Landslides destroy locations at Kon Tum border gate

A severe landslide on the main route from the Bờ Y International Border Gate, Kon Tum Province, to Laos. 

Prolonged heavy rain has caused serious landslides at many locations around the Bờ Y International Border Gate in the Central Highlands province of Kon Tum, affecting traffic.

A number of roads have been damaged, making it impossible for vehicles to get through, online newspaper Vietnamplus reported. Some border patrol stations have also been destroyed.

According to Huỳnh Quốc Trung, deputy head of the management board of Kon Tum Economic Zone, the area was hit by storms at the beginning of 2018. In August, heavy rain caused the ground to become waterlogged, he said.

Director of Kon Tum Economic Zone Investment and Development Company, Thái Thanh Bình, said the company installed barriers and warning signs for people and vehicles and they were also reviewing the damage to request funds for repair soon.

In August, this area and the 18B Highway linked Bờ Y International Border Gate to Attapeu Province, Laos, suffered serious landslides.

Charity race for newborn care raises $150,000

VNG Corporation donates VNĐ 1.3 billion ($55,687) to Newborns Vietnam via the month-long UPRACE community run. — Photo Courtesy of VNG Corporation

A unique charity run raised VNĐ3.5 billion (US $150,000) to combat neonatal mortality and strengthen newborn care.

Rather than racing in person, competitors recorded their runs with Strava, a smartphone-based fitness app.

Organised by NGO Newborns Vietnam and VNG IT Corporation, the month-long community event, titled UPRACE, attracted more than 32,000 runners including Vietnamese living overseas.

Their performances were transferred from Strava to UPRACE.vn through a validation and conversion process, which valued every kilometre as a VNĐ1,000 donation to Newborns Vietnam.

Competitors ran a total of 1.3 million kilometers.

The event attracted donors like Hanoi Amsterdam Alumni, ceramic maker Minh Long, Topica Education and CMC Corporation. VNG Corporation donated VNĐ1.3 billion and Techcombank gave VNĐ1 billion.

The UN’s Child Mortality Estimation said the neonatal mortality rate in Việt Nam was 1.14 per cent in 2015.

There are no advanced neonatal care facilities in the country, and infant mortality and long-term disability still occur in high-end hospitals.

Newborns Vietnam is trying to restructure neonatal care to ensure newborns get appropriate care from trained healthcare workers at critical moments. 

HCM City expands online administrative services

The HCM City People’s Committee has instructed agencies to continue to use information technology to improve public services online.

During an online meeting held on Tuesday to review administrative reform, Trần Vĩnh Tuyến, the committee’s vice chairman, said the city was building e-government and applying many IT solutions in management and administration.

Each year, the city has around 14 million administrative tasks to fulfill, Tuyến said, adding that more online services should be offered.

To improve accountability and transparency, he instructed local agencies to reform administrative procedures and offer more of them online.

He also noted that local agencies had also not offered apologies to people and enterprises when administrative tasks were delayed.

More than 99 per cent of administrative files in the first nine months of the year were resolved, but 20,424 dossiers were delayed in districts’ state offices, and 490 in communes and wards.

Huỳnh Công Hùng, deputy director of the Department of Home Affairs, said the city was also continuing to improve the one-door policy.

Dossiers are being received and sent back to people and enterprises via post office services, Hùng said, adding that the city was collecting people’s opinions about administrative procedures.

Nguyễn Huỳnh Trang, deputy head of the municipal Department of Industry and Trade, said that to meet public demand the city was replacing a traditional approach for service-based administration.  

A representative of the People’s Committee in Nhà Bè District’s Phước Kiển Commune said that it was offering online level 3 public administrative services that allow people and enterprises to fill out forms online.

The commune People’s Committee now has three computers and wifi to deal with the tasks.  

Đặng Nguyễn Thanh Minh, chairman of Thủ Đức District’s People’s Committee, said the city’s Board for Administrative Reform should provide detailed guidance to committees in districts, communes and wards on how best to carry out level 3 and 4 online administrative services. 

Sóc Trăng farmers earn more after agricultural restructuring

A shirmp farm model at Khánh Sủng Ltd Company in southern province of Sóc Trăng.Sóc Trăng has more than 65,000ha of aquaculture area, including 50,000ha of brackish water shrimp. 

The restructuring of agricultural production in the Mekong Delta province of Sóc Trăng has helped farmers adapt to climate change, produce hi-tech products, and earn higher incomes.

In Cù Lao Dung District, an islet district with the largest sugarcane area in the province, many sugarcane farmers have switched to growing higher-value fruit and breeding aquatic species.   

Trần Văn Phục, who turned his 3ha sugarcane field into a longan orchard, said his Ido longan orchard was ready for the first harvest.       

As a member of the An Phú Hưng Co-operative, Phục has learned how to plant “clean” longan by using automated irrigation equipment and other methods.

Ido longan is in high demand as supply cannot meet export demand.

Lê Minh Đương, deputy chairman of the Cù Lao Dung District People’s Committee, said: “Saltwater intrusion has not affected sugarcane fields this year, but inclement weather lowered the yield of sugarcane and vegetables.”

The district plans to turn 1,000ha of sugarcane into cultivation areas for fruit trees like longan and coconut, and for the breeding of aquatic species this year.

Under the province’s agricultural restructuring plan for the 2014-20 period, only two, not three, rice crops are now grown each year in Long Phú and Trần Đề districts.

In addition, one cash crop is cultivated each year in Long Phú and Trần Đề, as well as one rice crop and one shrimp crop a year in saltwater-affected areas in Mỹ Xuyên District.

The restructuring of agricultural production in the province suits the local weather and natural conditions, according to Lương Minh Quyết, director of the province’s Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.

In Mỹ Tú and Thạnh Trị districts, farmers have planted other cash crops in rice fields that lack irrigation water in the dry season, earning higher profits than from rice. 

Dương Văn Chiến in Thạnh Trị’s Lâm Khiết Commune said he had planted 2,000sq.m of watermelon during the dry season.

After two months, he harvested the crop and earned a profit of more than VNĐ10 million (US$430) per 1,000sq.m, four to five times higher than that of rice.

The province plans to shift 7,300ha of ineffective rice fields to other crops and aquatic cultivation this year, according to the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.

It is also focusing on planting high-quality specialty rice and fragrant rice to meet export demand. The specialty and fragrant rice areas cover 177,000ha, accounting for more than 50 per cent of the province’s total rice area.

The province has also developed 530 large-scale rice fields on a total area of 52,000ha.  

Located at the end of the Hậu River, a tributary of the Mekong River, Sóc Trăng Province has a coastline of 72km, a favourable condition for brackish water aquaculture.

In Mỹ Xuyên District, the shrimp-rice farming model that rotates planting fragrant rice and breeding shrimp on the same rice field has been used on tens of thousands of hectares of rice fields. The model does not use chemicals.  

Sóc Trăng has more than 65,000ha of aquaculture area, including 50,000ha of brackish water shrimp.

The province has implemented several measures to develop brackish water shrimp, including soft loans and farming techniques, new infrastructure for shrimp farming areas, and application of Vietnamese Good Agricultural Practices (VietGAP) standards to breed shrimp.

It has also encouraged farmers to develop co-operatives to improve productivity and secure outlets for their produces. 

The Hòa Nhờ A 14/10 Agriculture and Fisheries Co-operative in Mỹ Xuyên’s Hòa Tú 2 Commune is one of the province’s first co-operatives that have been certified with VietGAP standards for breeding black tiger shrimp and white-legged shrimp.

The co-operative has 20 members who are breeding brackish shrimp on a total of 26.6ha.

Lâm Minh Lớn, a member of the co-operative, said he had bred black tiger shrimp under VietGAP standards for two years. He earned a profit of VNĐ400 million ($17,240) from 2.2ha of black tiger shrimp in the last crop.

Quách Thị Thanh Bình, deputy head of the province’s Sub-department of Fisheries, said the provincial People’s Committee spends about VNĐ400 million a year to encourage farmers to breed shrimp under VietGAP standards.

The province’s agricultural production value reached VNĐ147 million ($6,330) per ha last year, up VNĐ12 million against 2016.

This year the province targets increasing value to VNĐ150 million ($6,460) per ha, according to the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development. 

Chicken farm-gambling den busted in Ninh Bình

Thirty-four gamblers were arrested in a police raid at a chicken farm in Nho Quan District, Ninh Bình Province on Tuesday. — Photo courtesy of Ninh Bình police

Thirty-four people were arrested after police busted an interprovincial gambling ring hidden in a chicken farm in Ninh Bình Province, local police said on Thursday.

Ninh Bình police raided the farm in Nho Quan District at around 1.30pm on Tuesday. 

Thirty-four gamblers were caught red-handed playing xóc đĩa - an illegal game in Việt Nam in which players will bet on whether the house’s number turns out odd or even. 

Police seized nearly VNĐ500 million (US$22,200) in cash at the scene, along with the gamblers’ mobile phones and several vehicles.

Among the arrested, three Nho Quan residents Bùi Đức Hải, 35, Nguyễn Văn Kiên, 43 and 40-year-old Đinh Văn Hiền were said to be the ring leaders.

The three admitted to the police that they used a 54-seat coach to pick up players from around Ninh Bình and as far as Hòa Bình and Hải Phòng to take them to the gambling den. Each gambler had to pay VNĐ1 million as an entrance fee.

Police are expanding investigations into the case. 

Awareness of rabies help save lives

Vaccinating dogs is an effective measure to prevent rabies. – Photo laodongthudo.vn

More efforts and investment are needed to eliminate the risk of rabies in the country, said Dr Phạm Văn Đông, Director General of the Department of Animal Health on Friday at a meeting marking World Rabies Day with the theme "Rabies: Share the message, Save a Life".  

In particular, authorities and organisations must collaborate to raise public awareness, implement prevention and control measures to reduce human rabies risk, increase the number of vaccination sites for humans, improve access to healthcare services in general and increase dog vaccination.

The meeting was co-organised by the Ministry of Health (MoH), Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), World Health Organisation (WHO) and other One Health partners calling for everyone’s support in spreading information and raising awareness on rabies to save lives.

The MoH and MARD advocated for rabies prevention, control and elimination to policy makers, animal and public health professionals, dog owners and the general public.

“While effective animal and human rabies vaccines serve as important tools to prevent human deaths from rabies, awareness is the key driver for the success of community engagement in rabies prevention and control efforts”, said  Dr Kidong Park, WHO Representative in Việt Nam.

“Rabies prevention, control and elimination require One Health action – effective collaboration between the human and animal health sectors. FAO and WHO will continue to raise awareness and support Việt Nam’s rabies elimination efforts at all levels,” he said.

Currently, rabies is reported in many provinces and cities in Việt Nam.

In 2017, Việt Nam launched a national plan for rabies control and elimination for the 2017-2021 period, successor of the national rabies prevention and elimination programme for 2011-2015.

Additionally, Government Order No. 31 dated July 2017 related to the strengthening of measures on rabies prevention and control, was also implemented. Both reflected the country’s strong commitment to addressing rabies prevention, control and elimination.

According to the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology (NIHE), there have been 67 rabies-related human deaths in 24 provinces and cities in Việt Nam this year – similar to the number of cases from the same period in 2017, when 67 people in 29 provinces died of rabies.

This year marks the 12th annual observance of the World Rabies Day. The program calls on governments across the world to collectively address the issue, bringing together relevant sectors, and engaging stakeholders and the global community in the fight against rabies.

Rabies is recorded in more than 150 countries, territories and areas. It is usually fatal once symptoms develop in both humans and animals. Deaths can be prevented through three key measures: seeking immediate medical care from an authorized professional after a dog bite, dog population management and vaccinating dogs. 

HCM City enlists UK help to improve vocational training quality

Experts from the UK shared practical experiences in vocational training and education with more than 100 vocational training establishments in HCM City at a seminar held on October 4. 

More than 100 vocational training establishments in HCM City got the chance to learn from British experts at a seminar held on Thursday in the city.

They learnt about training programmes, issuing professional certificates, end-point assessment, and quality assurance.

The event also served as a forum for the establishments to discuss and find innovative solutions and effective use of technology in education to support the teaching of English.

Đăng Minh Sự, deputy director of the city Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, said: “English plays an important role in providing trainees and apprentices with an advantage in both the domestic and overseas labour markets after graduation.”

The city has 535 vocational training establishments, comprising 52 colleges, 63 middle schools, 65 centres, and 355 other facilities.

More than 80 per cent of their trainees meet the labour market’s needs and find a job after graduating from them, according to a recent report by the department.

However, most of them are not proficient in foreign languages, especially English, and so find it hard to get jobs with foreign businesses or work abroad.

Sự expected the workshop to help the vocational facilities improve the quality of their training and trainees, especially with respect to.

The department plans to provide further training to teachers at vocational schools to improve their quality of English teaching.

It also hopes to ensure at least 80 per cent of English teachers in the city achieve 7.0 points in the IELTS test in 2019-20, and 100 per cent of them understand foreign experts by 2020.

Besides, it wants to improve English training programmes, provide all necessary tools and equipment for teaching English and strengthen international co-operation.

The British prime minister’s trade envoy to Việt Nam, Edward Vaizey, told the event the UK is proud of the high quality of vocational training.

“I believe the collaboration between the two countries will develop sustainably and help equip apprentices, workers and businesses with the knowledge and skills needed to succeed in the global market in the 21st century.”

The seminar, titled “UK-Việt Nam technical and vocational education and training (TVET): Towards a quality assured skills system” was organised by the UK’s Department for International Trade (DIT) and the city’s labour department. 

Road damaged by trucks avoiding toll booth

Provincial Highway No. 35 is seriously damaged by trucks. – photo baotintuc.vn

Provincial highway No. 35, connecting  Hà Nội’ Sóc Sơn and Mê Linh districts, has been seriously damaged due to the burden of hundreds of heavy trucks travelling day and night, reported online newspaper Tin Tức.

The trucks used the highway to avoid a BOT (build-operate-transfer) toll collection station on a nearby highway.

The road surface was terribly damaged and scattered with big pot holes, causing a high risk of traffic accidents, the paper said.

Nguyễn Văn Tân, a resident of Chi Đông Town of Mê Linh District, said: “The road becomes muddy and slushy on rainy days and dusty on sunny days.”

“There were many accidents that happened on the road. Cars and motorbikes were upturned by potholes on the roads,” Tân said. “The road was damaged for long time but not repaired.”

Meanwhile, Lê Trâm Anh, a worker at Quang Minh Industrial Zone in Mê Linh District, said that the highway was a short road, but still bore hundreds of pot holes, which caused danger for people, especially for students in Chi Đông Town who use the road every day.

The paper found that trucks travelling from Chi Đông Town to Thái Nguyên Province used the provincial highway No.35 to avoid a toll collection station on Thăng Long-Nội Bài National Highway.

Truck drivers who travelled to Vĩnh Phúc Province also used the provincial road to skip a toll collection station on the National Highway 2 in Phúc Yên Township.

The local people had asked the authorities to repair the road several times but got no response.

The jammed, dusty and muddy road was hurting their lives everyday. 

Microfinance - an effective tool for women to escape poverty

Microfinance, which provides preferential micro-credits with simple conditions, is seen as an effective tool to help women beat poverty, develop business and make contributions to the society.

According to Bui Thuy Hang from the State Bank of Vietnam’s Monetary Policy Department, impoverished women are important customers of micro-credit products as they are positive savers and debt payment rate among women is higher than men.

Vietnam now has more than 100 organisations offering microfinance services, including three official organisations of Vietnam Bank for Social Policies (VBSP), the People’s Credit Fund, and Vietnam Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development, and semi-official ones like domestic and international non-governmental organisations, the Vietnam Women’s Union, Vietnam Farmer’s Union, and War Veteran Association.

Last year, the VBSP gave more than 55.9 trillion VND (2.4 billion USD) in preferential loans to 2,120 poor and near-poor households, and many other policy beneficiaries. Microfinance showed its efficiency in poverty elimination efforts as the poverty rate in the country decreased from 58 percent in 1993 to some 6.72 percent by the end of 2017.

On December 6, 2011, the Prime Minister signed Decision No.2195/QD-TTg on “Approving a project on developing microfinance in Vietnam until 2020”, with major  solutions such as building rational legal environment, improving capacity of microfinance organisations, and raising public awareness of microfinance.

The country is also completing a legal corridor for microfinance activities.

However, the shortage of capital remains the most tremendous challenge to the micro-credit programmes. Deposits at the VBSP only meet 5 percent of lending demand, thus, most of the capital depends on State budget or the State’s mobilised capital.

In addition, high management costs are also hindering organisations offering micro-finance services.

Tran Thi Minh Huong from the National University of Economics said that the Government needs to draw up policies to encourage financial and credit institutions to invest in microfinance organisations in the role of strategic shareholders. She also suggested higher loan and deposit interest rates than regulated to ensure that microfinance organisations can mobilise capital for stable operation.

Ca Mau: destructive warheads collected

Police examine the scene of a warhead explosion in Tran Van Thoi district, Ca Mau province, on October 1 

Two households in Tran Van Thoi town, of Tran Van Thoi district in the Mekong Delta province of Ca Mau, have submitted explosives to the relevant local agency after a warhead explosion left three people dead and two others injured in the locality on October 1.

Tran Van Ky and Trinh Van Kha, who live near the explosion site, handed in two leftover warheads, measuring 105mm and 155mm with great destructive capacity,  announced Colonel Nguyen Thanh Phong, Vice Political Commissar of Ca Mau’s Military Command, on October 3. 

The Military Command has isolated the warheads for dismantling as per regulations, the officer said. 

The October 1 incident occurred in the private house of local resident Nguyen Van Thang, born in 1966, one of the dead victims.

The other two were Nguyen Thuy Duy, born in 1996 and Thang’s daughter-in-law, and Nguyen Anh Thu, Duy’s 20-month-old baby daughter.

The explosion left a huge hole in the building and damaged much of the neighbouring house. 

Meanwhile, Thang’s wife – Le Hong Anh, 53 – and a neighbour – Le Thi Ni, 31 – were also seriously injured. 

According to initial information, Thang used the warhead as a prop while he was repairing an engine with welding equipment, leading to the explosion.

Many households in Ca Mau have kept hold of explosives and used them as production tools, believing the warheads had been made safe. 

Aside from enhancing the management, inspection, and settlement of explosive storage cases, local authorities will intensify communication work to raise public awareness of the issue. 

According to the Military Command, about 3.5 tonnes of explosives have been collected in Ca Mau so far this year. Most of them were detected by local residents while they were reforming land for production and construction.

Exhibition marks Hanoi’s liberation celebrations in 1954

The exhibition, “Hanoi: Moments of October 1954”, is launched on October 3 to celebrate the 64th anniversary of the capital city’s liberation. 

Photos and documents capturing the glorious moments of Hanoi’s celebrations of Liberation Day on October 10, 1954 are on display at the Imperial Citadel of Thang Long in downtown Hanoi.

The exhibition, “Hanoi: Moments of October 1954”, was launched on October 3 to celebrate the 64th anniversary of the capital city’s liberation. 

Its photos and stories tell visitors about the triumphant Vietnamese army arriving to take over the capital city from colonial French rulers; the flag salute ceremony at Cot Co stadium to celebrate Hanoi’s victory on October 10, 1954; the withdrawal of the French troops from Hanoi; the thousands of Hanoians that shared a cheerful moment over the victory; and memories of people on the historic day.

Visitors can read stories told by Capital Regiment fighters and Hanoi’s residents who witnessed the victorious moment. They include Colonel Nguyen Trong Ham and soldier Phung De who served in the Capital Regiment, songwriter Nguyen Van Quy, as well as well-known historians Le Van Lan and Duong Trung Quoc.

Historian Duong Trung Quoc recalled the exciting atmosphere in every corner of the capital on October 10 more than six decades ago. Many local families made flags themselves to greet the Vietnamese troops.

The exhibition will run through until October 31.

Pre-COP24 workshop talks nationally determined contributions

Vietnam needs a comprehensive approach to turn challenges into opportunities, and promote effective cooperation between relevant ministries and agencies in climate change response, heard a workshop in Hanoi on October 3.

The workshop, themed “Opportunities and challenges on review and implementation of nationally determined contribution,” was held by the Climate Change Working Group in Vietnam (CCWG) ahead of the 24th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP24) slated for December 2018 in Poland. 

According to the first draft of the report on nationally determined contributions (NDCs) updated by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment in late August, the Vietnamese Government has committed to cutting 9 percent of greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 using internal resources  as compared with the normal scenario. 

Participants at the workshop said Vietnam should change its development path to reduce poverty and become a prosperous nation without contributing to global warming. 

Greenhouse gas emission reduction and growth model transformation as suggested in the Paris Agreement will receive widespread public support only when they are closely linked with the reduction of the increasing socio-economic inequality, they said. 

Besides industrialised nations, Vietnam, through its updated NDCs, needs to show its commitments and speed up its ambitious actions against climate change in order to ensure equal socio-economic development, they noted. 

Hoang Viet, a representative of the CCWG, said the update and amendment of Vietnam’s NDCs require cooperation and strong commitments of all Government agencies, from national to grassroots levels, businesses and the entire community, aiming to affirm Vietnam’s position at international negotiations and promote sustainable national development with a low-carbon economy and high resilience and adaptivity. 

Yvonne Blos, Climate Project Director of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung in Vietnam, said to reap outcomes as expected at the upcoming COP24, leaders of countries need to grasp opportunities and utilise favourable conditions. 

NDCs are at the heart of the Paris Agreement and the achievement of these long-term goals. NDCs embody efforts by each country to reduce national emissions and adapt to the impacts of climate change. The Paris Agreement (Article 4, Paragraph 2) requires each party to prepare, communicate and maintain successive NDCs that it intends to achieve. Parties will pursue domestic mitigation measures, with the aim of achieving the objectives of such contributions.

Vietnam, RoK enhance cooperation in labour safety

The Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MoLISA) and the Occupational Safety and Health Agency (KOSHA) of the Republic of Korea (RoK) signed an agreement on cooperation in occupational safety and health in Hanoi on October 4.

Under the deal, the Korean side will help MoLISA build its capacity in occupational safety and health. It will promote safety culture at workplace in both countries through the establishment of cooperative relations between the two agencies.

MoLISA and KOSHA will exchange experts on training and consultancy in the fields of mutual concern as well as share training equipment, information and technical documents. The Korean side will also provide training in occupational safety and health for Vietnam.

The cooperation will take place within three years until October 4, 2021.

Previously, KOSHA helped Vietnam in implementing a 2013-2016 project to improve the development capacity of Vietnam’s occupational health and safety training centre funded by the Korean International Cooperation Agency (KOICA).

The two sides believe that the agreement will continue supporting Vietnam in training and improving capacity for its officials and lecturers in the field.

The Vietnamese side wants to receive technical assistance from KOSHA to enforce the Law on Occupational Safety and Health in line with the country’s socio-economic development strategy in the coming phase.-

Vietnamese, Cambodian journalists’ organisations strengthen ties

VJA Vice President Ho Quang Loi 

The Vietnam Journalists’ Association (VJA) and the Club of Cambodian Journalists (CCJ) on October 4 signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on cooperation.

The MoU was inked by VJA Vice President Ho Quang Loi and CCJ General Secretary Puy Kea at their meeting in Hanoi.

Under the MoU, both sides will step up the exchange of information about each country’s socio-economic development, and political, cultural and tourism affairs.

They will create favourable conditions for correspondents as well as reporters and journalists participating in press events in each country.

Briefing the guests of the association’s structure, position and role, Loi said that it often organises training courses and workshops to improve professional expertise, and holds delegation exchanges with international press organsiations.

He expressed his hope that cooperation between the VJA and the CCJ will grow further, thus helping boost press information and traditional friendship between the two countries.

Puy Kea, in turn, introduced to Loi his club’s role and operation, hoping to understand more about the Vietnamese land and people.

Established on August 26, 2000, the CCJ has now become a leading communication association in Cambodia. Its activities aim to ensure the interests and improve the capacity of journalists and the quality of Cambodian press.

SAMCO violations uncovered

The Sài Gòn Transportation Mechanical Corporation (SAMCO) and its companies have committed serious violations according to HCM City authorities. File Photo

The HCM City People’s Committee has requested an investigation into violations made by the Sài Gòn Transportation Mechanical Corporation (SAMCO) and its companies.

Among SAMCO’s companies, the Miền Đông Bus Station Company and Bến Nghé Port Company committed the most violations.

Miền Đông Bus Station Company earns its revenue via fare collections from vehicles using the station.

This company was found to have poorly managed the station, causing revenue losses.

Specifically, the company signed service contracts with 199 transportation units, with vehicles of 16 to 50 seats.

All units registered with the city’s Department of Transport and had to pay a certain amount, depending on the number of seats and travel distance.

As the city inspectors randomly picked 58 days in 2015, 2016 and 2017, they found that the number of vehicles leaving from Miền Đông Bus Station was more than those actually paying the fare.

The difference ranged from 97 to 206 trips per day.

Based on 174 trips on average, the station lost VNĐ 8.6 million per day and a total of VNĐ 0.5 billion in 58 days.  

In addition to the violation, Miền Đông Bus Station Company should not have loaned SAMCO VNĐ34 billion or allowed supermarkets and other service providers to run business on the station’s land without informing the Department of Natural Resources and Environment.

The valuation of assets of the company, carried out by Đông Á Securities Bank, were inaccurate as well.

Bến Nghé Port Company currently manages 230,500 sq. metres of land at No. 9 Bến Nghé Street in District’s 7 Tân Thuận Đông Ward and 240,000 sq. metres of land in District 9’s Phú Hữu Ward.

Inspectors found that the company, together with Tân Cảng Sài Gòn Company and other stakeholders, established the Tân Cảng – Phú Hữu Joint Stock Company and rented out the entire Phú Hữu Port to the new company.

The city People’s Committee had only allowed collaboration between Bến Nghé Port Company and Tân Cảng Sài Gòn Company, not between Bến Nghé Port Company and Tân Cảng – Phú Hữu Joint Stock Company.

According to the law, Bến Nghé Port Company was not allowed to rent out the entire Phú Hữu Port’s infrastructure.

The HCM City People’s Committee agreed with inspectors and asked SAMCO to review and identify the individuals and organisations that committed violations at both Bến Xe Miền Đông and Bến Nghé Port companies.

The chairman of the city People’s Committee assigned the director of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment to inspect and review the use and management of land and properties of SAMCO, Bến Xe Miền Đông and Bến Nghé Port Companies.

The department is responsible for filing a report and submitting it to the People’s Committee.

Households in Lào Cai to receive compensation after waste pond spill

Households in Bảo Thắng District affected by the waste pond’s spillover in Lào Cai Province will receive compensation. 

The People’s Committee in the northern province of Lào Cai has approved a decision to compensate households that were affected when a wastewater pond burst its banks recently.

The waste pond belonged to a DAP fertiliser factory, and spilled over 45,000cu.m of mud and untreated chemicals into nearby neighbourhoods following torrential rain on September 7.

Twenty-five out of the 41 affected households who were forced to relocate after the incident would receive VNĐ24 billion (over US$1 million) in compensation from DAP, said Vương Trinh Quốc, head of office of the People’s Committee.

Of which, VNĐ18 billion will be used for resettlement and the remainder for residential land payment.

On October 5, the households will move to a resettlement area in Phố Lu Township as they wait for their new houses to be built.

The factory, located in Tằng Loỏng Industrial Park, Bảo Thắng District, has also said it will help families with their rent in the meantime.

Provincial authorities will continue to review the remaining 16 households to make plans for relocation and compensation.

Vice Chairman Lê Ngọc Hưng earlier said that in the long term, the province needed to relocate all households living near the waste pond. 

PM agrees to VNĐ56 billion plan for groundwater protection project

A resident tries to get water from a well. Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc has approved in principle a German-funded project to strengthen underground water protection in Việt Nam. 

Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc has approved in principle a German-funded project to strengthen underground water protection in Việt Nam.

The project, which will use non-refundable Official Development Assistance (ODA) from the German government, aims to ensure efficient and sustainable exploitation and utilization of underground water resources in the context of climate change as well as prevention of water level decline, saline intrusion and land subsidence caused by underground water exploitation in the coastal provinces of the Mekong Delta.

It also aims to enhance water resource management as well as updating, supplementing and setting up a database on groundwater in areas under the project.

Besides, the project will focus on raising public awareness and strengthening co-ordination between professional agencies, administrators and water users in the protection of groundwater resources and improving the capacity to investigate, assess and protect the management of water resources.

To be implemented from 2018 to 2020 nationwide, the project will have total investment of VNĐ56.4 billion (US$2.45 million), of which VNĐ53.3 billion will come from non-refundable ODA from the German Government, while the remainder will be funded by the Việt Nam’s Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment. 

Nearly 150 volunteers to work at WTA’s 11th General Assembly

Nearly 150 volunteers, mostly students, will support delegates at 11th General Assembly of the World Technopolis Association (WTA), which will be held in the southern province of Binh Duong from October 10-12.

The volunteers were carefully chosen from 236 candidates who registered to serve at the event. They are made up of students, officials, and lecturers from universities in Binh Duong and other localities.

They have been sent to training courses to enhance their knowledge of smart cities, the 11th General Assembly of the WTA, as well as landscapes of the province and hospitality skills.

Tran Thi Diem Trinh, Deputy Secretary of Binh Duong Youth Union, said that the event is a chance for local youngsters and members of the union to exchange with their peers from other countries, thus improving their knowledge and experience.

This is also an opportunity for Binh Duong to promote its image as a dynamic and developing locality, she added. 

Info on 41 social housing projects available online

Information about 41 social housing projects is now available on HCM City’s Department of Construction website. 

Information about 41 social housing projects is now available on the HCM City Department of Construction’s website.

The names of invetors, locations, and implementation progress on the apartment building projects are included on the website.

Construction has begun on 39 of the social housing projects, covering a total area of 137.3 hectares and including 20,000 accommodations.

The projects include the Lê Thành An Lạc building in Bình Tân District, a residential area near Bà Bướm Canal in District 7, and a project on Hoàng Bật Đạt Street in Tân Bình District, among others.

At least 80,000 households in the city have demand for social housing, according to.Nguyễn Văn Danh, deputy director of the city’s Department of Construction.

The new social housing projects are expected to meet the demand of workers, stabilise the real estate market, and contribute to socio-economic development.

Experts lament waste of shrimp by-products, call for making high-value items

The potential of large quantities of shrimp by-products from which high-value products can be made has not been exploited since neither State-owned agencies nor private players have bothered to invest enough in research or processing, experts have said.

Shrimp output was more than 720,000 tonnes last year, and the processing industry produced 320,000 tonnes of by-products from them, mostly in the form of heads and shells.

Shrimp heads and shells can be used as raw materials for producing high-value products like chitosan, which is widely used in food, agriculture, bio-technology, cosmetics, medicines, and waste treatment.

Speaking at a seminar held in Cần Thơ City on Wednesday, Trang Sỹ Trung, principal of Nha Trang University, said the quantity of shrimp by-products would continue to increase in the coming years and reach an estimated 500,000 tonnes by 2025.

But shrimp heads and shells are still considered waste and mostly used to make food for animals rather than used properly, he said.

“They can be processed to make quality products to use in many sectors.”

Nguyễn Mạnh Dũng, former head of the Agriculture Development Division at the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development’s agriculture processing and market development department, said shrimp by-products are mishandled by shrimp processors and the fishery processing industry in general, with most letting them decompose naturally, causing severe environmental pollution.

However, if they are used as raw materials they could be valuable for the processing industry, he said.

For instance, shrimp tomalley oil produced from the fresh heads of black-tiger shrimp has a value of VNĐ160,000 per kilogramme, he said.

The country farmed shrimp on 720,000ha last year, producing 723,000 tonnes.

Some companies have invested in processing the crustacean’s by-products to manufacture value-added products like spices and organic fertilisers. The spices include shrimp tomalley paste and shrimp tomalley oil from their heads.

Deputy Minister of Science and Technology Trần Văn Tùng said a lot of research has been done into shrimp production and shrimp by-products in recent years, some in co-operation between research institutes, universities and companies.

These are the foundation for developing a new processing industry with high value addition, he said.

Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Lê Quốc Doanh said research institutes, universities and companies have researched into and invested in making products from shrimp by-products but the results are still modest with the output being mostly raw products, he said.

Ministries, localities and companies should come together and assign priority to exploiting by-products to make other products, he said.

Research into the processing of by-products should be enhanced to innovate new processing technologies and products, he said.

International co-operation too should be strengthened in this regard, he added. 

Forensic tests fail to confirm remains of missing pilot

Military officials look at objects found in the excavation on Tam Đảo mountain.

It was too soon to confirm the remains found on Tam Đảo mountain belong to pilots who went missing 47 years ago, according to forensic experts.

Four days after the excavation of two skeletons which were initially believed to be of a Vietnamese pilot and his Soviet trainer, the Military Institute of Forensic Medicine announced its findings on Monday evening, and they were rather disappointing.

The institute’s chairman Colonel Nguyễn Văn Hòa said that it was extremely difficult to run forensic tests on the remains, which were nearly 50 years old.

Forensic examiners would have to determine the bone structure of the remains and if the bones still have enough DNA material for extraction. A DNA analysis would then be carried out in Hà Nội, Hòa said.

However, preliminary forensic tests run at the Thái Nguyên Province Military Command, which was in charge of the excavation showed that no bone structure was found in the remains.

“Hence it is unable to move to the next forensic steps,” Hòa said.

A search team from the Thái Nguyên Military Command on Friday last week discovered two skeletons at the site of a suspected plane crash about 130m from the peak of Tam Đảo mountain. They were thought to be the Vietnamese pilot Công Phương Thảo and his Soviet trainer Yuri Poyarkov who went missing in a MiG-21U jet fighter during a training session in the mountainous area on April 30, 1971.

Some pieces believed to be from the downed aircraft were handed to the Việt Nam Air Force for analysis.

The military was expanding its search in the area. 

Nguyen Hoang Group collaborates with CV9 Academy to train students in football

Lê Công Vinh, founder of CV9 Academy, and Dr Đỗ Mạnh Cường, permanent member of Nguyễn Hoàng Group’s education council, sign the agreement to implement the project “bring professional football to school.” — Photo Courtesy of NHG

Education giant Nguyễn Hoàng Group has signed an agreement with CV9 Academy, a community football academy founded by Lê Công Vinh, former captain of the national team, to provide professional football training to its students.

More than 40,000 students aged five to 23 at its 40 educational establishments in 15 provinces and cities will get football lessons during their physical education classes with the training programmes designed by experts from the academy.

At the signing ceremony on Wednesday Vinh also became the president of Nguyễn Hoàng’s football department.

He is also the brand ambassador of a Nguyễn Hoàng programme on "bringing professional football to schools" to spread the love of sports, dreams and creativity among the younger generation.

The experts from CV9 will include foreign coaches who played for famous clubs, international coaches and players from the Việt Nam national football team with professional coaching certificates.

The academy has signed up Marshall Soper, a former Australian national player, as a technical advisor.

Dr Đỗ Mạnh Cường, permanent member of Nguyễn Hoàng Group’s education council, said in addition to classroom knowledge today’s young people also need to be physically fit and well equipped in social skills.

The football ground is a practical and useful environment for training people to be resilient, have team spirit and fighting spirit and think intelligently and tactically, he said.