Underground section of Metro Line No.1 ready in 2019

The 2.6-kilometer underground track of Metro Line No. 1 in HCMC from the central station near Ben Thanh Market to Ba Son Shipyard will be completed in February 2019, contractors said.

According to the HCMC Management Authority for Urban Railways (MAUR), Package 1B comprises the underground section, two underground stations and a 1,315-meter tunnel. The four-storey station near the Opera House will be 40 meters deep and contractors are working on this 190-meter-long station round the clock.

Contractors of the package said one of the major problems with construction of the underground track is the relocation of underground infrastructure facilities whose layout plans are nowhere to be found. Therefore, relocation work is time-consuming.

However, the contractors are pinning high hopes that the underground section and stations could be finished in February 2019.

MAUR said the 17-kilometer-plus elevated track of Metro Line No. 1 from Ba Son Shipyard in District 1 to Long Binh in District 9 is being built along the Hanoi Highway. Precast viaduct parts for the section are being placed on concrete supports and installation work should be finished in 2017.

MAUR plans to put into service the overhead track in 2018 before the entire section is complete.

Metro Line No. 1 is designed to be 19.7 kilometers long running from the central station near the landmark Ben Thanh Market to Suoi Tien Park in District 9 and have three underground and 11 overhead stations. The entire section is scheduled for completion in 2019 and will start operation in 2020.

The project’s original cost was US$1.09 billion, financed by Japan’s official development assistance (ODA) loans and the State budget. However, the figure has been revised up to US$2.49 billion due to changes of some components of the project and exchange rate fluctuations.

After the entire line is put into use, it will take passengers about 29 minutes to commute between downtown HCMC and Suoi Tien Park at a maximum speed of 80 km per hour on the underground track and 110 km per hour on the elevated track.

HCM City’s new Party chief committed to sustainable growth

New secretary of the HCMC Party Committee Dinh La Thang has pledged to do all he could to turn the city into a modern one with rapid yet sustainable growth and higher quality of life.

The Politburo member made this promise at a ceremony held earlier this month to announce the Politburo’s decision picking him as new secretary of the HCMC Party Committee. The former minister of transport said he is committed to fulfilling a key task for the growth target and expected to get constructive comments and support to get the job done.

He acknowledged that assuming the post of Party secretary of an economic, cultural, educational and scientific center like HCMC would be difficult.

Speaking at the ceremony, former Party chief of HCMC Le Thanh Hai congratulated Thang on his new job, saying he could successfully implement the HCMC Party Committee’s resolution on improving the quality of life, and stepping up the city’s growth and contributions to the country.

Briefing diplomatic corps on HCMC’s development orientations in the coming years at a meeting in early February, the city’s chairman Nguyen Thanh Phong said the local government will exert effort to develop HCMC into an economic, financial, scientific and technological center in Southeast Asia and a modern city with the higher quality of life.

The city has launched seven breakthrough programs for developing human resources, reforming administrative procedures, boosting growth quality, improving competitiveness, reducing traffic congestion and flooding, and improving the cityscape.  

Under the Politburo’s decision, Thang, 56, will serve as HCMC party chief in the 2015-2020 term.

Before he served as minister of transport in August 2011, Thang was chairman of Vietnam National Oil and Gas Group.

Current, offshore of territorial water from Ninh Thuan to Ca Mau provinces has been threatened by damaged weather with northeast monsoon of level 6- 8, 2- 4 meters, big waves and sea rough because of the influence of ongoing cold front, reported the National Hydrology Meteorology Forecast Center.

Meanwhile, the temperature at night in above provinces is dropping to 8 degrees Celsius. Deep cloud, and cold weather shoulders over the mainland of both the northern and central region by February 17.The lowest temperature in the areas are measured at 10- 13 degrees Celsius, and the highest temperature at 17- 20 degrees Celsius.

Eastward of the northern region will see deep cloud, small scale rain and 2- 3 level northeast monsoon. The lowest temperature reaches at 10- 13 degrees Celsius, even drops to under eight degrees Celsius, and the highest temperature at 17- 20 degrees Celsius.

The weather in Hanoi maintains deep cloud, 2- 3 level northeast monsoon, damaged cold, and the lowest temperature at 10- 13 degrees Celsius and the highest temperature at 17- 20 degrees Celsius.

Because of the influence of current weather situation, medium scale rains and damaged cold accompanied with northeast monsoon of level 2- 3 are hitting the areas from Thanh Hoa to Thua Thien Hue.

In southern region, the lowest temperature reaches at 11- 14 degrees Celsius, and the highest temperature at 16- 22 degrees Celsius.

The provinces from Da Nang to Binh Thuan will see deep cloud, small rains and northeast monsoon of level 3. The lowest temperature is measured at 18- 21 degrees Celsius, and highest temperature at 24- 27 degrees Celsius.

Sunny weather without rain, northeast monsoon of level 2- 3, minimum temperature of 16- 19 degrees Celsius and maximum temperature of 27- 30 degrees Celsius covers over the central highlands.

The weather in the southern region will be sunny daytime, no rain at night and northeast monsoon of level 2- 3. The lowest temperature is measured at 22- 25 degrees Celsius and the highest temperature at 31- 34 degrees Celsius.

Restaurants ratchet up Tet prices

Vu Chi Minh was shocked when being charged VND 150,000 (USD6.70) for a bowl of beef noodle at a humble street-side food stall on Highway 21 in Ha Nam Province's Phu Ly City on February 13. He tried to argue with the stall's owner but could not persuade him to lower the prices.

"I was furious when asked to pay that price for it," the student of a university in Hanoi said. "It was ridiculous. I had noodles here during my last visit to my hometown in Ninh Binh Province last month and was charged only VND25,000 a bowl."

Minh said that she also expected the prices to go up a bit around Tet but could never have imagined such a large increase. "I was asked to pay VND300,000 for two bowls of beef noodles for me and my friend, and VND 40,000 for two small bottles of soft drink, while last month noodles were just VND 25,000 a bowl and C2 drink VND10,000 a bottle," she explained.

“The restaurant owner claimed that ingredients were more expensive and labour more costly at Tet, so had decided to raise prices, but I think this price is not fair for his customers," Minh said.

Exploitative price rises are quite common during Tet on major roads or during holidays.

The same situation was repeated in many restaurants on roads in the southern provinces of Vinh Long, Tien Giang, Long An provinces leading to HCM City.

A customer said that the Thai Hoa at Ba Beo Restaurant in Vinh Long Province said that a dish of chicken  and rice would normally cost VND 25,000, but on the second day of Tet, February 10, she was charged VND 60,000. Drinks were also double their normal price.

Diners in Hanoi have also seen food prices going up at many restaurants. A bowl of crab noodles at a food stall on Trieu Viet Vuong Street was priced at VND50,000 on February 12 compared with its usual VND 30,000.

Hoa said people should go to large restaurants with listed prices or double check before ordering at smaller places.

Truck hits motorbikes, kills 2

At least two people, including a woman, were killed and three others injured after a truck carrying building materials hit seven motorbikes here this afternoon on Le Duc Tho Street.

The motorbikes had been travelling in the same direction as the truck when the accident occurred. The truck driver immediately fled the scene after the crash.

The accident brought traffic to a standstill. The motorbikes had to be destroyed as a result of the damage.

Local police are investigating the case.

Fishermen missing after ship capsizes

Three fishermen are missing after a fishing ship sank 45 nautical miles off China's Hainan Island. Four others have been rescued whilst three others remain missing, according to the National Committee for Search and Rescue.

The ship QB 92671 TS, captained by Nguyen Ngoc Hai, from Bo Trach District, the central province of Quang Binh, sank at 9pm on Monday due to strong waves and winds. At that time the wind speed was 62-74kph.

The rescued fishermen were taken to land in Quang Binh Province. It is expected that their ship will make landfall at 8am today.

At present the Nanhaijiu 111 and Haijing 46115 ships of the China Committee for Search and Rescue are searching for the missing seamen.

The rescued seamen included Nguyen Ngoc Hai, 46, Nguyen Van Nghia, 22 and Nguyen Van Son, 18, from Bo Trach District, and Nguyen Van Buoi, 58, from Quang Trach District.

The missing seamen are Nguyen Van Coi, 44 and Nguyen Van Noi, 24, from Bo Trach District, and Nguyen Van Toa, 52, from Quang Trach District.

HCMC adopts poverty-reduction plan

HCM City will carry out a sustainable poverty-reduction programme for the 2016-2020 period to help the poor access basic social services such as education and health, and social welfare, according to the city's Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs.

To identify poor and near-poor households, the programme will use as criteria income, education and training, healthcare, employment and social insurance, living conditions and access to information, said Nguyen Van Xe, deputy director of the department.

In previous years, poverty reduction programmes used a list of poor households which were selected based on income to provide an equal package of support, Xe said.

Some groups of population with an income over the poverty line still face lack of access to basic social services, he added.

Under the new standards, poor households are those with income of below VND21 million (US$930) per person per year.

Households classified as poor because of a lack of sufficient healthcare are defined as those without health insurance cards.

Those who have no access to clean water and live in poor housing are defined as those with poor housing conditions.

Under the new criteria, the programme will benefit around 130,000 poor families and 80,000 near-poor families in the city.

The United Nations Development Programme has worked with Ha Noi and HCM City on the project, titled "Support to Multi-dimensional Poverty Reduction in Urban Areas" for the 2012-2016 period.

The project builds capacity in the development and implementation of policies to reduce urban poverty multi-dimensionally.

HCM City piloted adopting a multi-dimensional poverty approach for its poverty reduction programme from 2016 to 2020.

Between 2009 and 2015, the city spent a total of VND4.25 trillion ($188.9 million) on poverty reduction, bringing the rate of poor households with annual income of below VND16 million ($710) per person to 0.89 per cent.

Central Highlands needs more irrigation facilities for coffee farming

The Tay Nguyen Central Highlands needs more irrigation facilities to serve the farming of coffee, one of the main exports of the region.

According to Director of the Tay Nguyen Agro-Forestry Science-Technology Institute, water shortage causes heavy losses to coffee farmers in dry season.

In 2015, nearly 84,000ha of crops, mostly coffee, were damaged by droughts, causing losses estimated at 1.69 trillion VND. Dak Lak was hardest hit with more than 47,000ha of coffee destroyed.

Tay Nguyen provinces have around 573,400ha under coffee plants, but most depend on rivers or underground water for irrigation.

Dak Lak has the largest coffee acreage with 204,500ha, but only 46,163ha are watered by irrigation facilities.

In Lam Dong province, only 50,335ha of coffee are served by irrigation facilities.

However, many irrigation works cannot meet demand, particularly in dry season.

Meanwhile, the local underground water resources have been seriously depleted due to overexploitation. Surveys showed the underground water level in Dak Lak has dropped below the average of previous years. In some survey sites, the levels reduced as many as 28m compared to several years ago.

The Tay Nguyen Agro-Forestry Science-Technology Institute recommends more investment in irrigation projects to ensure water for farming, while gradually bringing the acreage of coffee farming down to 447,000 ha in accordance with the sector’s master plan devised by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

At the same time, the institute is transferring to farmers economical watering technologies.

Dak Lak province has designed a plan with a 15.3 trillion VND (680 million USD) on building irrigation systems in concentrated coffee farming areas, with the aim of ensuring water for 74,247ha as of 2020.

Coffee bean output in the 2015-16 crop in the Central Highlands province of Dak Lak is likely to reach 440,000 tonnes, a decrease of 14,000 tonnes from the last crop, according to the provincial People’s Committee.

This is the second consecutive crop that faces a drop in output.

Severe droughts have hurt the production as nearly 48,000 hectares of coffee plants suffered from water shortages.A large area of ageing coffee plants is another reason.

According to a plan for the 2015-16 crop, the province will ship abroad about 250,000 tonnes of coffee beans, up nearly 83, 000 tonnes against the last crop.-

Overseas intellectuals help promote national innovation

Expatriate experts gathered together with their counterparts and managers in the homeland at a meeting in Ho Chi Minh City on February 17 to discuss their role in the country’s innovation.

Co-hosted by the Fostering Innovation through Research, Science and Technology (FIRST) project and the Association for Liaison with Overseas Vietnamese (ALOV), the event focused on policy proposals to take full advantage of the ability of overseas Vietnamese intellectuals to serve the homeland’s innovation and creativity.

ALOV President Nguyen Phu Binh said the meeting aims to enhance links among overseas intellectuals, thus promoting their contributions to the homeland’s development.

According to Minister of Science and Technology Nguyen Quan, Vietnam has bettered its legal documents to facilitate scientific and technological development, including new regulations related to start - ups in the country.

With their rich experience, overseas intellectuals, especially those living in developed countries, will make crucial contributions to the field, he said, stressing that they are a core element for science and technology development in the country.

The FIRST project will increase its efforts to lure Vietnamese experts aboard, and foreigners alike, to join scientific research activities in Vietnam, he added.

The project, which runs from 2014 to 2019, aims to support science-technology development and innovation in Vietnam through piloting a number of policies to mobilise the creativity of scientists and promote market-oriented scientific research.

Its long-term objective is to raise the competitiveness and quality of Vietnam’s economic growth through the acceleration of scientific research, technological application and innovation activities.

Lao Cai promotes efforts to deal with Zika virus

The northern border province of Lao Cai is taking various measures that focus on health monitoring for people at border entry points, to prevent Zika virus from entering Vietnam.

The provincial international medical quarantine centre has arranged body temperature scanners at border areas, particularly passengers coming from Zika virus hit countries, and high-risk groups.

Tran Duc Hung, vice director of the centre said there are over 2,000 travelers going through the Lao Cai international border gate a day, mostly Vietnamese and Chinese.

As part of efforts to contain diseases that may be caused by the virus, the centre has intensified environmental sanitation and quarantine work at border gates.

Medical quarantine teams at border gates across the province have also promoted publicity campaigns, in a bid to raise awareness of precautionary measures against the virus.

The Zika virus is mainly transmitted through the Aedes Aegypti mosquito, which also carries dengue fever. The virus has been linked to microcephaly - a condition that causes babies to be born with unusually small heads and in the vast majority of cases, brain-damage. Currently, there is no vaccine or specific medicine to treat Zika.

It was first identified in Uganda in 1947 in rhesus monkeys. It was confirmed in humans five years later in Uganda and Tanzania.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has recorded the most number of Zika virus cases in the Americas and Africa.

According to WHO, the Zika virus is spreading explosively. By January 19, 27 countries and territories worldwide had confirmed Zika infections.

Vietnam has no case of Zika infection so far.

The Ministry of Health recently issued guidance on diagnosis and treatment for the virus.

Fishermen pray for bountiful catches in New Year

Fishermen of Pho Thanh Commune in the central Quang Ngai Province's Duc Pho District embarked on their first fishing trips of the Year of the Monkey yesterday.

The launch of the fishing trips, accompanied by high hopes of a bumper catch, was preceded by a traditional festival organised on the third day of the Lunar New Year and prayers for a bountiful catch.

The festival included rituals to worship the god of Nam Hai (god of the sea), along with folk songs and dances.

After the festival, dozens of fishing vessels headed for Sa Huynh seaport to begin their trips.

With more than 1,000 fishing vessels, Pho Thanh Commune plans to catch 42,000 tonnes of seafood this year. It also plans to build 10 new fishing boats and upgrade and repair 150 others.

Parking lot attendants at Tan Son Nhat airport suspended over shortchanging scam

Three attendants of the motorbike parking lot at Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City have been suspended, after their scam of shortchanging customers was exposed last week in a video filmed by Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper.

The three attendants are also required to write a self-assessment report with their final disciplinary action to be announced within the next ten days, the Ho Chi Minh City-based airport’s management said on Sunday.

According to the Tuoi Tre footage published on Saturday, the three employees had charged a number of people who parked their motorbikes at the airport more than the quoted price.

It costs a motorbike owner VND3,000 to park their vehicle at the airport during the day, and VND4,000 at night, according to the quoted prices. The respective prices for scooters are VND4,000 and VND5,000.

The price list is hung over the exit of the parking lot, in a corner not many people would notice, enabling the attendants to cheat customers.

As seen in the video, when asked how much the parking fee was, the sanctioned employees would say VND5,000 for both motorbikes and scooters even during the daytime, shortchanging customers of VND2,000 and VND1,000 each time.

Those who did not know the official prices were therefore duped into believing that VND5,000 was the correct price, and in most cases eventually paid without asking.

In other cases, the attendants did not give the price and waited for the customers to give out their money first. People would normally give VND5,000 and the attendants accepted without saying anything.

If a scooter driver gave VND10,000, the attendants would return VND5,000 instead of VND6,000.

However, there were some people who pointed to the price table and demanded the correct change. In these circumstances, the attendants would reluctantly pay back the correct change.

Very few customers noticed the correct price table and asked for the correct change, according to the Tuoi Tre reporters who filmed the video.

Although the attendants only shortchanged VND1,000-2,000 from each customer, the total sum is enormous, given the dozens of thousands of motorbikes parked there on a daily basis.

The management of Tan Son Nhat said on Sunday that besides suspending the three attendants involved in the issue, they have also relocated the price table to the front of the parking lot exit to make it more clearly visible.

A 24/7 hotline number, 08.38485634, has also been established to receive reports and complaints from customers over any continuing shortchanging and overcharging at the parking lot, according to the airport.

Over 5,100 hospitalized due to fights during Tet holiday in Vietnam

Over 5,100 people across Vietnam were hospitalized due to physical confrontations during the eight days of the Lunar New Year (Tet) holiday, the Ministry of Health said on Sunday.

The ministry stated in a document submitted to the Government Office that over 5,100 people were admitted to hospitals in Vietnam after fights and conflicts occuring from February 6 to 13.

The number of people who died in escalating conflicts was recorded at 13, twice as high as that of last year’s holiday.

Patient records of the Vietnam-Germany Hospital in Hanoi alone showed that over 1,000 people were brought to its emergency rooms between February 8 and 14, of whom 60 percent were victims of traffic accidents, the ministry added.

Doctors from the hospital confirmed that one-third of the patients were not wearing safety helmets when traveling on the city’s streets.

The number of people suffering from digestive disorders and alcohol poisoning was recorded at about 1,500 during the holiday, among whom two died, according to the Ministry of Health.

About 96 people fell victim to firecrackers and explosives, 60 of whom were in the south-central province of Quang Ngai, it added.

Doctors from Bach Mai Hospital in Hanoi have recently announced that over 20 cases of attempted suicide by drinking herbicides and insecticides were recorded during the Tet holiday.

One of the patients has succumbed, the doctors said, adding that the victims were mainly young people, with the youngest being 19 years old.

Restaurants ratchet up Tet prices

Vu Chi Minh was shocked when being charged VND 150,000 (USD6.70) for a bowl of beef noodle at a humble street-side food stall on Highway 21 in Ha Nam Province's Phu Ly City on February 13. He tried to argue with the stall's owner but could not persuade him to lower the prices.

A customer having noddle with grilled pork at a restaurant in Hanoi. He was then charged VND 50,000 for it. Photo by VNN

"I was furious when asked to pay that price for it," the student of a university in Hanoi said. "It was ridiculous. I had noodles here during my last visit to my hometown in Ninh Binh Province last month and was charged only VND25,000 a bowl."

Minh said that she also expected the prices to go up a bit around Tet but could never have imagined such a large increase. "I was asked to pay VND300,000 for two bowls of beef noodles for me and my friend, and VND 40,000 for two small bottles of soft drink, while last month noodles were just VND 25,000 a bowl and C2 drink VND10,000 a bottle," she explained.

“The restaurant owner claimed that ingredients were more expensive and labour more costly at Tet, so had decided to raise prices, but I think this price is not fair for his customers," Minh said.

Exploitative price rises are quite common during Tet on major roads or during holidays.

The same situation was repeated in many restaurants on roads in the southern provinces of Vinh Long, Tien Giang, Long An provinces leading to HCM City.

A customer said that the Thai Hoa at Ba Beo Restaurant in Vinh Long Province said that a dish of chicken  and rice would normally cost VND 25,000, but on the second day of Tet, February 10, she was charged VND 60,000. Drinks were also double their normal price.

Diners in Hanoi have also seen food prices going up at many restaurants. A bowl of crab noodles at a food stall on Trieu Viet Vuong Street was priced at VND50,000 on February 12 compared with its usual VND 30,000.

Hoa said people should go to large restaurants with listed prices or double check before ordering at smaller places.

SCG offers Thailand internship to Vietnam students

Thai firm SCG has announced a one-month international internship program for students from Vietnam and other ASEAN countries to study and work in Thailand in the summer of 2016.

The fourth “SCG International Internship” will benefit 40 excellent students from ASEAN countries including Vietnam, Indonesia, Myanmar, Cambodia and the Philippines. This is a good opportunity for regional talent to experience the professional working environment at SCG units in Thailand. The application form can be found on www.facebook.com/scgchungmotuocmo from now until February 22.

In 2016, SCG will select 15 students in Vietnam to take part in the program along with 25 others from other countries in ASEAN.

Praween Wirotpan, general director of SCG Vietnam, said in a statement: “As an ASEAN sustainable business leader, SCG has always been focusing on human development and considered it a drive for future growth.

“SCG International Internship is one of the corporate initiatives to seek regional top talents, provide them with practical knowledge in a professional working environment. Being consistently organized in the past few years, the program is expected to build a quality and sustainable work force.

“For Vietnamese students, this will be a valuable experience for them to practice the necessary skills for future careers.”

SCG International Internship 2016 continues to look for potential candidates who have accomplished their second year of bachelor degree in Technology, Business Administration, Social Science and Law. They must go through a thorough qualification process in which they have to showcase their abilities, attitudes and worldviews in their essays and one-on-one interviews.

The chosen candidates will join the internship program from July 10 to August 8 in Thailand. In 2015, there were 9 Vietnamese students selected for the program.

U.S. organization supports female students in Danang

The government of Danang City on the central coast last Friday approved a project for U.S.-based organization Giving it Back to Kids (GIBTK) to aid orphaned and underprivileged female students in the city, Tuoi Tre newspaper reports.

The VND3.8 billion (US$170,600) project will be implemented from February this year to February 2021.

The money will be used to give direct support to 15-30 female students who have graduated from universities or vocational schools to land a job and earn a living on their own.

In addition, the project equips female students with life and soft skills such as English and computer literacy.

GIBTK is a non-profit corporation dedicated to helping kids achieve their maximum potential through medical care, education, nutrition and love.

Record number of Chinese tourists visits Vietnam during Tet

About 25,000 Chinese holiday-makers visited Mong Cai, a city on the border between Vietnam and China, in northern Quang Ninh province on one-day tours during the Lunar New Year holiday from February 7 to 13.

It was the highest number of visitors ever recorded, said the border guard station at China’s Dongxing border gate.

Statistics released on February 14 by China’s Guangxi Tourism Development Committee also showed that the number of Chinese tourists travelling to Vietnam through Dongxing, Pingxiang and Longbang of Guangxi province during the national holiday doubled the figure of the same period last year.

A majority of them were on tours to Vietnam or to get to other tourist destinations in Southeast Asia.

Over 10,000 Chinese tourists went through Dongxing border gate to travel to Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand between February 8 and 10.

Vietnam and Guangxi province have enhanced their ties in transportation and cross-border trade over the past few years which facilitated tourism routes from China to Vietnam and Southeast Asia.

Travel agencies also took the opportunity to promote a wide range of tour packages from China to Vietnam during the week-long holiday, such as Dongxing-Mong Cai one-day tour or Dongxing – Mong Cai – Tra Co two-day tour.

1.4 million vehicles travel on three major highways during Tet

The Vietnam Expressway Corporation on February 16 announced that it served approximately 1.4 million vehicles traveling on Cau Gie – Ninh Binh, Noi Bai – Lao Cai and Ho Chi Minh City – Long Thanh – Dau Giay expressways during the first two weeks of February.

On February 8 (the first day of the first Lunar month), the first customers to travel through the toll booths of Ho Chi Minh City – Long Thanh – Dau Giay highway were presented with Long Thanh Bridge key chains and the Spring edition of Nhan Dan (The People) newspaper.

During the Tet holiday, VEC directed its units to carefully follow plans to ensure smooth, safe and convenient traffic as well as limit the congestion of traffic at toll booths and on expressways.

According to VEC, Cau Gie – Ninh Binh highway carried an average of 40,134 vehicles per day, particularly 57,134 vehicles on peak days.

In addition, there were 22,554 vehicles traveling on the Noi Bai – Lao Cai route each day; meanwhile the expressway connecting Ho Chi Minh City with Long Thanh and Dau Giay served an average of 42,000 vehicles per day.

The corporation also focused on conducting inspections of vehicles' loading capacity on the Noi Bai – Lao Cai and Ho Chi Minh City – Long Thanh – Dau Giay expressways. During the Tet holiday, the two routes’ managers checked more than 17,700 vehicles, of which 320 were found to be over the capacity and prohibited from further travel.

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