HCM City development stymied by chaotic waterway management

Overlaps in authority and irrational regulations mean HCM City's inland waterways are badly managed, affecting the very development of the city, officials have said.

The city has nearly 1,000km of rivers and canals, most of which function as water transport routes and are classified as national-level and city-level routes.

There are 16 national-level routes measuring more than 250km managed by the Viet Nam Inland Waterway Administration.

The city Department of Transport manages 87 city-level routes with a total length of 570km.

The administration manages boat lanes and ports and wharves on the national routes.

However, the areas between the boat lanes and banks are not managed by any agency.

This causes administrative problems related to a clutch of other issues like underwater works, urban order and security, sanitation, urban architecture, housing, illegal encroachment of rivers and canals, and landslides.

Along the banks of rivers and canals managed by the administration, thousands of illegal houses have mushroomed.

For example, along the Kenh Te – Kenh Doi Canal, hundreds of houses have been illegally built in districts 4, 7 and 8, severely affecting the safety of waterway traffic and sanitation.

Ngo Dinh Quang, director of the City Inland Waterway Port Authority, said: "If there are violations, we can only issue warnings and cannot penalise offenders because we lack the authority to do so."

To better manage the national-level routes, the city People's Committee recommended to the Ministry of Transport in August to restructure their management by handing over the authority to the city.

This would help simultaneously manage several issues like waterway traffic safety, ports, wharves, water supply and drainage, sanitation, dredging, and building embankments along rivers and canals, it said.

HCM City finds 5,900ha sitting idle

More than 5,900 ha of land in HCM City remains unused despite being issued land-use certificates, the city's land inventory board has said in a report.

Most of it was in suburban districts like 12, Thu Duc, Binh Chanh and Nha Be.

By 1 January this year, 4,200ha of land granted to businesses and other economic entities, 1,300ha to State and Government agencies and more than 300ha to joint venture with foreign partners had been left unused, the report said.

Most of them were residential plots or meant for public use or for production and business activities.

The economic downturn, which caused financial problems for the owners, stagnated the property market and led to changes in land compensation policies, was the major reason for the phenomenon.

The board also suggested that relevant authorities should constantly monitor the implementation of projects earmarked with land, cancelling those that are delayed or appear speculative in nature.

The city has more than 209,000ha of land, including 118,000ha for agriculture.

The authorities have issued land-use certificates for over 84,500ha while another 635ha remain unlicensed and unused.

The latter figure is 1,630ha lower than in 2005 and comprise mostly infertile areas on hillocks and polluted areas near industrial parks in the districts of Cu Chi (317ha), Binh Chanh (173ha), Hoc Mon (43ha) and District 9 (42ha).

New dam forces residents from homes in Lam Dong

Eighty households in Dinh Trang Thuong Commune in the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong have had to abandon their homes due to the filling of Dong Nai 3 Hydropower Plant's reservoir.

"Their houses are now under 10 metres of water," said Nguyen Tranh, deputy chairman of the People's Committee of Di Linh District.

Some families have been housed in resettlement areas built by the Hydroelectric Project 6's Management Board, while others have received compensation in cash, he said. Tranh said it took more than a year to relocate families because they were not happy with the level of compensation offered by the project's investor.

Relocation of families was scheduled for completion last June but was delayed until this September.

The reservoir began to fill up on September 17 even though 80 households were still living close by.

Pham Van Cuc, deputy head of the Hydroelectric Project 6's Management Board, said work on the plant was already one year behind schedule. He said that if they had not begun to fill the reservoir, they would have lost about VND1 trillion (US$51.6 million) in electricity.

"The reservoir needed to be filled before the rainy season ended," he said.

However, he said that the management board had worked closely with local agencies to ensure residents were safe.

"Now the plant has successfully installed a rotor in group 1. When the reservoir is full the plant will be able to generate electricity," he said.

The Dong Nai 3 Hydropower Plant, which will be able to produce 180MW of electricity worth VND3,600 billion ($184 million), was scheduled to open in 2004.

Vietnam-Hungary Industry University established

The Prime Minister has decided to establish a Vietnam-Hungary Industry University to upgrade the Vietnam-Hungary Industry College.

Innovation for HIV-free generation

The launch of UNICEF's pack of medicines to prevent mother-to-child HIV transmission in Kenya on Friday marks the moment when this innovation starts its potential to save lives in developing world.

Phase one of the roll out of the Mother-Baby Pack in Kenya, Lesotho, Zambia, and Cameroon is projected to run through mid-2011, according to UNICEF.

Health workers in antenatal clinics and delivery care settings, including non-medical workers, will distribute the packs to pregnant women living with HIV.

This simple yet revolutionary innovation can have a significant impact on the number of babies born free of HIV.

A pregnant woman's first antenatal visit is a vital opportunity to test mothers for HIV and prevent transmission of the virus to their babies. By bundling together a full course of preventive drugs, the pack promotes easier storage, distribution and management – while reducing the chance of pharmaceutical shortages in clinics.

VNN/VOV/VNS