Grandmother, three grandchildren murdered

The police in the northern province of Quảng Ninh has started legal proceedings in the murders of four people in Phương Nam Ward of Uông Bí City.

The deceased included a 61-year-old grandmother, Nguyễn Thị Hát, and three grandchildren aged three, eight and nine.

At about 7am on Saturday morning, Vũ Thị Thanh, Hat’s daughter, came back home from working a night shift and found the dead bodies with several wounds.

Two of three children are Thanh’s children while the other is her niece.

Autopsies by the public security ministry indicate the motive of the killings was robbery.

Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc ordered the public security ministry, Quảng Ninh Province’s People’s Committee and relevant agencies to investigate, arrest the murderers and impose on them strict punishments.

12 years in jail for banker

The Hà Nội People’s Court on Saturday handed down a 12-year jail term for Huỳnh Thị Bảo Ngọc for “swindling to appropriate properties”.

Ngọc, 44, former deputy head of the fund management department of Asia Commercial Joint Stock Bank (ACB), was accused of helping Huỳnh Thị Huyền Như, temporary head of Điện Biên Phủ transaction department of HCM City’s Vietnam Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Industry and Trade (Vietinbank) to swindle and appropriate nearly VNĐ670 billion (US$29.8million).

According to the indictment, in 2010, ACB entrusted individuals to send money to credit organisations to benefit from higher interest rates than the rate ceiling regulated by the State Bank of Việt Nam.

From July 21, 2011 to September 5, 2011, Ngọc asked 17 staff of ACB Bank to receive nearly VNĐ670 billion illegally entrusted by ACB Bank to deposit the saving to HCM City’s Vietinbank.

Crash kills two, injures 17

A crash between a sleeper coach and a container truck killed two passengers and injured 17 others early Saturday morning in southern Bến Tre Province.

The HCM City container truck was running from Bến Tre City to Trà Vinh Province, and it reportedly encroached the left side of the highway passing through Mỏ Cày Bắc District of Bến Tre Province and hit the coach running from the opposite side.

The coach’s driver and a female passenger succumbed to serious injuries and died.

Trương Hòa Bình, Deputy Prime Minister and Chairman of the National Traffic Safety Committee, sent deep condolences to the victims’ families and ordered Bến Tre Province’s Traffic Safety Committee to mobilise the best avaliable medical resources to save the injured.

The provincial police have been asked to investigate and clarify the accident’s cause with urgency and to impose strict punishment on the violators.

HCM City’s Traffic Safety Committee ordered the city’s Transport Department to thoroughly investigate the transport business conditions of enterprises involved in the accident.

Đà Nẵng launches Coast Guard ship

The defence ministry and the Sông Thu Shipyard Corporation launched a multi-purpose vessel, CBS 8005, for the Việt Nam Coast Guard Force at a ceremony yesterday.

It’s the second ship that the Đà Nẵng-based corporation in co-operation with Damen Group from the Netherlands has built for the Coast Guard Force to improve law enforcement on the sea.

The ship was one of seven large vessels the government had invested in to build a powerful Việt Nam Coast Guard Force by 2020.

The CSB 8005 ship, which is 91m long and 14m wide, is the most modern convenience ship capable of carrying 2,500 deadweight tonnage (DWT) and working 40 days and nights over 5,000 nautical miles.

The local ship builder has built more than 40 vessels for export, including fast crew supply ships, rescue ships, salvage tugs and drive tugs, besides patrol boats, for the Middle East, South America, Europe and South Africa, as well as the domestic market.

VN will be info tech power: PM

The government is determined to take advantage of the opportunities presented by the fourth industrial revolution and develop Việt Nam into an information technology (IT) power, Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc said on Saturday. 

He spoke at the annual Việt Nam Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Summit held in Hà Nội by the Việt Nam Software and IT Services Association (Vinasa) under the auspices of the Ministry of Information and Communications (MoIC). 

The event, themed “Digital Revolution – Opportunities and Challenges”, attracted more than 500 delegates from ministries, agencies, localities and businesses at home and abroad. 

PM Phúc noted that this year, Việt Nam moved up 10 spots from 2015 to 89th place out of 193 countries in terms of e-government development. 

The country has also attracted many IT giants such as IBM, Microsoft, Intel, Toshiba and Samsung, while many domestic IT firms such as Viettel, FPT and VNPT have branched out into many parts of the world. 

The PM called for more drastic and effective actions to improve national competitiveness, and suggested building Việt Nam into a world centre for the software industry, mobile applications and information security services. 

Ministries and agencies were asked to improve their IT workforce so as to provide high-quality manpower for the world digital economy. 

He expressed hope that smart city models would be built in Hà Nội, HCM City, Hải Phòng, Đà Nẵng, Cần Thơ and Bình Dương. 

The MoIC and Vinasa will collect suggestions at the summit to submit to the PM for consideration. 

The event was divided into thematic discussions on building a start-up nation, the trends of Internet of Things (IoT) and Smart City, IT infrastructure development, and cyber security and IT human resources. 

Sideline activities include the Việt Nam ICT Best Practices Exhibition and the Việt Nam ICT Golf Open 2016.

Police crack down on loaded vehicles

Hà Nội police yesterday stepped up enforcement against modified vehicles such as three wheelers and other rudimentary means of transport that carry cumbersome loads of goods, causing traffic disorder and endangering pedestrians and drivers.

The move came after the tragic death of a nine-year-old boy on Tân Mai Street in the capital’s Hoàng Mai District last Friday. The boy was riding his bicycle when he collided with an iron sheet carried on a xích lô (cyclo) parked along the pavement, and his neck was slashed. The length and width of the sheet were reportedly far beyond the cyclo’s capacity.

Hoàng Mai district police temporarily arrested the cyclo driver, Đinh Ngọc Thạch, 52, for further investigation.

To prevent similar accidents, the National Traffic Safety Committee asked the municipal People’s Committee to crack down on such overloaded vehicles.

To curb traffic accidents and congestion, the Prime Minister banned three-wheelers starting in January 2008.

Cyclos are only allowed to carry tourists around the city. Despite the ban, many cyclos, three or four-wheel vehicles, have been modified and used to carry loads of bulky goods which can be easily spotted on Hà Nội’s streets.

Colonel Đào Vinh Thắng, head of the Road and Railway Traffic Division of Hà Nội Traffic Police Department, said that more than 3,300 violations were recorded in the first nine months of this year. Up to 220 three wheelers were confiscated while about 350 others are about to be.

On the first day of the new crackdown campaign, traffic police officers on Giải Phóng Street of Hoàng Mai District asked violators to dismantle modified parts of certain vehicles. War veterans whose vehicles carried heavy goods had to take them off and wait for other vehicles to come and carry them.

A similar accident in Mai Lĩnh area, Hà Đông District, in the capital city, killed a 66-year-old woman from the northern Hòa Bình Province yesterday afternoon. An ox cart carrying a sharp iron sheet slashed the woman’s neck and broke her windpipe, the Tuổi Trẻ (Youth) online reported.

Complaint: police beat up reporter

The chairman of the Hà Nội People’s Committee Nguyễn Đức Chung yesterday asked the capital police to urgently investigate the alleged harassment of a reporter and to report back by Tuesday.

The police would also have to answer questions by the media as regulated in the law.

Earlier on Friday, Đông Anh District police found the body of a taxi driver under the Nhật Tân Bridge. Preliminary investigation concluded that the driver jumped off the bridge to commit suicide.

Journalist Trần Quang Thế of Tuổi trẻ (Youth) newspaper arrived at the scene at about 10am to report on the incident. Not noticing any camera ban sign or police line restricting the crime scene, he took out his camera.

After being stopped by a police officer, Thế showed his reporter’s accreditation and continued to take pictures. By then a group of people in casual clothes, whom many believed to be policemen, rushed in and repeatedly hit and kicked Thế in the head and the body.

His camera was also snatched by the group.

Hà Nội Police Director Đoàn Duy Khương on Saturday told the Vietnam News Agency that the Investigation Department would look into the harassment allegation.

“The police will strictly handle those police officers,” he said.

The Việt Nam Journalists Association on Saturday also asked Hà Nội police to urgently investigate the case in order to prevent it from becoming a “bad precedent”. – VNS  

Players begin intensive training for AFF Cup

National team players gathered yesterday in HCM City, kicking off their preparations for the ASEAN Football Federation Cup in November.

They will begin intensive training in about two weeks, prior to their friendly match against North Korea at Thống Nhất Stadium.

Also, Việt Nam will play two matches with Indonesia on October 11 and 14.

The 30-strong team will take part in a short two-week training course in South Korea, beginning October 15, and are expected to play three games here.

They will be back home on October 30, where they will  play two more matches in Hà Nội.

Two weeks later they will leave for Myanmar for the Cup competition, where they have targeted a berth in the final.

Public participation key to prevent environmental pollution

Experts at a conference in Can Tho City on  said public participation is important to help prevent environmental pollution.

The Southwestern Steering Committee, Green Innovation and Development Center (GreenID) and the U.S. Agency for International Development held the conference on public participation in evaluating environmental impact of projects.

Expert Nguyen Huu Thien told the conference that he has cooperated with GreenID and Can Tho University to evaluate environmental reports of Duyen Hai Power Center in Tra Vinh Province and a wind power project in Bac Lieu Province.

Thien said the conference is to contribute ideas to support the Government with its strategic environmental assessment and environmental impact assessment to prevent serious environmental incidents like the one caused by the Formosa steel complex in Ha Tinh Province in April.      

Tran Huu Hiep of the Southwestern Steering Committee quoted Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc as saying that Vietnam would not strive to achieve economic growth at the cost of the environment. He said the country has many projects that have negatively damaged the environment and caused social problems. 

He said the nation lacks tools to monitor and evaluate environmental impact in different phases of projects to give timely warnings and work out coping solutions.

Pham Anh Dung, deputy head of the environmental impact assessment department under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, introduced regulations on the relationship between strategic environmental assessment and environmental impact assessment in the 2014 Environment Protection Law.  

He said the prevailing regulations require public participation in strategic environmental assessment.

Thien said big-ticket projects such as Duyen Hai Power Center need strategic environmental assessment since environmental impact assessment alone does not help leaders gain an overview of environmental impact of projects in a whole area. He said there are 15 thermal power plants in Can Tho, Hau Giang, Tra Vinh and Soc Trang provinces. 

Besides them, there are other thermal power plants such as Long An 1, Long An 2, Bac Lieu, Ca Mau 1 and Ca Mau 2. He said these thermal power plants may put huge pressure on the environment in the Mekong Delta. Therefore, strategic environmental assessment reports for them are essential.

He said relevant agencies should revise regulations on public participation in environmental assessment as the current regulations are not adequate. He said information should be publicized.

Besides, firms’ commitments to environmental protection must be reviewed while the role and independence of project evaluation boards should be clarified.  

Dr. Le Anh Tuan, deputy director of the Institute for Climate Change Research at Can Tho University, said public participation in environmental impact assessment is weak now.

He said residents in the delta said they are not allowed to give information about environmental impact of factories on their livelihoods.

Few people are invited to meetings on site clearance and compensation plans.

Tuan said the environmental impact document of the Bac Lieu wind power project has just one page and does not have comments from locals.

Concern over entrance to Hanoi subway project

Local experts and architects have expressed concern over the design of a subway project in Hanoi, with one of the aboveground entrances and exits to be located near the capital’s iconic Hoan Kiem Lake.

As a national relic, Hoan Kiem, commonly known as Ho Guom or Sword Lake, has its surrounding areas strictly protected, so any kind of construction to be developed there should be carefully considered, according to local architects.

The government does not ban, but restricts construction near the lake, and all projects must limit their impact on the historical site as much as possible.

Despite this, a subway entrance and exit is proposed right next to the lake as part of Terminal C9 of the urban railway project No. 2 being developed in the Vietnamese capital.

In its first phase, the 11.5km project will run through five districts, Tu Liem, Tay Ho, Cau Giay, Ba Dinh and Hoan Kiem, with three aboveground terminals and seven underground ones.

The underground Terminal C9 is designed with four entrance and exit sections on the surface.

The first is located on the premises of the EVN Hanoi, and the second, in the headquarters of the EVN Northern Power Corp on Tran Nguyen Han Street.

The third entrance/exit is situated next to Hoan Kiem Lake and the last one is behind the Ba Kieu Temple, on the bank of the lake.

According to local experts, the planned locations for the first and second entrance/exit sections of Terminal C9 are acceptable, but the remaining ones are not.

While the third section may affect Hoan Kiem Lake, the location of the fourth entrance/exit should also be considered as all construction is banned in the area immediately surrounding the Ba Kieu Temple.

“I believe there should be no big construction around Hoan Kiem Lake,” architect Ngo Doan Duc, former deputy chairman of the Vietnam Association of Architects, told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper.

Duc said the subway entrance/exit will affect the architectural beauty, as well as the open space of the lake.

“The subway entrance must be located where it is most convenient for passengers, but at the same time leave no impact on Hoan Kiem Lake,” he concluded.

The project developer may seek help from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to approve the fourth entrance/exit built behind the Ba Kieu Temple, said Luu Xuan Hung, deputy head of the management board of the Hanoi urban railway project.

“Construction is prohibited near the temple but the subway project is meant for public use, so we may be able to build the entrance with approval from the ministry,” Hung said.

Hung also added that Hanoi’s leaders are scheduled to meet with the culture ministry officials next week to discuss the locations for the third and fourth entrance/exit sections of Terminal C9.

Hanoi eyes ban on non-resident motorbikes in inner city

Hanoi's Department of Transport is considering a ban on non-resident motorbikes entering the inner city from 2021, among several other measures to tighten management over personal vehicles in the capital.

The department is welcoming professional feedback on the first draft of its recently announced plan that looks to restrict the number of personal vehicles in the capital.

The plan, drafted by the department under the direction of the city’s administration, introduced a three-step restriction on motorbikes in the capital by the year 2025.

In the first phase beginning 2020, motorbikes will have restricted access to the Old Quarter area during the weekend and on national holidays.

From 2021, all motorbikes not registered in Hanoi will not be allowed to enter the capital’s inner city area, which is enclosed by Ring Road 1, from 7:00 am to 7:00 pm every day. The motorbike restriction in the Old Quarter area will also be expanded to all weekdays.

In the second phase that begins in 2023, the restriction on non-local motorbikes will be expanded to include the areas enclosed by Ring Road 2, while other old streets such as Tran Hung Dao and Ly Thuong Kiet will also be restricted for motorbikes.

From 2025, the third phase will include an additional ban on motorbikes in some areas inside Ring Road 3.

The plan also introduced measures to restrict personal cars, which includes a toll on cars entering downtown areas at rush hour, retrieving permits for car parks in the four districts of Hoan Kiem, Ba Dinh, Dong Da, and Hai Ba Trung, and raising parking fees for cars in downtown areas.

Hanoi has already laid out a plan to improve its public transport by 2020 as an alternative to personal vehicles.

According to the plan, over 500 new buses will be put into operation every year, while three Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) and five urban railway routes are expected to be finished by 2020.

Transit and parking areas will be built near public transport stations to improve accessibility and encourage their use.

According to Hanoi’s transportation planning approved by the country’s prime minister, public transport in the city must be able to handle 20 percent of its citizens’ commuting demand by 2020, and up to 40 percent by 2025.

Hanoi currently has 500,000 cars, five million motorbikes, one million bicycles, and over 10,000 electric bicycles, excluding numerous unregistered vehicles.

According to estimations by the transport department, with the annual sales increases of 7.6% for motorbikes and 12.9% for cars, by 2020, Vietnam’s capital will have had to handle at least 938,000 cars and over 6.2 million motorbikes, exceeding the current capacity of its roads by five times.

The transport department has estimated that this number will have risen again to 1.3 million cars by 2025 and 7.3 million motorbikes are expected to be registered in the city.

Better access to social security needed for disabled workers

More support for the disabled is needed to improve their access to education, health care, health and social insurance, and job placement services. 

The recommendations were put forward at a workshop on strengthening access to social security for labourers with disabilities held in Hanoi on September 19 by the Ministry of Labours, Invalids and Social Affairs (MoLISA) in coordination with the Hanns Seidel Foundation. 

The workshop analysed the findings of a joint survey conducted by the Institute of Labour Science and Social Affairs under the MoLISA and the Hanns Seidel Foundation, to shed light on disabled labourers’ livelihoods and their vulnerability and risks. 

The survey also assessed the existing social security system and the role of non-official social security network in preventing and handling risks and challenges faced by disabled labourers. 

It recommended social security intervention measures in line with the characteristics of the target group, and how to build a livelihood strategy suitable with disabled labourers. 

According to the research, disabled labourers in Vietnam lack capital for production and business. Their disadvantages in terms of education, health, and mobility also caused difficulty for their livelihood activities. 

The research group highlighted the need to change the approach in policies towards the disabled, expand support policies to all disabled labourers on the principles of equal education and self-help encouragement, and boost communications campaigns on the disabled.

Participants at the conference agreed that the research can be used as the basis for governmental agencies to review existing social security policies on the disabled and make necessary adjustments and supplements. 

In order for the disabled to get access to social security services, participants recommended many solutions like boosting the role of organisations of the disabled, listening to their opinions during the process of implementation and supervision of relevant legal documents, and creating favourable conditions for them to take part in governmental agencies.

Nhơn Châu Commune to join national power grid

Bình Định Province’s People’s Committee Chairman Hồ Quốc Dũng has approved an electric cable project for the Nhơn Châu island commune (known as Cù Lao Xanh Island).

The project will connect the Nhơn Châu island commune of Quy Nhơn City with the national power grid in 2017-20, the online Dân Trí reported. 

The project is estimated to cost some VNĐ350 billion (US$15.7 million), of which nearly VNĐ300 billion (US$13.5 million) is being funded by the Government’s budget.

This includes the construction of a 10km undersea cable, a 288m underground cable and a 4.8km air cable in the commune.

“We are facing an electricity shortage because one of the three electricity generators of the commune is currently broken,” Phan Văn Binh, chairman of Nhơn Châu Commune’s People's Committee, said.

“We are very excited to hear about the project and are looking forward to it,” he said. “With a stable electricity source, we will get more opportunities for economic and tourism development.”

The commune’s diesel electric generators operate from 5pm to 11pm daily, with additional six hours in the summer (from 9am to 3pm).

Each year, Bình Định Province spends an average of VNĐ1 billion ($44,800) to provide electricity to the commune’s residents.

The Nhơn Châu island commune has a strategic position in national security, maritime economics and the protection of national sovereignty. It is home to more than 500 households (some 2,000 people) who make a living from coastal fishing and undertaking small businesses.

Last year, Nhơn Châu was classified as an island commune under Quy Nhơn City so that it could benefit from the government’s preferential policies.

Children’s love of the environment nurtured

Starting the new school year, fourth-graders from the Hanoi Academy primary school had a chance to join in some very interesting and meaningful activities: making handbags from old newspapers and growing black-bean plants in pretty colourful pots made from plastic bottles.

Before that, a short video clip had been shown to demonstrate the current state of the environment worldwide and what humans have been doing to the environment.

“Lasting just two short lessons, the activities have offered the little students an exciting experience, useful knowledge in life as well as raise their love for the environment through happy and fun activities,” says teacher Nguyen Thanh Hoa.

All the students demonstrated their keenness, enthusiasm and concentration on what they were being taught. Their instructors, instead of the teachers, are high school students who share a common love of nature.

“I’m very surprised I can make a handbag with just simple things like discarded papers, rope and adhesive tape,” says student Tran Minh Anh. “I hope to have more lessons like this.”

Such activities are part of a project called Lo Mo, implemented by a group of high-school students in Hanoi. Launched in early July under the sponsorship of the voluntary organisation Water Wise Vietnam, the project aims to raise children’s awareness of the environment in general and recycling in particular.

“We are all members of the Youth Leadership Camp of Water Wise Vietnam. After this summer camp, we have been trained to create projects that contribute to the community,” say Pham Thanh Thao, an 11th grader from the Foreign Language Specialised School and one of the initiators of Lo Mo.

“As the environment and recycling is not a new issue, we were very confused about finding more innovative and effective approaches for our project.

“We finally came up with instructing small children, who are very eager to learn new things and are also future citizens of the country, to recycle discarded materials. We expect that this approach will more effectively raise their interest in environmental protection rather than dry knowledge from books. We want to spread love for the environment widely,” she adds.

Besides Thao, there are three other members in charge of managing the project, and about 60 volunteers, all of whom are high school or universities students in Hanoi.

“As soon as Lo Mo was launched, we started to collect discarded materials like used paper or empty bottles from volunteers to create souvenirs, which we have sold at charity fairs on 6 Pham Ngu Lao to raise funds for the implementation of the project.”

In addition, members of Lo Mo also go to the Sword Lake to propagate about environmental protection and sell their recycled products to both Vietnamese and foreigners. Workshops have also been regularly held with renowned speakers invited to deliver talks, which aim to offer interesting playgrounds and inspire the children to join in protecting nature.

“The project is not expensive because of its recycling theme. The cost for non-recyclable materials likes adhesive tape or brushes have been covered by our funds raised through fairs and sponsorships,” Thao says.

In the two months since it was launched, Lo Mo has been introduced to three international primary schools in Hanoi: Vinschool, Hanoi Academy and Hanoi Star.

According to Thao, the greatest difficulty they have had is persuading schools to adopt Lo Mo into their syllabuses.

“At first, schools hesitated to coordinate with our project, because all of us are still students with limited experience in teaching. But after one to three lessons, on seeing their students get very excited over our projects, they’ve gradually had more confidence in letting us approach their students,” she recalls.

Members of Lo Mo also cooperate with the schools to introduce the activities of the project to a wider number of students. Those who don’t get a chance to attend the project classes can attend one of their workshops to listen to talks and get trained on how to recycle things.

The positive responses from schools, students and their parents became the motivation for members of Lo Mo to launch a workshop, called Nu Cuoi Dem Trang (Smiles on a Moonlit Night) that was held on Saturday. The event drew the participation of many children and parents within the city, and all the money raised through selling recycled objects will contribute to Operation Smile Vietnam, an organisation dedicated to repairing childhood facial deformities.

“We have been pretty pleased with the result of the project on seeing all the students happily listening to our messages, making paper bags, growing plants in empty bottles and seeing them grow. I think Lo Mo has been partially successful, at least in meeting our expectations,” Thảao says.

A new school year has come, and all the members of Lo Mo have to finish up their project to go back to school. “Lo Mo will end in one week, and we are very happy that we have somehow inspired children to be more concerned about the environment. If possible, we will plan another project for next year’s summer vacation,” she adds.

Integrated farming a hit with room to grow

Trịnh Quốc Huy and his family own a five-hectare farm with various fruit plants of great renown across the country and local varieties.

The farm, located in Việt Lâm Town, the northern mountainous Hà Giang Province’s Vị Xuyên District, has been developed following the garden-pond-livestock pen (VAC) model and earns Huy billions of đồng annually.

Besides local varieties of plants and animals, the garden is home to bưởi da xanh (green skin grapefruit), bưởi Diễn (a type of pomelo), cam Canh (sweet orange), among others. Husbandry alone brings Huy some VNĐ2 billion ($89,000) each year.

Huy is ready to share farming knowledge and provide quality young plants and livestock breeds for local farmers.

The VAC model has also generated regular jobs for local labourers, earning them a monthly income of some VNĐ4million (US$180).

“I had travelled here and there, at home and abroad, seeking to start a business. After days of ups and downs, I realised that farmers could get rich mostly from agricultural production. My wife and I dreamed of building our farm on our homeland,” said Huy.

“We developed a large self-contained farm for fruit trees and animals. We returned from Russia in 2008. After almost 10 years, we believe we are on the right track,” he said.

"The integrated farming system, a Vietnamese approach to household production of clean nutritious food, is worth being considered a typical example of economic development based on local advantages," said the Vietnam Gardening Association’s Chairman, Prof. Ngô Thế Dân.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), developing the farming economy is increasingly important.

Dân said reports from provincial Gardening Associations showed that about 50 per cent of uncultivated gardens and ponds in each locality had been restored in accordance with the VAT model.

The farming system makes up between 50 – 60 per cent of local households’ annual income, reports from Thanh Hóa and Hà Tĩnh provinces’ Gardening Associations show.

The family of Nguyễn Thanh Tuấn in the central Quảng Nam Province’s Núi Thành District turns over VNĐ5 billion annually from the integrated farming system, creating jobs for five locals.

In the five-hectare farm, Tuấn raises various animals including chicken, ducks, pigs, salamanders and fish, and 500 fruit trees.

In the southern provinces of Bến Tre, Tiền Giang and Vĩnh Long, local gardening associations developed farming areas specialising in fruit trees in line with Good Agricultural Practices (GAP), which makes between VNĐ600-700 million per hectare.

Head of the Economic Co-operation Division, MARD’s Department for Economic Development and Rural Development, Trần Đình Dũng said the gardening economy had grown vigorously and developed in many ways, including one which combines garden, pond, livestock and forest.

“The farming system has made a good earning for households, showing its essential role in the agricultural sector,” Dũng said.

However, Dũng admitted, the full potential of the model has not been brought into play.

Dũng called for proper policies to develop the system, as there was a lack of linkage between production and sales.

“Investment capital size remains limited and processing technologies are not highly developed. Product quality has yet to meet market demand and farmers can’t develop strong and competitive brands,” he said.

Acting Director of the National Farming Promotion Centre, Trần Văn Khởi said due to its vital role in the agricultural economy, the State should introduce policies facilitating farming households, especially in the application of advanced science and technology.

Prof. Ngô Thế Dân, also former deputy MARD minister, said those involved in the sector need to equip themselves with information and technology, know how to promote their produce on the internet, look for markets, and organise ecological tourism models on their farms.

SCG awards four champions of Today's Voice contest

After competing more than 5000 nation-wide contestants in Today’s Voice contest – organized by UNESCO-CEP Vietnam, 4 champions of the contest has won the special prize which is the journey to learn about the sustainable development model of SCG – a leading conglomerate in ASEAN. 

The trip is the prize for the champion team, sponsored by SCG and extended in 5 days from 12/9 to 16/9/2016 in Thailand. 

The students has got the chance to accumulate a precious asset in their life-time asset porfolio which is knowledge and inspiration to contribute for the community. 

Not only be introduced about the sustainable development concept by SCG’s experts, the Vietnamese students also has the chance to visit and experience some typical CSR projects of SCG with positive impact for community in Thailand, such as: fish house, check dam, nurturing earth worm to dispose the sludge and produce organic fertilizer as well as social enterprises development.

Nguyen Phuong Thao Trang, student of Marketing faculty, University of Economic and Law, one of the participant of the trip said: “This is a precious opportunity for me to learn more about sustainable development concept in a leading conglomerate in ASEAN. Having real experience in the CSR projects that create positive impact for the community inspires and motivates me to contribute for the sustainable development for my country in the future.”

In Vietnam, every year, SCG also has many CSR projects to develop the young generations and support local community, such as: SCG Sharing The Dream scholarship, SCG International Internship, SCG Young Leaders, building SCG playground in Hoang Van Thu park, sponsoring for Ba Ria – Vung Tau school for the disables…

Black boxes help cut traffic violations

The use black boxes in vehicles, and the data extracted from them, has proved to be effective in detecting traffic violations.

The black boxes, which record the location and speed of cars in which they are fitted, helped to track down more than 4,000 cars that were involved in traffic violations since the beginning of this year, according to figures from the Ministry of Transport’s Directorate for Roads of Việt Nam.

The in-vehicle device helps to monitor the vehicle’s location, speed and acceleration, and is capable of transmitting that information to a central database.

Tens of thousands of drivers have been penalised since the devices were put into operation in 2014.

Vehicle owners who broke the law were ordered off the road for a month and had their licences revoked, or in cases involving commercial vehicles, had their business licenses withdrawn.

Nguyễn Trung Thông, a coach driver running the Hà Nội-Hải Phòng route, said drivers were encouraged to not violate traffic regulations since black boxes were installed on their vehicles.

“All violations were recorded and reported to the transport company. The company will punish drivers by docking salaries and drivers will have to take responsibility in case the company is penalised by the local transport department,” he said.

Deputy Head of the Directorate for Roads of Việt Nam’s Transport Department, Đỗ Công Thủy, said that to improve the efficiency of the black boxes they have designed software to help transport departments at localities automatically total the number of vehicles breaking traffic laws.

Before the use of the software, many transport departments paid less attention to data from black boxes because of the shortage of human resources in checking the system and totaling the number of violators, Thủy said.

The software installed at transport departments will automatically total the number of violators every six months and update a list of violators for leaders of transport departments to mete out punishment, he said.

However, representatives from some transport businesses complained that in reality, there still exist errors stemming from the black boxes, which utilise unreliable GPS signals and low quality cellular networks. The device receives satellite signals, logs data and connects to a wireless data network, such as a cellular network. In some cases this process can be inaccurate and lead to false reports.

In response, Deputy Director of the Directorate for Roads of Việt Nam Nguyễn Văn Quyền said the Directorate required relevant agencies to regularly check quality standards of the data recorded and the transmission by black boxes when vehicles are periodically registered to ensure accurate information.

The Directorate for Roads of Việt Nam reported that black boxes were installed on 136,000 vehicles nationwide and the figure is expected to reach one million by 2017. 

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