Ministry: Truck loads to be inspected before departure

Minister of Transport Dinh La Thang said weighbridges will be set up at warehouses, ports and other places where goods are loaded onto trucks in a stronger move to bar overloaded trucks from the road.

Figures of the Directorate for Roads showed that law enforcement agencies inspected over 430,000 vehicles and discovered over 57,000 violations from April 1 to December 31 last year, heard the ministry’s meeting on enhancing the monitoring of truck loads on Tuesday. Around 5,900 out of over 56,000 trucks inspected in the year’s first two months were found violating load limit regulations.

Competent agencies detected and fined more than 1,152 oversized trucks in the period as well.

However, Tran Bao Ngoc, director of the Transport Department at the ministry, said many overloaded trucks are still seen on the road at night. Authorities in some provinces have not got tough on overloaded trucks for fear of possible impact on their economic development and the implementation of construction projects.

The Ministry of Transport admitted that it is difficult to inspect and control truck loads due to opposition and bribe giving by truck drivers and goods owners. In addition, many are still doubtful about the ministry’s determination to put truck load under control.

To effectively prevent truck overload, in addition to inspecting truck loads prior to their departures, Minister Thang told the management units at warehouses and ports as well as transport enterprises to supervise and ensure that trucks do not break load limits when they depart.

The agencies under the ministry must take synchronous measures and improve the capacity of railway, water and air transport to ease pressure on road transport. Authorities of ports, stations, airports and investors of big projects are expected to pledge not to break truck load limits.

Minister Thang asked Vietnam Register and the Directorate for Roads to report on truck load controls in each province in detail. The Transport Department is assigned to revise legal documents and propose heavier penalties.

The ministry has set a target of doing away with overloaded trucks from the road this year, according to Thang.

Leprosy treatment centre opens in HCM City

The Ho Chi Minh City Dermatology Hospital together with its French partner inaugurated a new leprosy treatment facility on March 4.

The three-storey building covering 1,600 sq.m of land was constructed at a cost of 28 billion VND (1.3 million USD) sourced from the municipal budget.

Nguyen Huu Hung, Vice Director of the city’s Health Department, said the establishment marks the 25-year collaboration between the hospital and Ordre de Malte (OMF), a French medical organisation.

The facility will help improve leprosy prevention and treatment in the country as well as consolidate the HCM City Dermatology Hospital’s position as a regional leprosy consultation centre, Hung added.

The Ho Chi Minh City Dermatology Hospital has also coordinated with the OMF to transfer medical techniques to medical workers in Laos and Cambodia and carry out free surgery for poor patients.

On the occasion, HCM City’s Health Department awarded certificates of merit to four French medical experts including OMF President Yann Baggio. The OMF also presented certificates of merits and medals to five doctors of the Ho Chi Minh City Dermatology Hospital.

Great physician Hai Thuong Lan Ong remembered

A ceremony was held on March 5 in Huong Son district, central Ha Tinh province, to mark the 224th death anniversary of Great physician Hai Thuong Lan Ong Le Huu Trac.

Permanent Vice Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Nguyen Thien gave a keynote speech on Hai Thuong Lan Ong’s life and professional career as a physician.

During 40 years of research, he had collected additional 305 Vietnamese medical herbs, and over 2,850 remedies for treating various diseases from predecessors, Thien said.

Le Huu Trac was the author of a memorable work on traditional medicine known as “Hai Thuong y tong tam linh”, the encyclopedia of Vietnamese Traditional Medicine. This encyclopedia, which has 22 chapters making up 66 volumes, has become a classic in the field, providing a valuable source of knowledge for later generations of herb-doctors, the Vice Chairman added.

The UNESCO recognised the Great Physician as a world cultural and well-known man for his great contribution to the development of traditional medicine and culture of the world.

For her part, Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Thi Xuyen praised the past efforts of herb doctors to inherit, preserve and develop the traditional medicine sector, notably their self-training and mixed uses of traditional medicine and modern drugs.

She hoped the doctors will keep up their good work to improve treatment quality in the future.

During the event, some 69 outstanding individuals in the sector were awarded by the Ministry of Health (MoH) together with the launch of a charitable clinic at Hai Thuong Ecotourism Park.

Earlier, a delegation of the MoH and the province’s leaders paid tribute to and planted memorial trees at Hai Thuong Lan Ong’s grave site and his memorial house.

Hai Thuong Lan Ong Le Huu Trac was born in 1720 in Yen My district, northern Hung Yen province.-

Project on Mekong Delta’s mangrove forest protection continues

The Prime Minister has approved the second phase of the Integrated Coastal Management Programme (ICMP) which aims to protect the Mekong Delta coastal and mangrove forests.

The project will be carried out from 2015 to 2018 at a total cost of 8.8 million EUR (9.7 million USD). Of the sum, 4.4 million EUR was funded through the German Government and 3.6 million EUR from the Australian Government.

The second phase is focused on forming a legal framework for developing measures to adapt to climate change and promote green growth; provide stakeholders with technical and financial assistance for integrated coastal climate-resilient area protection; and establish a regional link and ecosystem-friendly approach in the region.

The first phase of the project was implemented from 2011 to 2014 in the five regional provinces of An Giang, Bac Lieu, Ca Mau, Kien Giang and Soc Trang.

Tien Giang could lose forest buffer to climate change

The mangrove forest in Tien Giang's province Go Cong coastal region could disappear forever if effective solutions are not identified and implemented immediately, officials said.

They said that the forest, which acts as a crucial buffer protecting sea dykes, preventing flooding, facilitating agricultural production and protecting the life and livelihoods of thousands of residents, is threatened by climate change impacts.

The online newspaper of Voice of Vietnam (VOV) reports that the region has about 700ha of preventive forest of mainly mangroves and ban (Sonneratia pagatpat) and mam (avicennia) trees.

The report does not mention human actions that have led to deforestation, but cites officials as saying rising sea water levels have "killed" or eroded parts of the forest, narrowing its area.

For instance, numerous key spots along the sea dyke stretching more than 200km from Tan Thanh commune to Vam Lang commune in Go Cong Dong district are no longer protected by the forest, which has led to sea water encroachment that has penetrated the base of the dyke.

Forest trees are being uprooted or dying of other causes, according to the VOV report.

It cites an official of the Tien Giang Dyke and Preventive Forest Management agency as saying that there are at least 10 spots in Go Cong Dong district's Tan Dien commune where the forest has been eroded by between four to 10 metres.

Provincial authorities say they have made all-out efforts to popularise afforestation and forest protection activities, intensified patrols to spot violations of the forest of the sea dyke, to patrol, examine and deal with any violations to forest and invested hundreds of billions of dong to build concrete dykes.

These activities are designed to defend a 3,500m-long dyke major portions of which have lost the protective buffer provided by the forest.

However, the province lacks the resources to reforest the areas affected by excessive salination. Without feasible solutions, the preventive forest along Go Cong coastal region is very likely be erased, the report said.

Japan funds over US$1 million for two healthcare projects

The Japanese Government will provide Vietnam with a non-refundable aid worth over US$1 million to carry out two healthcare projects on paediatric nutrition and women's reproductive health.

Two agreements regarding these issues were signed in Hanoi on March 5 between Japanese Embassy’s representative Jun Yanagi, co-ordinator of the Save the Children Japan project, Ayaka Arai and Director of the Japanese Organisation for International Co-operation in Family Planning (JOICFP), Yamaguchi Sumie.

As outlined in the agreements, the Japanese Government will provide US$469,131 to the Save the Children Japan to implement the ‘Improving children’s nutrition and ensuring food security for the disadvantaged’ (third phase) project in Yen Bai northern province over the next three years.

The rate of children affected by stunted growth in Yen Bai province is higher than the national average.

The Japanese Government will also fund US$591,864 for the project 'Establishing healthcare centres for women and improving the midwifery capacity at a grassroots level' carried out by the JOICFP.

The two projects regarding key issues under the international co-operation framework of the Japanese Government aim to reduce hunger and poverty in Asia.

Mass return of fish to Tien River in An Giang

The aquaculture sector in the Mekong Delta province of An Giang held a large-scale fish release programme on March 5 in a bid to reproduce valuable local breeds and protect the ecosystem.

The event freed 836,520 fish of various types into the branch of the Tien River that flows through Phu Tan district under a backdrop of awareness-raising campaigns with vivid images and messages on green fishing and rare fish protection.

Nguyen Thanh Binh, Vice Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee, spoke highly of the support from enterprises, organisations and individuals to this meaningful activity, which he hoped would become an annual event.

Phu Tan district, located next to the Tien, Hau and Vam rivers, is home to a dense network of canals and irrigation ditches. In recent years, overfishing has substantially reduced the quantity of fish in the locality and particularly the number of rare breeds.-

Vietnamese woman believed to have jumped off Singapore overpass

A Vietnamese woman who died after falling down from an elevated highway in Singapore is now believed to have jumped off the overpass herself, according to media reports.

Vu Bang, an official at the Vietnamese Embassy in Singapore, told Thanh Nien on March 4 that the woman has been identified as Le Thi Hau, 24, who entered Singapore on February 5.

Local police said Hau arrived on a 30-day travel visa. The police had contacted her family, who will arrive in Singapore later today to witness the autopsy of her body.

Chinese evening daily Lianhe Wanbao reported that the woman was on a motorcycle driven by a middle-aged Singaporean man on West Coast Highway, which is running above Telok Blangah Road, on Tuesday afternoon before she got off and jumped.

She reportedly fell from a six-story height down to a motorcycle below, landing in front of a bus stop near Seah Im Food Center. The 24-year-old motorcyclist had minor injuries, Lianhe Wanbao said.

Witnesses told Lianhe Wanbao that she appeared to be breathing but succumbed to her injuries soon after. At the time she jumped off the elevated highway, the Singaporean man who accompanied her appeared trying to stop her but failed, witnesses said.

When he arrived at the accident site, the woman was dead. He then held her body and attempted to revive her. The man is believed to have lived with her in a flat at Clementi, a town in Singapore. He was unwilling to talk when approached by reporters.

Singaporean police classified the death as “unnatural” and said they are still investigating it.

Vietnam to seek new water sources underground

The Government has approved a national programme to look for underground water in 44 cities and provinces where water supply was limited.

Such regions as Central Vietnam, the Central Highlands and the Mekong Delta have experienced difficulty in securing ample supplies of clean water.

This has negatively affected the livelihood of citizens, hindered socio-economic development and posed a threat to stability and security.

The programme will provide support for cities and provinces across the country focused on searching for subterranean water, using science and technology to make sure it is clean, and building clean water-supply models in hill areas and other regions with limited water supplies.

Four cities and provinces on the North Central Coast, 12 on the South Central Coast and Central Highlands, and 12 on the Mekong Delta have a total of 1,333 localities qualified under the programme.

The core objective of the programme is to secure clean water supply and improve living standards of citizens, especially ethnic people.

Ha Noi job promotion centre sees employer-applicant gap

Just after Tet vacation ended, Nguyen Viet Linh, 21, rushed to the Job Promotion Centre in Ha Noi just as it opened in search of career opportunities.

Linh, who graduated from the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, wanted a simple, stable office position.

"I dropped by some consulting tables to get opportunities and experiences, with the hope that I could meet employer demand," Linh said.

However, the jobs weren't what she was looking for. She found a gap between what employers demanded and what she could offer.

Many university graduates were looking for jobs, but a limited number of such high-skilled positions were available, said Vu Thi Thanh Lieu, head of the Ha Noi Job Promotion Centre's Labour Information Department. In contrast, the need for mechanics and manual labourers was quite high.

Lieu said that due to the lack of manual workers while the demand was high, many employees with university and college education had to accept manual labour jobs. She also said her centre's rate of successful connections between enterprises and employees was a low 30 per cent.

Chu Thu Thao, a personnel manager at Trung Tin Import-Export Company, said the centre was focusing on recruiting manual labour, sales and marketing, and some technical jobs.

"Many applicants come to the centre lacking soft skills and the ability to work," she said.

Dang Duy Tien, a personnel staff member at the construction material producer Javta Company, said he agreed that enterprises were demanding different types of jobs from what applicants were offering.

"As my company deals with production, we only need manual workers," he said. "However, the applications we received were mostly for high skilled jobs."

Tao Bang Huy, deputy head of the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs' Employment Department, said the phenomena came from the city's lack of a labour demand and supply database.

"The Ha Noi Job Promotion Centre should build such a database for the labour market soon, and work with training firms, enterprises and localities," he said.

Lieu said the centre would work with enterprises to organise talks and forums for employees to learn about jobs and skills, to shorten the gap between supply and demand in the market.

"The centre will open mobile promotion centres across the city soon, and connect with centres from other cities and provinces," she said.

Applicants urged to hand in CVs directly

Job seekers wanting to find jobs in southern Dong Nai Province have been told by the authorities to directly hand in their CVs to employers instead of going to private employment agencies.

The advice came after job seekers from other provinces came to Dong Nai to find jobs, not knowing that they could directly hand in their CVs to companies instead of paying VND50,000 – 100,000 (US$2.5-5) to private intermediary centres to hand in their CVs to companies.

For example, Nguyen Van Quang, of northern Ha Tinh Province, said he paid a local employment centre in Dong Nai's Tan Hiep Ward with the expectation of getting a stable job.

After Quang handed in his CV and paid VND100,000 ($2.50), the centre's representative told Quang he would get a job the next day, he said.

However, it was just a seasonal job without an official labour contract, so he quit and went in search again.

While some job seekers are paying fees and coming up empty-handed via such centres, many local companies have openly expressed their high demand for workers.

Statistics from the provincial Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Ministry show that as many as 48,000 workers are wanted in the province for the first quarter of this year.

A representative of a Dong Nai-based company specialising in building materials said that the company's recruitment notices have been posted on the company's gate and placed in crowded areas since February 26.

Only two people came to hand in their CVs so far, but the company wants to recruit 40, the representative said.

In addition, job seekers are also advised to come to local State-owned job introduction centres for receiving free employment counseling.

Lam Thanh Thu, deputy head of the State-owned East Mekong Delta Job Introduction Centre, said that the centre offers free counseling to job seekers everyday.

Thu's centre also holds a monthly job fair where employers can directly interview and recruit labourers, he said.

It is hoped that the advice to reach out to State employment centres or directly approach companies will change the tide and satisfy both supply and demand.

HCM City increases disease prevention

Eight districts with high incidences of contagious diseases will take part in a three-year programme on disease prevention, Nguyen Tri Dung, the head of the HCM City Preventive Health Centre in HCM City has said.

Dung, who spoke at a meeting with the centre and its district branches, on Wednesday, said the eight districts were densely populated and were in developing urban areas with a high risk of outbreak of disease.

The districts include Binh Tan, Binh Chanh, Hoc Mon, Tan Binh, Tan Phu, Thu Duc and Go Vap, as well as District 8.

He said the programme would expand to the city's remaining districts if the three-year plan was successful in the eight districts.

Dung also instructed districts' preventive health centres to conduct preventive methods at kindergartens and schools this month, a peak period for measles, chickenpox and mumps.

In the first two months of the year, chickenpox broke out in a primary school in District 12 and at a kindergarten in Binh Thanh District.

The centre as well as local health officials and school managers have ordered the schools to be disinfected.

Children with chickenpox have been told to stay at home for treatment and isolation to prevent the spread of disease.

As of February 28, no outbreak of chickenpox had occurred at the schools, Dung said.

However, school managers should be vigilant and take preventive measures and monitor absent students who have been sick, he added.

Communication about disease-prevention measures, such as hand-washing and vaccinations against disease, should also be improved, he said.

Fire destroys fishing boat in Quang Nam

A midnight fire yesterday completely destroyed the boat of cuttlefish fishermen Huynh Van Tri and Nguyen Khanh, residents of Tam Giang Commune, in Quang Nam Province's Nui Thanh District.

Property worth an estimated VND5 billion (US$234,000) has been lost in the fire.

Fourteen firefighters were mobilised to extinguish the blaze, but could not contain it till 5am today, due to dry weather and the inflammable materials stored in the boat.

The two owners of the boat had about 40 regular employees.

Pham Van Chau, deputy chairperson of Tam Giang Commune People's Committee, said that the authorities will do their best to ensure that the boat owners are able to get loans for constructing a new boat.

Ha Noi sets up self-management teams

The Ha Noi Youth Union on Wednesday launched a project to set up self-management teams in order to maintain public order in the city.

The teams, known as Self-Management Team 3+, will include youth, women, war veterans and anyone who volunteers and wants to join the team, said standing deputy secretary of Ha Noi Youth Union Nguyen Van Thang.

He added that this year, the youth union will set up 168 teams in 168 wards in the city.

The teams will work every Saturday, and during city and national events.

They will clean up public places or "hot spots" in the city, and maintain traffic safety at main intersections and at schools' gates.

The teams will also participate in the city's charity programmes in hospitals, help candidates during the university entrance exams that are held every July, and join hands with local authorities to remove illegal vendors that affect the image of the city as a civilised place.

Prevent sharing of hospital beds, says government

The medical services administration under the health ministry has asked 17 national hospitals across the country to pledge that they will not allow patients to share hospital beds.

The directive has been issued to ensure quality treatment and patients' rights.

Associate professor Luong Ngoc Khue, director of the medical services administration, said that the administration will not force hospitals to implement the pledge if they do not have enough facilities.

Implementation of the pledge should be based on the hospitals' condition, he added.

The administration also asked the Ha Noi-based Bach Mai Hospital to clarify reports that some hospitals had refused to receive patients as they wanted to implement the pledge and, as a result, the patients had to rush to the Bach Mai Hospital.

The administration told the Bach Mai Hospital to send the names of the hospitals to the health ministry in case these reports are proved to be true.

The administration will check and impose strict punishment on hospitals that do not obey the regulations on shifting of patients to other hospitals, or refuse to receive patients, seriously affecting their health.

4 injured in HCM City after jumping from 2nd floor to escape fire

Four members of a family were injured, two of them badly, after jumping from the second floor of their house in HCM City's District 7 to escape from a fire early this morning (March 5).

They were informed about the blaze in the first floor of their house at 167/25 Huynh Tan Phat Street at around 1.30am this morning, and were trapped on the second floor.

All four jumped but two escaped with minor injuries after neighbours placed mattresses and cushions on the ground to break their fall.

Fire departments in Districts 2, 4, and 7 sent around 10 fire engines to the site and the blaze was contained an hour later.

Neighbours said the firemen found it very difficult since the house is also a shop selling cloth and located deep inside a narrow alley.

A fifth member of the family was not at home at the time of the fire.

The cause of the fire has yet to be identified.

Quang Binh penalises trade law violations

The Quang Binh Market Watch has penalised more than 200 cases of trade law violations during the past two months with a total fine of more than VND500 million (US$23,800).

Nguyen Xuan Dat, director of the provincial market watch, said that they achieved the results by increasing their inspection and coordinating with other local agencies.

The inspection was aimed at ensuring market order before, during and after the Lunar New Year (Tet) holiday in mid-February.

The violations included trading in banned and smuggled goods, use of fake trademarks and negligence in ensuring food safety and hygiene. The seized goods are worth more than VND4 billion ($190,000).

For instance, the provincial market watch on January 17 discovered 37kg of fireworks, which are included in the list of banned goods, being transported in a lorry.

On January 22, the market watch discovered 340kg of dried and shredded cuttlefish and 18 tonnes of dried cuttlefish that were not accompanied by valid certificates.

Soc Trang reports another outbreak of avian flu

A new outbreak of H5N1 (avian flu) has been detected in a livestock farm in Soc Trang's Ke Sach District, the health ministry's department of preventive medicine confirmed on Wednesday.

The farm is located in village 1, in the southern province's Dai Hai commune.

The provincial department of veterinary medicine has coordinated with relevant local bodies to cull 1,100 two-month-old infected chicks, and has implemented the necessary preventive measures as per regulations, reported Sai Gon Giai Phong (Liberated Sai Gon) newspaper.

Head of the department of veterinary medicine Quach Van Tay said that the situation was becoming complicated with the emergence of a new avian flu strain known as 2.3.2.1C in the other two districts of Nga Nam and Cu Lao Dung.

"It is highly possible that the avian flu will spread in the province, especially in highly vulnerable areas such as Nga Nam, Thanh Tri, My Xuyen and My Tu," the Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper quoted Tay as saying.

Alarmingly, the local veterinary force is facing a shortage of vaccines to supplement the vaccination scheduled for the second phase of 2014, Tay said, adding that three outbreaks of avian flu have been detected in the province since early last month.

According to the health ministry's department of preventive medicine, as many as 777 cases of influenza A (H5N1) virus were recorded in 16 countries between late 2003 and January 2015, including 428 deaths (equal to 55.1 per cent).

The preventive medicine department recommended that the local people should not eat dead livestock, should always keep their farms clean and hygienic and should wear protective outfits while coming in contact with livestock to limit the transmission of the virus from animals to people.

Committee unable to handle influx of citizens' petitions

About 75 per cent of petitions delivered to the Central Citizen Reception Committee (CCRC) last year failed to meet necessary requirements, the committee reported in a recent working session in Ha Noi.

CCRC Director General Nguyen Hong Diep said that more than 14,000 out of about 18,900 petitions received by the CRCC had problems, including unclear names and addresses.

Many other names were repeated, as the residents continued sending petitions to the CCRC despite the fact that their prior requests had been delivered to the competent administration agencies.

President of the Viet Nam Fatherland Front Central Committee Nguyen Thien Nhan also attended the session. Nhan expressed concern over the CCRC headquarters' capacity shortage, as the number of residents coming by the place to send complaint and denunciation petitions rose 69 per cent compared with 2013.

"If this trend continues, the reception area will be too overloaded," Nhan said.

More law consultations would help residents, and reduce crowding at the CCRC, he said.

Nghe An announces Vinh City’s adjusted urban plan

The central province of Nghe An announced the adjusted urban master plan for Vinh City through 2030 during a New Year investors’ meeting held in Vinh City on March 4.

Event participants included National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Sinh Hung, leaders of provincial authorised bodies, and domestic and foreign investors.

According to Secretary of the provincial Party Committee Ho Duc Phoc, the plan will cover Vinh City, Cua Lo commune and parts of Nghi Loc and Hung Nguyen districts.

Phoc highlighted that under the plan, the city will be developed into a hub of finance, commerce, tourism, education-training, science-technology, healthcare, culture, sport, and high-tech industry in the north central region with population of up to 900,000 people in 2030.

Accordingly, the city will be categorized into three urban development zones and one affiliated zone.

The central zone comprises of the current Vinh City and part of Hung Nguyen district, covering an area of 110.27 sq.km.

The current Cua Lo town, to be expanded to the west to cover 42 sq.km, is another urban zone, and the third one comprises of Quan Hanh urban area and part of the South-East Economic Zone with a total area of 25.37 sq.km.

The affiliated zone will serve as a cushion area among urban zones.

Nghe An will coordinate with relevant units to compile a list of priority development projects in Vinh City to attract capital, Phoc added.

Dak Lak province builds on socio-economic achievements

The Central Highland province of Dak Lak strives to build on its previous socio-economic achievements in celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Buon Ma Thuot victory and the provincial liberation day (March 10, 1975).

After national reunification in 1975, Dak Lak had a population of only 130,000 people and extremely limited technical and economic infrastructure. Since, the locality has reaped momentous achievements in economics, culture, social affairs, defence, security and Party building thanks to the Party’s Doi Moi (reform) policy.

Covering 13,125 square kilometres of land in the heart of the Central Highlands, Dak Lak now has a population of over 1.8 million from 47 ethnic groups.

In 2014, the provincial gross domestic product (GDP) was estimated at over 17.1 trillion VND (1.1 billion USD), an annual rise of 8.4 percent, and per capita income reached 31.4 million VND (1,475 USD).

All provincial communes are accessible by cars, and 95 percent of hamlets are connected to the national power grid.

The economic structure is shifting along the direction of industrialisation and modernisation, with agro-forestry-fishery accounting for 45 percent; industry and construction 16.7 percent; and services 38.3 percent.

Agriculture plays an important role as the driving force for the province’s economic growth. Dak Lak is the largest coffee producer in Vietnam, boasting a coffee-growing area of 204,390 hectares and producing 450,000 tonnes of coffee annually. The locality harvests more than 1.25 million tonnes of rice from nearly 95,000 ha of water rice each year, ensuring its own food security.

It has also expanded high economic efficiency breeding and cultivating models. The province currently has two communes satisfying all criteria of the national programme on building new-style rural areas, thanks to contributions by local ethnic groups valued at over 1 trillion VND (46.5 million USD) to carry out the programme.

Local authorities also focused on the development of industry, having built a number of modern farm produce processing plants, an industrial park and 13 industrial clusters.

The rate of poor households has been reduced to 12.75 percent in 2014 from 14.85 percent in the previous year.

Social services made remarkable improvements, with all communes having at least one medical station and a doctor.

As the political, economic, cultural and social centre of Dak Lak, Buon Ma Thuot City boasts great development potential.

In 2014, the city recorded a 13 percent economic growth rate and a per capita income of 47.6 million VND (2,261 USD). The rate of people living below the poverty line is currently 1.4 percent.

The city is increasing its investment in social and economic infrastructure while adjusting development strategies to turn it into an urban centre of the Central Highlands in 2020.-

Tien Giang strives to tackle fresh water concerns during dry season

The Mekong Delta province of Tien Giang is making substantial efforts to ensure efficient water supply for locals living in high-salinity regions in Go Cong Dong and Tan Phu Dong districts.

Accordingly, the province will allocate 15 billion VND (703,000 USD) to upgrade the conduit system from the six-hectare reservoir in the upstream Tien River to the coastal communes in Tan Phu Dong district, improving fresh water allocation for residents during dry season and paving the way to tackling severe water shortages in the region.

In addition, the province will spend nearly 200 million VND (9,400 USD) to re-open 70 public faucets to provide free fresh water for tens of thousands of residents in saline-heavy areas in Go Cong Dong and Tan Phu Dong districts from March to May.

The province also asked relevant authorities to pump fresh water into reservoirs while promoting reservoir examinations and dredging canals to increase capacity.

Son La strives for increased connection to national grid

The northern mountainous province Son La aims to provide electricity access to 88.81 percent of its households in 2015.

The national grid currently covers 85.5 percent of the total households in Son La, according to Provincial Party Committee Secretary Hoang Van Chat.

The province is working to implement eight electricity projects, including a 557 billion VND (26 million USD) project providing electricity to 30,157 households from local ethnic communities.

To step up efforts, Son La is prioritising plans to expand the electricity grid and mobilise community support.-

Bac Lieu: Numerous poverty reduction measures to be employed

The Mekong Delta province of Bac Lieu will employ various measures to lift 2,950 households out of poverty this year, cutting the household poverty rate down to 2 percent from 5.29 percent in 2014.

Bac Lieu also targets assistance to 4,300 families just above the poverty line in 2015.

To realise these objectives, the province will conduct a survey to reveal the primary causes of poverty to devise appropriate support measures. It will also survey ineffectively used coastal alluvial grounds for their potential use as a source of income for impoverished households.

Bac Lieu will encourage philanthropists, agencies, and organisations to sponsor targeted families. Provincial State agencies have already committed to supporting 510 households with capital, work tools, and production means in 2015.

The province will also diversify vocational training to meet the local demand and skill. About 12,000 people are expected to undergo training this year, raising the rate of skilled labourers to 30 percent.

The province will facilitate production and business activities to create jobs while raising funds for social welfare. All impoverished households and those just above the poverty line will receive health insurance cards and electricity fee subsidies.

In 2014, local State agencies and businesses provided aid to more than 4,960 disadvantaged families and assisted 3,137 households to escape poverty. Up to 2,515 houses were built for the targeted beneficiaries and more than 160 billion VND (7.62 million USD) was collected for the local Social Welfare Fund.

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