Second-phase expressway to complete by June

Vehicles run through a section of Pháp Vân-Cầu Giẽ Expressway. 

The second phase of a project to broaden Pháp Vân-Cầu Giẽ Expressway, the southern gateway to Hà Nội, from four lanes to six lanes is scheduled to be completed before June 30.

The phase has been taken under the Build-Operate-Transfer model, with a total investment of VNĐ4.73 trillion (US$208 million) by Pháp Vân-Cầu Giẽ BOT Company.

Phạm Văn Khôi, general director of the company, said the land clearance for the second phase was 95 per cent complete so far. He said the company would speed up the remaining works to meet the deadline of June 30.

The project’s first phase was started in July 2014 and was completed in November 2015, with the four-lane expressway measuring 25m in width.

Soon after, the company continued to implement the second phase. According to the initial plan, the second phase was to build a six-lane expressway with a width of 33.5m and make it operational by the end of 2017. But the project was delayed due to lack of land clearance.

Khôi attributed the situation to cumbersome administrative procedures.

Meanwhile, to avoid traffic jams during Tết (Lunar New Year), Khôi said vehicles would be allowed to run through several finished parts of the second-phase expressway.

The company would put up signs to inform drivers on which sides to drive, he said. The Ministry of Transport has given the green light to the company to put up signs.

HCM City seeks WB’s aid in building creative city

Ho Chi Minh City hopes the World Bank (WB) will include support for creative city building in the two sides’ memorandum of understanding (MoU) of strategic connectivity for 2017 - 2020, said Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee Nguyen Thanh Phong.

Making the suggestion at a meeting with WB Country Director for Vietnam Ousmane Dione on February 1, Phong stressed that the creative model is based on advanced technologies and will propel forward local socio-economic development.

Degraded dams, reservoirs pose threat to lives, irrigation

Residents of the central province of Quảng Bình are living in fear as degraded reservoirs and dams in the area can break down any time, reports the online newspaper vov.vn.

Phú Vinh Dam, located 7km of Đồng Hới City, is in a dilapidated condition. The dam was subsided for many years and was temporarily reinforced by sacks of stones. Its gates are broken, exposing the rusty steel bars inside.

An Mã Dam in Lệ Thủy District is in a similar condition.

Nguyễn Văn Anh, a local living near An Mã Dam, told the newspaper that like many locals, he too worried about his safety, as the dam could break any time, especially in the rainy season.

“The dam is very old. We are living under it and felt threatened. We don’t know what the consequences will be if the dam breaks,” said Anh.

Another threat to the dam’s stability is the use of mines for fishing, which is a regular practice.

According to Nguyễn An Tư, deputy director of Irrigation Construction Service Company, there are currently some 50 dams and reservoirs in Quảng Bình Province, built with soil in the 1970s and 1980s.

So far, many of the constructions are badly damaged and degraded. Last year, storms destroyed and swept away several dams, Tư said.

He expressed concern about the safety of soil dams.

“Thượng Mỹ Tư Dam, which provides water to the biggest paddy field in the province, is at high risk of collapsing any time,” he said.

“If the dam breaks, salty water will spill over to more than 20,000ha of rice fields in Quảng Ninh and Lệ Thủy districts,” he said, adding the task of cleaning up the saline intrusion would take five to seven years.

For many years, Quảng Bình Province has used loans offered by Asian Development Bank and World Bank to repair and upgrade some major dams.

The provincial People’s Committee has also asked the Government, organisations and businesses for financial assistance to upgrade damaged dams and reservoirs.

HCM City plans to build creative urban areas in District 2, District 9 and Thu Duc district. 

Thanking WB’s contributions to the implementation of the city’s major projects and improvement of local living standards, he stated local authorities are committed to collaborating with the WB to prepare the MoU for its official signing in March. 

Phong also asked the WB to help the southern economic hub in carrying out projects on upgrading and moving houses along canals and ditches, and in organising an international seminar on Public-Private Partnership (PPP) in key sectors such as infrastructure, health, and education.  

Taking into account proposals from the city, Ousmane Dione said the WB is willing to assist HCM City in building creative urban areas, suggesting local authorities clarify key matters for each district to design action plans. 

The city should also define specific tasks that the WB could help, such as technical support or management consulting, he added.

He said the WB will aid HCM City in hosting the international seminar and wants  to work with the hub in conducting joint programmes in human resources training for PPP projects. 

Lauding the success of the city’s conference calling for investment in upgrading and moving houses near canals and ditches, which has brought about various initiatives and opportunities, Dione affirmed the WB’s commitment in supporting the city in this regard.

Tien Giang takes urgent solutions to IUU fishing

The Mekong Delta province of Tien Giang held a meeting on February 1 to implement urgent measures to stop illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing in foreign waters.

Vice Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Le Van Nghia said the provincial administration ordered relevant sectors such as the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Border Guard High Command, the Department of Public Security and the Department of Information and Communications along with localities to work closely to raise fishermen’s awareness of domestic policies on fishing and aquatic resources protection and relevant international regulations.

Authorised agencies were asked to seriously implement regulations on boat and fishing management and aquatic resources protection measures. They need to continue requesting owners or captains of offshore fishing boats to keep fishing records, report their fishing activities, and install vehicle monitoring devices.

Authorities of Tien Giang are set to increase examining the management of fishing boats and dealing with IUU fishing. They will also build a fisheries database system which includes information about fishing boats, sailors, and fishing output.

Fishing activities are mostly conducted by fishermen in the districts of Go Cong Dong, Go Cong Tay and Tan Phu Dong, Go Cong township, and My Tho city.

In 2017, tens of local fishing boats were arrested by foreign countries for IUU fishing.

Vietnam was served with a yellow card warning by the European Commission (EC) in September 2017 for failing to progress in fighting IUU fishing, and it has been offered the opportunity to take measures to rectify the situation within six months. 

To this end, the EC has proposed an action plan for the country. The "yellow card" is followed by a "green card" if issues are resolved or a "red card" if they aren’t. A “red card” can lead to a trade ban on fishery products.

On December 13, 2017, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc issued Directive 45/CT-TTg on some urgent tasks and solutions following the EC’s warning.

Many coastal localities of Vietnam have also taken actions to end IUU fishing.

Bus rapid transit No.1 carries over 4.98 mln passengers in a year

The Yen Nghia bus station - Kim Ma Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) No.1, the first of its kind in Vietnam, has carried more than 4.98 million passengers since its operation on January 1, 2017. 

It was unveiled by the municipal Transport Department’s Hanoi Public Transport Management and Operation Centre during a meeting in the capital city on February 1. 

There were 17,465 passengers per peak day, or 68.8 ones per peak hour while 30.7 and 18.8 passengers were recorded per usual and off-peak hour, respectively. 

The number of passengers using monthly pass for the route is the highest compared to those travelling on other routes, reaching an average of 2,100 per month, up 3 percent from the plan and accounting for nearly 6.8 percent of the total number of one-route monthly pass users. 

A majority of passengers are satisfied with the service, saying that it is more convenient than other routes.

Exhibition re-enacts Vietnam’s culture in Co Loa Citadel relic site

The Khong gian Viet (Viet space) display area was officially put into operation in the Co Loa Citadel on February 1 as part of efforts to diversify cultural activities in the national historical-cultural relic site.

Covering over 2,000 sq.m, the model comprises three wooden houses and six leaf-tiled cottages designed in traditional style, and over 20 bamboo booths displaying specialties of Co Loa in particular and those of the Northern Delta region in general. 

Visitors will have a chance to enjoy interesting experience, as well as get insights into the countryside’s custom, community culture, and handicraft trade. 

Tourist visiting the area will be provided with free tickets from February 1 - February 21. 

During the first four days of operation, many cultural activities are being arranged, including displays of bonsai trees and handicrafts, traditional art shows, water puppet performances, and food introduction. 

At the end of 2017, the site’s management board introduced the Ca tru (ceremonial singing) art performed by artisans from the Lo Khe Ca tru club of Dong Anh district, in the site as part of efforts to preserve the intangible cultural heritage.

Vietnam’s culture, tourist sites introduced at Brussels Holiday Fair

Several Vietnamese companies are introducing Vietnam’s cultural features, natural landscapes and cuisine to visitors at the 60th Brussels Holiday Fair which is being held in Belgium’s capital city from February 1-4.

They include the Tam nhin Vien A (Visasie) Travel Company, Mai Viet Travel Company and Gvietnamtravels Company.

Also at the event, representatives from Vietnam Airlines, the national flag carrier, are providing visitors with information about its inbound and outbound flights, especially air routes from Belgium and other European nations to Vietnam.

Vietnamese Ambassador to Belgium Vuong Thua Phong took the occasion to promote the image of Vietnamese land and people to Belgian and international partners.

Nguyen Thi Dung Hanh from the Gvietnamtravels Company said that this time her company offers tours designed to fit requirements of each group of consumers, and satisfy all demands from visa application to flight ticket purchase.

According to her, Belgium is a promising market for Vietnamese travel agencies.

At the event, several Belgian companies also introduce their attractive tours to Vietnam.

Vietnam welcomed nearly 13 million international tourists in 2017, up 29.1 percent compared with the previous year, of which 1.9 million tourists come from Europe, including over 29,000 Belgians.

UNICEF helps Ninh Thuan mitigate disasters focusing on kids

The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) will help the central province of Ninh Thuan fight and adapt to natural disasters with a focus on children amid climate change.

The project, jointly launched by the UNICEF and the General Department of Natural Disaster Prevention and Control under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development at a ceremony in Phan Rang – Thap Chap city on February 1, is being carried out from 2017 – 2021.

In order to help the locality implement successfully its plan on coping with natural disasters and adapting to climate change, thus contributing to mitigate vulnerability and disaster risks among children equally, UNICEF, the Ministry, the Embassy of Japan in Vietnam, and Ninh Thuan have worked together to define contents in the cooperation programme between the locality and UNICEF.

The province has established a project management board and approved a plan for implementing the project during 2017-2018.

The project, once completed in 2021, is expected to help enhance the capacity of the locality, its community, including children, to adapt to natural disasters and climate change, and ensure effective disaster risks-integrated planning.

Le Van Binh, Vice Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee, who is also head of the project management board, stressed the need for comprehensive collaboration among sectors, agencies, organisations and People’s Committees at different levels in implementing the project, while integrating it with other local projects and programmes.

He also called on the General Department of Natural Disaster Prevention and Control to help the locality with community-based disaster management and the inclusion of climate change adaptation in the local socio-economic development plans.

Ninh Thuan is among the localities to benefit from the programme on mitigating disaster risks and enhancing resilience with a focus on children from 2017 – 2021, which has a total budget of nearly 1.5 million USD, including 1.14 million USD of ODA sourced by UNICEF.

Ninh Thuan has been one of localities hardest hit by climate change in the form of prolonged drought and saline intrusion. 

The drought from 2015 to the end of 2016 in the province put about 54,000 locals in a shortage of food and water.

A total of 1,050 children suffered from severe acute malnutrition, while 11,000 others aged between 6 to 23 months old were deficient in micronutrients. 

UNICEF has deployed many activities to help the locality deal with the situation, including providing clean water and multi-micronutrient products and treating severe acute malnutrition for women and children who are the most vulnerable to climate change.

Chung cakes made for poor people ahead of Tet

Two thousand Chung cakes (a cake made from glutinous rice traditionally dedicated to Lunar New Year – Tet) will be made on February 5-7 (the 20th – 22nd day of the 12th lunar month) under a charity programme to help the poor. 

The programme will be carried out at the Vietnamese Ethnic Groups Culture-Tourism Village in Son Tay district, Hanoi, with funding contributed by philanthropists.

The cakes, together with 1,000 confectionery boxes will be presented to needy people, ethnic minority people and disaster victims in the central province of Thua Thien – Hue and the northern mountainous province of Lai Chau.

The Vietnamese Ethnic Groups Culture-Tourism Village will also host a variety of activities to welcome the Year of the Dog, 

including a ceremony to erect Cay Neu (a tall bamboo tree with decorations used to ward off evil spirits during Tet), an old tradition to show respect to gods and pray for a peaceful and happy new year.

The village has been holding traditional Tet activities every year with the aim of promoting the cultural identities of Vietnamese people to both domestic and foreign visitors, contributing to the preservation and promotion of the country’s traditional values.

The event is also a good opportunity to educate young people about their responsibility in preserving and developing the traditional culture. 

Thai Binh ceremony remembers late Party leader Nguyen Duc Canh

A ceremony was held in the northern province of Thai Binh on February 2 to mark the 110th birthday of Nguyen Duc Canh, one of the founders and first leaders of the Communist Party of Vietnam who sacrificed his life for the revolution of the Party and people.

The ceremony was attended by General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Nguyen Phu Trong, Chairman of the CPV Central Committee’s Inspection Commission Tran Quoc Vuong, Secretary of the Hanoi Party Committee Hoang Trung Hai, representatives from some central agencies and localities as well as the family of the late leader, among others.

Addressing the event, Secretary of the Thai Binh Party Committee Pham Van Sinh reviewed the revolutionary life of the late communist.

Canh was born on February 2, 1908 in Diem Dien village, in today Thai Thuy district of Thai Binh. 

Being enlightened by the revolutionary ideology, he joined various patriotic movements in 1925-26 when he was studying in Thanh Chung Nam Dinh High School. Then he joined the Vietnam Youth Revolution Association, which was a turning point in his revolutionary life.

In 1928, he was assigned to work as Hai Phong Party Secretary. In 1929, the working class movement had developed well and Canh had made lots of contributions to Tong Cong Hoi Do Bac Ky (the predecessor of the Vietnam General Confederation of Labour).

In March 1929, at House No 5D, Ham Long street of Hanoi, the first Communist unit in Vietnam was established with eight members including Canh.

 In June 1929, he was elected to be a provisional member of the Central Committee of the Indochina Communist Party.

In April 1931, he was captured by the French. Though he was tortured by the invaders, he did not reveal any secrets of the Party. He was sentenced to death by the French and was killed in 1932.

Sinh said that as part of efforts to inherit and promote patriotism tradition of the ancestors, Thai Binh has overcome various difficulties and challenges to gain outstanding achievements in all fields.

He pledged that Thai Binh authorities will continue working hard to strengthen solidarity, and optimizing potentials and strengths of the province to build a locality of sustainable development, prosperity and civilization.

Exhibition shows unfaded memories of Tet Offensive 1968

The museum of Ho Chi Minh City on February 2 opened a thematic exhibition on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Tet Offensive and Uprising in the spring of 1968. 

The event, which runs until June 15, introduces to the public more than 200 images, documents and objects closely connected with events and historic figures in the campaign. 

The exhibits are arranged in three sections, starting with the preparation work for the Tet Offensive, then going with the development of the Offensive and concluding with the significance of the event. 

Visitors can also find images of the support of international friends for Vietnam’s war for independence, such as photos of demonstrations in the Soviet Union protesting the war that the US launched in Vietnam, and meetings in Cuba expressing solidarity with Vietnamese people.

The Tet Offensive began in the early morning of January 31 in 1968 when liberation forces simultaneously launched attacks on bases of US troops and the US-backed southern government in cities such as Hue, Da Nang, Quy Nhon and Saigon, and hundreds of towns from Quang Tri to Ca Mau.

The offensive helped destroy huge amounts of facilities and logistics used by the US and the southern regime’s armies. The seven-month long campaign ended with tens of thousands of enemy troops dead, 600 strategic hamlets destroyed and 100 communes liberated with a population of 1.6 million people.

People in rural areas also took this opportunity to rise up against the US-backed government’s administration.

 Sai Gon-Gia Dinh (now HCM City), the headquarters of the US-backed Southern regime, was a focus of the offensive.

The Tet Offensive marked a strategic turning point for the resistance war against the US and its allies. It caused the US a ‘sudden shock’, disrupting their strategic plan, shaking the White House, the Pentagon and all of the US and forced President Johnson to deescalate the war and agree to sign the historic Paris Peace Accord. The victory also helped lead to the liberation of southern Vietnam and national reunification in 1975.

Japan gives medical equipment as aid for Ninh Thuan

The Consulate General of Japan in Ho Chi Minh City on February 2 presented medical equipment to the reproductive health care centre of the southern central coastal province of Ninh Thuan.

This is the second time the centre has received aid from the Japanese government.

Director of the obstetrics centre Huynh Thang Son said that in August 2015, the centre was granted a number of medical equipment under the Japanese Government’s non-refundable assistance programme, which helped to raise quality of health treatment for local people.

To date, the centre has provided medical checkups for about 30,000 women and children in Ninh Thuan and neighbouring localities. The equipment has also enabled the centre’s staff to measure bone density for more than 700 patients, as well as provide cancer screenings for around 400 women and handle 350 cases of abnormal pregnancy.

Cambodian general pays Tet visit to Hau Giang

General Yoeung Sokhon on February 2 led a delegation of Military Zone 3 of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces to pay a Tet (lunar New Year) visit to the Mekong Delta province of Hau Giang, after leaving its neighbour – Bac Lieu province.

Hosted a reception for the delegation, Vice Chairman of the Hau Giang provincial People’s Committee Nguyen Van Tuan said that Vietnam always attaches importance to consolidating its close and time-honoured neighbourliness with Cambodia as it is a valuable asset of both nations which need be maintained and promoted.

Hau Giang province will continue supporting and maintaining relations with Cambodian people and the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces.

General Sokhon thanked for the support of the Vietnamese Party and Government and the sacrifice of the country’s volunteer soldiers that helped Cambodia escape from the Pol Pot genocide regime.

He expressed his hope that the two countries’ relations will last forever.