Publication promotes labour safety and health

The Information and Communications Publishing House has published a set of guidelines on occupational safety and hygiene.

The publication consists of seven paintings, five slogans, six leaflets, and 18 books of regulations and advice.

It is part of the action month for occupational safety and hygiene, which takes place annually in May.

This year’s the event is themed “improving training to prevent occupational accidents and diseases”.

Statistics from the Hanoi Federation of Labour show the capital city is among localities with the highest number of occupational accidents. There were 225 work-related accidents in the city last year, killing 49 people and injuring 202 others.

Ha Long-Van Don expressway expected to be operational in December

The BOT Bien Cuong company, the investor of the Ha Long-Van Don Expressway in the northern coastal province of Quang Ninh, has committed to completing construction of bridges and road surfaces in November 2017 and put the road into operation in December.

The Ha Long-Van Don Expressway includes two sections: the 53.6km Ha Long-Cam Hai expressway and the National Highway 18’s Ha Long-Mong Duong section with a length of 31.25km.

It connects the Hanoi-Hai Phong-Quang Ninh economic triangle, boosting the development of Quang Ninh and the Northern Key Economic Region.

To fulfil the target, the investors have kept close watch on contractors’ operation, while urging them to use more manpower and equipment to finish the road.

Chairman of the Quang Ninh People’s Committee Nguyen Duc Long said that as the province considers the road a key project, it will create optimal conditions for investors and contractors, especially in land clearance.

He also asked the investors and contractors to exert efforts to open the expressway to traffic by December 31 this year.

Schools must chop down trees with poisonous flower, seed

Following the hospitalization of primary students due to eating wutong seed lately, schools nationwide are asked to chop down the tree.

As per the proposal of the Vietnam Food Administration  (VFA) under the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Education and Training should direct schools to cut down trees with toxic flower or seeds.

If any schools plant toxic tree for learning purpose, it should have warning signs to keep students away from the tree.

Schools must increase information of food safety, poisoning prevention and early discover poisoned incident to provide timely treatment to students.

VFA said that recently, primary students have been poisoned because they mistakenly thought wutong seed as walnuts planted in school premises. VFA warned that Gelsemium elegans, Datura alba Lour contain Alcaloid toxicity; Nerium oleander, Thevetia peruviana have Glycosid toxicity while Ricinus communis L and Jatropha podagrica ( or wutong) have Toxalbumin toxicity.

More than 5,100 swiftlet houses being built

Vietnam Swiftlet Farmer’s Association-VSFA said there is around 5,167 houses which have been built for breeding swifts in 39 provinces and cities throughout the country by the end of 2016.

The area of the swift-breeding industry is more than one million square meters with 6 million birds, producing about 42 tones of nest annually, excluding  the amount of salangane nests on the islands in 7 provinces of around 6 tones per year.

The swift-breeding industry is expected to reach 250-300 tones a year with 11,000 houses in 2022.

The report also showed that most of firms do not meet the standards of exporting  in overseas markets.

NT2 Shareholders approve payout of 25% in dividend

Petrol Vietnam Power Nhon Trach 2 (NT2) announced it will close the shareholders’ list on May 25 

The Rirac Corp (KMR) has just approved the project to loan US$ 1million from the Orient Commercial Joint Stock Bank (OCB). Earlier, KMR’s 2017 business plan has been approved. It has set a target to reach revenue of VND 377billion and after tax profit will be up to VND 14.6billion.

For the 1st quarter 2017, KMR announced its revenue reached VND 66.4billion, profit of VND 1.1billion.

Petrol Vietnam Power Nhon Trach 2 (NT2) announced it will close the shareholders’ list on May 25 and approve 16 percent dividend payment ratio in 2016 at 16 percent in cash on June 15. In 2017, NT2 has targeted to reach its revenue of VND 6,485billion, after tax profit at VND 686billion and dividend payment ratio at 25 percent.

Quảng Bình to build Gen Giáp a memorial house

The central province of Quảng Bình will build a memorial house for General Võ Nguyên Giáp in his home village.

The People’s Committee of the province decided to build the house to welcome visitors who are keen to know about the General’s life and career. The committee has planned it as a little museum showcasing documents and items related to Giáp’s military concept and practice.

The house will be built on a 3.5ha land plot in Lộc Thủy Commune in Lệ Thủy District, where his home village is located.

The house will have Vietnamese traditional structure, including wooden pillars, beams and bake tile roofs.

The construction will start next year and will be completed in two years, at a cost of VNĐ45 billion (US$1.9 million).

In the commune, the General’s family has a house, which is built in the traditional structure, and is used for worshipping Giáp and his ancestors. For years, the family has been treating this as the memorial house of Giáp and receiving visitors there.

Initially, the committee suggested taking the land and replacing the old house with a new, bigger one but the family refused. Võ Đại Hàm, one of Giáp’s relatives, told a local newspaper that the house was first built in the last century, before it was burnt by French colonists in 1947. The community rebuilt it in 1977, and it has been there since.

The tomb of the General is also based in the province, where hundreds visit every month.

Đắk Lắk military successfully defuse over 300kg bomb

The military high command in the Central Highland province of Đắk Lắk on Sunday safely detonated a bomb weighing 334kg left behind from the war.

The bomb is 1.2m in length and 40cm in diametre. It was detected by a resident of Cư M’gar District’s Ea Mnang Commune while using a bulldozer to renovate his garden.

The bomb is believed to be among hundreds of unexploded bombs left behind from the war in Đắk Lắk Province and the Central Highlands region, which are being unearthed by competent agencies.

Upon receiving information on the whereabouts of the explosive device, a sapper unit under the Đắk Lắk military command deployed troops to safeguard the site and moved the bomb out of the residential area before defusing it. 

Nine tonnes of smuggled oysters destroyed

Border guards of the northern province of Quảng Ninh on Sunday destroyed some nine tonnes of oysters of unclear origin.

A day earlier, the patrol team of the Border Naval Flotilla 2 and the coast guard had noticed a raft with a motor delivering the oysters at sea in Vân Đồn District. 

The raft was co-controlled by Ngô Văn Công, Đặng Ngọc Tuyên and Ngô Văn Sơn, all from Móng Cái City.

The trio failed to show documents indicating the origin of the oysters. Công admitted that an individual whose name he did not know paid him VNĐ8 million (US$355) to deliver the oysters. 

Company funds bridge in Mekong Delta

A new bridge officially opened to traffic in Phú Thuận A Commune, Hồng Ngự District, in the Mekong Delta province of Đồng Tháp after six months of trial use.

The bridge was built under a project to prevent and mitigate natural disasters run by Công An Thành Phố Hồ Chí Minh (HCM City Police) newspaper with funding from BAT Vietnam since 2013.

Its main aims include building rural bridges in the Mekong Delta, especially in cities and provinces where people’s lives are still very difficult and education is limited.

The bridge, with a length of 30 metres and width of 1.6 metres, cost VNĐ180 million to build.

These rural bridge projects are part of a global CSR programme that BAT has implemented over the years to support public works in difficult localities.

Under the project, six rural bridges were built by 2016 in Bến Tre, Trà Vinh, Vĩnh Long, Đồng Tháp, Bạc Liêu, and Cà Mau, each costing VNĐ150-220 million.

Vietnam customs officers seize 1.5 kilos of rhino horn from Africa

The hidden shipment was identified as black rhino horn from the critically endangered species native to eastern and southern Africa.

Customs officers at Ho Chi Minh City's main airport seized 1.5 kilograms (3.3 pounds) of rhino horn hidden in the luggage of a man arriving on a flight from Africa on May 8.

The 20-year-old Vietnamese man was detained upon landing at Tan Son Nhat International Airport, and three pieces of rhino horn were found wrapped in aluminum foil and hidden in toy drums in his luggage, the officers said.

The contraband was identified as black rhino horn from the critically endangered species native to eastern and southern Africa. Three of its subspecies were declared extinct by the International Union for Conservation of Nature in 2011.

The pieces could have fetched VND2 billion (nearly $90,000) on the black market, they said.

Tan Son Nhat officials also seized 5 kilograms of rhino horn last month from two Vietnamese passengers flying in from Africa.

Last week, they arrested a Vietnamese woman carrying 4 kilograms of elephant ivory jewelry and 200 grams of ground pangolin scales on a flight from Angola.

Vietnam is considered a hotspot for the illegal trade of wildlife products, including ivory, rhino horn, tiger parts and pangolins. They are often considered a status symbol and are used for decorations and medicine, despite the lack of scientific proof of their medicinal properties.

Vietnamese laws prohibit the hunting, killing, trade or transportation of wild animals, but the high returns continue to lure many people into trafficking networks.

Hùng Phạm wins first Biscom Golf Tournament

Andrew Hùng Phạm championed the first Biscom Golf Tournament, which closed at the FLC Quy Nhơn Golf Links, Bình Định Province, on May 7.

After two days of competition, he topped the podium with a total score of 149 putts. He made it 76 in the first day and 73 in the second one, which included a birdie at hole No. 17, and a birdie at hole No. 9 and made three bogeys for the whole tournament.

Golfer Trịnh Văn Thọ came second with 151 putts.

Both will take part in the National Amateur Golf Championship scheduled in June, also at the FLC Quy Nhơn Golf Links.

Apart from competing, golfers also contributed VNĐ210 million (US$9,500) to support the School for Children programme of the Poor Students in Mountainous Area Fund.

Hà Nội hi-tech farm expansion remains slow

Agricultural production in the capital city remains small-scale and outdated, despite successful land reform and investment in irrigation networks for many years, says the Nông Thôn Ngày Nay (Countryside Today) newspaper.

The outdated production methods are due to slow application of modern technologies, and it has led to low economic values.

Land use certificates have been successfully granted, which is a prerequisite for farmers to expand production or contribute land as a capital contribution to investment projects.

However, the city’s agricultural production has not yet reaped high economic value because most of households still use traditional production methods.

Explaining the slow application of technology in agricultural production, chairman of Quốc Oai District People’s Committee, Nguyễn Mạnh Quyền, told the paper that “at present the municipal authority fixed land areas for rice planting”.

“This is an obstacle for transitioning the land for other crops that require high technologies and bring higher economic values”, said Quyền.

However, in Quốc Oai District, some businesses have bought lands from residents to set up hi-tech farms and achieved some progresses, he said.

Still, though, businesses face the difficult fact that agricultural land prices  rocket upward when locals hear about hi-tech farming projects, he said.

Analysing the situation, Dr. Đặng Văn Đông, director of Vegetable and Fruit Institute, said “this is due to ineffective management and a lack of close co-operation among farmers, businesses, scientists and authorities”.

“So far, we haven’t mobilised sources from domestic private and foreign businesses to invest in hi-tech farming”, he said.

Chu Phú Mỹ, director of Hà Nội Agriculture and Rural Development Department, said in the context of fierce climate change and rapid urbanisation, farming is indispensable to surviving and competing in the international integration process.

The capital city set a goal that by 2020, hi-tech- agricultural production value will account for 35 per cent of the total agricultural value.

However, so far, the hi-tech in farming area designated for the period of 2016-2020 is still slow, according to review of the city’s steering committee of new rural development.

According to Hà Minh Hải, director of Hà Nội Finance Department, appropriate policies are considered a prerequisite for luring capital to hi-tech farming. Each local needs to review agricultural production plans to attract investors.

Hoang Sa – Truong Sa exhibition comes to Hoa Binh

An exhibition displaying maps and documents on Vietnam’s Hoang Sa (Paracel) and Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelagos opened in Kim Boi district, the northern province of Hoa Binh on May 8.

On display are 171 documents and items collected at home and abroad, including China, proving Vietnam’s scared sovereignty over the two archipelagos in the East Sea.

They show that the Vietnamese states managed, protected and affirmed sovereignty over the two archipelagos continuously and peacefully over centuries.

Among the exhibits are three atlases published by the Chinese Government in 1917, 1919 and 1933, and another atlas the London Propagation Mission printed for the Qing Dynasty in 1908.  

The event also introduced documents in Han and Nom (Chinese characters and ancient Vietnamese scripts), documents in foreign languages, materials, photos, items, 19 official documents by the Nguyen Dynasty and 23 ancient documents, affirming Vietnam’s sovereignty over the two archipelagos and other sea areas and islands in the East Sea. 

The five-day exhibition is expected to help raise awareness and responsibility among local authorities and residents in safeguarding the country’s sacred sovereignty over seas and islands.-