaster rescue and peace keeping activities.

Director of the Vietnam Military Medicine Department Vu Quoc Binh said the event was intended to mark the 42nd anniversary of Vietnam-Singapore diplomatic ties.

Chief of SAF Medical Corps Kang Wee Lee hailed it as a proof of the successful cooperation between the two countries.-The Vietnam Military Medicine Department has teamed up with its colleagues from the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) Medical Corps to offer free medical treatment and medicine for residents in Binh Xuyen district, northern Vinh Phuc province as from April 15.

A team of 32 military doctors and health experts from both nations will also provide locals with free eye examinations and glasses.

Around 600 local residents turned out on the first day of the 3-day event, which will run through April 17.

Additionally, both sides will exchange experience in their field alongside humanitarian aid, disaster rescue and peace keeping activities.

Director of the Vietnam Military Medicine Department Vu Quoc Binh said the event was intended to mark the 42nd anniversary of Vietnam-Singapore diplomatic ties.

Chief of SAF Medical Corps Kang Wee Lee hailed it as a proof of the successful cooperation between the two countries.

Project on water management in river basins slated for September

A project to enhance the capacity of water environment management in river basins will be launched in several cities and provinces this September, as heard at a seminar in Hanoi on April 15.

The project will cover the development of macro management tools as well as improving the capacity to draft laws and policies concerned and their enforcement under the management of the Vietnam Environment Administration (VEA), said Project Manager Ichiro Adachi.

It will be piloted in the Cau River basin in the northern provinces of Bac Ninh, Bac Giang and Thai Nguyen as well as the Dong Nai River basin in southern Ho Chi Minh City and Binh Duong and Dong Nai provinces.

Initially, working groups will take charge of defining visions, goals, strategies and water quality standards, calculating the existing and future level of pollution based on respective socio-economic development plans and holding educational campaigns about the cause.

Nguyen Thi Thanh My from the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Natural Resources and Environment requested improvements in the activities of river basin environment protection organisations, the design of a master plan for river basins and a database, and increased coordination between localities and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment in dealing with environment incidents and tapping mineral resources in river basins.

The seminar was co-hosted by the VEA and the Japan International Cooperation Agency.

Programme integrates tourism development with sea protection

Activities of the “For a green national environment” programme were announced at a press conference on April 15, aiming to raise public awareness of the importance of marine environment protection in tourism development.

Themed “Tourism development aligned with marine environment protection”, the programme is being implemented across Vietnam’s coastal localities from April 8 to December 26. Miss Vietnam 2014 Nguyen Cao Ky Duyen will serve as the Ambassador of the programme.

The activities include movements encouraging people to work together to keep coastal areas clean by collecting garbage along beaches, communication campaigns to raise public awareness and a gala night on tourism and marine environment.

Over the past years, tourism in coastal localities has significantly contributed to Vietnam’s economic development, accounting for over 60 percent of the country’s tourism revenue.

Earnings from tourism in these localities have posted an annual growth rate of 24 percent in the past 15 years.

However, weak waste treatment systems are causing environmental pollution at several beaches in Vietnam, requiring drastic measures to deal with the increasingly concerning situation.

Vietnamese, Chinese youths wrap up annual exchange

A Vietnamese 98-strong delegation got back to the country April 14 after attending the 15th annual Vietnam-China Youth Meeting in China.

The program started on April 5 and took place in Beijing and some cities of Shaanxi and Guangxi provinces.

During the 10-day event, Vietnamese youths met with Chinese students in universities and research centers, took part in classroom trainings on China’s traditional culture and had dinner with local people.

They also visited a museum dedicated to President Ho Chi Minh in Longzhou township of Guangxi Province.

Many Vietnam's cities will be submerged due to climate change

People in the Central Highlands and nearby provinces are facing the worst drought of the decade, struggling to find drinking water and watching their crops and cattle die.

But 400 kilometers to their north, three people drowned last month due to unusual floods as rainfall hit more than 500 millimeters, the highest in March since 1965.

“What’s going on?” a resident asked in a question sent to the environment minister during a televised Q&A program early this month.

“It’s climate change,” Minister Nguyen Minh Quang told national broadcaster Vietnam Television.

He said the impacts are becoming more extreme in Vietnam, one of the five most affected countries in the world, and the cost of that extremity will rise to 9% of GDP from the end of the century.

“It’s a terrible figure.”

The damage caused by climate change between 2001 and 2010 was around 1.5% of Vietnam's GDP as more severe and frequent disasters left around 9,500 people dead and missing.

Quang said that in 2100, the temperature in Vietnam will be two to three Celsius degrees higher and the sea level will rise by another one meter.

A fifth of the country’s largest and busiest city Ho Chi Minh will be underwater, so as 39% of the Mekong Delta and 10% of the Red River Delta.

The ministry said Vietnam at the present cannot afford to do anything about climate change other than learning to live with it.

He said one effective adaptation method is to plant mangrove forests, or in other words, recovering those that the country has spent years destroying for agriculture development.

Over the past 70 years Vietnam has lost around 2,420 square kilometers of mangrove forests to agriculture projects, mostly shrimp farms.

The country’s job now is to bring them back, the minister said.

Vietnam to develop social services in urban areas

Building a constructive business environment for social service providers is a focal task in urban zones across Vietnam through 2020, Deputy Director of the Urban Development Department Nguyen Thi Ha Anh stated during a workshop held in Hanoi on April 15.

According to Deputy Minister of Construction Phan Thi My Linh, urban development in Vietnam has long focused on building infrastructure rather than improving associated social services, negatively affecting citizens’ living standards.

A lack of comprehensive government orientations and incentives along with incomplete relevant legal frameworks lie at the root of the issue, she said.

At the workshop, participating experts discussed a number of subjects, including international principles guiding the approach to basic social services and practical experience in providing educational and water services.

The World Bank has called Vietnam the fastest urbanising country in Southeast Asia. In 1986, only 19 percent of Vietnamese population lived in the cities. The figure climbed to almost 34 percent in 2013 and is expected to reach 45 percent in 2020.

In accordance with Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung's Decision No. 445/QD-TTg in April of 2009, Vietnam's master plan for 2025 includes the development of urban systems with modern, high-quality and environmentally-friendly technology and infrastructure.

Vietnam Journalists’ Association marks its 65th anniversary

Numerous events will be organised in Hanoi and northern Thai Nguyen province from April 20-21 to mark the 65th anniversary of the Vietnam Journalists’ Association (VJA) (April 21, 1950), VJA Vice Standing Chairman Ha Minh Hue told the press on April 15.

A ceremony and conference to mark the day and recall the history of the Vietnamese revolutionary journalism during the national struggle for independence will take place at the Hanoi Opera House on April 20. A cultural show themed “Back to the root” will be held later the same day in Thai Nguyen, including students of the first revolutionary journalism class.

The VJA delegation will visit the association’s memorial house and monument where the VJA was founded at Roong Khoa village in Diem Mac commune, Dinh Hoa district, Thai Nguyen, followed by a march to celebrate the 65-year development of the VJA.

The Association of Vietnam Press Writer, known as the VJA today, was established on April 21, 1950 chaired by the late journalist Xuan Thuy, who was also a diplomat and a Party leader, for two terms from 1950 to 1962.

Other historic VJA chairmen include Hoang Tung, Hong Chuong, Phan Quang, Hong Vinh, Dinh The Huynh and Thuan Huu.

The association currently has more than 22,000 members across the nation. Its 10 th Congress is scheduled to convene in August to map out orientations for the next term from 2015-2020.

Over the past 65 years, the VJA has made great contributions to national liberation and development. Its correspondents have bravely covered stories firsthand from battle fields and are continuing their tireless efforts to report news, photos and footage daily.

An Giang focuses on improving ethnic living conditions

The Mekong Delta province of An Giang has implemented dozens of social policies to improve the living conditions of the local Khmer ethnic minority.

The locality has provided them with production and residential land and social services such as healthcare, vocational trainings and job placements, said Tran Quoc Thanh, Head of the provincial Ethnic Minority Department.

An Giang has also cooperated with the Mekong Delta Rice Institution and the University of Can Tho to provide local Khmer people with seeds and skills assistance, while encouraging them to apply science and technology and restructure agricultural production.

A number of irrigation systems have been constructed in Tri Ton and Tinh Bien districts to expand production land for Khmer people.

Target programmes have effectively boosted local socio-economic development and security, including the new-style rural area building programme and the 135 programme investing one billion VND (46,500 USD) each in 17 border communes.

An Giang is home to over 22,600 Khmer ethnic households with over 91,000 people, accounting for 4.23 percent of the provincial population.

The majority are located in Tri Ton and Tien Bien districts, living off the harsh land with its severe and extreme weather conditions, while the rest are scattered across Chau Phu, Chau Thanh and Thoai Son districts.

According Thanh, the rate of local impoverished and near-impoverished households in Khmer ethnic areas has constantly reduced over the past 40 years, posting at 14.55 percent currently.

The figure is expected to stand at around 10 percent in 2015.

Khmer community in Soc Trang celebrates Chol Chnam Thmay

The southern province of Soc Trang is filled with a festive atmosphere as local Khmer people celebrate their traditional New Year Chol Chnam Thmay from April 14-16.

With more than 400,000 Khmer people, or 30.71 percent of the province’s population, Soc Trang has the largest Khmer community in the nation, all of whom are busy decorating their houses and preparing traditional dishes to worship their ancestors and feed their guests.

During the festival, Khmer people often gather at pagodas, practice traditional customs such as gathering up sand to form a small mountain, and pray for a New Year of peace, favourable weather and prosperity.

One of the most important practices in Chol Chnam Thmay is the Buddha bathing ceremony. Khmer people also bathe to pray for forgiveness for mistakes made in the previous year.

Various traditional activities such as games, dances and singing are also held during the festival.

In a bid to facilitate a warm local Khmer community festival, the province has sent 25 delegations to visit and present New Year gifts.

This year, thanks to joint efforts of the Government and locals, Khmer people are welcoming their New Year festival in improved economic conditions, said Nguyen Trung Hieu, Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee.

Lam Hong from Vien Binh commune in Tran De district, where 60 percent of the community is Khmer, said applying large-scale rice fields helped his family earn 30 million VND (1,390 USD) in profit per hectare. Hong, who owns 15 hectares of rice fields, said mechanised farming has helped his family cut costs considerably in harvest and transport.

Soc Trang has also invested in education, building eight new primary schools and one high school to Khmer students. Khmer people are also engaging in strengthened local administration. Currently, 13.3 percent of the total 4,554 Party members in Soc Trang are Khmer people, while nearly 5,000 Khmer people are serving as public servants.

Ca Mau city focuses on growth

Ca Mau city has decided to mobilise 500 million USD for infrastructure improvements by 2020.

The funds will be sourced from national, provincial and municipal budgets as well as from community and business contributions.

Ca Mau aims to become a regional hub by upgrading its transportation infrastructure, water supply and sewage systems. It is also prioritising the construction of 5 urban areas with cultural centres and planted trees.

The city of Ca Mau, with a population of almost 300,000 people, is the administrative centre of the southernmost province of Ca Mau.

Da Nang works to improve lives of AO victims

The Association of Agent Orange/Dioxin Victims in the central city of Da Nang on April 14 presented three houses worth 123 million VND (5,693 USD) to poor local AO victims’ families in the hope of helping them improve their living conditions.

Le Thi Huong, a beneficiary in Huong Lam village, Hoa Khuong commune, expressed her happiness as the association not only helped her build a new house, but is also assisting her family with stable employment.

Huong’s family has three children, including two affected by Agent Orange/Dioxin.

Da Nang is one of the country’s dioxin contamination hotspots. According to Nguyen Thi Hien, Chairwoman of the Da Nang association, the city currently has more than 5,000 direct AO victims and more than 1,400 children affected second-hand by the chemicals. Many live in poverty.

During the past five years, the association has raised more than 5 billion VND (231,450 USD) for AO victims in the city.-

New Year wishes to Khmer people in Hau Giang

Dignitaries, monks, nuns and Khmer Buddhist followers in the Mekong Delta province of Hau Giang received gifts from the Steering Committee for the Southwest Region on the occasion of their Chol Chnam Thmay (New Year) festival.

A delegation, including representatives from the Steering Committee and a number of other agencies in the region, High Command Zone 9 and the provincial Committee for Ethnic Affairs, paid a visit to the locality on April 14, during which they visited a number of Khmer pagodas in Vi Thanh city and Long My and Vi Thuy districts.

Head of the delegation Nguyen Quang Thuong congratulated local Khmer people on their New Year festival, and called on them to work harder to make their life better.

According to Venerable Ly Ve, Head of the provincial Association for Solidarity of Patriotic Buddhist Monks, Khmer people in the locality have effectively used support sources provided by the State to promote economic development.

Courses were organised in Khmer pagodas to teach Vietnamese and Khmer classes for Khmer children in Hau Giang, contributing to preserving the cultural values of the Khmer ethnic group, the monk said.

Chol Chnam Thmay is one of the most important festivals of the year for the Khmer people. It usually lasts three days and is celebrated mostly in pagodas.

This year’s festival takes place from April 14-16.-

New poverty line to be submitted for approval in September

A new updated poverty line relevant to modern conditions will be submitted to the Prime Minister this September since the existing line is too low, said Minister of the Ministry of Labour, Invalids, and Social Affairs (MOLISA) Pham Thi Hai Chuyen on April 15.

She made the announcement on the final working day of the 10th plenary meeting of the National Assembly Committee for Social Affairs in Ho Chi Minh City.

MOLISA Deputy Minister Nguyen Thanh Hoa reported the poverty rate among households nationwide was cut from 14.2 percent in 2010 down to 5.8-6 percent by the end of 2014. The figure is expected to fall to below 5 percent in late 2015.

The number of low-income families in Vietnam reduces by an average of 2 percent annually, while the rate in impoverished districts drops by more than 5 percent yearly, meeting the targets set for 2012-2015.

He noted though the poverty rate has decreased sharply in disadvantages districts and ethnic minority communities, it is unsustainable and still exceeds 50 percent in some localities.

Meanwhile, the MOLISA’s poverty elimination programme is currently overlapping with the national new-style rural area building programme in terms of localities, beneficiaries, and policies, noted Vice Chairman of the NA Committee Do Manh Hung.

Minister Chuyen said her ministry will review households struggling with acute diseases, lack of income, or inability to work in order to provide appropriate assistance and ensure sustainable poverty alleviation.

The MOLISA will also liaise with the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Planning and Investment to examine poverty reduction programmes to prevent overlaps as demanded by the Prime Minister, she added.

Thai, Lao students at Vinh University celebrate traditional New Year

Thai and Lao students attending central Nghe An province’s Vinh University gathered to enjoy their respective traditional New Year festivals on April 15.

This is the 12th year the university has organised an event for Thai and Lao students, designed to help them have warm and happy New Year celebrations and contribute to tightening the friendship among Vietnam, Thailand and Laos.

At the event, Vietnamese students joined Lao and Thai friends in ritual activities like water splashing and the baci ceremony where strings are tied around people’s wrists to wish them good luck and prosperity for the New Year.

As many as 450 Thai and Lao students are currently studying at the Vinh University.

Thailand’s Songkran festival takes place annually from April 13-15, while Laos’ Bun Pi May is held from April 14-16.

Hanoi promises stable electricity supply during summer

The Hanoi Electricity Corporation said it would implement technical measures to ensure a stable electricity supply for the capital city during the hot summer months.

Nguyen Danh Duyen, Deputy General Director of the company, said the measures include hotline repair solutions, installing supervision devices, using independent transformer stations and enhancing relay systems at 110 kilovolt transformer stations.

Duyen also called on the community to use electricity efficiently and avoid using electrical devices simultaneously.

Hanoi will not cut power on hot summer days or make alternating cuts in some wards during this summer, Duyen added.

The company also asked its units to draw up scenarios and master repair solutions.

Authorities unlawfully allow almost 600 pines to be felled in Vietnam

Authorities of a district in central Quang Ngai Province in October last year allowed a business to cut down nearly 600 pines in a designated bid at dirt cheap prices, an unlawful decision that has been suspended by a competent agency.  

The provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development recently said it has suspended the felling of these pine trees, which are 35 years old, in two communes of Ba To District, as it is illegal.

The district’s authorities said these trees have died.

“We have coordinated with the provincial forestry protection sub-department to set up an inspection team to investigate the case,” Sai Gon Giai Phong (Liberated Saigon) newspaper quoted Tran Ngoc Thuong, deputy director of the department, as saying.

In October 2014, the Ba To District People’s Committee designated Hoang Lam Phu Co. Ltd. as the contractor for the removal of 398 pines in Ba Cung Commune and 195 others in Ba To Commune, without any approval from the provincial People’s Committee and verification by the department, said Thuong.

Under the designated tender, Hoang Lam Phu was required to pay a bid price of VND65 million (US$3,000) for the trees, which has a total volume of 216 cubic meters, according to news website VnExpress.

That means the designated bidder paid only VND300,000 ($13.9) per cubic meter, while the market price of pine wood is as much as VND15 million ($694) per cubic meter, VnExpress said.

Le Han Phong, chairman of the Ba To District People’s Committee, admitted that local authorities were wrong to choose a bidder for the tree cutting work and then allow it to chop off the trees without getting prior approval from the provincial People’s Committee.

Phong, however, explained that in late 2013, local residents turned to planting “keo” trees, with the scientific name of Acacia, in their pine growing area, as “keo” have a higher economic value than pines.

They have since let pines go uncared, even hammering nails on them, leading to their death.

The authorities thus wanted to remove the dead trees and plant new ones, Phong said.

Pham Hong Van, director of the management board for preventive forests in eastern Ba To District, said that in 2012 the board managed nearly 25 hectares of pine forest, but the area has shrunk to only six hectares, as the majority of locals have turned to “keo” instead of pines.

Another case of mass tree cutting occurred in Hanoi in March and it was suspended by local authorities on March 20, following public objections.

The suspension was put in place after about 500 of a total of 6,700 trees subject to the felling had been chopped down.

The 6,700 trees are on 190 streets in ten urban districts in Hanoi, local authorities said, elaborating that they include 4,500 trees unsuitable for the city and 2,208 others with leaning trunks that badly affect the landscape and threaten the safety of people.

However, members of the public directed fierce protests at the hasty implementation of the plan and the felling of many old and green trees, whereas Hanoi leaders had said they would only cut decaying trees and those at risk of falling down unexpectedly.

Many people then stuck the appeal "Do Not Cut Me" on the trunks of myriad trees around the city, and set up a Facebook page, "6,700 People for 6,700 Trees,” which attracted more than 62,175 "likes" as of 11:00 am on Monday morning, April 13.

VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/Dantri