The Directorate for Roads of Việt Nam (DRVN) has ordered the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) toll station on National Highway No.1 running through central Bình Định Province to postpone toll collection from October 29 due to the poor quality of the road.

Nguyễn Văn Huyện, director of the DRVN, said the directorate has received a report from the Road Administration Department No.3 on road surface repair work of the BOT toll station project running through Hoài Nhơn District.

According to the report, the investor of the project has not completed repairs on the road surface, which was seriously degraded causing severe traffic disruption.

Huyện said since the project was put into operation, local authorities have received numerous complaints about the standard of the road.

Road Administration Department No.3 and transport agencies have repeatedly urged the project investor to fix the problem, but they have delayed the work.

Therefore, the DRVN has decided to temporarily postpone toll collection at the BOT station until the repair work has been completed.

Previously, on October 9, Minister of Transport Nguyễn Văn Thể asked the DRVN and the investors of BOT toll stations to increase traffic safety on the roads. Toll stations could be closed if investors behind the projects continued to put off repairs.

The project to upgrade and expand 28.6km of National Highway No.1 running through Hoài Nhơn District had total investment of VNĐ1.7 trillion (US$72.5 million) and was completed and put into use in May 2016. 

The road has reportedly sustained damage by frequent flooding and heavy rain. Moreover, the stone used for the road was allegedly of poor quality and not adhesive to asphalt. — VNS

HCM City university’s Ecoweek promotes sustainable lifestyle

Students learn about sustainable lifestyles at Ecoweek, which began on Friday at the HCM City University of Economics. — Photo courtesy of the organiser

University students and other young people interested in an eco-friendly lifestyle are participating in Ecoweek that kicked off on Friday at the HCM City University of Economics.

The six-day event with the theme “A journey to an eco-lifestyle” is held as part of a project called “Scaling up and mainstreaming innovative approaches on ecological movement into activities of universities” funded by the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung Institute in Southeast Asia and run by the Centre for Community Initiatives and the Environment in 2018-20.

Seventy students from the university have been chosen for a training course as part of Ecoweek on selected topics such as responsible tourism, proper use of water, sustainable food consumption, garbage-free environment, gardening, and environment-friendly shopping.

The trainees are encouraged to apply the knowledge they acquire in their community.

They will get a hands-on experience in making compost, organic soap and bamboo items.

The event also features an exhibition showcasing products and projects related to the environment by non-profit organisations, social enterprises and clubs in the city.

It is expected to attract 500 visitors. 

One dies from A/H1N1 in Đồng Nai

One person died and two others have been discharged from the hospital after testing positive for A/H1N1 swine flu in the southern province of Đồng Nai, according to the provincial Department of Health.—Photo vtv.vn

One person died and two others have been discharged from the hospital after testing positive for A/H1N1 swine flu in the southern province of Đồng Nai, according to the provincial Department of Health.

The dead patient died because of the flu together with some other chronic diseases, said Hoàng Nghĩa Đài, head of the Medical Profession Division under the department.

The two other patients discharged from the hospital are now in stable condition, Vietnam News Agency reported.

The Đồng Nai Centre of Preventive Medicines sterilised the Đồng Nai General Hospital to prevent the disease from spreading.

The centre also informed all health departments in the province to be vigilant and identify A/H1N1 flu cases early to take proper measures.

The centre conducted inspections in living areas of the three patients, and no more cases was discovered.

More education on disease prevention was delivered to local residents, especially workers in enterprises in the province.

A/H5N6 flu prevention

In another development, the Đắk Lắk Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD) on Friday asked concerned local organisations to join hands in preventing A/H5N6 bird flu in the Central Highlands province.

The disease appeared in Krông Bông District’s Hòa Lễ Commune and could spread to other areas.

The Krông Bông District’s Animal Health Unit was asked to cooperate with the Hòa Lễ Commune People’s Committee to give more education via multimedia so that local residents can be positive in preventing it.

Poultry transporting, trading and slaughtering must be supervised closely.

The poultry must receive necessary vaccinations.

The DARD asked the Krông Bông District to declare the epidemic of A/H5N6 bird flu based on the Law on Animal Health, and conduct preventive measures.

The A/H5N6 bird flu struck from October 15 to 18, affecting 2,800 ducks of three households in Hòa Lễ Commune, Krông Bông District.

The ducks, about 40 days old, stopped eating their meals, had white dung and could not keep balance while swimming. All of them had not been vaccinated against the disease.

All of the ducks were culled. The affected areas were sterilised.

Trần Đình Bình, head of the Krông Bông Animal Health and Breeding Station, said that the fickle weather reduced the animals’ resistance and the disease thus spread quickly.

Hòa Lễ Commune now has about 20,100 poultries. 

Cần Thơ sends more workers to South Korea

A job fair for workers who have worked abroad and returned to Việt Nam. — Photo https://baotintuc.vn

An increasing number of Vietnamese workers including from the Mekong Delta city of Cần Thơ are going to the Republic of Korea as guest workers through joint programmes between the two countries.

Nguyễn Thị Bích Vân, deputy head of the Cần Thơ Employment Service Centre, told Vietnam News Agency that Gangwon Province has for instance hired Vietnamese aged 30-55 this year under a programme called Seasonal Guest Farm Worker.

Cần Thơ has so far sent 60 farm workers for a period of three months each to Gangwon for harvesting vegetables and fruits, and they earned VNĐ75–100 million (US$3,200- 4,300) during the period.  

Vân said the programme does not require the workers to have high academic qualifications like others. They only need to have studied until sixth grade.

The city subsidises their airfares and health examination costs by half before they leave for South Korea, she said.

Workers with financial difficulties can get a mortgage at a low interest rate, she said.

The workers who have been to South Korea through the programme have said unanimously that working conditions there are good. Many of them also had their contracts renewed for further three months.

Vân said that the programme would continue until the end of next year.

Through this and other programmes, 102 workers from Cần Thơ have gone to South Korea in the first nine months of this year, 18 per cent higher than in the same period last year.

Vân said the increase has also been enabled by new Korean policies such as the one on allowing foreign workers to work for five years and returning to work for a second time in the case of certain jobs unlike in the past.   

The costs involved in going to South Korea as a guest worker is lower compared to other countries while workers earn an average of $1,500 a month, she said.

Besides, the demand for guest workers in the East Asian country is high, she added.

Châu Hồng Thái, deputy director of the city Department of Labour, Invalids, and Social Affairs, said his department would continue to provide vocational training and Korean language courses to improve the quality of candidates from the city.

It has instructed vocational training schools to co-ordinate with the Employment Service Centre and with companies to organise programmes for orienting students to work abroad, he said.

Local-level authorities should ensure that recruitment companies provide vocational and Korean language training to candidates before sending them to South Korea to work, he said.

To prevent Cần Thơ workers from working illegally in South Korea, the department has undertaken programmes to educate workers and their families in complying with the law, he said.

District, commune and ward administrations in the city have been told to call on local residents and tell them to persuade their children working in South Korea to return on schedule, he said.

If any district is found to have many residents working illegally in South Korea, the department would no longer select workers from there, he warned. 

Hòn Rồng Mountain being destroyed by illegal mining

Illegal mining is killing the environment around Hòn Rồng Mountain. — Photo baokhanhhoa.vn

A mountain located between Cam Lâm District and Cam Ranh City in the coastal central province of Khánh Hoà is slowly being destroyed by illegal soil mining.

On one side of Hòn Rồng Mountain, the Tân Cảng Construction Co is exploiting rocks and soil for military constructions. In Cam Lâm District, other enterprises are using the excuse of upgrade work to National Highway 1 to continue their exploitation.

All their mining licences expired in 2016.

Võ Tấn Thái, director of the provincial Department of Natural Resources and Environment, told Vietnam News Agency that Tân Cảng Company was given permission to conduct a geographical survey of the area in 2013 to search for soil and rock that could be used for construction materials.

After conducting the survey, the company ignored licensing procedures and went ahead to start mining anyway. In January 2016 and September 2018, the department asked it to end all exploitation activities, but mining continues.

In a letter sent to the department in September, Tân Cảng said that the expense for acquiring a exploitation permit was beyond their means, and were waiting for instructions from their parent company.

Regarding the project to upgrade National Highway 1 from 2014 to 2015, Khánh Hoà Province People’s Committee said it had allowed soil and rocks to be mined for the project. In 2016, when the project was completed and went into operation, local authorities withdrew all licences and tasked companies with restoring the environment.

Following an inspection conducted in July 2018, the department asked the People’s Committee to urge companies conducting exploitation activities around Hòn Rồng Mountain to accelerate environmental recovery and complete their financial responsibilities by October 31.

Although several mechanisms have been issued to tighten mineral exploitation activities in Khánh Hoà Province, they are strong enough to efficiently address illegal activities in the area.

Kiên Giang Province proactively modernising fishing fleet

Offshore fishing ships dock at the Ba Hòn Estuary in Kiên Giang Province’s Kiên Lương District. 

Most deep-sea fishing vessels based in the Mekong Delta province of Kiên Giang are equipped with communication equipment to ensure their safety.

Nguyễn Văn Tâm, director of the province’s Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said most offshore fishing vessels have equipment to receive news from and communicate with the mainland.

Boats with an engine of 90 horsepower or more have additional equipment like GPS and fish finders whilst those with engines of 400hp have an automatic identification system, he said.

The province is also installing black boxes in more than 4,000 vessels that are 15m or longer, with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development assisting with their installation on around 600 ships measuring more than 20m.

Black boxes are used to record the route the vessels take, speed and other data.

At a meeting held this week to discuss managing fishing ships the department called on the province’s People’s Committee to allow companies selling the black boxes to instal them on a pilot basis in offshore fishing vessels next month.

The province should also set up an assessing team to evaluate them during and after the pilot period, it said.

With its 200km coastline, 143 small and large islands and a sea area of 63,000sq.km, Kiên Giang’s maritime economy possesses great advantages for development.    

The province caught 432,720 tonnes of seafood in the first nine months of the year, up 7 per cent year-on-year.

The catch included many high-value species like shrimp and cuttlefish, which are both consumed domestically and processed for exports.

Kiên Giang, which is one of the country’s leading fishing provinces, accounts for nearly 40 per cent of the delta’s total seafood catch.

Phạm Vũ Hồng, chairman of the People’s Committee, said the province has reorganised fishing methods for each fishing ground to both exploit and protect marine resources to sustainably develop the industry.

It plans to invest in modern equipment, fishing tools and advanced techniques for fishing vessels to increase the value of their catches, he said. 

It targets a catch of around 500,000 tonnes of fish and other aquatic species annually from now through 2025, with a focus on improving quality and value, according to the department.

In 2015-20 it is carrying out many programmes to protect and develop marine resources, including those to manage marine reserves in Bãi Thơm and Hàm Ninh communes in Phú Quốc District.

To sustain seafood stocks, it has tightened management of natural marine areas where aquatic species reproduce.

It also regularly releases shrimp, crab, fish and other fry into the sea to regenerate stocks.

Tâm of the agriculture department said the province has reduced its investment in low-capacity fishing vessels used for near-shore fishing and has instead been building high-capacity vessels in recent years.

Banks in the province have provided soft loans worth a total of VNĐ332 billion (US$14.2 million) to fishermen to build 48 high-capacity fishing boats since 2014, he said.

The province has focused on investing in infrastructure for the fisheries sector, including ports and storm shelters for vessels.

There are five fishing ports in the province and 26 shipyards that can build 300 new vessels a year and repair more than 600.

There are 10,763 boats based in the province, including 10,364 for fishing and 376 to provide them with logistics services.

Quảng Trọng Thao, deputy director of the department, said the province plans, in co-operation with research institutes and universities, to improve fishing vessels and tools to lessen the damage they cause to the ocean and reduce the catches of juvenile creatures.

It would focus on developing fishing methods that are friendly to the environment like offshore gillnet, purse seine and longline fishing, and reducing the use of methods that have an adverse impact on like trawling.

It is helping fishermen who fish near shore or have adverse effects on fishery resources switch to other jobs such as breeding bivalve species and fish in floating cages along the coast.

It is educating fishermen on legal regulations for protection of marine resources, especially the 2017 Fishery Law. 

Tourists flee after wall collapses

A wall collapsed at a house in Hà Nội’s Lê Thái Tổ Street. 

Residents and tourists were left in a state of panic Saturday afternoon after a wall of a house collapsed close to Hoàn Kiếm Lake.

Miraculously no one was injured after the incident around 2.30pm.

Tourists were forced to flee after the wall of a house on 32 Lý Thái Tổ Street suddenly gave way sending bricks and rubble scattering into the road.

Scores of police officers and firefighters were sent to the scene and the area has been cordoned off while officials ensure its safety.

Residents say the reason for the collapse was because of construction work being carried out in the vicinity, although police are investigating the cause of the incident. 

Residents long for Khánh Sơn dump’s closure

The Khánh Sơn landfill receives over 900 tonnes of waste daily plus about 500-600 cu.m of wastewater leaking from the garbage, causing serious pollution to surrounding areas. — Photo zing.vn

For the last 28 years, people from Hòa Khánh Nam Ward in the central city of Đà Nẵng have longed for the closure of Khánh Sơn landfill due to the severe pollution caused by the site.

Living near the largest dump in the city, residents got so fed up of the problem they took it upon themselves to obstruct the trucks carrying garbage to the dump. The last such incident happened on September 22 and 23.

Anger rose further after the city’s Department of Natural Resources and Environment in July announced that the Khánh Sơn dump would not be closed next year as previously planned.

Instead, the dump would be closed as soon as the city’s solid waste treatment plant is opened in 2022.

Chairman of Liên Chiểu District People’s Council Dương Thành Thị said that for years, people living in Hòa Khánh Nam Ward have complained about the dump and the pollution it caused.

“They send their complaints to the district authorities daily and we called on them to calm down and wait,” Thị said, adding that “the People’s Council now don’t know how to talk to their voters about the delay.”

Nguyễn Thị Hạnh, a local resident said that she really wanted to “invite” relevant agencies to come and stay at her house for a few days so they can understand how badly the pollution affects daily life.

“When the dump is moved is not as important as how its pollution is tackled now,” Hạnh said, desperate for measures to ease the “terrible smell” from the dump.

Nguyễn Thị Thành, another resident, said at a meeting between residents and the city’s leaders early this month that nearly 2,000 families in Khánh Sơn Ward lived with the obnoxious smell, dirt and wastewater leaking from the dump.

“People say that Đà Nẵng is a ’liveable city’, but thousands of us are living near the dump site, breathing polluted air. Is it fair to us?” she said.

Trần Thị Ngãi, also from Hòa Khánh Nam Ward, said that the dump is now a mountain of garbage and it cannot be removed overnight.

“We understand that. But we want city authorities to realise their commitment on when they’ll close the dump,” Ngãi said.

“The city planned to offer support for families living in affected areas including tuition fees for their children, environment fee exemptions and clean water but what we lose most is our health,” Ngãi said.      

Vice chairman of Đà Nẵng City People’s Committee Nguyễn Ngọc Tuấn said that the city must push back the deadline for the removal of Khánh Sơn Dump to 2022.

He said the city People’s Committee and People’s Council were considering the roadmap to close and remove the dump.

Last week, the city People’s Committee announced that the city would invest about VNĐ190 billion (US$8,200) to upgrade parts of Khánh Sơn landfill.

Without the upgrades, the dump will only be able to handle garbage until May 2020, while the landfill is supposed to continue operations until 2022 when the city’s solid waste treatment plant opens.

Khánh Sơn landfill receives over 900 tonnes of waste daily plus about 500-600 cu.m of wastewater leaking from the garbage. 

Driving, speaking on phones a deadly combination on the street

On May 31 there was a deadly accident in Hà Nội’s Bắc Từ Liêm. It happened because a truck driver was talking on his phone while driving and ran into a motorbike killing a pregnant woman and her four-year-old child on the spot.

Speaking or texting while driving or riding motorbikes is a common sight in Việt Nam.

While official figures are not available on the direct links between this behaviour and accidents, Uông Việt Dũng, deputy chief of the National Traffic Safety Committee’s secretariat, said such drivers are many times more likely to cause an accident as people not using phones.

Nguyễn Ngọc Tường, deputy chief of the HCM City Traffic Safety Committee, speaking at the launch of the Asia Injury Prevention (AIP) Foundation’s ’Leave Your Phone Alone, or You Could Be Next’ campaign, said, “90 per cent of traffic accidents are caused of drivers’ low awareness.”

Low awareness includes using a mobile phone while driving, he said.

“Only 6 per cent of people hearing their phone ring stop in a safe area on the street, 31 per cent drive in an inside lane and the rest keep talking in the lane they drive.”

A car driver speaking on a mobile phone is three or four times more likely to be involved in a road crash than one who is not, and the risk increases to 20.3 times for motorbike drivers, he said.

They fail to concentrate and reduce their visual scanning of the road ahead, he said.

The AIP Foundation’s survey of 1,543 students at 10 universities in HCM City and Hà Nội found that for 71 per cent distracted driving behaviours are normal, not very dangerous or not dangerous at all.

Bùi Thị Thúy Hồng of the HCM City University of Economics said: “I see many people including youngsters use mobile phones while driving. I am fearful when driving behind or near these people because the risk of accidents to them and me. I often drive slowly to keep a safe distance from them.”

Dũng said, “Mobile phone use while driving is a pervasive traffic violation.”

There are fines for this but no official figures for the incidence, he said.

Violators are fined VNĐ50,000-800,000 (US$2-34) and have their licence suspended for two to four months.

If a violator causes an accident, they will face criminal charges, Dũng said.

“If we do not address this problem, road accidents because of mobile phone use will increase drastically. An alarming 82 per cent of students [in the survey] responded that they have used a mobile phone while driving a motorcycle within the last six months.”

The committee is collaborating with other agencies and domestic and foreign organisations to enhance education and communication programmes to raise public awareness, especially among young people and bus and truck drivers, whose vehicles claim many lives on the road, he said.

AIP’s Safety Delivered program, for instance, includes unique youth-driven public awareness strategies, which give student ambassadors the tools to teach their family and peers about the dangers of using the phone while driving, he added.

With sponsorship from the UPS Foundation and in collaboration with the National Traffic Safety Committee and Ministry of Education and Training, the programme works with young, inexperienced motorcycle drivers to improve their distracted driving behaviours.

Mirjam Sidik, the CEO of AIP Foundations said the Safety Delivered program also aims to increase the use of helmets for children through distribution of quality motorcycle helmets and education.

The programme is also being carried out in Cambodia, Myanmar, and Thailand.

On Saturday a parade of 100 motorcycles ridden by students from the University of Economics and UPS volunteers was organised in HCM City to raise awareness of not using mobile phones while driving.

The event started with road safety games, stage performances and a pledge from students and participants to abstain from mobile phone use while driving.

Biotechnology to be made a focus in science and technology development scheme: conference

Researchers conduct biotechnology study at the Cần Thơ University. Biotechnology will be promoted in the country’s science and technology development scheme. 

Biotechnology will be promoted in the science and technology development scheme of Việt Nam, contributing to socio-economic development, said Dr. Phan Ngọc Minh, Vice President of the Việt Nam Academy of Science and Technology (VAST), at the nationwide biotechnology conference held on Friday in Hà Nội.

In his opening speech, Minh stressed that for many years, the academy has focused investment to build up research capacity in many areas of biotechnology, including genetic technologies, plant cell engineering, DNA testing and stem cell research.

Biotechnology is considered one of the three pillars of the fourth industrial revolution, alongside digital and physics breakthroughs, with profound implications on production processes and society as a whole, presenting challenges and opportunities alike for the development of nations, he added.

Chu Hoàng Hà, director of the Việt Nam Institute for Biotechnology, said that today, as the world is striving towards a green economy, “biotechnology plays a crucial role, if not to say, a decisive factor in the socio-economy of a country.”

Việt Nam has adopted many policies to promote the development of biotechnology from life sciences to the application of biotechnology in various export-centric fields of agriculture, fisheries, processing and the nascent bio-energy sector, Hà commented.

Plant cell altering technologies, development of medicines from sea-based resources, new progress in stem cell research and utilisation potential in Việt Nam are to be prominent topics of discussion during the plenary session.

One of the many studies spotlighted at the conference deals with the preservation of native pig genetic resources and enhancing the success rate of in vitro fertilisation using native pig breeds’ sperms.

Dr Nguyễn Việt Linh from the Việt Nam Institute of Biotechnology said the Vietnamese native pigs, especially in the mountainous areas of the country, are a valuable genetic resource.

“However, against the influx of foreign breeds of pigs that are easily fattened and generate more output, native breeds are on a serious decline, even facing extinction,” Linh said.

Free-range native pork raised by ethnic people usually fetch higher prices compared to industrially farmed counterparts, thanks to their more pleasant taste and nicer meat texture.

The nationwide conference serves as a chance for scientists, researchers and the authorities to look back on the latest biotechnology achievements of Vietnamese science community and to put forward relevant research proposals in the coming time, Director Hà said.

The conference attracted some 450 authors with 300 reports.

Nearly 300 scientific studies with the greatest merit would be included in the conference proceedings.