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HCM City reports 40% fall in traffic accidents in first quarter
The first quarter has seen a 40 per cent reduction in the number of accidents compared to the same period last year, according to HCM City officials.
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Nguyen Huu Tin, Deputy Chairman of the HCM City People's Committee, said reducing traffic congestion was one of the six focal programmes carried out by the city's authorities in 2012.
District authorities, city departments and Government agencies were told to focus on removing "black" spots and gridlocks on 23 accident-prone roads in the city and place road dividers on 29 others.
The municipal administration has also asked the departments and agencies to review parking spaces, relocate vehicle-registration centres to outlying districts, and speed up underground parking projects.
Meanwhile, it has been announced that construction work will start on April 14 to build the Sai Gon Bridge No 2 across the Sai Gon River, standing parallel to the existing Sai Gon Bridge No 1.
Nguyen Mai Bao Tram, investment manager of the HCM City Infrastructure Investment JSC – investor in the Sai Gon Bridge No.2 Project – said her company would invest some VND1.2 trillion (US$57.4 million) in the B.T. (Build-Transfer) project.
Construction of the new bridge is scheduled to be completed in 22 months.
The 900m long, 23.5m wide, four-lane bridge project aims to increase safety on the Sai Gon Bridge No. 1, which is nearly 50 years old, by reducing traffic jams and overloading.
Vietnam to use nets to prevent sharks from entering beach
Authorities in the central province of Binh Dinh said they will use nets to block aggressive bull sharks from entering Quy Nhon Bay and attacking tourists and swimmers at the beautiful beaches there.
The nets will be deployed soon to prevent any sharks from approaching busy beaches, according to authorities of Quy Nhon -- a town in the province.
Other steps being taken to hinder the shark’s mobility include the clearance of bushes installed by locals to catch shrimp, and moving fishing cage far from beaches to prevent sharks from approaching with the intention of hunting and attacking tourists.
The solutions were proposed by the Nha Trang Institute of Oceanography as part of a research project on shark attacks at Quy Nhon beaches.
The first case of a shark attack on a tourist was recorded in 2009. From that time till May 2010, three sharks have attacked and injured six people in Quy Nhon. Binh Dinh authorities and fishermen have managed to catch six sharks so far, one of which weighed half a ton.
Ship's sinking costs millions
Damages caused by the sinking of container ship Truong Hai Star on Monday night off the Vung Tau coast amounts to hundreds of billions of Vietnamese dong (millions of US dollars), according to the Chu Lai Truong Hai Shipping Lines Company Ltd., which owns the vessel.
Tran Huu Hoang, director of the one-member company, said the ship had 64 brand new automobiles on it.
Hoang said that when it sank, the 3,500-tonne Truong Hai Star was carrying 66 containers, 26 of which contained 64 new automobiles of various models that had just been released from the Truong Hai Plant in the central province of Quang Nam.
"The automobiles were damaged as sea water inundated all the containers. All the vehicles had electronic systems," said Hoang.
The automobiles were being transported from Ky Ha Port in Quang Nam Province to HCM City.
Hoang said both the container ship and the damaged automobiles were insured, and representatives of the insurers visited the site on Tuesday.
The ship sank off Vung Tau's Front Beach after colliding with the 40,000-tonne Thai vessel Krairatch Dignityon at around 11.30 pm on Monday.
The collision caused a crack on the left side of Truong Hai Star, causing it to sink, according to the local agencies.
There were no human casualties, with all 16 crew members rescued.
At around 5 pm on Tuesday, 21 containers on board the sunk vessel were salvaged by rescue ships.
VN investors get red carpet treatment in Laos
Lao Deputy Prime Minister Thongloun Sousilih presented Friendship Medals to Le Van Kiem, the Chief Executive Officer and Tran Cam Nhung, the General Director, of the Long Thanh-Vientiane economic zone, for their important contributions to Vietnamese-Laotian ties and Laos’ socio-economic development in particular.
Speaking at the presentation ceremony on Apr. 11 in Vientiane , Sousilih praised the proactive moves taken by the two Vietnamese business leaders during their time in the country and for donating nearly 5 million USD to support Lao people.
The Deputy Prime Minister said that he hopes the construction of the Long Thanh-Vientiane economic zone will be completed on schedule and becomes a symbol of cooperation between both countries.
Le Van Kiem, a veteran who was born in 1945, thanked the Lao Government for encouraging and enabling his firm to make various investments in the country.
He is also committed to his charitable activities and is keen to build on the special relationship that Vietnam and Laos have forged over the years.
Possible war bomb explosion injures two
An underground bomb thought to be left over from the war exploded on Tuesday at a construction site on the National Highway 1A in central Nghe An Province's Nghi Yen Commune, according to local authorities.
Two out of five people working at the site were injured.
The explosion left a crater 9m long, 8m wide and 4m deep, and caused serious damage to the surface, affecting traffic safety.
After the incident, the provincial transport police arrived to secure the scene and make it safe. Signal lights, boards and barriers have been set up to warn drivers.
Three workers die in resort gate collapse
Three workers died and another was severely wounded after a huge gate collapsed on them at Lan Phuong Resort in the southern province of Dong Nai's Tan Phu District.
The 12m-tall, 8m-wide gate had been under construction for three weeks.
Local authorities are investigating the accident.
Japan updates Vietnam’s inventory of emissions
The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) this year will continue to assist Vietnam to monitor and compile its greenhouse gas inventory.
Vietnam first started to monitor and record the amount of greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere in 2005.
However, Japan is now helping the country to bring the organisational structure and monitoring operations up to international standards to ensure the quality of the information.
This was announced by the chief advisor of the JICA-funded project, Takako Ono, at a meeting to discuss the project in Hanoi on April 10.
The project, which costs over US$3 million, started in May 2011 and will last until February 2014.
It has designed a plan to improve the system currently used in Vietnam. Japan has also provided the expertise to analyse the data from previous national greenhouse gas inventories.
A new system has been proposed for collecting data in the field and a draft guidance document from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) on monitoring and collecting data on emissions has been compiled.
Responses differ on illegal racing bike confiscation
The National Assembly’s Standing Committee said on Tuesday that motorbikes for illegal racing should be confiscated, a stance that drew differing opinions from delegates at a meeting to discuss the draft law on administrative penalty.
“People may claim that the penalty is too light if we return the bikes to the racers after detaining them, even if the bikes do not belong to them,” said NA Chairman Nguyen Sinh Hung.
“What if the drivers kill someone during their illegal races? Will we confiscate the vehicle, even when the bikes belong to the racers’ parents, whose permission is not sought?”
NA deputy chairman Uong Chu Luu also said confiscation should be implemented to discourage racers, though it is required by law that the owner of the bike will get the vehicle back if he is not found to be at fault.
The idea is shared by the Ministry of Justice, which said it is “unfair if a racer has his own bike confiscated, while he will not in case it is another person’s vehicle,” said Deputy Minister of Justice Hoang The Lien.
Meanwhile, Nguyen Van Hien, chairman of the NA Justice Committee, said one should not have his bike seized if he is not the one who violates laws.
“Why should I lose my bike if it is stolen by someone, who later uses it in an illegal race?” he reasoned.
This opinion was agreed upon by the chairmen of the NA committees of law, finance – state budget, and external relations.
AmCham to host fundraising gala dinner
The American Chamber of Commerce in Hanoi will host a fund-raising event on April 14 to benefit the Amcham Scholars programme, which identifies and rewards the host talented final-year students in universities of Hanoi.
This year’s gala will feature a New Orieans-style Mardi Gras party, live auctions, food, drink and music. The venue has been designed to look like New Orieans’ Bourbon Street . Guests will be able to enjoy other specialities of the city, including beads, masks, an open bar, a sit-down dinner, live music and dancing.
The event will take place at the InterContinental Hanoi Westlake Hotel, 1A Nghi Tam street, Tay Ho district.
VNN/VOV/VNS/Tuoi Tre
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