Phuong Trang runs out of Tet tickets

Hundreds of passengers failed to get coach tickets to travel from HCMC to the central province of Quang Ngai for the coming Lunar New Year holiday, or Tet, from local transport firm Phuong Trang  as it had sold out tickets on Saturday.

At around 10 a.m. on Saturday morning, nearly 500 passengers were queuing at Mien Dong Coach Station to wait for their turns to buy HCMC-Quang Ngai tickets after hundreds of other passengers had bought tickets for the service.

However, at 11 a.m., the company announced it had run out of tickets, prompting an uproar among passengers.

Tran Hoang, a passenger who had fallen in line since early morning but could not get a queue ticket, said Phuong Trang had just issued around 500 queue tickets.

Hoang said the company might still have tickets available for the HCMC-Quang Ngai route but decided to hold them back for certain reasons.

Truong Ngoc Thu, deputy director of Phuong Trang, told the Daily on the phone that he was on business in Hanoi and that he would ask the company’s staff to heed the passengers’ reaction.

Thuong Thanh Hai, deputy director of Mien Dong Coach Station, said passengers prefer Phuong Trang coaches as this is a good passenger transport brand but its ticket prices are lower than other transport companies.

The price of Phuong Trang’s HCMC-Quang Ngai tickets is VND465,000 (US$21.7) each, well below the VND590,000 charged by other companies.

Hai predicted the peak travel time at this Tet will be the 26th and 27th of lunar December with around 50,000 passengers traveling a day.

There are 140 of 214 transport firms at the coach station having registered to cut fares following the steep fuel retail price falls.

This year, the station will arrange coaches to serve passengers until Lunar New Year’s Eve.

Northern provinces forecast to see 3-4 cold spells

Some 3-4 cold spells that may drop the average daily temperature to 15 degrees Celsius are expected to hit the northern provinces this month, warned the National Centre for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting.

The centre noted that each cold spell would last for 2-4 days.

Meanwhile, drought is forecast to appear in the central highland and southern regions.

Firecracker smugglers seized at Lao border

Border Guards in Quang Binh Province yesterday reported they had arrested two Lao men for smuggling illegal firecrackers via the Cha Lo International Border Gate.

Vi Lay Sac and Em Say Nha San were stopped while transporting nearly 1,000 firecrackers weighing more than 29kg.

They admitted they had been hired to transport the firecrackers by a Vietnamese man named Van.

Over the past month, 10 shipments of firecrackers weighing nearly a tonne have been stopped at the Cha Lo International Border Gate, and 16 people have been arrested.

Bus carrying 30 passengers barely avoids collision

A slow moving bus got stuck on the railing of a bridge while trying to avoid a head-on collision with a truck in the Mekong delta city of Can Tho this morning.

The incident left the more than 30 bus passengers in panic and shouting for help for hours. No casualties were reported following the incident. A rescue team managed to help all passengers exit the vehicle safely.

Eyewitnesses said they saw a truck nearing the Lang Sen Bridge in Thanh Quoi Commune when a slow moving bus, coming from the opposite direction, suddenly picked up speed in a bid to cross the bridge first. The bus belongs to Phuong Trang Travel Transport JSC.

However, by that time, the truck had managed to cross almost the entire bridge, which is narrow and allows only one vehicle to pass through at a time.

As the bus had also entered the bridge, Nguyen Thien Trung, the bus's driver, was forced to manoeuvre the vehicle to the other side, but ended up getting stuck on the railing. As a result, the bus's left side nearly rammed into the truck.

Police in Vinh Thanh District told the Vietnam News Agency that the bus driver is being held responsible for the incident.

The case is under investigation.

Taxi and long-range coach companies slash fares

Taxi and long-range coach companies operating here have lowered their rates, an inspection jointly conducted by the ministries of finance and transport discovered.

Some 81 taxi and 25 inter-provincial coach companies in Ha Noi, as well as buses at the city's My Dinh Bus Station, were checked.

The joint-agency inspection found that many of these companies had slashed their rates for the second time amidst the decline in oil price, Kinh te Do thi (Urban Economy Affairs) reported.

Investigators found that the Ha Noi Taxi Joint Stock Company, Vinamotor Investment Joint Stock Company (inter-provincial coach service) and Mai Linh Dong Do Joint Stock Company (taxi service) had slashed their rates by seven to 20 per cent and were committed to further cuts if the price of oil dropped further.

Meanwhile, at My Dinh, a major bus station in the city, the joint-agency mission found that 85 bus companies, headquartered in Ha Noi or in other provinces and operating here, had declared their reduced tickets to the station's ticket office.

Three thieves arrested for stealing from foreigners in Ho Chi Minh City

Police in Ho Chi Minh City have captured a three-member gang, one of whom disguised himself as a young woman, for stealing property from foreigners at a park in the “backpacker area” in the city.

Two young men Vo Phat Tai, 21, and To Van Hau, 22, and a 45-year-old woman, Le Thi Lieu, were detained early Sunday on suspicion of stealing a handbag from a French traveler, police in District 1 said the same day.

Lieu and Tai are local residents while Hau, who camouflaged himself as a young woman, hails from Binh Duong Province, which neighbors the city.

The suspects have pleaded guilty to theft and will be charged with “stealing property” pursuant to Article 138 of the Penal Code, police said.

According to the police report, the gang often operated in the city’s downtown areas in the early hours of the morning, targeting foreigners in their attempts to steal property.

At 12:25 am on February 1, the gang noticed a young foreign man sitting on a bench with a handbag placed beside him in 23/9 Park in Pham Ngu Lao Ward, District 1, a quarter known as the “backpacker area.”

Lieu and Hau then approached the “prey” while Tai waited on a motorbike parked nearby.

After pretending to ask the foreigner some questions, Lieu and Hau managed to grab his handbag and then ran toward Tai.

A police team that was patrolling the area rushed to the scene and seized all three suspects.

Police recovered the handbag, which contained VND23 million (US$1,080) and some personal papers, and returned it to the foreigner, a 21-year-old French national, whose name has not been released.

Bac Giang becomes Grade-II City

Bac Giang City in the northern province of Bac Giang on February 1 was recognized as the Grade-II City.

Chairman of the Viet Nam Fatherland Front Central Committee Nguyen Thien Nhan expected that in the future, the city needs to take advantage of its human resources, transportation infrastructure and connectivity with Ha Noi and other neighboring provinces of Lang Son, Thai Nguyen, Bac Ninh and Hai Duong, to spur its growth.

It should accelerate the production of key products in agriculture, industry and service as well as improving the competitiveness in the context of the market economy and international integration, he added.

The city achieved an average growth rate of 17.5% over the past 10 years.

Dung Quat General Hospital opens

The Dung Quat General Hospital was officially put into operation yesterday under the directive of the central province of Quang Ngai's health department in Binh Son District.

The hospital, which was previously Dung Quat Petrol Hospital, has 9 doctors and 81 medical staff members. It has been equipped with advanced medical equipment.

The hospital is expected to provide health-care services to the local residents of nine communes in the district.

Overseas Vietnamese celebrate Tet in Laos

An art performance on February 1 by the Tuoi Tre (Youth) Theatre in Vientiane Laos was held to jointly celebrate the upcoming Lunar New Year festival (Tet) and commemorate the 85th founding anniversary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV).

Distinguished guests attending the event included the Deputy Head of the State Committee on Overseas Vietnamese Affairs (COVA), Vietnamese Ambassador to Laos Nguyen Manh Hung and a large turnout of Overseas Vietnamese (OVs).

Lao Deputy Minister of Information, Culture and Tourism Buangan Xaphuvong praised the Vietnamese artists for their wonderful performance praising the Party, homeland and Vietnam-Laos friendship.

He said the event contributed to further deepening the time-honoured friendship between the two nations.

Police seize fake cooking additives

Two tonnes of monosodium glutamate (MSG), commonly used as flavour enhancer in cooking, and other cooking additives without proof of origin were seized by Thanh Hoa police at a workshop on Thursday.

Nguyen Thi Cam Huong, a resident of Lam Son Ward in Thanh Hoa and the owner of the workshop, was arrested.

Huong confessed to purchasing the fake MSG and additives to split them in small packages and sell them.

She said she planned to sell them in rural areas for VND10, 000 (US$0.45) as products from brands such as Miwon, Ajinomoto and A-one.

Aviation fuel thieves arrested at airport

Two Viet Nam Air Petrol Limited (VINAPCO) employees were caught while stealing aviation fuel at Tan Son Nhat International Airport compound on Thursday night.

The two admitted they were working with several individuals outside the airport. Their task was to move the tank trucks over to the compound's fence, where their accomplices would pump the fuel into another truck.

The airport's security director, Nguyen Minh Tuan, said the case will be transferred to the Civil Aviation Authority and the Tan Binh District Police for further investigation.

The two employees' identities will not be revealed during the investigation.

In another incident on Wednesday, police arrested seven people for stealing aviation fuel at Tan Son Nhat International Airport. Three of them were working as drivers for Jetstar Airways.

National exhibition centre to move

The Government Office announced yesterday that the new national exhibition centre will be relocated to Nhat Tan, in Ha Noi's Tay Ho District.

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung ordered the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism; the Ministry of Construction; and the Ha Noi People's Committee to find a suitable location for the new centre along the route to Noi Bai International Airport.

The exhibition centre, which will be built to accommodate both domestic and international events, needed to be relocated after a study showed that the original site in Me Tri, Cau Giay District was too small.

The original site was to be rearranged and given to ministries and agencies, whose requests to build offices were approved by the Government.

A financial proposal for the project is to be submitted to Dung in April.

HN strives to solve resettlement issues

The municipal construction department is racing against time to resolve all issues related to resettlement apartment buildings in order to  complete works before Tet (Lunar New Year), says Nguyen Quoc Hung, Vice Chairman of the Ha Noi People's Committee.

Hung said all concerned agencies were being given fresh deadlines to finish needed works on apartments built to accommodate people evicted   from several project sites.

He said the department has ordered the Ha Noi Housing Management and Development One Member Co, Ltd. and Ha Noi Housing Investment  and Development Corporation (HANDICO) to speed up disbursement of funds to repair and improve messy works at these apartment buildings.

Hung said there are 31 dilapidated infrastructure facilities in need of improvements and 69 lifts that needed to be repaired or replaced. In  addition, 37 reserve power generators, nine water pumps, 13 lighting systems and 92 fire protection equipment were to be installed. These  

works have to be done in the Trung Hoa-Nhan Chinh-Nam Trung Yen, Xuan La, Dong Tau, Kim Lien, Xuan Dinh, Cau Dien and Den Lu  resettlement areas.

"Due to the urgency in clearing project sites, many resettlement areas were built in haste with incomplete technical and social infrastructure.  

Some do not have nurseries, kindergartens and medical clinics," Hung said. "In others, particularly those built in 2001, the developers had  

miscalculated the area of facilities earmarked for public use. For example, the first floor (ground), which is often used as a parking lot, has proved  too small to fully accommodate the vehicles of residents."

According to the department, there are now 155 resettlement complexes in the city with a total of 13,487 apartments that are ready to use. All of  them are managed by the Ha Noi Housing Management and Development One Member Co, Ltd.

"The number of apartments is sufficient to accommodate people evicted from infrastructure project areas. For the vacant apartments, district  

authorities will organise draws in which relocated people have the change to get an apartment of their own."

Hung also pointed out other problems concerning the management of resettlement apartment buildings. One of which was the absence of  regulations specifically targeting their management, and another involved difficulties in collection of maintenance fees from residents.

It is a common practice that residents of each apartment building vote for an administration board that will convey complaints to the developer  and collect fees.

However, "so far, just 14 administration boards have been formed although 155 buildings were put into use before 2014," Hung said.

He said the department was working with the Department of Finance on more efficient ways to manage the buildings.

"The construction department's agencies have been ordered to review all the problems and sort them for prioritised resolution. The immediate  priority is to undertake urgent repairs and improvements." Hung said.

Delta to receive better water supply, wastewater treatment

A dozen water supply and wastewater treatment plants are to be built in the Mekong Delta region before 2020 to improve water supply and waste water-treatment capacities across the region.

The plans to build the regional plant system were discussed at a meeting with representatives from the Ministry of Construction, held in the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho last week.

Vice Chairman of the Can Tho People's Committee, Vo Thi Hong Anh, said that the government aimed to build three water supply plants with a combined daily capacity of 4.2 million cubic metres between 2015 and 2020.

The Song Hau 1 plant, to be constructed in Can Tho, is intended to have a full daily capacity of 1 million cubic metres, supplying water to Can Tho City, the neighbouring province of Soc Trang, and communities along the western banks of the Hau River. Ben Tre and Tra Vinh provinces will also be within reach of the plant.

The Song Hau 2 plant, which is planned to be built in Chau Thanh District in An Giang Province, and has a full daily capacity of 2 million cubic metres, will pump water to Can Tho, An Giang, Kien Giang, Ca Mau, and Hau Giang provinces.

The Song Hau 3 plant in Chau Doc town, An Giang, will supply 500,000 cubic metres of water to residents in An Giang and Kien Giang daily.

Furthermore, wastewater treatment plants are also scheduled to be constructed during the same period; Can Tho aims to build four plants with a combined capacity of 86,000 cubic metres per day.

Long Xuyen City in An Giang, Rach Gia City in Kien Giang, and Ca Mau City in Ca Mau will each establish three wastewater treatment plants capable of treating a combined 34,500 cubic metres per day, 33,000 cubic metres per day, and 34,500 cubic metres per day, respectively.

Moreover, the provinces in the region will simultaneously upgrade the existing wastewater treatment plants, which will contribute to minimising environmental pollution and limiting rain flooding to ensure stable and sustainable socio-economic development in the region

Control system failure caused copter crash

The January 28 military helicopter crash that killed four crew members was caused by a control system failure, military officials have said.

According to investigators, all pre-flight procedures were carried out according to regulations and the weather was not a factor. However, a malfunction in the control system caused the helicopter to descend too quickly and the crew did not have time to counter their reduced altitude, as the helicopter was flying at 300 meters.

The US-built UH-1 "Huey" chopper crashed in Binh Chanh District last Wednesday, soon after taking off from Tan Son Nhat Airport while on a training flight.

All four crew members died on active duty.

Vinh Long farmers expect bumper vegetables Tet crop

Farmers in Vinh Long, one of the main vegetable growing provinces in the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta, are busy planting crops ahead of Tet (Lunar New Year) next month and expecting a good harvest.

Bui Thi Hong Tham, who has 2,000sq.m of land under vegetables in Tra On District's Thoi Hoa Commune, said she was planting green bean, corn, and various kinds of herbs.

"Thanks to favourable weather, my vegetables are developing well and disease-free.

"I hope to have a bumper harvest and sell the vegetables at a good price."

Tra On farmers are growing of various vegetables like green onion, cabbage, bitter melon, and cucumber on around 250ha, according to local officials.

In Long Ho District, farmers have begun growing vegetables for Tet since last December.

In Long Ho's Phuoc Hau Commune, farmers are growing 60ha of vegetables, with the Phuoc Hau Safe Vegetable Co-operative accounting for a fourth of that.

Nguyen Van Xua, a member of the co-operative, said, "I grow cabbages and expect to have a good harvest this Tet.

"The co-operative has trained us in producing safe vegetables."

Nguyen Hoang Quy, deputy chairman of the Phuoc Hau Commune Farmers Association, said, "This Tet the co-operative has contracted to sell vegetables to supermarkets and companies in neighbouring provinces."

The association has also taught farmers techniques to grow clean vegetables, he said.

Tran Thanh Tam, who is growing watermelon for Tet in Long Ho's Thanh Quoi Commune, said, "My watermelons are likely to be harvested five days before Tet."

Last year Tam grew rice at this time.

At the end of last year the area under vegetables in Vinh Long was up 8.2 per cent from 2013 at around 48,000ha, according to the province Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.

It attributed the increase to some districts that are suitable for growing vegetables encouraging farmers to rotate between rice and other food crops.

They are advised to grow one rice crop and two others a year or at least one non-rice crop along with two rice crops to earn higher profits, which could be two to five times the amount from just rice.

According to the department, a farmer who grows a winter-spring rice crop and two watermelon crops a year can earn annual profits of VND113 million (US$5,300) per hectare.

The rotation of crops also helps improve the fertility of rice fields and reduces the cost of treating rice diseases and pests, agriculture extension officials said.

Under a province plan to restructure agriculture in 2014-20, the area on which a third rice crop is grown will be reduced by 20 per cent this year to 148,000ha.

District agriculture bureaus have instructed farmers to grow clean vegetables and co-operate with co-operatives and companies to guarantee outlets for their output.

Corn, soy bean, sesame, watermelon, winged yam have been identified as high-value crops for planting instead of rice.

Nguyen Van Duc, who grows winged yam on 1.3ha in Mang Thit District's Long My Commune, said he earned profits of VND40-60 million (US$1,900 -2,800) per hectare per year.

"Winged yam does not need much care like rice and fetches higher profits than rice."

Ngo Viet Son, a local agriculture official, said many farmers had switched to winged yam and now the crop was grown on 26ha in the commune.

There were plans to grow the vegetable on 30ha in Long Hoa 1 and 2 hamlets this year, he added.

HCM City makes modest safety gains

Labour safety and hygienic standards at enterprises in HCM City last year improved but only modestly, according to the city's Centre of Occupational Health and Environmental Protection.

At a workshop held yesterday by the centre, Dang Ngoc Loan, the centre's deputy head, said that 59 per cent of enterprises still had hazardous elements causing occupational diseases.

In particular, the centre checked the environment at 1,438 establishments including state-owned, joint ventures, private, joint-stock and foreign companies.

The results showed that 5.25 per cent of 1,438 establishments failed to meet temperature standards.

Of these, 10.14 per cent exceeded noise standards. And 12.33 per cent of them exceeded lighting standards.

Health exams for workers in companies that have hazardous elements were not carried out well, Loan said, adding that only 25 per cent of the enterprises sent their workers to health facilities for examination of occupational diseases.

Of the workers who had health exams, 99 workers were diagnosed with an occupational disease, with 38 having occupational deafness.

Last year, exams were conducted to diagnose hepatitis and diseases caused by X ray and radioactive substances, Loan said, adding that there were 11 hepatitis cases and one related to radioactive exposure.

Pham Thi Nguyet Anh of the centre's division that specialises in healthcare at schools, said that the centre had carried out a survey on the environment at 387 secondary and high schools from 2012 to 2014.

Forty per cent of the classrooms failed to meet lighting standards mandated by the Ministry of Health, said Anh.

The survey showed that 48 per cent of the schools had temperatures higher than the ministry's standards.

Only 17.8-21 per cent of 334 classrooms with air conditioners met the standards of carbon dioxide emissions.

The classrooms met the standards for boards and tables.

The centre has worked with schools in the city to examine the health of their students.

The results showed that 40.1 per cent of the total number of high school students had an eye refraction. The figure was 36.55 per cent for secondary students and 16.07 per cent for primary students.

Moreover, students had other health problems, including those related to teeth, ears, nose and throat, scoliosis and obesity.

Metro funds under tight control

With funding tied up for three of HCM City's five metro lines, the use of the money is carefully monitored, the head of the city's urban railway agency, has said.

Bui Xuan Cuong, director of the Management Authority of Urban Railways (MAUR) of HCM City, speaking to the media on Monday, said Line No 1 would cost US$2.46 billion while Lines No 2 and 5 would cost $1.4 billion and $1.3 billion.

They respectively link Ben Thanh Market in District 1 with Suoi Tien Tourist Park in District 9; Ben Thanh with Tham Luong Bus Station in District 2; and Bay Hien Crossroad in Tan Binh District with Sai Gon Bridge.

MAUR also reported about the complaint by a Japanese contractor working on Package No 2 of Line No 1 about the long delay in handing over some of the lands required for the work.

It mentioned a delay in handing over the site by Di An town in Binh Duong Province, through which will pass the 17.1km Metro Line No 1 linking Ba Son Shipyard in District 1 with Suoi Tien Tourist Park in District 9.

Cuong said the Di An town People's Committee has announced that the handover has been delayed by five months until March 2015.

But under the contract, his agency has to pay the Japanese party compensation of US$100,000 per day if any land is not handed over on schedule.

The Di An land lot, measuring around 2ha, was not handed over by a private company that owns it, officials said.

On December 16 last year the HCM City People's Committee asked Binh Duong Province authorities to persuade the Binh Duong-based one-member company Vinh Phat Co. Ltd. to hand over the site by December 31.

In a correspondence to the Binh Duong People's Committee, Nguyen Huu Tin, deputy chairman of HCM City, had said, "The HCM City municipal administration has big concerns over this issue because the continued delays in the handover of the site in Binh Duong Province's Di An Town have seriously affected the progress of the project and increasing the compensations to be paid to the contractor."

By the end of last year some 1,000 families in HCM City and Binh Duong had been relocated for construction of the metro route, which passes through Districts 1, Binh Thanh, 2, 9, Thu Duc, and Di An.

Vinh Phat Co. is the only one to hold out since its management has not agreed to the compensation of VND125 billion ($5.8 million).

On December 16 the Di An administration invited the company managers to the town office to announce the site handover, but they cried off claiming illness.

Cuong said the company had yet to agree to move out but the Binh Duong government decided to evict the firm and hand over the site in March.

He admitted that the compensation was "a must" for site handover delays, but wondered if would be HCM City or Binh Duong that would pay.

The Metro Line No 1 was originally scheduled to be completed in 2018, but delays in site clearance and handover have affected its progress, and it is now set to start operating in 2020.

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has approved the rescheduling of the work.

Construction would be completed in 2019 and the line would become operational in 2020.

Urban train project to resume

Director General of the Railway Project Management Unit Le Kim Thanh permitted China Railway Sixth Group (CRSG), Cat Linh – Ha Dong urban train's principle EPC contractor, to resume work on eight different locations.

The decision was issued after an inspection on fire hazards, labour and traffic safety had been carried out and the contractors was able to prove that all the required safety standards were met.

The railway authority also ordered the EPC contractor to speed up the inspection process on the rest of the project and submit the result to the Ministry of Transport.

The ministry also ordered contractors and sub-contractors to perform daily check for safety violations before they start to work, technical consultants must be present during the construction phase.

Technical consultants are authorised to suspend the project's operation should any safety violation were found and report them to the ministry immediately.

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