Second post-Tet cold snap to hit northern region

A strong cold front is moving southwards and is expected to hit the northern region on February 18, the National Centre for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting has reported.

According to the national weather service, the second cold snap since the Lunar New Year is expected to bring heavy rain and temperatures below 15°C to all areas of the region.

The cold weather should last for 3-4 days, before temperatures begin to rise.

Northeastern winds in the Gulf of Tonkin and the northern part of the East Sea are expected to reach sustained speeds in category 7 (50–61 km/h) on the Beaufort scale, with gusts up to category 9 (75–88 km/h).

Rough seas are also anticipated.

Sweden creative day to be held in city

The Embassy of Sweden in Vietnam will coordinate with the HCMC government to organize the Sweden Creative Day exhibition in HCMC in two weeks this November.

At the exhibition, enterprises and experts from Sweden will introduce environmentally friendly and high technologies as well as scientific researches, said Swedish Ambassador to Vietnam Camilla Mellander at a meeting with HCMC chairman Le Hoang Quan on Wednesday.

The exhibition is one among the activities celebrating the 45th anniversary of diplomatic ties between the two countries.

According to Quan, there are currently 13 Swedish projects operational in HCMC with a total investment of some US$250 million.

At a conference held in HCMC last September, 12 Swedish enterprises introduced technologies and solutions of renewable energy and clean technologies. Josab, Winova, Kristianstad, Konseb, Gaia, Ecoloo, Susbiz, ED Biogas and Neozeo were among the Swedish enterprises participating in the conference.

Many enterprises said they would seek Vietnamese partners to conduct solar power and biogas projects or build public toilets.

HCM City to have more tap water this year

Residents in districts 9, 1, 3 as well as Thu Duc, Binh Thanh, Go Vap and Phu Nhuan districts will have more clean water supply with a daily capacity of 200,000 cubic meters when Thu Duc 3 plant is operational later this year.

The operation of Thu Duc 3 plant will increase the total water capacity of Saigon Water Corporation (Sawaco) from 1.5 million to 1.8 million cubic meters per day. The plant is invested by Sawaco, REE Corporation, and Water Supply and Sewerage Construction and Investment Joint Stock Company (Waseco), according to deputy general director of Sawaco Bach Vu Hai.

Besides, the Tan Hiep 2 water project having a capacity of 300,000 cubic meters per day will be kicked off in the middle of this year. The VND1.2-trillion project is scheduled for operation in early 2016.

In related news, Le Quoc Binh, general director of HCMC Infrastructure Investment Joint Stock Company (CII), has confirmed that CII had presented to the HCMC government a plan to supply water for District 12, Tan Binh, Tan Phu, Go Vap and Hoc Mon districts under the build-own-operate-transfer (BOOT) format.

Under the plan, CII will take over all existing water supply facilities in the five aforementioned districts managed by Tan Hoa Water Supply Company and Trung An Water Supply Company. These two units are affiliated to Sawaco.

If the plan gets nod from the city government, CII will buy water at a wholesale price from Sawaco and directly distribute clean water to end-users, develop water supply network, reduce water loss, install water meters for each household in 15 years and then hand over them all to Sawaco.

HCMC’s water demand is forecast to rise to nearly 2.8 million cubic meters per day in 2015 and 3.8 million cubic meters in 2025. Water used in HCMC is exploited from the Saigon River and Dau Tieng reservoir with an amount of 0.95 million cubic meters per day, the Dong Nai River and Tri An reservoir with nearly 1.5 million cubic meters and groundwater with nearly 0.5 million cubic meters.

In addition to Thu Duc 3 and Tan Hiep 2 water plants, Sawaco will start work on Thu Duc 4, Tan Hiep 3 and Thu Duc 5 water projects in the period between 2016 and 2024.

U.S. education fair set for Wed

The U.S. Consulate General in HCMC will host the EducationUSA Spring Fair from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. on February 19 at the EducationUSA Advising Center in District 1.

Representatives from 25 U.S. universities and colleges will be at the fair to provide information and answer questions regarding the programs offered by their institutions. They include California State University, San Jose State University, Middle Tennessee State University, University at Buffalo-The State University of New York, University of Arizona, University of Illinois at Chicago and University of Oklahoma.

The fair will feature representatives that highlight the diverse range of education options available in the U.S., from public and private universities, to four-year schools and community colleges.

Students, parents, and others interested in learning about study opportunities in the U.S. can meet face-to-face with official representatives of regionally-accredited U.S. colleges and universities and receive tips and guidance on visa procedures and the availability of free advising services at the EducationUSA Advising Center in HCMC – an official and reliable source of U.S. higher education information.

The EducationUSA fair which takes place at Level 8 of Diamond Plaza, 34 Le Duan Boulevard, District 1, HCMC is free and open to the public.

Red River delta development plan announced

The Red River Delta and the Northern key economic region would become one of the locomotives of national economic development.  

This is part of a Prime Minister’s decision to implement Conclusion 13/KL/TW, dated September 14, 2005 of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of Viet Nam on socio-economic development and defense and security maintenance in the Red River Delta up to 2010 and orientations towards 2020.  

Under the decision, the Red River Delta and the Northern key economic region would take the lead in realizing “strategic breakthroughs,” economic restructuring, economic growth transformation, including maritime economy and contribute to national defense, political stability and social safety.

Based on their competence and tasks, ministries, agencies, Governmental agencies, and the provincial and municipal People’s Committees would build joint mechanisms to uphold advantages of each locality.  

Especially, Ha Noi, Hai Phong and Quang Ninh would function as the key driving force for economic growth in the region.

Research centers on education and training and healthcare will be constructed in Ha Noi, Hai Phong, Nam Dinh and Ha Nam.

The economic restructuring would be conducted towards a green and clean environment with low carbon emission and in response to climate change and sea level rise.

Farmer gives up orchard to protect night herons

A farmer in Vinh Long Province has been keeping thousands of night herons at his longan orchard without any support from authorities.

For the past seven years, the 6,000-square metre longan orchard owned by Le Van Chia of Gia Kiet Hamlet, Tra On District has been home to a flock of night herons. In order to protect the birds, Chia was willing to lose hundreds of million of VND in harvests.

The birds started to come to Chia's orchard in 2007. At first, only a few dozen herons stayed at the orchard in daytime and went to search for food at night. When no one chased them away, the number of herons increased and Chia was afraid that the birds might destroy his orchard. He said, "All the flowers and fruits were ruined as soon as they bloomed. However, I didn't dare to use toxic chemical to get them to leave. Actually, I was afraid that the birds would leave."

Chia eventually gave up the 6,000-square metres orchard to the birds, now only growing longan on the remaining 8,000-square metre area outside. He also spends a lot of time and effort to protect the herons. When hunters use nighttime as their cover, Chia stays up most of the night to keep guard.

Due to the huge number of birds, Chia had sought support from authorities. In 2011, Vinh Long Province Forest Ranger Unit conducted a field survey but provided no support. They thought it too difficult to guard the orchard and said that the birds would leave sooner or later because of the limited food supply.

Chia guards his orchard alone and gives fish and shrimp to the herons. "Even though I've picked up a lot of traps set by the hunters, there are still more and the traps have killed several of the birds. At this rate, they'll scare off the herons from this orchard. I'm nearly 70 years old. Who will protect the birds after I die?" Chia said.

His wife is displeased by the loss of income from the orchard, but Chia is determined to protect the birds. Chia hopes to place barbed wire around the orchard and replace longan with coconut to earn some income.

"No organisations seem willing to help me so I'll use my own money. I'm happy when I hear the sound of the herons and watch them return food," he said.

Mekong rice at risk from disease

Farmers in the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta should take precautions to protect against rice diseases on the winter-spring rice crop, especially rice blast diseases, said an official.

Ho Van Chien, director of the Southern Plant Protection Centre, said the large difference between day and night temperatures and inclement fog in the morning over the past days have caused unfavourable conditions for the growth of rice that may cause the development of rice diseases.

The delta has had more than 21,000ha of rice infected by blast diseases, 1,000ha infected by bacterial leaf blight and more than 40,000ha infected with brown plant hoppers, he said.

The centre warned farmers not to use mixed pesticides to spray disease affected rice fields but to use specific pesticide aimed at targeting specific kinds of pests and diseases to achieve best results.

Farmers should strictly follow integrated pest management programmes when tending to their rice fields and fertilise the rice fields properly.

For this winter-spring rice crop, farmers in the delta, the country's largest rice granary, have planted about 1.6 million hectares, according to the Plant Cultivation Department under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Several provinces in the Delta, including Dong Thap, Vinh Long and Soc Trang provinces, and Can Tho City planted the winter-spring crop early thanks to a closed-dyke system that ensures water supply for the crop.

After Tet (Lunar New Year) festival, which fell on January 31, many farmers began harvesting their rice fields.

Lam Tan Dat, who harvested 4 ha of rice variety PC10 with a yield of 7 tonnes per hectare in My Tu District's Phu My Commune in Soc Trang Province, said: "The yield was higher than the last crop."

Traders also offered a higher price than the last crop, he said.

Many farmers in Soc Trang said they earned a profit of VND25-30 million (US$1,200- 1,400) per ha.

As of last Saturday, farmers have harvested about 200,000ha of the winter-spring rice crop with a total output of 1.22 million tonnes, according to the Plant Cultivation Department.

The delta will enter the peak harvest of the winter-spring rice crop in March. The winter-spring rice crop is the main rice crop and has a higher yield than the summer-autumn and autumn-winter rice crops.

The harvest of the winter-spring rice crop is not affected by rains like other rice crops, so it is easy for farmers to use machines to harvest their rice.

The delta plans to increase the rate of mechanisation in the harvesting and drying stages to 100 per cent in the winter-spring rice crop by 2020 and 80 per cent in the summer-autumn and autumn-winter rice crops, according to the Southwest Region Steering Committee.

To meet the target, the delta will have an additional 11,000-15,000 harvest and drying machines, taking the number of these machines to 20,000-25,000 by 2020.

The delta will also build 70 modern rice drying facilities, each with a capacity of 10-30 tonnes an hour.

Can Tho and the surrounding delta's provinces will supply farmers with more rice varieties that have high yield and quality and low seed dropping rate during harvest.

The delta will encourage investors to invest in producing harvest and drying machines that are suitable for use by farmers in the delta's fields.

The delta will also create conditions for more farmers to borrow loans to aid ownership of harvest and drying machines.

The delta's mechanisation now serves about 1 million ha of rice in the winter-spring crop, according to the steering committee.

In the summer-autumn and autumn-winter crops, the operation of machines in rice fields is limited because the harvest falls during the rainy season and rice fields are often submerged in water.

The usage rate of machines in these two crops is about 50 per cent lower than in the winter-spring crop.

The rate of post-harvest loss of the two crops is 10-12 per cent higher than that of the winter-spring crop.

HCM City workshop focuses on reducing emissions

The second workshop for the HCM City-Osaka Cooperation Project to Develop a Low-Carbon City was held yesterday in HCM City by the Global Environment Centre Foundation in coordination with the city's Department of Natural Resources and Environment.

It is part of activities under the Memorandum of Cooperation on Low-Carbon Growth between the two countries signed in July last year.

Under the cooperation, Japan will implement various projects that contribute to reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in Viet Nam, including transferring Japan's energy-saving technology and facilities.

Japan has held consultations for the Joint Crediting Mechanism (JCM) with developing countries since 2011 and signed the bilateral documents for the JCM with Mongolia, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Kenya, the Maldives, Viet Nam, Laos, Indonesia, Costa Rica and Palau, according to Kotaro Kawamata, director of the international office of Japan's Ministry of the Environment.

Japan held the first Joint Committee with Mongolia, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Kenya, Viet Nam and Indonesia, he said.

HCM City approves plan to build nurseries

The HCM City People's Committee has approved the construction of 90 public nursery schools with total capital of VND3.5 trillion (US$166 million).

Nguyen Dinh Thai Chau, head of the city Department of Education and Training's Planning and Finance Division, said the construction would be completed by the end of 2015.

In the last 10 years, about 90 public nursery schools were built.

Chau said the city would put into use nine public nursery schools this year.

On February 11 and 12, a delegation of the city's People's Council's Culture- Society Division visited Thu Duc and Tan Binh districts to survey the management of private nursery schools.

The delegation found many unlicensed private nurseries but local authorities had difficulty closing them because of the shortage in their areas.

Binh Tan has 125 unlicensed nursery facilities and 90 unlicensed family-based daycare facilities that take care of more than 6,000 children, according to the Binh Tan People's Committee.

The district has only 12 public nursery schools that provide daycare for 4,562 children. It also has 37 private nursery schools and 95 private nursery classes that provide daycare for a total of 12,242 children.

Three of Tan Binh's 10 wards do not have a nursery school.

In Thu Duc, there are 307 unlicensed nursery facilities.

The increase in the number of unlicensed family-based daycare facilities and unlicensed nursery facilities is largely due to the frequent relocation of migrant families who need daycare for short periods, according to Nguyen Tho Truyen, deputy chairman of the Thu Duc People's Committee.

Migrant workers often send their children to family-based daycare facilities, with each household keeping about three to six children.

The district does not have any facilities to keep children aged 6 to 12 months, which has also contributed to the increase in household daycare centres, he said.

Foot, mouth disease infects animals in Cao Bang

Foot-and-mouth disease has been reported in northern border Cao Bang Province, affecting 353 buffaloes and 212 cows at 13 communes.

The disease has spread among animals in recent days due to the cold weather and the increasing movement of livestock from affected areas after the Tet (Lunar New Year) festival, according to the provincial Animal Health Department.

Local animal health officials have taken measures to prevent the further spread of the disease, including sterilising hot spots and tightening control over moving animals, as well as vaccinating local animals.

Tay Ninh Province placed on forest fire alert

Nearly 60,000 hectares of forests in the southern province of Tay Ninh have been placed on alert due to the risk of forest fires as the dry season reaches its peak there.

According to Tay Ninh's Department of Forest Management, the locality has been undertaking drastic measures, such as building a 92-km fire belt and intensifying around-the-clock patrols, in a bid to head off possible fires.

Also, local residents were discouraged from going into the forests to gather wood at this time.

The 60,000-ha forest is located along the border with Cambodia and the southern province of Binh Phuoc, which is at high risk for wildfires, according to the local Department of Forest Management.

In 2013, nearly 250 fires were reported across the country, destroying 965ha of forests. No casualties were reported.

Da Nang to hike up price of treated water

The central city of Da Nang has decided to increase the price of treated water due to rising production costs from work overload on pumping system operations in the dry season.

Accordingly, the residents in the city will pay VND3,800 (US$0.18) instead of VND3,500 ($0.16) for the first 10 cubic metres of water, and VND4,500 instead of VND4,100 for each extra cubic metre from this month.

Meanwhile, the price of water used by businesses and services has also been hiked from VND11,600($0.5) to VND12,800 per cubic metre.

Director of the Da Nang water supply company Nguyen Truong Anh said that the pumps had to work 24 hours for six or seven months instead of one month.

"It's the operation of the Dak Mi 4 hydro-power plant in the Vu Gia River system which caused high salinity in the Cau Do River waters, the major water source for Da Nang," Anh stated.

"Our reserve pumping stations had to work round the clock to provide fresh water by removing the salinity in the Cau Do River waters," he said.

He added that the work overload on the pumping stations cost VND13 billion ($620,000) per year.

An expert of hydro-power and irrigation from the Da Nang Technology College, Nguyen The Hung, said the water shortage in the lowlands in Da Nang and Quang Nam Province resulted from the operation of hydro-power plants and heavy deforestation near the riverhead in the past years.

Deputy Director of the city's Agriculture and Rural Development Department Huynh Van Thang affirmed that the Dak Mi 4 hydro-power plant consumes 1.2 billion cubic metres of the Vu Gia River, as much as 50 per cent of the river flow.

The central city forwarded the solution to the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the hydro-power project to deal with the water shortage in the lowlands of Da Nang and Quang Nam.

Ministry unveils energy-saving plan

A draft circular has been issued early this year by the Ministry of Construction to provide guidance on management, saving and efficient use of energy in buildings.

The draft is expected to be an important step forward in improving standards and reducing energy consumption for public and private buildings, such as offices, hotels, hospitals, schools with more than 2,500 square metres of total floor space.

The number of buildings such as houses, shopping centres and hotels has increased rapidly in recent years. In these buildings, poor energy efficiency measures have led to huge energy waste.

"The building sector is one of the large energy users, accounting for 25 per cent of total national energy consumption. Therefore, applying energy efficiency solutions for buildings is so important," Nguyen Trung Hoa, Head of the Ministry's Department of Science, Technology and Environment, told Xay Dung (Construction) newspaper.

To encourage buildings to save energy, the Ministry will grant the Building Energy Efficiency Certificate to buildings that successfully meets QCVN 09:2013/BXD standards.

The compulsory technical requirements will be applied to building components such as building envelopes, lighting, ventilation systems and air conditioning, lift and escalator, and heating.

The potential of energy efficiency in constructions including both old and new buildings is very high, experts said.

"Application of energy efficient technologies and materials, architectural designs can save around 30-40 per cent of energy consumption for new buildings," said Tran Dinh Thai, from the construction ministry.

"For renovated buildings, if energy audits and energy saving solutions are applied, about 15-25 per cent of energy consumption will be saved," he added.

However, the amount of energy consumption in buildings remains high because Viet Nam still lacks detailed regulations and experts that can promote energy efficiency and conservation, said Nguyen Cong Thinh from the department.

"The consultant units which have capacity in building energy efficiency are still few in number. The most advanced design technology is energy use simulation software for buildings which have are not yet," said Tran Thanh Vu, Energy Efficiency Consulting experts at the World Bank Group's International Finance Corporation (IFC).

The Ministry of Construction will also provide training courses for energy managers and energy auditors to improve the knowledge of energy conservation. In the future, this work should be strongly promoted to meet the needs of human resources of the units engaged in energy efficiency.

HCM City to build new flyover

The People's Committee of HCM City has approved the Transport Department's proposal to build a steel flyover at the Go Vap intersection.

According to the department, the steel overpass at the intersection will have a Y-shape over the main route of Nguyen Oanh – Nguyen Kiem streets, and a minor route over Pham Ngu Lao – Nguyen Oanh streets.

The flyover across Nguyen Oanh will be 12m wide with four lanes, and the other section over Nguyen Kiem and Pham Ngu Lao will be 6m wide with two lanes.

The department said the flyover project would have total investment of VND354 trillion (US$16.8 million) and will be completed in seven months.

Construction of the project will be carried out soon, according to the department.

The flyovers are expected to relieve traffic congestion by 75-80 per cent in the area. This is the city's seventh steel overpass and second Y-shaped bridge investment.

In order to solve congestion problems at several hotspots, HCM City has built six steel overpasses at Thu Duc intersection, Hang Xanh intersection, Lang Cha Ca roundabout, Nguyen Tri Phuong – Ly Thai To – 3/2 intersection, Cong Hoa – Hoang Hoa Tham crossroads, and the first Y-shaped flyover at Cay Go roundabout.

Child helmet-wearing rate below target

The number of children who wore helmets was below the target of 80 per cent set by the "Children also need a helmet" campaign phase III, according to Vice Chairman of the National Traffic Committee Secretariat Luu Van Binh.

Ineffective co-ordination between schools, parents and local authorities was to blame for the high rate of children who do not wear helmets, Binh said.

According to statistics from the Ha Noi Traffic Police, the police fined more than 574 people during phase III of the campaign from September to December last year for failing to have their children wearing helmets while carrying them on motorbikes.

The percentage of children in Ha Noi who wear helmets on motorbikes rose from 9.1 per cent to 52.9 per cent following phase II of the "Children also need a helmet" campaign.

Hai Phong police bust gambling network

Police in the northern port city of Hai Phong last week busted what they said was a "dangerous" gambling ring in the Dam Bau area of Van Dau Ward.

They said the gang's kingpin, 23-year-old Vu Khac Tiep of Van Dau Ward, was caught red-handed together with 26 other individuals.

More than VND35 million (US$1,700) in cash, dozens of motorbikes and mobile phones, as well as two loaded guns were seized during the raid.

The ring's activities will be investigated further, police said.

Injured fisherman saved at sea

The Regional Maritime Search and Rescue Co-ordination Centre No 2 (MRCC Da Nang) salvaged a fisherman who was bitten by a big fish yesterday off the coast of the Hoang Sa (Paracel) Islands, 300 miles from central Da Nang City.

An officer from the centre said a ship from the centre found the fishing vessel and 41-year-old victim Tran Van Dat of central Quang Ngai Province at 10.30am yesterday.

Dat was saved by doctors on the rescue ship after the attack by an unidentified fish while he was diving in deep water on Wednesday.

Traffic police inspect truck, bus drivers in bid to curb accidents

Traffic police, especially from Nghe An to Binh Thuan in the central region, have been ordered to conduct more patrols and strictly handle violations by coach and truck drivers in an effort to slash fatal road accidents.

The move was taken by vice chairman of the National Traffic Safety Committee Nguyen Hoang Hiep on Tuesday after five fatal traffic accidents on stretches of National Highway 1A. The accidents killed six people and injured 49 others.

According to Hiep, distractions, speeding and driving in the wrong lane were to blame.

Hiep told online newspaper Vnmedia that the accidents often occurred late at night when roads were mostly deserted and traffic police were not on patrol.

He added that this was the time when drivers often felt tired. Hiep also blamed cold weather and rain for limiting the vision of drivers.

The vice chairman said that vehicle registrations would be revoked if drivers were found guilty of violating safety rules. Bus companies could also be suspended from operation.

Transport companies were asked to terminate the labour contracts of drivers who repeatedly offended.

Two people were killed instantly after their motorbike collided with a train at midnight in Thanh Khe District on Wednesday, local police said yesterday.

The pair crossed the railway as the North-South Express Train, SE7, was approaching, journeying from Ha Noi to HCM City.

There was no barrier at the junction between the road and the railway.

The district police confirmed the deceased were from central Quang Nam province.

300 kg of smuggled poultry seized

More than 300 kilogrammes of smuggled poultry were seized yesterday while they were being transported from China to Cao Bang city.

Two persons, Nong Van Bang and Lam Van Quyen, both residents of Tra Linh District in Cao Bang Province, were detained.

They said the poultry was being smuggled from China because of the cheaper prices there, and transported to Cao Bang on motorbikes.

They were fined VND3 million each ($150) and the poultry was sent over to the authorities to be destroyed.

Vietnam has asked cities and provinces to intensify measures to prevent and fight infections by H7N9 and other bird flu strains. There were two H5N1 deaths in January but no H7N9 cases have been reported so far, according to the Health Ministry.

Incomes fall for relocated families

The average incomes of families relocated to make way for social and economic development projects in HCM City have decreased slightly, posing a risk of unstable living conditions, the HCM City Institute for Development Studies has said following a study.

The survey of nearly 500 households with 2,300 people moved out for projects undertaken between 2010 and 2013 in eight districts — 2, 9, 12, Binh Chanh, Can Gio, Cu Chi, Hoc Mon, and Binh Thanh — was done in November.

Their monthly incomes fell from VND11.7-97.5 million (US$550-4,600) to VND10.5-80 million after relocation, it found.

Nearly 30 per cent of households suffered a fall in income due to problems related to land loss and changes in business location, and only 14 per cent saw incomes increase, mostly due to bank interest on the compensation and relocation money.

Nearly 43 per cent of the 1,900 respondents aged 15 or above were unemployed.

Fourteen per cent of households said their business and working conditions were adversely affected due to the relocation while only 9 per cent said they had improved.

Tran Van Than, deputy head of the institute, suggested that policies related to land clearance and relocation should take into account all the aspects of life to ensure stable living conditions for relocated households.

A majority of affected households opted for compensation money instead of housing and lived in their old places to continue their businesses since most were manual workers or ran small service businesses, he added.

Tam Ky looks to move beggars off the streets

Central Quang Nam Province's Tam Ky City is taking action to turn the city into a beggar and homeless person free zone in its plan for this year.

Pham Thi My Nuong, from the provincial Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, said that the move aimed to build Tam Ky to be a civilised city and stop the situation of beggars hassling local residents and visitors at public areas such as bus stations or restaurants.

The situation was said to appear in the city a couple times of year, she said.

To easily take care of beggars and homeless people and create more favourable conditions for the underprivileged people in the city so that they are able to access better care and education, the city has classified them into groups, noted Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Tam Ky City Bui Ngoc Anh.

Under the plan, the authorities of the communes and wards will take the responsibility of managing beggars who have permanent residence registration cards.

Beggars who come from other provinces will be sent back to their hometowns.

Homeless children whose hometowns are not known will be sent to the Quang Nam Orphan Centre in Phu Ninh District. Homeless elderly persons with unidentified hometowns will be sent to the Quang Nam Social Centre and the Hoa Binh Village.

Also, the Quang Nam Psychiatric Hospital will provide treatment for homeless people with mental problems.

A social working team, with 31 members, has been established to co-operate with local authorised agencies to disseminate information at bus stations, markets, restaurants and public places to make the city's policy a reality.

Nguyen Thuan, from the Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Office of the city People's Committee, said that the programme was built after references were made based on a successful model of Da Nang City – a nearby province of Quang Nam.

However, Tam Ky City had its own characteristics, so, we also ran the programme in our ways, he said.

"We did not set up a hotline to receive complaints, we provided mobile phone numbers of members from the social work team, who was in charge in bus stations or restaurants," he added.

The city failed to provide the number of beggars and homeless persons to Viet Nam News, however, according to Nguoi Dua Tin (Courier) online newspaper, hundreds of beggars and homeless people, including children, were found in the city each year.

Da Nang was the first locality of the country to successfully run the programme to control the situation when beggars and street vendors hassle visitors.

Transport department proposes toll fee for Thang Long Boulevard

Ha Noi's Department of Transport was working on a project to collect road maintenance fees from vehicles on the Thang Long Boulevard, according to the deputy head of the department, Nguyen Xuan Tan.

Tan said the purpose of the toll was to modernise the management of the route, balance the volume of traffic and minimise traffic accidents.

Initial information from the department revealed that the project, with estimated investment capital of VND209 billion (US$9.8 million), would focus on building a smart traffic management system on the boulevard this year.

The system would cover traffic safety issues on the route, including preventing and dealing with traffic accidents. Cameras, electric road signs, and a weigh-bridge to detect overloaded trucks would be installed along the route.

According to Tan, the cost of building the smart traffic management system would be mobilised from sources under public-private partner or build-operate-transfer models.

The boulevard, the longest in the country, starts at the intersection of Lang-Hoa Lac and Belt Road III, and ends at the intersection between Lang-Hoa Lac Road, National Highway 21 and Ho Chi Minh Road.

The boulevard, which is 30 kilometres long and 140-170 metres wide, has six express lanes and two additional lanes for motorcycles and bicycles. It connects Ha Noi with satellite cities and tourist sites and is an important foundation for the development of the nearby Lang-Hoa Lac high-tech zone.

Last month, city authorities asked the Government for permission to collect fees on the boulevard. The submission has been opposed by the public.

Bui Danh Lien, chairman of the Ha Noi Aumobile Transport Association, said that the toll was unfair because the work should be paid for by the road maintenance fund.

He said since 2012, the Ministry of Transport had been abolishing road tolls nationwide since the fund was set up. The establishment of a toll on the boulevard was against the ministry's policy and caused annoyance for people who had to pay twice to travel along the route, he added.

Lien said three other streets ran parallel with the boulevard, and people were more likely to use them to avoid paying the toll, creating traffic chaos.

He added that the city should ask for funding from the State budget to subsidise road maintenance.

Nguyen Dinh Quan, a truck driver from Phuc Xa Street, said he would use different routes as he didn't want to pay more.

"None of us drivers want to pay fees when we have another choice. Maybe I'll pay if the additional roads become overcrowded and the fee is acceptable. If not, I'd rather choose another route," he said.

Can Tho to open additional flights

The Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta city of Can Tho is working with the Southwest Steering Committee to open five more local and international flights to the city.

According to the Can Tho People's Committee, the flights will be serviced between Can Tho and Da Nang, Lam Dong, Khanh Hoa, Thailand and Cambodia.

Pham Thanh Tam, director of Can Tho International Airport, also suggested that in the future the city should open international flights to South Korea and Taiwan where a number of overseas Vietnamese are living.

The city plans to organise a conference by the end of this month to promote services of more flights to Can Tho with the participation of local and international airlines.

Dao Anh Dung, vice chairman of the city's People's Committee, said the conference aimed to tap the potential of the city and enhance connectivity between the Mekong Delta and the rest of the country and the world. This in turn would attract more tourists and investors to the Mekong Delta.

Currently, Can Tho airport operates flights between the city and Ha Noi, Phu Quoc and Con Dao. It also operates flights to Taiwan during Tet (Lunar New Year).

Can Tho airport received 238,000 passengers last year, while its designed capacity is 3 million passengers per year.

Fisherman shortage anchors Phu Yen fishing vessels

Hundreds of large ships used for deep-sea fishing in the central province of Phu Yen cannot go fishing due to a shortage of labour.

"Tuy Hoa City has a total of 442 ships which exploited 4,700 tonnes of tuna each year, accounting for 85 per cent of the fish production in the province. Of which, there are currently 140 habouring as the city lacks nearly 1,400 fishermen to go out to sea," Nguyen Ngoc Ry, officer from the city Borderguard Station said.

According to Nguyen Trong Tung, Deputy Director of the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, local fishermen exploited 750 tonnes of tuna since the beginning of the year, much lower than the same period last year.

Low incomes have made many local fishermen quit deep-sea fishing, according to Chairman of the Fishing Association in the city's Ward 6 Phan Thuan.

"Only 30 per cent of ships which exploited 1.3-2 tonnes of tuna each could make a profit worth between dozens of million of dong and over VND100 million (US$952-4,700) in the first tuna fishing trip this year. The rest broke even or made a loss," Thuan said.

Whereas, local fishermen fishing inshore had a bumper crop when each could earn VND120,000 – 200,000 ($5.7 – 9.5) per day.

"Local ship owners tried to find employees in other localities in the province to soon put out to sea," Thuan said.

Ethnic poverty plan falls short of initial target

Despite years of poverty reduction efforts, more than 320 thousand households of poor ethnic minorities were still looking for land to live and farm on.

The figures were announced by the Committee for Ethnic Minorities (CEM) at a meeting with the Monitoring Group of the National Assembly Office on Tuesday.

The Committee's report for 2005-12 also showed that more than 274 thousand ethnic households were in need of clean water for everyday life.

While outlining the progress of a VND7.9 trillion (US$380 million) project to provide farm land, houses and clean water for poor ethnic minority households, the report pointed out that over the past four years, the central bank has distributed only VND1 trillion ($50.5 million) of the funding.

Another project that has failed to achieve its targets is a plan to support the resettlement of ethnic minorities, many of whom still lead traditional nomadic lives.

Since 2008, a total of VND1.6 trillion ($77.8 million) has been spent on the project, but only 13 thousand households have been resettled, achieving just 43 per cent of the project's target.

According to Ha Hung, CEM's vice chairman, resource allocation together with an unrealistic view of socio-economic development had dragged down the effectiveness of the projects.

"The total budget for ethnic policies in 2014 is only 33 per cent of the approved plan. We want the National Assembly to provide the planned funding and create an extra budget to support projects and development in mountainous ethnic-populated regions," Hung said.

Policies to promote socio-economic development and poverty reduction have already changed the society. In seven years, the national poverty rate has declined from 20 per cent in 2006 to 9.6 per cent in 2012.

Project promotes heritage tree preservation

A programme to preserve Vietnam’s rare trees, which was launched in March 2010 by t he Association for the Conservation of Nature and Environment (VACNE), has received a fervent response in many localities.

The programme aims to select and honour the country’s heritage trees in a bid to conserve their gene sources, while raising public awareness of protecting the environment.

It also contributes to promoting the diversification and abundance of Vietnam’s flora as well as developing scientific research in the field.

Nearly 500 trees in over 40 provinces and cities have been named Vietnam Heritage Tree so far.

They included especially rare trees like the 2000-year-old teak tree in Viet Tri city, northern Phu Tho province and the 1000-year-old parashrea stellata tree in northern Ninh Binh province’s Cuc Phuong National Park.

According to the VACNE, to be recognised as heritage, the trees must be at least 200 years old in the case of wild trees, and at least 100 years for those planted. Moreover, the trees should be connected with the historical and cultural characteristics of the area where they grow.

Other trees, which do not meet the criteria mentioned above but have special values in science, history or culture, are also honoured as heritage.

Recently, the VACNE recognised 20 mango trees grown at the national historic site of Tu Quang pagoda in the central coastal province of Phu Yen as national heritage trees.-

Oxfam-funded project helps ethnic women in Lao Cai

A livestock breeding project to economically empower ethnic minority women in the northern mountainous province of Lao Cai has proved effective, helping hundreds of households in the locality escape from poverty.

Funded by Oxfam – a non-governmental organisation from the United Kingdom - the breeding project developed a stock of 150 breeding pigs into 430 pigs with healthy weights and good resistance to diseases.

Carried out in Muong Khuong district from October 2012, the project attracted the participation of 366 ethnic minority women in 14 groups. It delivered 150 female and male pigs to the groups to assist poor households in developing their families’ economy.

When a sow has new-born pigs, the households will give back a healthy piglet to their group to give to other people in the group.

Apart from being provided with pigs, group members also took part in training courses to study methods of effective cattle-breeding as well as ways to use veterinary medicine and manage home economics.

According to Ninh Quy Tao, Deputy Director of the provincial agriculture encouragement centre, by 2015, the project is expected to help more than 1,000 women, mostly from the H’Mong, Dao, Nung and Day groups in Bat Xat and Muong Khuong districts improve household incomes.

Through capacity building for ethnic minority women in market-oriented production and market negotiation skills, the project is also expected to create resources that will strongly support ethnic women to claim an equal status with the men in their community.

Project upgrades Vo Nguyen Giap schools in Dien Bien

A project was kicked off on February 16 to upgrade the primary and secondary schools named after General Vo Nguyen Giap in the northern mountainous province of Dien Bien.

The project has received total investment of 10 billion VND (476,000 USD) from the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam.

Under the project, each of the two schools in Muong Phang commune, Dien Bien district, will have a new two-storey building with six classrooms and one staff house.

The work is expected to be completed and handed over on the occasion of the 60 th anniversary of the Dien Bien Phu victory on May 7, 2014 .

General Vo Nguyen Giap was former commander-in-chief of the Vietnam People’s Army, who played a major role in the country’s two resistance wars against the French colonialists and US imperialists.

In particular, his name is closely associated with the Dien Bien Phu battle in Dien Bien province, which became a global event that surprised the whole world and helped end the Vietnamese nation’s nine-year war of resistance against the French colonialists.

War martyrs memorial built in Kon Tum

Work started on the construction of a temple in memory of heroic martyrs in Bo Y commune, Ngoc Hoi district, the central highlands province of Kon Tum on February 15.

With a total cost of over 15 billion VND funded by the Vietnam Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Industry and Trade (Vietinbank), the temple will sit in the middle of a land area of 3,600 sq.m. It will be accompanied by a 5-tonne clock bell tower and a drum tower.

The temple complex is located near the land marker defining Vietnam’s shared border with Laos and Cambodia, where one of the country’s fiercest battles during the Vietnam War on the Truong Son trail took place.

Once completed, it will become a historical-cultural site where people will come to commemorate revolutionary martyrs.-

Feasts for Ho Chi Minh City vegetarians

Many popular restaurants and hotels in Ho Chi Minh City are offering lavish vegetarian buffets and a la carte selections throughout the first lunar month of 2014.

Vinh Nghiem Vegetarian Restaurant on Nam Ky Khoi Nghia Street in District 3, is a vegetarian buffet pioneer. It serves more than 400 different vegetarian dishes featuring natural produce and minimising oil in the interests of diner health.

Co Noi Vegetarian Restaurant on Hai Ba Trung Street in District 1 has become a popular address for local vegetarians, offering lunch and dinner buffets priced at the very reasonable 159,000 VND and 169,000 VND per person respectively.

Those who want to enjoy northern vegetarian specialties, they should come to La Tia To Restaurant in Phu Nhuan. The restaurant now provides such dishes on the 1st and 15th days of every lunar month.

The city’s budget restaurants, tailored to the city’s students, labourers, and office staff, also expand their vegetarian options, available for only 20,000 VND per set.

According to the city’s agricultural wholesale market management board, fruit and vegetable prices tend to drop after the Lunar New Year festival, a trend very much appreciated by local vegetarians.

A recent market survey showed a diverse variety of vegetarian food—both fresh and frozen—is widely available. Famous brands such as Au Lac Company, Cau Tre, Vissan, and SG Food can be purchased at supermarkets, shops, and traditional markets across the city.

Quang Tri needy students to receive free rice

The People’s Committee of the central province of Quang Tri on February 13 approved 212 tonnes of rice as food aid to students in extrembly-disadvantaged areas.

The rice will be given to 2,830 students at 28 schools in Dakrong, Gio Linh, Vinh Linh and Huong Hoa districts. Each will receive 15kg of rice a month.

The aid is an effort to help these students overcome difficulties to continue going to school.

Apricot trees planted at General Giap’s grave

The central province of Quang Binh’s Quang Trach district chapter of the Ho Chi Minh Youth Union has launched a programme to plant 103 yellow apricot trees in front of the grave of late General Vo Nguyen Giap in Vung Chua-Yen island area.

The meaningful programme aims to commemorate General Giap’s great contribution to the nation, the 103 apricot trees symbolising the General’s longevity.

As many as 50 trees have already been planted, with the remaining to go into the ground by March.

This year, youngsters are striving to plant over 1,000 trees across the district to protect the local environment and surrounding landscape.

General Giap, real name Vo Giap (alias Van), was born in Loc Thuy commune, Le Thuy district, on August 25, 1911.

He served as a Politburo member, Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam’s Central Committee’s Military Commission, Standing Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of National Defence, Commander-in-Chief of the Vietnamese People’s Army and a National Assembly deputy from the first to seventh tenure.

He passed away in Hanoi on October 4, 2013.-

Phu Yen farm protects rare regional turtle from extinction

A man in Phu Yen Province has successfully developing a farm raising a rare and endangered species of turtle of the central region, helping to protect them from extinction.

The forest ranger department of the central province of Phu Yen is considering to grant certification for raising an endangered turtle species.

The total number of turtles on the farm of Pham Ngoc Hoang, in the province's Song Hinh District, has increased to 190, including 30 mother turtles with an average weight of 1.3-2kg each. His farming started in 2000 with the first six turtles.

"The wildlife species of the central region is a rare and endangered species," Hoang said.

"The number of this species in nature is now rare and its price in market is up to hundred millions dong. The price for males are four times higher than females', at around VND400 million (US$18,800) a kilo," he added.

The farming is expected to help protect the turtles from extinction by keeping the turtles for breeding purposes and sharing farming experience with others to help more people get involved in the preservation of this species, he said.

Hoang has proposed the provincial department of forest management to grant license to help him legalise the turtle farming to help better protect them.

The species are receiving much attention from the international community for its endemicity. It has a narrow and limited distribution area. The turtles are only found in underflooded zones in central provinces stretching from Da Nang to Phu Yen.

Scientists said that the species were on the edge of extinction due to the narrow habitat. Other reasons behind the risk of extinction are the transform of underflooded areas to cultivated land, or rising pollution in the urbanisation process.

Expert says Hong River flow vital for Delta region

Many parts of Hong (Red) and Thai Binh rivers have seen its average water level remarkably reduced - by two metres lower than the previous 20 years.

This has caused massive drought on hundreds of thousands of farmland, blocked waterway transport and seriously polluted the rivers, a conference heard on Tuesday.

At the conference on management of the Hong-Thai Binh river system, PhD Rodolfo Soncini-Sessa of the Technical University of Milan said that the flow of Hong River must reach about 1,200 cubic metres per second to supply enough water for the Red River Delta region.

However, in the past several years, the flow was strongly reduced to 900 cubic metres per second.

"It is vital to keep the water level of 2.3 metres high in Ha Noi's Long Bien District to ensure the supply of water for the city," he said.

The Red River covered Ha Noi and 25 other provinces in the north with a population of 26 million people and total agricultural area of nearly 1.1 million hectares.

In terms of waterway transport, he said the minimum of the water level in the area around Long Bien Bridge must be 1.1 metres, but many vehicles were banned to operate as the water level was down to under 0.4 metres sometimes.

According to Rodolfo Soncini Sessa, the decrease of water level at pumping stations in lower section of the river and the construction of hydro-power plants has affected the flow.

Since 1960, Viet Nam have spent more than US$500 million to curb the changes of flow in the Red River, but the effectiveness remains limited.

A $2.2 million project, which has been implemented in Viet Nam since 2012, will help improve study on the flow allocation of the two rivers, maintain essential ecological services and improve the economic benefits of hydro-power production and agriculture, he said.

The project has managed to specify 24 indexes on exploiting the river water in five sectors and the shortage of electrical energy of hydro-power plants in dry seasons.

The project is being funded by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Technical University of Milan and the Institute of Water Resources Planning under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Bui Quang Tuan, representative of the Institute of Water Resources Planning, said the irrigation system was downgraded as many pumping machines were built since 1960 and reached about 70 per cent of their performance.

Moreover, the encroachment of the river, and the discharge of waste water from industrial zones and residential areas have made it seriously polluted, he said.

Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Hoang Van Thang said the ministry has carried out a programme on improving the irrigation system with the estimated investment capital of VND20 trillion ($940 million) until 2020.

The programme will supply more water from reservoirs in Hoa Binh, Thac Ba, Tuyen Quang and Son La. A series of irrigation works, such as Trung Ha, Bach Hac, Dai Dinh, Thanh Diem, Dan Hoai, Xuan Quan and Long Tuu, and a system of dykes will be built and upgraded.

As many as 129 pumping stations, 14 culverts will be built and more than 230 pumping stations and 14 culverts will be upgraded under this programme, he said. 

Source: VNA/VNS/VOV/Dantri/SGT/SGGP/Nhandan