Accidents, traffic jams rise on National Highway 5

Road accidents and traffic gridlocks are on the rise on National Highway 5, which links Hà Nội and Hải Phòng City, despite there being an alternative faster, smoother expressway.

National Highway 5 is a key route that starts from northeast of Hà Nội and runs up to the northern port city. Though the route has been upgraded many times, the quality has never been up to the mark.

A huge number of around 11,000 vehicles using the road daily, half of which are container trucks, has further worsened its condition. 

The road was last upgraded three years ago, but its state has deteriorated again because of the large number of vehicles using it, said Đỗ Đức Việt from the city’s Traffic Police Department. Many parts of the road have sunk because of overloading, Việt said. This has increased traffic congestion as well as accidents, making the highway a high-risk zone.

To reduce sinkage, road maintenance teams have used excavators to rake the ground and make it flatter, but that is just a temporary solution, according to Việt.

According to the Hải Dương Province’s traffic police, the number of traffic accidents and fatalities on the section of National Highway 5 that runs through the province has risen. At least 258 accidents were recorded last year, which claimed 188 lives and injured 151 others. The number of deaths rose by 24.6 per cent in comparison with 2015.

Nguyễn Đăng Việt from Hải Dương’s Traffic Police Department blames the poor state of the road and high traffic for the rise in accidents.

The number of vehicles on National Highway 5 shot up after toll charged on the newly built Hà Nội-Hải Phòng expressway went up as many drivers chose to use this route to avoid paying toll.

During rush hours, traffic jams are common on the section that links Hưng Yên Province and Hà Nội. Authorities said the province has 600,000 motorbikes and 40,000 cars, nearly 10 times higher than that in 2000.

Hoàng Minh Cổn, deputy head of Hưng Yên’s Traffic Police Department, said contractors should reconsider to reduce the toll fee on Hà Nội-Hải Phòng Expressway so that majority of the drivers don’t opt to use the old highway.

The 105-km Hà Nội-Hải Phòng Expressway, the most modern of its kind in Việt Nam, passes through Hà Nội, Hưng Yên, Hải Dương and Hải Phòng. It is 33m wide, has six lanes and traffic can move at 120km per hour. The Việt Nam Infrastructure Development and Finance Investment JSC built the road at a cost of around VNĐ45.5 trillion ($2 billion) under the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) model.

Since April 2016, vehicles using the Expressway have been charged 25 to 50 per cent more as toll; it comes to VNĐ2,000 per km per car. 

Couple discharge unknown waste allegedly causing clam deaths

Local farmers have blamed wastewater discharged into the sea by a couple recently for the mass clam deaths in central Thanh Hóa Province’s Hải Lộc Commune.
The couple, Hoàng Văn Thành and Hoàng Thị Huệ, were caught red-handed while sailing a vessel discharging unknown liquid into the sea last Saturday.
After the action was reported, local police conducted a quick inspection and found 14 plastic barrels with a volume of some 50 litres each. They took samples of the liquid for tests and the barrels were sealed for investigation.
The couple admitted that they worked for a seafood processing business in Hậu Lộc District’s Ngư Lộc Commune. They were hired to discharge the liquid into the sea every three days.
Tens of households in Hải Lộc Commune have seen a large number of their clams die since then. 

Nguyễn Văn Tự, 60, a farmer in Hải Lộc Commune’s Tân Lộc Village, said all 60 tonnes of clams on his farm, which were about to be harvested, and 50 tonnes of clam seed, had died.
The mass deaths resulted in a loss of VNĐ1 billion (US$43,990) and left him in debt.
Tự and other households in the commune collected the dead clams to determine the cause of the deaths but failed to arrive at a conclusion. 
Initial information from the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development showed that some 400 tonnes of clams were wiped out from a 40ha area.
Local farmers said they hoped the test results would identify the cause and they would receive compensation to ease their debt.

HCMC strives to cut poverty rate by 1.4 percent

Since early 2017, Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee planned to adopt measures to reduce multi-dimensional poverty with the goal of cutting rate of 1.2 -1.4 percent of poor households.

The city administration strives to have no poverty households in the end of 2018, said Deputy Head of the Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs Nguyen Van Xe. 

Moreover, the city will set up poverty reduction program into socioeconomic plan for all sectors and agencies. 

Along with this, the city will have policies to support poor people to escape poverty, facilitate them in production and increase access to basic services.

Mr. Xe said that the city’s policies will focus on supporting the poor to increase income, provide vocational training, employment, accessing to social services such as fresh water, healthcare, insurance, social housing, providing social welfare, law supporting, infrastructure and others.

The United Nations Development Program (UNDP)’s multi-dimensional poverty project manager Dr. Le Thi Thanh Loan said that the city has around 65,000 poor households accounting for 3.3 percent of the whole households and 47,000 close-to-poverty households. Half of them are short of education, social insurance; over 39 percent of them are in need of accommodation; one third is unable to access medical services and 15 percent of lack of information.  

Loan pointed out that occupational skills, social insurance and housing are three things which poor people really need.

Housing demand is a big challenge for city administrators, Dr. Du Phuoc Tan from the city Development Research Institute said. As per a survey comprising of 1,300 poor households, 93 percent of them noted their demand of houses.

Statistically, the city has nearly 38,300 low-income households and households whose economic condition is close to poverty having housing demand in next five years. However, they mostly just want to hire or buy social houses and just 12.5 percent of them can afford social condos.

In a bid to narrow the gap between the rich and the poor, Le Van Thanh from the city Development Research Institute said that city leaders must have detailed planning to ensure land fund to build social housing for people with low-income in urban and in industrial parks.

Traffic safety program launched to raise traffic awareness amongst elementary students

The Ministry of Education and Training, the National Traffic Safety Committee and Toyota Company officially announced the program “ Toyota and I learn traffic safety in academic year 2016-2017” and drawing competition themed “Dream car”.

With the goal of raising traffic awareness and knowledge of elementary pupils across the country, the traffic safety program will have two meetings to exchange knowledge of traffic safety in provinces and across the country, focusing on skills in driving, drawing in teams on traffic safety, poetry writing and performing a lesson model on the theme. Participants should employ new methods of teaching with exciting and useful teaching materials, thus making traffic safety lesson more interesting, catchy and easy to understand for students.

Additionally, this year,  real traffic situations will be added into the program to make students employ their knowledge in real situations.

Also within the framework of the “Toyota and I learn traffic” program, the 4th drawing contest “Dream car” for pupils under 15 will be the program’s companion. It aims to inspire students’ imagination and creativeness.

This year is the sixth year the contest has been held in Vietnam and the eleventh year held in the world.

Nearly 8,000 elderly people receive healthcare treatment

From 2014, the national campaign to take care of elderly people for the period 2014-2020 had been launched. In response to the campaign, only in 2016, around 80,000 elderly people received healthcare consultation and treatment by Vinamilk, Vietnam's largest dairy producer, through series of program.

Lecturer of the Army Institute Dr. Nguyen Hoang Le said that according to statistics, Vietnam ranked the 65th in the world in average with the Vietnamese people’s average lifespan reaching over 73.2.

The study also pointed out 95 percent of Vietnamese elderly people have illness mostly noncommunicable chronic diseases and just only 5 percent senior people are healthy. In addition, 70 percent of old people must work to earn money with the support of children and relatives while just more than 25 percent of their counterparts live on pension or social welfare.

The more people grow old, the more health problem they have including  reduced immune system leading to diseases, metabolism disorder, fatty liver, obesity and malnutrition. Once suffering these disorders, old people are likely to have diabetes, atherosclerosis, stroke, myocardial infarction and cancers.

To reduce and prevent these above-mentioned diseases, senior people need a proper diet to avoid these illnesses as well as malnutrition, especially they need to add calcium-Vitamin D, two important substances in building strong and dense bones.

In the globe, people pay attention to Osteoporosis which is popular amongst women than men. To prevent Osteoporosis, senior they needs to consume more calcium, and vitamin D as well as take exercise, keep proper weight, stop smoking and having wine. In stead of being that, they should consume milk and dairy products such as yaourt.

Ministry warns of possibility of bird flu outbreaks in festive season

As it is highly likely that bird flu will occur in the festive season 2017, the Department of Preventive Medicine under the Ministry of Health yesterday warned people to take preventive measures.

As per the department’s warning, people should not eat sick or dead poultry. Additionally, residents are not allowed to slaughter, transport or sell waterfowl without clear indication of origin. Once detecting sick or dead chicken, people should inform local administrators and animal health units.

Noticeably, when people experience fever, cough, pain in chest and breathing problem, they must go to the hospital for timely examination and treatment.

The department of Animal Health under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said that Vietnam recorded bird flu outbreaks in some households in 2016.

On account of close cooperation between health sector and agriculture, outbreaks of bird flu were handled.

Yet relevant agencies still warned of the upcoming festive season, the increased demand for poultry and poultry products may be a high risk of transmission of bird flu to people if there are no any preventive measures from the localities. 

The World Health Organization said that in the end of 2016, bird flu developed complicatedly in many parts of the world. Bird flu strain A(H5) continued occur in countries in the world especially in wild birds and waterfowls in European and Asian countries such as Austria, Croatia, Denmark, Germany, Hungary, India, Israel, Holland, Poland, Russia and Switzerland.

Scientists asserted there has been a link between deaths of wild bird and outbreaks of bird flu in farms. Bird flu cases on human were recorded in China and Egypt with strains of A(H5N1), A (H5N6).

In addition, cases of bird flu A(H7N9) were reported in China with 124 cases, Hong Kong with 1 case.

Charter flight takes nearly 300 Russian visitors to HCMC

The HCMC Department of Tourism coordinated with some relevant agencies to receive 280 Russian visitors from a charter flight of Pegas Touristik Company at Tan Son Nhat International Airport on December 30.

That was the first charter flight taking Russian tourists to HCMC after two years of temporary halt since October 28, 2014, said deputy director of the department La Quoc Khanh.

The halt had been due to economic difficulties in Russia including Ruble depreciation and oil price plunge, said Ms. Hoang Thi Phong Thu, chairwoman of Anh Duong Tourist Company who is representative of Turkish Pegas Touristik in Vietnam.

The Russian economy has gradually recovered so the charter flight service has been resumed. Since early 2016, the company alone has received 139,000 Russians to Vietnam.

After arriving in HCMC, most of the 280 visitors will move to Phan Thiet city and some will drop by Ba Ria-Vung Tau province and Phu Quoc Island. At the end of the tour, they will stay in HCMC in two days.

It is expected that from April next year, there will have a charter flight from Russia to HCMC every ten days. In addition, over 20 Russian travel agents will arrive in Vietnam to do surveys on tourist destinations on January 1.

The number of Russian visitors to Vietnam in 2017 is forecast to increase 20 percent against this year. 

Sy Hoang is back with new ao dai show

Local veteran fashion designer Sy Hoang will host his latest ao dai (Vietnamese long dress) show at Ao Dai Exhibition in HCMC’s District 1, starting from January 3.

The designer has regularly held ao dai performances for ten years now and these shows have made his reputation and stirred up local people’s interest.

The latest show is named “Am vang dat nuoc” (the echo of the country) with an aim to bring a special influence of ao dai to people around the world.  Host of the show will be journalist Trac Thuy Mieu,

Mieu told the Daily that models would perform ao dai styles from the 18th century until current time. Images of the last queen of Vietnam, Nam Phuong, in her imperial costume will be revived at the show.

“During the show, apart from ao dai, there are performances of traditional costumes of 54 ethnic groups of Vietnam, accompanied with traditional musical instruments and songs of hat xam (traditional singing of the North performed by blind artists), chau van (a traditional singing style of Vietnamese people in the northern province of Nam Dinh), and cai luong (Southern opera).

Prior to the show, spectators can admire a collection of ao dai of different times in the main hall of the venue and have better understanding on the historical values of the national costume.

Designer Sy Hoang and director Ngoc Duyen have to choose 40 models for the upcoming show. Those who have been chosen for the show have suitable body figures and look fit for this ao dai collection.

The show is expected to take place daily from 8:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. with the ticket priced at VND700,000 and VND800,000 per person. Tourist companies and schools will have discounts for groups of visitors.

HCM City to carry out 80 traffic congestion projects

Authorities in Ho Chi Minh City are set to implement some 80 projects, costing over US$60 million, in 2017 in a bid to alleviate traffic congestion.

The municipal Department of Transport said the projects would be executed at the city’s transport hub and traffic hotspots to minimize the risk of traffic jams and their impacts on local citizens.

Officials have scratched their heads over congestion on the roads leading to Tan Son Nhat International Airport, which was originally designed to welcome 25 million passengers each year.

However, the airdrome has handled over 26.5 million passengers, which exceeded its capacity, placing immense pressure on the terminals as well as on traffic infrastructure around its entrance.

The prime minister has approved two major projects to relieve such stress on the local streets, which are set to be carried out in an urgent manner.

The two schemes include the construction of two flyovers, one connecting Truong Son and Hong Ha Streets in Tan Binh District and another linking Nguyen Thai Son and Nguyen Kiem Streets in Go Vap District.

Sections of four other roads, namely Hoang Minh Giam, Cong Hoa, Hoang Hoa Tham, and Phan Thuc Duyen, which lead to the airport, will be expanded.

According to the transport department, the above projects will cost a total of VND1.38 trillion (US$60.8 million).

About 14 projects estimated to cost nearly VND5 trillion (US$220.4 million) are ready to be kick-started in 2017 to upgrade infrastructure at Cat Lai Port and the surrounding streets.

Such efforts are exerted to eliminate severe bottlenecks on Dong Van Cong Street, Hanoi Highway, and Mai Chi Tho Avenue.

In order to develop a congestion-free environment in downtown areas and at entrances to the southern city, some 55 plans have been added to the list, with capital totaling VND32.2 trillion (US$1.4 billion).

Among them, some noticeable works include the flyover at Go Vap Roundabout, two bridges connecting Nguyen Van Cu and Nguyen Tri Phuong Streets in District 5 with Vo Van Kiet Street in District 8, a tunnel at An Suong Intersection in District 12, and the Nhi Thien Duong 1 Bridge in District 8.

Two new bridges are also set to be constructed at the Cat Lai and Binh Khanh Ferry Stations to meet the increasing demand for transportation.

Cat Lai Station connects District 2, Ho Chi Minh City, with neighboring Dong Nai Province while Binh Khanh links Nha Be and Can Gio, the two outlying districts of Ho Chi Minh City.

A new street will be built to facilitate travel between the southern metropolis with the Mekong Delta provinces.

Vietnamese takes home US$2.1 million in first jackpot of 2017

Traditional lottery companies throughout Vietnam’s south, meanwhile, have officially raised their stakes.

Vietlott announced that a single ticketholder had won nearly VND49 billion (US$2.1 million) during Sunday's draw.

The win represents the first jackpot of 2017 and the ninth since mid-October, according to the company's website.

On Christmas day, Vietlott also announced that two winners had split a $7 million jackpot—the largest to date. The pair represented the seventh and eighth winners of the lottery.

In early December, Vietlott officially sent 150 employees to Hanoi as part of an expansion.

In January, Vietlott signed an exclusive 18-year contract with Malaysian conglomerate Berjaya to launch computerized lottery games.

Vietnam generally does not allow its citizens to gamble, but lottery tickets are popular across the country.

Traditional lottery tickets in Vietnam have predetermined numbers printed on them, with the highest prize set at VND1.5 billion.

Facing tough competition from Vietlott, the companies that sell these traditional tickets have decided to raise the top prize by 33% to VND2 billion, starting January 1, 2017.

Funds raised to support poor people ahead Lunar New Year

More than US$750,000 was raised at a program held in Ha Nam province on January 1 to help the poor enjoy a happy Lunar New Year festival later this month.

Volunteer clubs and charity organizations in Gia Lai province hosted performances to call for support for orphans and poor patients on the first days of the New Year. They also provided free meals for ethnic minority and poor patients who are under treatment at hospitals.

Health workers in Binh Dinh province have provided free medicine, and medical checkups, and disinfected water sources to people in flood-hit areas. Local medical staff have also launched blood donation campaigns. 

“We have called on companies, and enterprises to support disadvantaged people, especially those in flood-hit areas. So far, 700 gifts have been donated to poor people and patients," said Le Quang Hung, Director of Binh Dinh province’s Department of Health. 

Vietnam draws up rules for foreign education agents

Tens of thousands of Vietnamese seeking degrees abroad every year have created a booming industry for service providers.

The Vietnamese government is drafting regulations to recognize, for the first time, foreign organizations that provide educational services for students seeking degrees abroad.

According to local media reports, the Ministry of Education and Training believed the new legislation will make it easier to manage the booming industry.

Many foreign agents offering placement and consultancy services have already thrived in the country, but they are not governed by any rule at the moment.

The number of Vietnamese students going abroad has risen dramatically in recent years.

As of November 2016, Vietnam had sent over 30,000 students to the US, ranking sixth among countries with the most students at American educational institutions, according to the latest US Student and Exchange Visitor Program report.

To put things in perspective, Vietnam has surpassed Japan in total enrollment and come close to Canada. The current number of Vietnamese students in the US has almost doubled that in 2009, when the country first made it to the top 10 with some 16,000 students.

Vietnam has continued to distance itself from other Southeast Asian peers, to be the top source of students in the region for the US.

Australia, Singapore and the UK are among other favorite destinations of Vietnamese students.

The education ministry said it will also introduce new rules to officially recognize foreign accreditation organizations in the country.

Central Highlands: 100 communes recognised as new-style rural areas

The Central Highlands provinces have more than 100 communes and one district recognised as new-style rural areas, according to the Steering Committee for the Central Highlands Region.

Of these communes, 50 are in Gia Lai province and 45 are in Lam Dong, which is also the first province in the region having a district recognised.

Since 2011, the Central Highlands provinces have mobilised over 90 trillion VND (3.96 billion USD) to implement the new style rural area building programme, including 2.23 trillion VND (98.12 million USD) from the State budget and the remaining from organisations and individuals.

The money has been allocated rationally for communes, helping poor communes narrow the infrastructure gap with others.

Ethnic minority people have voluntarily donated land and working hours to the new style rural area building.

More than 1,000 effective production models using high technologies in farming and aquaculture have been developed and multiplied in many localities.

For example, Lam Dong has over 43,000 hectares of hi-tech cultivation land, accounting for 15.9 percent of its agricultural land. As a result, agricultural production value and farmers’ income have increased by up to 30 percent.

The national programme on building new-style rural areas, initiated by the Government in 2010, includes 19 criteria on socio-economic development, politics and defence, aiming to boost rural areas of Vietnam.

The criteria cover infrastructure development, production capacity improvement, environmental protection and cultural value promotion.

Lao Cai, Yunnan border guards hold joint patrol

Border guards from Vietnam’s Lao Cai International Border Gate in the northern province of Lao Cai and China’s Hekou International Border Gate in Yunnan province on January 1 held a joint patrol along the Red River from the border marker number 99 to 104. 

On the same day, Lao Cai border guards and their Chinese counterparts also held a meeting to exchange New Year wishes and discuss border and border gate management issues. They affirmed their high determination to foster cooperation in ensuring border security and combating smuggling.

Vietnamese and Chinese border guards also met in the middle of Kim Thanh railway and road bridge number 2 and Ho Kieu bridge to send New Year greetings to each other. They agreed to coordinate closely to protect the shared border.

In recent years, Lao Cai’s border guards have enjoyed sound relations with their Chinese counterparts through numerous exchange programmes in culture, art and sports. They have worked closely in popularising law to locals along the shared border as well as preventing and combating cross-border crimes in a more effective manner.-

Sustained support needed to sustain poverty reduction

Poverty reduction programmes have had positive impacts on the living standards of ethnic minorities, but the challenge of sustaining the gains remains, experts say.

Do Van Chien, Minister and Chairman of the Committee for Ethnic Affairs, said the government’s social policies upgraded the socio-economic infrastructure in rural, mountainous and ethnic minority areas, gradually improving the lives of poor people.

A 2015 survey of nation’s 53 ethnic minority communities showed that the number of household receiving electricity from the national grid nearly reached 94 percent. All communes have primary and secondary schools.

The poverty rate among poor households fell from 35 percent in 2011 to 16.8 percent by the end of 2015.

The Government adjusted its support for ethnic minority and mountainous areas, shifting its focus from families to communities and paying more attention to creating livelihoods so as to reduce reliance on aid, he said.

The provision of grants was replaced by provision of loans at preferential interest rates.

Ethnic minority-inhabited areas benefited from two national programmes, 135 and 30a, one on rural development and the other on sustainable poverty reduction.

The Government promulgated specific policies to support the poor’s access to land, credit, education, housing, clean water and health insurance. However, despite all these achievements, limitations persisted in efforts to eradicate hunger and alleviate poverty, Chien said.

A lack of long-term support resulted in the fact that many support policies didn’t have the desired impact, he said.

Trang A Thao, a resident of Xa Ho commune in the northern mountainous province of Yen Bai, said his family had not been able to achieve high productivity even after receiving support to shift from planting cassava to maize.

Xa Viet Xuan, Chairman of the People’s Committee of Tan Minh, a disadvantaged commune in the northern province of Hoa Binh, said such policies like fertiliser and seedling assistance can only help local residents in the short term. Since they cannot accumulate enough after each crop, they don’t have the resources to increase or even maintain production.

Son Phuoc Ngoan, former Chairman of the Committee for Ethnic Affairs, said insufficient funding led to ineffective poverty reduction.

"Ethnic minorities want to buy a cow but they are only able to buy a part of the cow. So they can’t escape poverty", he said.

This view was confirmed by Hoang Thi Dung of Yen Bai province’s Van Yen district.

"We want to get rid of poverty but we don’t have the capital to expand our production," she said.

It costs between 15-20 million VND (660-880 USD) to buy a buffalo. Of these, 5 million VND (220 USD) is given by the government but poor people like her couldn’t afford to raise the remaining funds on their own, Dung said.

Nong Van Tong, who heads the Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Office in Yen Bai’s Bao Lac district, said it is difficult to promote sustainable development with policies that don’t focus on key areas.

Under the 30a programme, farmers received a one-time support. So, if a farmer received a cow or seedlings this year, he would not get any assistance the following year, he said.

"Encouraging ethnic minorities to proactively escape poverty and avoid relying on support from the State and community is an approach in the right direction, but there is no alternative to raising capital allocation for extremely disadvantaged areas and reviewing the way people get support," Chien said.

Vietnam arrests Parisian wanted for child sexual assault in France

The 49-year-old fencing coach has been accused of assaulting a 9-year-old student.

Police in the central province of Khanh Hoa have arrested a French man who is wanted by Interpol for the sexual assault of a 9-year-old girl in his home country.

Khanh Hoa police said they found Alexandre Allione Horeau, 49, and his wife at an apartment last week, local media reported.

Police in Paris have been looking for Horeau, a fencing coach, since March 2016 after the parents of a 9-year-old student accused him of sexually assaulting their daughter, according to Interpol.

He and his wife reportedly fled to Cambodia, and then to Nha Trang resort town in Khanh Hoa.

French police issued a warrant for him in June, before Interpol followed with an international warrant.

Horeau will be handed to Interpol to be transferred back to France, Khanh Hoa Online reported.

A UNICEF study in 2014 estimated that around 120 million girls under the age of 20, or one in 10 worldwide,  have been subjected to forced sexual intercourse or other forced sexual acts at some point of their lives.

HCM City honours outstanding young citizens

The Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union's chapter in Ho Chi Minh City has honoured ten outstanding young citizens of the city in 2016, chosen 131 nominations, double the number of nominees last year.

Eligible youth are 30 years old and under. The 10 outstanding youth typify the talented young faces that exist in various fields, including education, scientific resreach, sports, the arts and start-up and innovation movements. 

In his speech at a honour ceremony held in HCM City on January 3, Vice Secretary of the municipal Party Committee Tat Thanh Cang hopes the honoured young people as well as the youths of the city will continue endeavouring to obtain more achievements, contributing to the  city’s development. 

He urged the chapter to further promote emulation movements towards calling for more dedication, innovation and contributions to the nation’s development. 

Initiated by the chapter since 2006, the programme has so far honoured 68 young people. 

It is expected to promote more examples of outstanding young who dedicate themselves to the city's youth movements.

Ben Tre restructures agriculture to adapt to climate change

The Mekong Delta province of Ben Tre plans to convert 6,000 hectares of low-efficient rice production to high-value crops in order to adapt to the increasingly severe impacts of climate change, a local official said.

According to the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, in 2016, the rice growing area was 58,246 hectares, falling 7.5 percent from 2015 while the areas developed for grass and coconut cultivation were 3,035 hectares and 69,330 hectares, up 15.8 percent and 1.1 percent, respectively.

In the context of increasing saltwater intrusion, over 852 hectares of low-harvest rice have been shifted to other crops with higher values, such as fruit trees, vegetables, and grass used as feed for livestock.

In 2013, Nguyen Tri Nhan from Chau Hung commune, Binh Dai district planted 120 coconut trees on 4,000 sq. m. of rice growing land. After three years, the coconut trees started giving fruits and he earned over 50 million VND in 2016.

Nhan said he toiled and spent more money growing rice but getting lower profit than the cultivation of coconut trees.

Now he grew coconut trees on 8,000 sq. m. of low-efficient rice fields.

Meanwhile, Vo Thanh Long, also from the commune, said he grew custard-apple trees instead of rice, and could earn 50 million VND on 1,000 sq. m. of land, much higher than rice.

Tran Phong Linh, Vice Chairman of the Chau Hung commune People’s Committee said local farmers can earn a profit of between 500,000 – 700,000 VND from a rice crop but 7 – 8 million VND per year from fruit trees, even 20 – 25 million VND per year from pomelo trees.

Nguyen Tan Khoa from Quoi Dien commune, Thanh Phu district said he grew coconut trees and grass instead of rice on over 3,000 sq. m, and raised five cows and 10 goats. He said he will reduce the herd when the coconut trees grow up.

According to Truong Thanh Hai, an agriculture official from Thanh Phu district said the district was seriously affected by droughts and saltwater intrusion in 2016. To cope with the situation, local farmers were encouraged to grow saltwater-tolerant crops.

In 2016, around 300 hectares of rice growing land were replaced with coconuts and grass.

The Mekong Delta has more than 3.8 million hectares of agricultural land, and the area for rice farming accounts for roughly half of it, ranging between 1.6-1.8 million hectares. 

The region makes up nearly 50 percent of the nation’s rice growing area, more than 70 percent of area for aquaculture, producing 40 percent of total agricultural production value, and more than 50 percent of aquatic product output. 

A climate change scenario shows that 90 percent of the agricultural land in the Mekong Delta is vulnerable to flooding, and 70 percent to saline intrusion. 

Rice productivity is projected to fall by 50 percent by 2100 due to increasing floods and saline intrusion.

HCMC to repair burst tidal sluice gates within a week

Deputy Chairman of the HCMC People’s Committee Le Van Khoa on January 4 asked the city Steering Center for Flood Control Program to repair two burst tidal sluice gates in District 12 within seven days.

Mr. Khoa was speaking while he together with secretary of the city Party Committee Dinh La Thang inspected Thanh Loc and Thanh Xuan wards, District 12 where Can Du and Tam Du tidal sluice gates broke unleashing flood tide from the Vam Thuat river to overflow and submerge hundreds of households.

Visiting affected households, Mr. Khoa instructed the district to check their damage to have assistance measures.

City Party Secretary Dinh La Thang instructed the center and the district to regularly inspect all tidal sluices and immediately repair damaged or downgraded ones to prevent any similar accident from occurring.

He asked the center to give District 12 and other districts administrative power to better manage, maintain and repair tidal sluices in their localities instead of spreading itself thin as present.

Two killed, two others wounded in a building demolition

Two workers were killed and two others wounded when a wall collapsed on a team demolishing an old building around 1:30pm in Trần Phú street on Wednesday.

The city’s administration officially announced that the two workers from Quảng Nam province died immediately at the construction site at 42 Trần Phú Street, a short way from the Hàn Swing Bridge.

The collapse also wounded two others workers, but they have recovered after quick treatment at the city’s general hospital.

The worker team, working for Chiến Dũng company in Đà Nẵng, dismantled the old building in a clearance contract of the on-going road-tunnel at west side of the Hàn Swing Bridge.

The city’s administration supported VNĐ5 million each for the families of the dead workers, and VNĐ2 million for each wounded worker.

The company also supported VNĐ50 million for each worker killed after the accident.
The police are investigating the case. It’s the worst labour accident in Đà Nẵng so far this year. 

Cần Thơ’s doctors save two premature babies

Doctors at the Maternity Hospital in the southern province of Cần Thơ saved the lives of two premature babies, Nguyễn Thị Ngọc Hà, deputy head of the Newborn Department, said.

In December, a 20-year-old woman who was 27 weeks pregnant, in Cờ Đỏ District, was hospitalised following difficulties in her pregnancy.

Doctors quickly performed surgery on her and succeeded in saving the female infant, who weighed only 800g.

In the middle of the same month, another woman in her 29th week of pregnancy, in Ô Môn District was also hospitalised with serious hypertension and preeclampsia.

A male infant was born weighing 750g following surgery, the doctor said.

Although both babies had to use a machine to assist them in breathing after the surgeries, the two babies can now breathe without external support and are growing fast, Hà said.
She said premature babies often face high risk of death due to severe respiratory failure, sepsis and enteritis.

Nguyễn Hữu Dự, the hospital’s director, said the surgeries were not only a success for the hospital that was treating the premature babies, but also for the whole region of Mekong Delta.

Hà Nội to host first elite table tennis tourney

Việt Nam’s first Elite Table Tennis Tournament will be organised in Hà Nội this weekend.
The event is a men’s singles tournament featuring 16 athletes, including Southeast Asian champion Nguyễn Anh Tú and other national leading players Đoàn Kiến Quốc, Trần Tuấn Quỳnh, Đoàn Bá Tuấn Anh and Dương Văn Nam.

The players will be divided into four groups and will compete in a round robin format. The top two will advance to quarter-final rounds.

The tournament also presents the biggest bonus ever available in a local event: the winner will walk away with VNĐ60 million (US$2,500).

Tournament attendance is free of charge at the Hoàng Mai Gymnasium, lane 104 Nguyễn An Ninh Street. 

Quang Nam uses provincial budget for citizens to celebrate Tet festival

The People’s Committee in the central province of Quang Nam has decided to spend VND127 billion (US$5.6 million) from its budget on assisting local citizens to celebrate the Tet festival coming on January 28.
 
The funds will be transferred to districts half a month before the Tet for citizens to prepare for the upcoming Tet. In addition, over 1,700 residential areas will receive VND15 million ($662) each to organize amusement programs for locals.

At present, 46,200 flood hit and poor households in the province need rice assistance for the Tet holiday with the total volume of nearly 2,000 tons, reported the committee. Only three localities including Tam Ky city, Hoi An city and Nam Giang district have not proposed to receive the relief.
 
The provincial Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs said it had paid social allowances in the first two months of 2017 before the Tet for beneficiaries to prepare for the upcoming Tet.

Chairman of the committee Dinh Van Thu said that Quang Nam would not let off fireworks or visit central government leaders in Tet holidays and use saved amount of money to take care of the poor and families under preferential treatment policies in accordance with instructions by the Central Party Committee and the Prime Minister.

Mr. Thu said that despite being affected by storms and floodings in 2016, Quang Nam had not asked for rice assistance from the central Government but used its budget to relieve flood hit citizens.

VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/TT/TN/Dantri/VNE