PM directs stockpiled seafood settlement in marine incident-hit provinces

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has directed the handling of stockpiled seafood in the four central provinces which were affected by maritime environmental incident in 2016.

The PM promulgated decisions in September 2016 and in March 2017 stipulating the level of compensation for affected localities of Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Tri and Thua Thien-Hue.

Based on the report of the four provincial People’s Committees and proposals of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, the Ministry of Health and the Government Office, the PM agreed to support 100 percent of the value of stockpiled jellyfish products and 30 percent for other aquatic products.

The maximum volume of stockpiled seafood in the four central provinces is 5,453 tonnes worth 242.6 billion VND (10.7 million USD), including 2,708 tonnes in Ha Tinh (150.2 billion VND), 1,101 tonnes in Quang Binh (48.5 billion VND), 1,501 tonnes in Quang Tri (42.7 billion VND), and 143.1 tonnes in Thua Thien-Hue (1.2 billion VND).

The PM also agreed to provide maximum financial assistance of 341.3 billion VND (15.1 million USD), including 121.8 billion VND for Ha Tinh to support 4,244 labourers in coastal areas and 2,954 employers and employees at fishing logistics services facilities; 214.4 billion VND to support 15,022 labourers involving in processing seafood and fishing logistics services; 320 million VND for Quang Tri to support the aquatic breeding centre; and 4.73 billion VND for Thua Thien-Hue.

The compensation must be conducted in a public and transparent manner, he stressed.

The mass fish deaths were first reported on April 6, 2016 when a large number of fish washed ashore in Ha Tinh province. The incident also occurred in Quang Binh, Quang Tri and Thua Thien-Hue.

In late June 2016, China’s Taiwan-invested Hung Nghiep Formosa Ha Tinh Steel Limited Company admitted responsibility for the environmental incident, paying 11.5 trillion VND (500 million USD) in compensation.

No-contract, informal workers don’t enjoy social welfare policies

As many as 76.7 per cent of informal workers do not have a contract of employment and do not enjoy social welfare policies.

These figures were presented at the Informal Employment Workshop organised jointly by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Employment Department earlier this week in Hà Nội.

Doãn Mậu Diệp, deputy minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, said the country had 40 million informal labourers, including 18 million people doing non-agricultural jobs (no-contract workers at construction sites, household-scaled production, small traders) and 22 million agricultural workers. The number of informal workers accounted for 70 per cent of the total labour force in the country.

Diệp said that the informal labour sector was the buffer zone that attracted a large number of non-agricultural labourers and workers at enterprises. The informal labour sector also created flexibility in the nation’s economy.

However, this was a group of unstable-income, unstable-job labourers who had no labour contract, longer working hours and a low income. The average wage of an informal worker was lower than that of formal workers in all employment positions, according to Diệp.

“It requires a system of supportive policies that will assist each group of informal labourers, in order to formulate jobs, establish job solutions and policies in the immediate and long-term, including economic solutions,” she said.

According to Nguyễn Thị Xuân Mai, head of the population and labour department, at the General Statistics Office, the vast majority of informal workers worked in small-scale production or household trading, were out of State management.

"About the job position and working conditions of informal workers, there are two main groups: self-employment and family labour. In particular, more women work in vulnerable occupations than men,” she said. “Average monthly wages for informal workers are lower than for formal ones. If an official worker [contract-signed] earns an average wage of VNĐ6.7 million per month, an informal worker gets only VNĐ3.9 million. However, informal labourers work more than two hours every day, against formal labourers, and have higher working hours than the State-regulated working time.”

More noticeably, 76.7 per cent of informal workers did not have employment contracts. This means that workers did not enjoy social welfare benefits. Specifically, the proportion of informal workers with compulsory social insurance was only 0.2 per cent.

Nguyễn Đức Cường, deputy director of Hòa Bình Province’s Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, expressed concern over the fact that most of the contract-signed female workers in industrial zones located in the province were not trained with professional skills and manners, so it was easy to get laid off during maternity or illness, falling into the informal employment.

Gia Lai proposes using forest land for irrigation system

The People’s Committee of Gia Lai Province has proposed that the Government and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development use 91ha of forest land for non-forestry purposes to continue construction of the Ia Mơr irrigation system.

The proposal was made after the Ia Mơr irrigation work completed its first construction phase and was set to begin the second phase.

In 2005, the Government approved a project to construct the Ia Mơr irrigation system in Gia Lai Province, which was invested by the Irrigation Work Investment and Construction Management Board No.8 with total investment capital of more than VNĐ1.2 trillion (US$52.8 million).

As planned, the irrigation work will supply water for nearly 12,500ha of agricultural land in Gia Lai and Đắk Lắk provinces and to 50,000 residents living in the border communes in Chư Prông District.

Work was divided into two phases and the first phase of building reservoirs is complete.

In the second phase, a system of channels and canals will be built for water to flow into these reservoirs. This system will run through 91ha of forest land connecting Đắk Lắk Province’s Ea Súp District and Gia Lai Province’s Chư Prông District.

However, last July, Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc announced the closure of natural forests and ordered maintaining 2.25 million hectares of natural forests, prohibiting the area from being used for other purposes, even for approved projects, except those related to national security and defence.

The move was aimed at seeking solutions to recover forests in the Central Highlands region sustainably to cope with climate change in the 2016-2020 period.

Nguyễn Anh Dũng, chairman of Chư Prông District’s People’s Committee, said a total of 91ha were under the management of the Ia Mơr Forest Protective Management Board and Ia Mơr Commune’s People’s Committee.

If approved, the replaced forest would be planted next year, he added.

 BOT road tolls cut at 35 stations

The Ministry of Transport has reduced road toll fees at 35 build-operate-transfer (BOT) stations out of 88 stations nationwide.

According to the Public-Private Partnership Department under the Ministry of Transport, there are 15 stations managed by provincial governments and 73 others under the ministry’s management with 56 stations collecting fees from road users.

Of which, two stations offer the lowest toll rate of VND15,000 per standard vehicle, four stations VND20,000, four stations VND25,000, three stations VND30,000, 40 stations VND35,000 and three stations VND40,000.

The ministry has assigned the Vietnam Directorate for Roads to work with local governments and investors to continue reducing toll fees so that toll reductions will not affect the financial viability of BOT road projects and tolls at stations on the same route will be made the same.

The ministry has also offered toll reductions and exemptions for road users living near 13 BOT stations.

Besides, toll reductions have benefitted vehicles in group four which consists of trucks of 10-18 tons or those transporting 20-foot containers, and group five which includes trucks weighing over 18 tons or carrying 40-foot containers.

There are 27 toll stations that are not required to revise down their tolls as they are already lower than the average levels. But 11 others have not adjusted down their fees given lower-than-expected traffic.

The ministry is reviewing other BOT road toll stations and will force them to cut toll fees, but not all 56 BOT stations can reduce their toll fees due to low traffic, as such a move will affect the financial viability of projects.

The Vietnam Directorate for Roads is working with investors to propose reasonable toll rates at stations.

Heavy burden for HCMC Council

The mood of satisfaction is overwhelming in HCMC as the National Assembly on Friday issued a resolution granting a special mechanism for the country’s biggest city. Under Resolution 54/2017/QH14, the city is given greater autonomy in a large swathe of socio-economic areas, which will help create new resources for its development. But a huge burden is also looming large for HCMC authorities, especially the People’s Council.

Most significant among the incentives stated in the resolution are probably the city’s authority to turn vast areas of rice-farming land into service land to create new revenue, its power to approve State-funded Grade-A projects that should otherwise be within the Prime Minister’s authority, and its privilege to slap new taxes and fees, and to raise taxes by up to a quarter against the national rates for goods and services subject to the environment protection tax and the special consumption tax.

Such policies, alongside the right to retain extra tax revenue over the target plus proceeds from sales of State stakes in enterprises under the city’s supervision, will create huge financial resources for the cash-strapped city.

All such powers and privileges, however, must be translated in policies and procedures, as per the resolution, and thus the burden is now transferred to the municipal People’s Council.

Take, for example, the privilege to raise taxes by up to 25% against the national rates for goods and services subject to the environmental protection tax and the special consumption tax. As the city’s market is part of the national market, the question here is how to regulate internal competition, since goods from low-tax localities may flow into the city where tax rates will be higher.

Plastic bags, pesticides and fuels among others subject to the environmental protection tax can penetrate the city’s market, and likewise, beer, alcoholic drinks, tobacco, and numerous other items subject to the special consumption tax from elsewhere in the country can exert pressure on the city-based enterprises.

Barriers cannot be erected, since the National Assembly in the new resolution makes it clear that the city “must guarantee the unanimous market, without barring the free circulation of goods and services.”

The HCMC People’s Council will convene its regular meeting early next month, and the top one among issues on the agenda will be how to implement the resolution. Numerous policies requiring professional skills and knowledge must be designed and deliberated at the meeting so as to translate the resolution into specific measures, procedures and regulations.

Nguyen Thien Nhan, secretary of the HCMC Party Committee, says in full-length articles authored by himself in several newspapers on Saturday that the city and relevant agencies will have to quickly implement the resolution in the remaining three years of the tenure, and make a report to the National Assembly on the achievements stemming from the new mechanism. Time flies, and as the resolution is valid for only five years from January 15, 2018, the heavy burden will instantly come upon the Council’s shoulder.

HCM City to build more dorms for workers

Ho Chi Minh City plans to build eight worker dormitory projects on the area of 18 hectare supplying 4,962 dwellings.

Two projects invested by Thien Phat Commercial Tourism Construction Company will be implemented this year including dorm in Linh Trung No.2 Industrial Park in Thu Duc District providing 1,500 accommodation and in Hiep Binh Phuoc Ward of Nhon Hoa Balance Company with 720 dwellings.

Other six projects in districts of 2, 9, Binh Tan, Binh Chanh and Cu Chi will be launched in 2018 and scheduled to complete in 2020.

The above-mentioned projects have been approved by Deputy Chairman of People’s Committee Tran Vinh Tuyen.

In order to encourage firms to take part in social housing projects for workers in the city, HCMC authorities announced to adjust regulations for managing worker dormitories and rental houses for laborers in accordance with the current one; additionally, it will amend policies on loans and provide preferential loans to attract investors.

Furthermore, the municipal authorities also asked the Department of Construction to beef up construction speed of social housing projects for workers as well as put forward solutions for hiccups along the way.

The Labor Union is required to forecast workers’ demand of accommodation and entertainment in three industrial parks to develop policies and organize sport and leisure activities for them.

The Department of Construction said that the current accommodation with 39,400 dwellings just meet 15 percent of demand.

Before, HCMC had adopted policies of preferential loans for investors of worker dormitory projects; yet, limited state budget plus complex paperwork have disheartened investors.

No land for building worker dormitories in the industrial parks makes the problem to be more difficult. From now to 2020, the city needs to build additional 240,000 dwellings to satisfy the increasing demand. In 2018, the city plans to build more 2,220 dwellings for workers with 32,000 square meters.

Nguyễn Văn Chiêm street dedicated to low-income vendors

On August 28 Nguyễn Văn Chiêm became the first street in HCM City to be earmarked for low-income vendors, enabling street food sellers to earn a living and meeting the huge demand for street food among locals and foreign visitors.

The vendors’ stands will be open from 6am to 9am and from 11am to 2pm daily.

Some 40 households have been licensed by local authorities to sell food on a pilot basis on a 40m stretch of pavement.

This is also part of the city’s solution to prevent encroachment of pavements by street vendors.  

The vendors on Nguyễn Văn Chiêm Street do not have to pay rent for using the pavement but are required to sell to-go food only, ensure food safety and hygiene, classify their waste and have professional sales skills.

A second such spot at Bách Tùng Diệp Park, also in District 1, where some 30 vendors will be allowed to set up shop, is scheduled to open late next month, according to media reports.

Samsung vows more support for VN firms to enter its supply chain

General Director of Samsung Vietnam Shim Won-hwan pledged to continue supporting Vietnamese firms to take part in the Korean group’s global supply chain while meeting Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee Nguyen Thanh Phong on November 30. 

Chairman Phong spoke highly of operation of Samsung, one of the biggest foreign investors in Vietnam, noting its contribution of about 20 percent of the country’s export revenue. The Samsung complex in the Saigon Hi-tech Park has operated effectively since mid-2016, creating jobs for more than 7,000 people.

He asked the company to continue community activities, pay attention to its employees’ life and human resources training, and raise the rate of locally made components in its products.

HCM City always makes efforts to improve the local investment climate and create the best possible conditions for foreign investors, including Samsung, the official added.

For his part, Shim said more than 90 percent of Samsung products made at the complex in the Saigon Hi-tech Park are exported. This complex alone is expected to earn nearly 3.5 billion USD in export turnover in 2017.

He asked HCM City’s authorities to further assist his firm’s development.

Aside from stepping up business activities in Vietnam, Samsung will also actively help Vietnamese companies, including those in HCM City, by sending Korean experts to give them advice.

At a recent support industry exhibition, many Vietnamese enterprises came to learn about components that Samsung needs and about opportunities to participate in the firm’s supply chain, he noted.

ADB helps Viet Nam promote inclusive flower production

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Friday signed loan agreements worth US$20 million with Agripacific Holdings (APH) and Kunming Hasfarm Flowers (KHF) to develop high-value horticulture in Việt Nam, China and Indonesia.

ADB will lend the equivalent of $15 million in US dollars and Japanese yen to APH -- a major grower of cut flowers in Asia -- and equivalent of $5 million in Chinese yuan, to KHF, APH’s main subsidiary for operations in China. The transaction is ADB’s first private sector loan denominated in Japanese yen outside the financial sector.

Martin Lemoine, Agribusiness Investment Unit head at ADB’s Private Sector Operations Department, said agricultural development was the key to eradicating poverty and creating conditions for sustainable and equitable growth in developing Asia.

“Our partners have a strong domestic and export-oriented business model that acknowledges the importance of developing value-added crops through high-end technology, integration of climate-resilient farming and gender-inclusive policies,” Martin said.

ADB’s financing will help APH scale up and transfer its successful business model built through the introduction of climate-controlled greenhouse technology and a vertically-integrated business geared towards domestic and export markets. This will help expand the flower business in the three countries. The model will also be replicated for sustainable vegetable production in Việt Nam.

Under the terms of ADB’s financing, APH has committed to implement a gender action plan that will increase the proportion of women employees to 65 per cent and the proportion of women in management and supervisory positions to 63 per cent by 2020.

APH is a major grower of cut flowers in Asia, with some 350ha of farms and around 3,000 employees. Since its creation in 1992, APH has developed highly efficient greenhouse operations in Đà Lạt, Việt Nam, a retail distribution network throughout Việt Nam under the brand name "Dalat Hasfarm", a wholesale distribution business in Japan (Greenwings Japan), and since 2014, has operated in China. Expansion to Indonesia began in 2016.