Bus fare reductions for holiday travellers

Following decreases in fuel prices, Ho Chi Minh City’s bus fares during the upcoming Tet (Lunar New Year festival) are expected to drop by 7 to 20 from last year, unveiled the municipal Ministry of Transport on January 22.

According to agency statistics, 110 of 130 operators in the Mien Tay bus station and 115 of 214 operators in the Mien Dong station have reduced transport fares thus far.

Only five operators have announced their intent to increase their ticket costs for some routes.

Currently, the industry is experiencing increased demand on the people’s travel as the holiday season quickly approaches.

On January 4, petrol prices were cut by 1,900 VND per litre, the second reduction this month.

The price of RON 95 was down to 16,270 VND while the prices of RON 92 and bio-fuel E5 were reduced to 15,670 VND.

Diesel prices were cut by 1,460 VND, resulting in a cost between 15,120 and 15,170 VND per litre.

Earlier, on January 6, average retail petrol prices were cut by 310 VND per litre.

Project on law enforcement on the disabled reviewed

People with disabilities have increasingly been encouraged to engage in monitoring policy implementation and decision making in local issues related to their wellbeing, as a result of a nine-month project on the subject.

At a workshop held by the Vietnam Association for the Blind (VAB) on January 22 in Hanoi, the project was reviewed as raising awareness of laws and policies targeting people with disabilities and strengthening their involvement in the implementation in order to promote improved community integration.

The project, funded by the Public Participation and Accountability Facilitation Fund (PARAFF) was piloted in Thanh Ha district of northern Hai Duong province, home to more than 3,800 people with disabilities.

Under the project, training courses, talks, and games were organised to improve the target group’s understanding of relevant laws and legal documents.

Consultation services were offered, as well as user-friendly Braille lettered and audio versions of documents, to targeted groups in Thanh Ha district.

The project has benefited local people with disabilities, improved the implementation of relevant legal documents, and contributed to raising compassion and understanding across the community, said Pham Van Hung, Chairman of the district Fatherland Front Committee.

German-funded school inaugurated in Soc Trang

A German-funded primary school’s facility was inaugurated and put into operation in Hoa Tu 2 commune, My Xuyen district, Soc Trang province on January 22.

This was the final venue of the Hoa Tu 2 four-site primary school which was built with funding from the German foundation Schmitz-Stiftung along with five rural bridges in the Mekong Delta province.

It includes two classrooms, a sports ground, and a park.

Earlier in last October, the German foundation inaugurated a two-class school venue in Hoa Tu commune.

Ha Noi to prosecute two Peruvian robbers

The Ha Noi police decided to prosecute two Peruvian men arrested for suspected robbery.

William Rafael Villanueva, 43, and Jose Marcelino Velasquez Aviles, 63, reportedly told the police that they went to a luxury hotel in Hoan Kiem District as tourists on January 8, and found ways to rob the other tourists staying there.

They stole a tablet, a camera and a credit card of a Canadian woman at the hotel and sold the items for money.

The men confessed that they had committed robbery at other hotels too in the city.

Two robbers seized in northern province

The Ha Giang Police seized two men for robbery 20 hours after they committed the crime.

Ha Van Chi, 39, from the northern mountainous province of Ha Giang and Hoang Van Nguyen, 37, from the northern mountainous province of Yen Bai allegedly stole more than VND700 million (US$33,300) from a 70-year-old woman at Ha Giang's Thanh Thuy International Border Gate at 8am on Tuesday.

Hundreds of police from the Thanh Thuy Border Post and the provincial police were assigned to hunt down the two men.

The two men were caught at 3pm on Wednesday while they were hiding in the forest.

Besra faces fines for polluting the environment

Canadian tax debtor Besra Group may face environmental pollution fines at its Bong Mieu Gold Mining Company as the firm was detected to discharge untreated wastewater into the Bong Mieu River, according to the central province of Quang Nam’s website.

The Quang Nam Provincial People's Committee sent a dispatch to the local environment and natural resources department to ask the latter to complete final necessary procedures to impose administrative environmental fines on Bong Mieu Gold Mining Company.

The committee also asked the company to immediately stop pumping untreated waste water into  the Bong Mieu River.

Operating two gold mines in Quang Nam from 2006, Besra has produced over 200,000 ounces of gold in Vietnam since then, with 50,000 ounces in 2012 and 60,000 ounces in 2013 as expected.

According to VIR’s source, on January 23, the provincial leaders will meet with Besra to settle down the environmental pollution issue.

Producer of fake traditional medicine fined VND 15 million

Authority in the central province of Ha Tinh fined VND15 million (US$701.8) a medicine manufacturer which has produced traditional drugs from corn powder and sugar-cane honey.

In addition to the fine, the provincial People Committee forbade Nguyen Thi Nhuong, 46, who produced the fake traditional drugs at her house, to make traditional drugs forever.

Following the rumor that Nhuong’s family has earned huge profits from making a miracle traditional drug which made from corn powder, sugar-cane honey and some herbals, medical inspectors have paid an unscheduled visit to the house.

Inspectors discovered illegal medicines and suspended the production.  They also destroyed 13 bags of corn powder weighing totally 445 kilogram and 368 packages of herbal drugs, sugar-cane honey and many materials without clear indication of origin.

Vietnam consults international partners about pharmacy

The Ministry of Health and its medical partners met with international organisations to consult on current pharmaceutical best practices and recommendations on January 22, as the ministry prepares to revise the law on pharmacy.

Addressing the function, Health Minister Nguyen Thi Kim Tien, said the 1996 national pharmaceutical policy was a significant milestone for the sector, but progress in healthcare standards in the last two decades mandate improved policies to maximise access to reliable medication sources.

She continued, saying the ministry’s top priority is maintaining long-term and effective collaboration with medical partners both locally and internationally in order to realise targets set forth in the national strategy on pharmaceutical development by 2020.

According to Truong Quoc Cuong, Head of the Pharmacy Management Department under the Ministry of Health, the development strategy will focus on a number of key issues, such as ensuring sufficient pharmaceutical supply, expanding the distribution network, and developing comprehensive and effective management structures.

Cuong highlighted other components in the current draft of the amended pharmacy law, including increasing investments in pharmaceutical research, applying advanced technologies, improving clinical medicine quality, and enforcing regulations on the cost of medicines.

Arthur Erken, Country Representative of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in Vietnam, said the national plan is a strong demonstration of the Vietnamese Government’s intent to improve access to essential pharmaceutical products.

He also endorsed the revised law, saying it will provide an improved legal framework for the national strategy.

Since the 1990s, Vietnam has received support from international partners such as World Health Organization (WHO), the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) in developing and maintaining its pharmaceutical policies.

Lawrence S. Ting charity walk raises US$143,000

This year's 10th Lawrence S. Ting charity walk has raised about VND3 billion (US$143,000) from sponsors, organisers and individuals since the campaign was launched about three months ago.

All proceeds will be donated to the fund set up to help the poor in districts 7, 8, Nha Be and Binh Chanh and a foundation that aids sporting talents of HCM City's Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

More than 14,000 people will take part in the walk that will be flagged off in Ban Nguyet (Crescent) Lake in HCM City's District 7 tomorrow.

FDI for education falls short of expectations

As of December 2014, foreign direct investment (FDI) in the public education sector of the nation has fallen far short of expectations, the Foreign Investment Agency (FIA) has announced.

The sector attracted investment of only US$825.5 million in 204 projects nationwide, which represents an average of roughly US$4 million and is an inconsequential 0.33% of the nation’s total investment.

The government had been banking on an average investment per project of US$14.3 million the FIA said adding, that of the country’s 18 sectors, education ranked near the bottom in the 16th position.

Most of the projects have been located in the larger metropolitan areas including 70 projects in Hanoi with FDI of US$328 million, Ho Chi Minh City (97 projects at US$263 million) and Danang (8 projects at US$157 million).

Students in Australia raise money for the needy

As TET approaches many Vietnamese students in Australia have turned their thoughts to the homeland and are raising money for victims of Agent Orange and the needy.

Members of the Melbourne Overseas Vietnamese Student Association (MOVSA) have collected about VND24 million by selling second-hand clothes, footwear, used computer discs and bags at markets in Melbourne at the weekends.

MOVSA President Nguyen Minh Hoang said students want to share joy and warmness with the disadvantaged at home during the upcoming Lunar New Year festival (Tet). All collections will be used to purchase 45 gifts for poor people in Quang Tri province.

PM okays relocation plan for Hoa Binh reservoir

The Prime Minister has approved adjustments to the Scheme on Population Stabilisation and Social-Economic Development for the Da River Evacuation Area in Hoa Binh Province in the 2009-15 period.

The original scheme, approved in Decision 1588/QD-TTg dated October 9, 2009, affects 36 communes of five districts (Da Bac, Mai Chau, Tan Lac, Cao Phong and Kim Boi) and the city of Hoa Binh. Under the plan, 26 communes would be submerged in the Hoa Binh Reservoir, which is fed by the Da River. Ten communes outside the reservoir would accommodate those relocated from the reservoir-submerged area.

The adjusted scheme is different from the old one in the scope, purposes and duration of implementation. The new VND4,053 billion (nearly US$190 million) scheme will be completed in 2020, instead of 2015. The affected area will cover 40 communes, including 36 covered by the old scheme and the additional four communes of Yen Nghiep (Lac Son district), Bao Hieu (Yen Thuy district), Dong Tam (Lac Thuy district) and My Hoa (Kim Boi district).

The scheme intends to ensure stable residences for people, improve their living standards and income, eliminate the households at risk of relapsing into hunger and reduce the ratio of poor households to the province average. It also aims to change the economic structure of the area gradually, reducing agriculture-reliant labour and increasing the percentage of trained labourers.

The specific targets set for 2020 are relocating around 300 households to concentrated resettlement areas, stabilising the life of the 1,200 households in the communes around the lake and developing agriculture, forestry and fishery in ways that are concentrated, industrialised and employ advanced science and technology to increase productivity, improve quality and cut production costs.

Under the plan, the ratio of industry and services would account for 20-25 per cent of the economic structure for the communes surrounding the reservoir. Villagers would be given access to production services and product outlets. Agricultural labourers would account for only 60 per cent of the workforce, while trained labourers would account for 40 per cent.

In addition to increasing investment in expanding production and infrastructure, the scheme aims to move households in areas prone to landslides and flash floods to safer resettlement areas with adequate land for permanent accommodation and production. Households in crowded areas will be relocated to less populated areas with sufficient land for housing and production. Funding will focus on the development of sustainable livelihoods such as investing in production forests, raising cattle and poultry and rearing caged fish on a commercial basis.

Phong Phu workers protest unreasonable working conditions

On January 19, 600 workers of the Phong Phu Nha Trang garment factory in the central province of Khanh Hoa, one of the factories belonging to Vietnam’s biggest garment producer and exporter Phong Phu Corp., gathered to ask leaders of the company to negotiate on the unreasonable new rules the employer planned to enforce, according to laodong.com.vn.

The workers had been informed of the eradication of the VND200,000 ($9.4) monthly transportation allowance, to be replaced by the requirement that 100 per cent of workers travel using the company’s bus system. Phong Phu would also cut 70 per cent of a worker’s attendance bonus if he/she takes one day off no matter what the reason is, as well as cut break time.

Workers were enraged by the new rules. “The bus routes are inconvenient. The bus passes some locations on the way to the factory but does not do so on the way back from it. We are only allowed one leave day per month, now if we take it we get a 70 per cent cut in attendance bonus. Wage is at most VND4 million ($188) a month. We can’t go on like this,” one of the workers said.

In 2014, the company already enforced unreasonable policies such as continuous overtime not paid according to the law but instead paid by breaks and an unreasonably high quota among others.

A group of officials from the Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs and the Confederation of Labour of Khanh Hoa province, joined to facilitate the negotiation between the employees and the employer. They asked the management to reconsider the quota and overtime pay and resolve other disputes with the workers.

At the end of  the negotiation, Nguyen Tien Ha, acting director of the factory agreed to abolish the 70 per cent attendance bonus cut and to redesign the bus routes as well as maintain transport allowance in some cases. The management said they would still pay workers for January 19 and asked the workers to go back to work on January 20.

Phong Phu Corporation (OTC: PPH) is one of Vietnam’s biggest producers and exporters of garment. The company, which has the chartered capital of about VND700 billion ($33 million), is 51 per cent owned by the state-run Vietnam National Textile and Garment Group (Vinatex). It earned the consolidated net profit of VND193 billion ($9 million) in the first nine months of 2014, down 21 per cent on year, on the revenue of VND2.9 trillion ($136 million), down 9.4 per cent on year.

Doosan Vina donates multivitamins to Quang Ngai

Doosan Vina, in cooperation with Internourish of the USA, on January 20 donated more than one million multivitamins worth nearly US$10,500 to the Department of Health of the central province of Quang Ngai.

The multivitamins will be distributed to Quang Ngai children to improve their health. The  multivitamin donation is a commitment by Doosan Vina and Internourish that began with the signing of a memorandum of understanding on May 19, 2011. This is the fourth multivitamin donation by Doosan Vina and Internourish.

This year’s donation will provide 2,880 local children with a one-year supply of multivitamins.

The vitamins will help reduce nutritional deficiencies and strengthen their immune systems. Doosan Vina and Internourish have donated more than 2.6 million doses of multivitamin to the children of Quang Ngai since 2011.

Ryu Hang Ha, CEO of Doosan Vina, said in a statement that children are the future of a country, so Doosan Vina’s mission is to help protect the health of children in Quang Ngai.

Doosan Vina’s extensive CSR programs have contributed over US$5.5 million in health and education related support for the local community in its six years of operation in Quang Ngai.

VBL awards scholarships to students

Vietnam Brewery Limited (VBL) on January 20 awarded 42 scholarships worth VND15 million each to outstanding students in the field of environment as part of its program to protect water resources.

The program, which has been in place since 2012 and will last until 2017, is expected to cost nearly VND7 billion. After more than three years, it has donated 76 scholarships and funded 12 scientific research projects worth a combined VND2.7 billion.

Scientists and researchers aged below 40 and senior students with water resource-related ideas can apply for financial grants from VBL, 2 Ngo Duc Ke Street, District 1, HCMC.

Sawaco plans to adjust up water prices

Saigon Water Corporation (Sawaco) on January 20 unveiled a roadmap to increase the average price of running water by 10.5% per year from now to 2019 if it is approved.

The average price for household users will edged up from the current VND5,300 (nearly 25 U.S. cents) per cubic meter to VND7,900 by 2019, excluding tax, Sawaco said at a conference on the water price hike plan for the 2015-2019 period.

The State utility said the increase of 10.5% appraised by the city’s Department of Finance is needed to expand the supply of water whose investment makes up 72% of the clean water production cost in the next five years.

Water treatment plants in HCMC are expected to supply around 3.7 million cubic meters of water for city residents a day by 2025, 2.2 times higher than the current output.

In the coming time, several water plants will be up and running, including Thu Duc 2 and Tan Hiep 2 with each having a capacity of 300,000 cubic meters a day. More than 1,600 kilometers of new pipeline will be built.

To help poor households, Sawaco will keep the price of water for them at the level of last year and lower than the average in the coming years if each of their members consumes no more than four cubic meters a month.

Immigrants, students, and laborers at homes rented for 12 months or longer will pay the same prices as city residents.

As calculated by Sawaco, the water price hike will not have serious impact on locals.

For example, a household of four members will pay an additional VND12,000 from the current VND84,000 if each member uses a maximum of four cubic meters of water a month.

Tran Dong A, member of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee in HCMC, agreed on the roadmap.

But Tran Thien Tu, another member of the committee, proposed the city authorities compare water prices in the city with those in other countries in Southeast Asia.

Tu said he is concerned about the current high water loss rate in HCMC, at 33%, and that water suppliers should make clear this problem as it is a matter of investment efficiency.

If the loss rate is reduced to 10%, the city can save enough money to invest in a water plant with a capacity of two million cubic meters a day, Tu said.

By the end of last year, 13 of 19 districts in the inner-city areas had had access to running water. But clean water has not reached around 317,200 households in Binh Chanh, Hoc Mon and Cu Chi districts, according to data of Sawaco.

Sawaco deputy general director Bach Vu Hai said if the Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee in HCMC approved the water price hike plan, the company would forward it to the city government for approval.

Standard Chartered offers shelters, free eye care in Tien Giang

Standard Chartered Vietnam, in cooperation with Standard Chartered Korea, has offered eight homes for poor families in Tien Giang Province’s Cho Gao District.

The project was conducted between January 4 and 11 with the support of nearly 100 employees of Standard Chartered Vietnam and Korea, and 50 students from South Korea.

Volunteers also organized an exchange with local people and gave information on eye care tips for students in Luong Hoa Lac Secondary School.

Standard Chartered Vietnam coordinated with Tien Giang Eye Hospital and Fred Hollows Fund to organize eye exams and grant free glasses for children at Tan Hiep Secondary School.

The US$1-million budget for the eye care project from 2013-2016 has been funded by staff of Standard Chartered Vietnam and Korea and deployed in Tien Giang, Vinh Long, Lam Dong and Dak Nong provinces.

In 2013, the two units of Standard Chartered gave 20 homes to poor families in Ben Tre Province, examined and performed eye operations on 400 patients, and supported about 2,000 people in need, including blind people and students.

Man detained for possessing 1,000 drug pills

A man has been detained for possessing 1,000 pills of synthetic drugs in the northern province of Nam Dinh, the local police said yesterday.

To Cong Binh, 56, from Cat Bi district in the coastal city of Hai Phong, was detained on Sunday, after he was found carrying the pills along with 0.5kg of meth.

The case is being investigated further.

Another member of gang of ‘telepaths' arrested

Police in the central province of Quang Tri have arrested a man from Ha Noi's Soc Son District, for allegedly being an important member of a criminal gang.

The gang members had pretended to be telepaths who could help families of war martyrs to find their remains.

The arrested man, 28-year-old Nguyen Truong Son, is the son-in-law of Nguyen Thanh Thuy, 55 and Man Thi Duyen, 52, who are from the northern province of Bac Ninh's Yen Phong District.

Thuy and Duyen, allegedly the gang leaders, were detained in October 2013 for cheating the families of war martyrs of billions of dong.

Later, Duyen's younger brother Man Duc Phuong, and Thuy's younger brother Nguyen Van Hoanh were also temporarily detained.

Police said that from December 2012 to July 2013, the couple allegedly made tombs containing fake human remains, and told the families of war martyrs that the remains were of their relatives.

They cheated the families of VND8 billion (US$380,900).

VNN/VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/ND