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HCMC proposes adjusting HCMC-Can Tho express railway project
The HCMC government has proposed the Ministry of Transport adjust the HCMC-Can Tho high-speed railway project to reduce the route length to make the project more feasible, the local media reported.
According to the Ministry of Transport’s decision, issued on August 27, 2013, the railway was planned to be nearly 173,700 kilometers long with 14 stations, starting from An Binh station in Binh Duong Province and running through the urban areas of HCMC and four Mekong Delta provinces.
However, representatives of HCMC and four localities in the Mekong Delta region later agreed to the Southern Institute of Science and Technology’s proposal to reduce the route’s length to 139 kilometers, shortening the travel time between HCMC and Can Tho City to roughly 45 minutes. The railway would then run parallel with the HCMC-Trung Luong-My Thuan expressway.
The HCMC-Can Tho high-speed railway will stop at 10 stations, beginning at Tan Kien station in HCMC and running through stations in Long An, Tien Giang and Vinh Long provinces before ending at Cai Cui Port in Can Tho City.
According to the HCMC government, the adjustment will reduce the amount of cleared land needed for the project, and localities will be able to develop urban areas connected to the stations. In addition, the construction and equipment costs will be reduced by VND17 trillion (US$728.2 million).
Ha Ngoc Truong, head of the Metro-Railway Division of the HCMC University of Transport, said the consulting firm had suggested amending the project as the Ministry of Transport’s plan was unreasonable. The ministry had planned to develop the railway near residential areas, which would be unsafe for the local people.
Besides this, the express railway was expected to be operational for 100 years, but the Mekong Delta region is prone to flooding and is greatly affected by climate change.
Meanwhile, the consulting firm proposed developing 10 stations into new urban areas with industrial parks, houses, schools, hospitals and supermarkets that meet international standards. The adjustment will also help attract investors to get involved in the project.
Regarding the long-term plan, the railway should be expanded to Ca Mau Province and connect with the North-South express railway, Truong added.
National Assemblyman Luu Binh Nhuong supported the HCMC government’s proposal, noting that traffic development projects should not pass through residential areas due to high site clearance costs and the inherent danger.
Nguyen Ba Hoang, vice president of the HCMC University of Transport, shared the same view that developing traffic infrastructure projects near residential areas could lead to cost overruns. The Southern Institute of Science and Technology’s proposal would not only reduce site clearance costs but also ensure the project’s progress.
However, people currently located in urban areas probably will not use the express railway services, so transit vehicles will be needed, Hoang noted.
Experts have thrown their weight behind the project as it will help prop up socioeconomic growth in the localities the railway passes through and across the southern region as a whole.
Hoang, citing express railway projects in developed countries such as Japan and South Korea, suggested that the HCMC-Can Tho railway would help promote trade, ease traffic congestion and reduce environmental pollution in the region.
According to the Japan International Cooperation Agency’s forecast, by 2030, the number of passengers traveling between HCMC and Can Tho will rise 4.8 times versus 2008, while cargo volume will report a threefold increase.
Bui Trinh, an economic expert, said the project should have been executed a long time ago as the Mekong Delta region’s development does not correspond with its potential as the largest farm produce and seafood producing region in the country. To enhance the region’s economic development, traffic projects should be prioritized.
As for investment in the project, a representative of the Southern Institute of Science and Technology said the institute had signed a memorandum of understanding with Canada’s MorFund to accept an investment of 6.3 billion Canadian dollars, or some US$5 billion, for the project. The institute will complete the project report for the Ministry of Transport, the prime minister and the National Assembly later this year, so the launch can take place without further delay.
The consul general of Canada in HCMC on January 17 wrote to the institute’s head affirming that Canada would also assist with design, technology and project management for the project.
While hospitals in the downtown area of HCMC are overloaded, three projects to upgrade general hospitals in the city’s outlying districts of Hoc Mon, Cu Chi and Thu Duc have yet to be approved.
According to a report by the municipal government on the city’s socioeconomic performance, defense and security and budget allocation in the January-August period, the progress of key projects in the medical sector has remained slow.
The city government has submitted prefeasibility reports for the three projects to the prime minister and the Ministry of Planning and Investment.
Since 2007, the HCMC government has asked the Department of Health to develop Thu Duc, Cu Chi and Hoc Mon general hospitals into grade 1 hospitals with 1,000 beds each. The capital for these projects can be sourced from the city’s budget or from foreign and private investors.
In early 2015, procedures for these projects were amended in line with the Law on Public Investment. Since then, these projects have yet to be executed due to obstacles hindering site clearance work and capital mobilization.
Meanwhile, HCMC Oncology Hospital must operate at 170% capacity while four to seven children at Children’s Hospital No.1 have to share a bed.
According to a plan to develop the HCMC healthcare sector by 2020 with a vision toward 2025, the city has focused on developing its healthcare facilities. The medical examination department of City Children’s Hospital has been put into operation, serving 1,000 child patients per day. In addition, a branch of HCMC Oncology Hospital in District 9 has been recognized as meeting international standards.
At the HCMC People’s Council meeting in mid-May, the municipal Department of Heath proposed the council ask the Binh Chanh site clearance and compensation committee to promptly compensate households affected by the Tan Kien medical cluster project and the project to develop a new HCMC traumatology and orthopedics hospital in the district.
A view of the Autumn Music Gala called “Trip to the Moon”
Le Thai Son, director of A Chau Connected Agency which organized a music festival in which seven people died and five others were hospitalized in critical condition due to drug overdoses, was released on September 22, a day after being detained by the Hanoi Police, as the municipal People’s Procuracy did not approve his arrest, reported Lao Dong newspaper.
Son was taken into police custody to serve an investigation into his alleged violations of regulations on safety in mass gatherings.
According to investigators, Son should be held responsible for the seven deaths at the festival.
On September 21, the police also searched Son’s house and detained Bui Manh Duy, 19, a resident in Hanoi, for allegedly soliciting others to illegally do drugs at the concert.
The Autumn Music Gala called “Trip to the Moon” as part of the Vietnam Electronic Weekend festival at the West Lake Water Park, was held in Tay Ho District on September 16 as licensed by the Hanoi Department of Culture and Sports.
The festival attracted a crowd of up to 5,000 people.
Two expressway projects at risk of delay
The construction site of a section of the Trung Luong-My Thuan expressway project in Tien Giang Province
The Trung Luong-My Thuan and Bac Giang-Lang Son expressway projects may fall behind schedule as lender banks have asked for higher interest rates than those listed in their credit agreements.
Trung Luong-My Thuan Expressway, which will be more than 51 kilometers long, is only 12% complete. Just VND2 trillion (US$85.7 million) of the VND9.7 trillion investment has been disbursed for the project.
However, the plan to disburse some VND700 billion in the last three months of this year cannot be executed as the investor and lender banks have not been able to agree on the lending rate.
A representative of BOT Trung Luong-My Thuan JSC said the company is subject to an annual interest rate of 10.83% for loans for the project, well above the 6.77% rate set in Circular 75/2017 issued by the Ministry of Transport.
Due to the high interest rate, the company is having difficulty repaying the loans and may suffer losses of up to VND3.4 trillion over the project's lifespan.
The investor in the Bac Giang-Lang Son expressway project faces the same fate. The annual lending rate listed in the credit agreement was 8.11%, but the investor must now pay an annual interest rate of 10.5%.
BOT Trung Luong-My Thuan JSC has proposed the Government allow it to enjoy the average interest rate of commercial banks so that it can accelerate the progress of the project and complete it in 2020.
Minister of Transport Nguyen Van The on September 23 inspected the execution of the Trung Luong-My Thuan expressway project. He noted that the Ministry of Finance had proposed abolishing a regulation that requires the lending rate for public-private partnership projects to not exceed 1.5 times the interest rate of Government bonds.
The Ministry of Transport has suggested the Government issue different resolutions to remove obstacles to the execution of each incomplete project.
On the same day, Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung confirmed that Trung Luong-My Thuan Expressway, when complete, will connect with HCMC-Trung Luong and be extended to Can Tho City and even Ca Mau Province. The road is crucial for promoting socioeconomic development in the Mekong Delta region and easing traffic on National Highway 1A.
The Government will work out solutions to deal with problems in capital mobilization to ensure the progress of the project, Dung added.
Dung asked localities that will host the expressway to speed up the site clearance work and hand over the cleared land to the investor next month.
12 more private notary offices established in HCMC
The Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee has just approved to set up 12 more private notary offices in the city.
12 newly established private notary offices include Vu Kiem Quang, 181 le Van Quoi, Binh Tri Dong ward, District 12; Chu Thanh Chuong, 2/15 Phan Thuc Duyen, ward 4 District Tan Binh; Nguyen Thi Ngoc Bich, 672A 48-49 Phan Van Tri, ward 10 District Phu Nhuan; Ngo Duc Nhan, 343L-343M Lac Long Quan, ward 5 District 1; Dang Thi Trinh Tuyet, 2 R 816 Phu Huu ward, District 9; Bui Ngoc Long, 319 To Hien Thanh, ward 13 District 10; Le Van Son, 754 Nguyen Duy Trinh, Binh Trung Dong ward, District 2; Van Thi My Duc, 47E Nguyen Thong Ward 9 District 3; Nguyen Minh Tan, 53-55 Road No. 41 ward 6 District 4; Nguyen Duy Cuong, B5/19Q1 Tran Dai Nghia, Tan Kien Commune, Binh Chanh district and Hoang Van Huong, 123A Nguyen Huu Canh, ward 22 District Binh Thanh.
Inspectors visit a market for food safety
In its report of food safety inspection in the third quarter, People’s Committee in the central province of Quang Ngai collected VND109 million ($4,672) fines through inspecting food businesses in the province.
The province had set up 532 food safety inspection teams to ensure that food is being handled and produced hygienically. The health inspectors paid visits to 4,439 businesses and issued fines to 32 units collecting $4,672.
Inspectors have taken 31 samples of food for testing. Test results showed that of 11 samples, ten of them were infected with Coliform while seven samples of bottled water had Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Coliform.
In addition, bows in eateries are not clean as well and seven vegetables had pesticide residues.
Furthermore, inspectors from the trade sector visited 110 units including 107 production and three markets. Inspectors discovered 19 violators. Besides, they imposed fines in 18 units with fines of VND18 million.
Some of food have more Natri Benzoat than standard.
HCMC Education sector partakes in noncommunicable disease prevention
The education sector in Ho Chi Minh City has built a plan for students’ diet and physical activities to improve their health for carrying out the national strategy of noncommunicable disease prevention mission in the period 2018-2025.
The eating plan is expected to raise teaching staffs and parents’ awareness of non-communicable diseases including cancer, cardiovascular diseases (like heart attacks and stroke), chronic respiratory diseases (such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and asthma) and diabetes.
As per the plan, schools will strive to reduce key modifiable risk factors for NCDs such as obesity, using alcohol and soft drinks, smoking, eating less vegetables and fruits and lack of physical activities, highlighting the need for the policy to reduce prevalence rates and ameliorate rising levels of NCDs.
In the coming time, the Department of Education and Training in HCMC will liaise with the health sector and culture sector to spread the information of the diseases in various forms including in extra-activities, bulletins, and competitions.
Additionally, the inter-departments will print a document on dietary patterns, reducing obese students and controlling noncommunicable diseases.
The education sector has taken heed to encourage students no to use soft drinks and unhealthy food as well as oppose sales of tobacco and alcohol in schools.
HCMC'S District 1 to build pedestrian bridges for walkers
The People’s Committee in district 1 in Ho Chi Minh City asked the Department of Transport to build footbridge to connect walking street Nguyen Hue and Bach Dang Park.
Deputy Prime Minister Doan Ngoc Hai yesterday said the district asked early construction of pedestrian bridge or tunnel connecting the walking street and the park to attract more tourists to the park and festivals through the street to the park in the future.
During management the walking street , the district authority realized for pedestrians’ safety, it should have crosswalk, said Mr. Hai, because the cross section between walking street Nguyen Hue and Bach Dang park is Ton Duc Thang street under Khanh Hoi’s foot which is crowded with vehicles and walkers will jeopardize their lives in crossing the crowded street; accordingly, for people’s safety, the footbridge or tunnel should be built.
Pedestrian bridges are constructed to help pedestrians cross from one side to the other without having to dash across at the risk of being knocked down by speeding vehicles, and also help to ease traffic.
Gov’t raises credit loan for clean water construction
The Prime Minister decided to raise the loan for construction of clean water facility and rural environment hygiene facility to VND10 million ($428.6) instead VND6 million each household.
As per the decision N0. 1205 signed by Vietnamese Prime Minister, a household in countryside is eligible to ask for a loan of VND10 million to build clean water facilities and environment hygiene facilities.
According to the decision, permanent households in the rural localities which do not have access to clean water are eligible for the loan. Moreover, those households whose clean water facilities are in poor repair can apply for the loan.
On September 24, three workers were injured when they fell from the third floor of the construction for a trade centre on Pham Van Dong road in Hiep Binh Chanh ward, Thu Duc district, HCM City.
The incident occurred at 8:30 am, people in the vicinity heard a loud noise and saw three workers on the ground. The workers were immediately sent to the hospital and local police were notified of the incident.
Local witnesses said the labourers were working on the third floor when they misplaced their steps and fell to the ground.
The scene was closed off by relevant units until 11am for an investigation into the cause of the incident.
After receiving medical treatment at hospital, the three workers are recovering well and local police have collected their statements to conduct further investigations.
Social security system “races” with changes in Industry 4.0
According to forecasts, over the next two decades, 56% of workers in five ASEAN countries (including Vietnam) will face the risk of losing their jobs, while 86% of Vietnam’s textile and garment workers will be in danger of becoming unemployed due to automation in the Fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0). The redesigning of suitable social security policies in the new context is now a problem for countries in the face of the evolution of the labour market.
At a workshop themed “Opportunities and challenges of ASEAN social security systems in the context of Industry 4.0 and free movement of labour”, within the framework of the recent 35th ASEAN Social Security Association (ASSA) Board Meeting, international experts issued warnings and analysis that Industry 4.0, with revolutionary changes in science and technology, will offer an opportunity for the change of society’s modes and forces of production. However, in the opposite direction, if failing to catch up with the common pace of development, this revolution can possibly present many countries with multiple challenges, causing negative and unexpected impacts on the labour market and affecting the goal of ensuring social security.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Tran Dinh Thien, former director of the Vietnam Institute of Economics, emphasised the restructuring of the Vietnamese economy and the implications for the development of social security. The world is facing a technological revolution and Vietnam needs to promptly realise those challenges and opportunities, including the area of social security. Apart from the risks of causing unemployment and declining incomes for workers, which will directly damage the social security system, this revolution will have significant impacts on the Vietnamese economy in the medium and long term. With the country’s young and dynamic population advantage, Industry 4.0 will surely facilitate and create the aspiration and determination for Vietnam to catch up with the world’s more advanced countries.
Putting forward recommendations on how to adapt to this revolution, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Tran Dinh Thien stated that there is an urgent need for Vietnam to develop strategies for digital transformation as well as for the building of digital infrastructure and digital human resources, in addition to dealing with the existing social security, socio-economic and environmental issues. The flow of positive trends blown in by Industry 4.0 will also be the premise and motivation for the Vietnam Social Security (VSS) to continue vigorously renovating its capabilities to manage and organise the implementation of social insurance, health insurance and unemployment insurance policies.
Talking about the opportunities and challenges for social security systems in the new context, Jens Schremmer, chief of the Office of the International Social Security Association (ISSA) Secretary General, said that the digital economy and digital technology will provide opportunities to promote social security systems in expanding their coverage and narrowing the gap in coverage, and integrating the mobile data system, mobile registration and social security payment applications, which will reduce transaction costs for social insurance agencies and participants. Schremmer also highlighted some of the challenges to be faced by Vietnam, which, he said, are also development opportunities for the country. He suggested that Vietnam utilise its capacity, institutions and mechanisms to ensure social security, especially the ability to use information technology to provide services, expand coverage and improve the access of people to social insurance and health insurance.
Vietnam currently has about 18 million unofficial and non-agricultural workers, just 0.2% of whom participate in social insurance.
Raising the issue that Industry 4.0 and shifts in employment trends help to elevate the significance of social security systems in the world, Robert Palacios, global head of the pensions and social services group at the World Bank, stated that workers have to improve their skills to meet these changes. The problem is the training of human resources and the redesign of social security policy in order to increase coverage in the direction of increasing the relationship between employers and employees, and between the Government and the unofficial economy. This is seen as a race between the transformation of social security systems and the changes in the labour market in the new era. In making recommendations on these issues, Palacios emphasised that the problem needing to be urgently resolved is that countries must rapidly increase the coverage of social insurance by more modern and effective means of management, such as applying new technologies and digital biometric identity, and making payments via the Internet with the support of IT applications in their management software. He added that each country needs to develop a single social security code of policies for the people, aiming to create consistency and convenience in managing and supporting the target population.
According to statistics, Vietnam currently has about 18 million unofficial and non-agricultural workers, only 23% of whom have an employment relationship on a legal aspect and just 0.2% participate in social insurance. By the end of June, 2018, Vietnam had 231,000 voluntary social insurance participants, with an average monthly premium of over VND2.1 million (US$90.3) per capita.
Discussing the challenges Vietnam is facing in the development of voluntary social insurance participants, deputy head of the VSS’s collection department Dinh Duy Hung said that the monthly average income of this group is VND3.9 million (US$167.7) per capita, much lower than the average national income of VND6.7 million (US$288.1 per capita per month). Therefore, the problem here is that there are still about six million people aged between 45-60 who have yet to sign up for social insurance, affecting not only the social security system but also the socio-economic development of Vietnam. In the forthcoming social insurance policy reforms, Vietnam will have policies to ensure that this group’s social insurance participation, either compulsory or voluntary, with specific reforms, such as increasing the attractiveness of voluntary social insurance policies through the extension of beneficiary regimes, and increasing support funding for participants using the state budget, linked with compulsory social insurance. Meanwhile, in the current trend of labour migration, Vietnam now has about 500,000 people working abroad, and the figure increases by hundreds of thousands every year. Of these, only about 6,000 people have signed up for social insurance. In order to effectively manage and ensure social insurance for this group, it is necessary to build bilateral and multilateral cooperation policies on social insurance for migrant workers in foreign countries, in parallel with the modernisation of the methods of management or coordination to manage migrant workers.
Deputy Director General of the VSS Tran Dinh Lieu said that the analysis and discussion of experts at the workshop, to some extent, demonstrated the development trend of social security systems in the world and the free movement of labour under the impacts of Industry 4.0, alongside the requirements set for social security systems in the time ahead. Thereby, the Governments of countries, as well as policy makers and the entire social security systems of nations in the region, will continue to improve their policies aiming to ensure that workers and migrant workers enjoy the full rights and benefits due to them.
British Council announces launch of computer-based IELTS
IELTS, the world's most popular English test for higher education and migration, can now be taken on a computer from October 9 onward.
The British Council in Vietnam said in a press release dispatched by PRNewswire that the computer-based IELTS will not replace the paper-based version but will offer a choice in delivery and greater availability.
Test takers can choose the most suitable option and time to take the IELTS. They can also get their results faster, with results typically being available between five to seven calendar days after the test has been completed.
The test content and structure remain the same for both options, and importantly, the speaking test remains face-to-face with a certified IELTS Examiner. Whether test takers take the IELTS on paper or on a computer, they can be confident that they are taking the same trusted English language test.
Test takers who choose the computer-based IELTS can also access support materials to prepare for taking the test on a computer.
IELTS is one of the world's most popular high-stakes English language tests, with over three million tests taken in the past year.
It is the most widely used test of English for migration to Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. It is recognized by more than 10,000 universities, schools, employers and immigration bodies, including all universities in Australia and the United Kingdom and many of the leading institutions in the United States.
Information on taking the computer-based IELTS can be found at bit.ly/ielts-computer-vn.
Former seafood businessman gets 18 years behind bars
A former seafood entrepreneur in the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho has been sentenced to 18 years in prison for misappropriation of assets from Vietnam Development Bank (VDB), reported the Vietnam News Agency.
After a 10-day trial and deliberations, the People’s Court of Can Tho City handed down its guilty verdicts to Phan Ba Tong, alias Tong Thien Ma, 44, ex-director of Thien Ma Seafood Import and Export Co., Ltd, based in Tra Noc 2 Industrial Park, and his accomplices. Tran Thi Diem, 48, former chief accountant at Thien Ma Company, was also convicted on the same charge.
Other defendants – Nguyen Thi Mai, 61, former head of the Export Credit Division; Lam Chi Cong, 42, former deputy head of the division; and Huynh Thanh Truc, 38, former credit staff at the Can Tho Branch of the VDB, or VDB Can Tho – were charged with economic mismanagement.
Tong was found to have used loan money from 13 debt certificates of export credit contracts issued by VDB Can Tho in 2009 to repay his debts at other banks and used the remainder for his personal purposes, according to the indictment.
Tong instructed Diem and other staff members to falsify his company’s business performance reports for 2009 and 2010, which reflected profits rather than debts.
Besides this, they created fake contracts and receipts of raw material sales. These illicit acts were committed to obtain the loans and create collateral for the loans, in an attempt to have VDB Can Tho disburse credits for Tong’s company.
The indictment also indicated that Mai, Cong and Truc as former employees of the bank branch were held accountable for the appraisal, approval and proposal process that allowed the seafood processor to make the loan requests.
Even though the defendants learned that the company had used some loans for unapproved purposes, they still signed new statements encouraging the director of the bank branch to approve the loan disbursements for Tong and Diem.
In other words, the then-bank employees had failed to comply with regulations on trade financing and the management of these loans.
Consequently, Tong, the mastermind, together with his main accomplice Diem, swindled the bank branch out of a total of more than VND147.3 billion (US$6.3 million) in loans that could not be recovered. Diem committed these illegal acts under orders from her boss, without any personal gain.
After a lengthy deliberation, the court handed down a sentence of 18 years in prison to Tong and seven years in prison to Diem on the charge of misappropriating property through swindling. It also demanded Tong, Diem and the company repay the money.
Former VDB staff members Mai, Cong and Truc were sentenced to eight, ten and six years’ imprisonment, respectively, on charges of deliberately violating State regulations on economic management, leading to serious consequences.
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