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Building in HCMC collapses, injures 11
11 workers were injured when a three-story building under construction in Ho Chi Minh City suddenly collapsed Saturday morning.
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The site of the collapsed building. (Photo: Tuoi Tre) |
Of these workers, 11 were hit by or buried in the ruins of the collapsed building.
They were later taken to the People’s Hospital 115 for emergency treatment.
Two of the victims are in serious conditions. Works on the building started two months ago and its owner has obtained a construction license, the ward police said, adding that the contractor has bought insurance for the construction.
Some local residents blamed the collapse on the weak foundation of the house as it had been built next to a swamp.
The ward’s construction inspectorate and police are blocking the site and investigating the cause of the accident.
Ward authorities have visited the victims at the hospital and provided each with VND500,000-700,000 (US$24-33,5).
Thu Thiem tunnel to open to traffic next month
After 7 years of construction, the Thu Thiem tunnel that runs underneath the Saigon River in Ho Chi Minh City will be open to traffic on November 20, said Tran Quang Lam, head of the Thu Thiem Tunnel Management Board.
At a press conference
yesterday, Lam also introduced the plans for vehicle circulation in the tunnel,
which is 1,490 meters long and links District 1 with Thu Thiem New Urban Area
in District 2.
Car and passenger vans are allowed to travel around the clock in the tunnel,
while motorbikes’ circulation is limited between 8 am and 6 pm.
Light trucks, of 5-ton load and less, are permitted to travel from 8 am to 4 pm
and from 8 pm to 6 pm.
Heavy trucks, with load of over 5 tons, are allowed to travel from 9 pm to 6
am.
The tunnel does not accept pedestrians, non-motorized and home-made vehicles,
vehicles carrying live animals not meeting environmental hygiene requirements,
and vehicles transporting harmful or inflammable substances, explosives, and
other dangerous items.
Vehicles of over-30-ton load, trailer-trucks, and vehicles with dimensions
beyond 4.2 meters in height and 2.5 meters in width, can use the tunnel only
when permitted by related agencies.
Le Toan, deputy director of the HCMC Transport Department, said the traffic fee
on vehicles is expected to be applied after the coming Tet (lunar New Year
Festival), subject to approval by the city People’s Committee.
The tunnel, part of HCM City’s East-West highway project, receives a total
investment of $189 million provided by Japanese ODA and have been constructed
by a consortium of four Japanese contractors: Obayashi Corporation, Taisei
Corporation, the Kumagai-Kajima consortium and Toa Corporation.
Overseas Vietnamese confesses to robbery
35-year-old Vietnamese American Nguyen Mark Joseph, also known as Khanh, has confessed he was the mastermind of the robbery at Thu Thanh gold shop in Binh Thuan Province Friday.
Khanh was arrested by the Binh Thuan police on Saturday. He was also the driver of the seven-seat Innova car at the crime scene.
A preliminary investigation shows that Khanh had two previous convictions for tax evasion and drug sales in the US.
In Vietnam, he rent a hotel room in Ho Chi Minh City to live and operate a wine business.
A meticulous plan
Khanh and his team had planned very carefully for the robbery.
He asked 34-year-old Nguyen Phuoc Hai who has permanent residence in HCMC’s District 6 and was arrested along with Khanh, to hire the Innova from a company in Go Vap District.
Khanh then drove Hai and two others whose names Hai and Khanh said they didn’t even know to Binh Thuan for the robbery. Around 7 pm on Friday, the four men arrived at Thu Thanh gold shop on Nguyen Tat Thanh Street in Cho Lau Town in Bac Binh District.
They all got out except for Khanh who stood watch behind the car. The three men rushed into the shop, threatened the shop’s owner with knives and took away many gold items from the counter.
As the owner shouted for help, they used pepper spray and electric batons to shut him up. Hai then used a hammer to break glasses to steal gold. On their way out, the robbers also injured the father of the shop owner.
A dramatic chase
After receiving reports about the robbery, the police of Bac Binh District blocked roads and mobilized forces to hunt down the men.
When police blockades closed the two ends of the 10 km section from Luong Son Town to Cho Cau Town on National Highway 1, the robbers’ car had to run up and down several times trying to find a way out.
Khanh then asked his two accomplices sitting in the back to take the bag containing 32 taels of gold to flee on foot, while he continued to drive on with Hai.
When they reached Hong Thai Commune of Bac Binh District, Khanh let Hai get out and continued to drive alone.
The car later accidentally hit Nguyen Nam, a pedestrian, and killed him on the spot and was turned upside down.
Khanh and Hai were arrested shortly after. Angry residents then brought the damaged car out on National Highway 1A and set it on fire, blocking fire fighters and causing traffic jams for more than two hours.
The police said they also seized four bullets of an electroshock gun, two laptops, two Iphone, four smart phones and many other items from the two robbers.
Many fake guns, electric batons, and rubber bullet guns were burned with the car.
The police are hunting for the other two robbers.
Two girls killed by boyfriends in Dong Nai, Binh Duong
Two girls were killed by their lovers in the southern provinces of Dong Nai and Binh Duong on Friday and Saturday.
On the night of October 14, 17-year-old Vo Thi Kim Duyen and 20-year-old Nguyen Phuoc Thien were talking on a street in Binh Da Ward, Bien Hoa City, Duyen’s former lover, Ngo Hung Quan, suddenly appeared and used a knife to stab Thien four times on the chest and back.
Quan also stabbed Nguyen Phuoc Loc, Thien’s elder brother, who came to the scene to prevent the attack.
Loc died on the spot while Thien were severely injured. Duyen ran away but Quan chased after her and stabbed her many times to death.
After committing the crime, Quan stabbed himself but was only seriously wounded. Local residents called the police to the scene and took Thien and Quan to the hospital.
The police have conducted an autopsy on the dead bodies and are still investigating.
Yesterday morning, 20-year-old Nguyen Tan Dung, from Tien Giang Province, killed his lover Nguyen Thi Thanh, 19, also from Tien Giang, in her rented room in Binh Duong Province’s Thuan An Town.
After the killing, Dung stabbed himself but didn’t die.
Locals called the police to the scene and took Dung to the hospital. Dung had stabbed Thanh 32 times in the toilet of the room, the police said.
The police said Dung and Thanh had been in love for years but their families forbade their relationship.
Dung thus wanted to end the life of both of them. Locals told the police that a month ago, Dung had strangled Thanh but she managed to escape.
Two arrested for swindling through bogus prizes
The Ministry of Public Security police have arrested a 35-year-old man who falsely claimed himself as a treasury director and his accomplice for swindling at least VND47 million (US$2,250) from two people by offering them bogus prizes.
Nguyen Van Thuan Em and Vu Thi Hue, 37, both from Tan Hong District in the southern province of Dong Thap, were arrested yesterday for “swindling to appropriate assets,” the police said.
Em was found making calls to the victims’ fixed telephones informing them that they had won a prize, ranging from VND135-235 million, from a luck draw program organized by the Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group (VNPT) and the provincial Treasury based on subscribers’ telephone numbers.
Em then asked his victims to transfer a VAT amount of 10 percent of their “prizes” to a designated account as a condition for receiving the prizes.
After the transfer was made, Em withdrew the money from the account or transferred it to another. Earlier, Em had used his photo to replace the photo on the ID card of a man named Mai Van That and used the card to open an account at a local bank where he received the money transferred by his victims.
When Em’s victims came to the Treasury on the date fixed by him to get the “prizes,” they found out they had been duped.
They reported to the police. The police investigated the case and arrested Em and Hue, who was found assisting Em.
The two confessed to the police that they had swindled VND47 million from their victims.
The police are continuing their investigation to identify the origin of the ID card and how many people have fallen victims of the two swindlers.
ASEAN expresses condolence to flood victims
ASEAN Member States express their deep sympathy and condolence to the Governments and peoples of Southeast Asian countries for the loss of lives and damage to social, economic as well as environmental assets caused by floods from heavy incessant rains over the past months, which affected, among others, Cambodia, Lao PDR, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam.
ASEAN Member States wish the bereaved families of the victims and those currently affected by the floods would be given strength and comfort in facing this disaster.
They believe that the Governments and peoples of the affected countries will rise from this disaster with strong spirit and resilience to resume normal life and to rebuild their communities.
ASEAN Member States also express their readiness to lend the affected countries support and assistance in a timely manner and in appropriate ways in accordance with the spirit of ASEAN solidarity.
ASEAN Member States further
emphasize the importance of strong cooperation and coordination amongst ASEAN
Member States and believe that full implementation of the ASEAN Agreement on
Disaster Management and Emergency Response (AADMER) and the operationalization
of the ASEAN Co-coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on disaster
management (AHA Centre) will play a significant role in enhancing the regional
capacity on disaster management.
Dau Tieng reservoir may submerge
HCM City
If the reservoir keeps receiving water and if its
water level exceeds 24.4 meters, then the excessive water discharged from it
may flood Ho Chi Minh City,
and Binh Duong and Tay Ninh provinces, experts warned.
They released the warning at the seminar titled “Dau Tieng Reservoir: Some
Urgent Problems” held by the HCMC Irrigation Science Association yesterday.
Currently, the reservoir water level is 23.35 meters, experts said.
Dr Nguyen An Nien, chairman of the association, said the reservoir, with its
storage capacity of 1.58 billion cubic meters of water, can discharge 2,800
cubic meters of water per second at maximum, but in fact, a discharge at just
600 cubic meters per second can cause a relatively heavy inundation to the
city, as it happened once in the past.
Meanwhile, many parts of the reservoir are being occupied illegally for
aquaculture or sand exploitation, which reduced the reservoir’s water storage
capacity, said Vu Duc Hung, chairman of the Dau Tieng-Phuoc Hoa Irrigation
Exploitation One-Member Co Ltd, which manages the reservoir.
There was a case in which 10 hectares of the reservoir was occupied. Hung said.
Nguyen Van Ly, deputy director of the HCMC Department of Agriculture and Rural
Development, said the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development should
dredge the bed of the reservoir to increase its capacity and strictly punish
illegal occupation of the reservoir, Ly said.
Some experts suggested the reservoir’s height should be raised by 1-2 meters to
increase its storage capacity.
Dr. Tien said he would refer experts’ opinions to competent agencies for
consideration.
Tran Duy Tien, deputy head of the ministry’s Work Construction Management
Department, said the agency would coordinate with the Ministry of Natural
Resources and Environment and relevant local authorities to set up a management
council for the reservoir to eliminate the illegal occupation.
Corrupt rangers in two provinces disciplined
Following Tuoi Tre’s coverage on corruption among forest
rangers in central provinces,
the Thanh Hoa and Dak Lak forest protection sub-departments have taken
disciplinary actions against a number of them.
In Thanh Hoa, two forest protection officers, Luu Minh Hieu and Nguyen Huu Hai,
have been given a warning for taking bribes from drivers of timber-carrying
trucks.
Two other officers, Vuong Huy Tuan and Le Duc Hai, were reprimanded for the
same misconduct.
All of the four would be transferred to administrative jobs, the provincial
sub-department said.
Meanwhile, several rangers in Dak Lak have been found taking bribes and abusing
power while on duty and would accordingly be punished, the provincial
protection sub-department told Tuoi Tre on Friday.
The agency said it had investigated and confirmed the rangers’ wrongdoings,
based on the information and evidence provided by Tuoi Tre.
Yesterday a working team from Phu Yen Province
came to Tuoi Tre’s headquarters in Ho
Chi Minh City to get more information and evidence
related to the corruption of some rangers at the Tay Hoa District forest
protection station.
Gold robbers cause traffic accident, one dead
The police in central Binh Thuan Province have seized two of the 5
gangsters who robbed a jewelry shop and stabbed 2 people there, and then while
trying to get away, caused a traffic accident that killed another Friday
evening.
Around 7 pm Friday, five men arrived at Thu Thanh gold shop on Nguyen Tat Thanh Street,
Cho Lau Town,
Bac Binh District in a car.
Four of them got out, rushed into the shop, threatened the shop’s owner with
knives and took many gold items from the counter.
As the owner shouted for help, the gangsters stabbed her and her father before
escaping with the gold.
A patrol police team chased after the robbers who hit a pedestrian and then
crashed their car into a house when they reached the Hiep An Bridge in Phan
Hiep Commune.
The accident killed the victim on the spot.
The robbers got out of the car and fled away but two of them were arrested.
The police are hunting for the three escaped.
Dike breached, 2,200 hectares of rice field sunken
A dike breach in the Mekong Delta Province An Giang occurred Friday morning and sank 2,200 hectares of rice field under flood water -- the biggest ever damage caused by floods this season.
Flood water has also brought threats to surrounding rice fields.
It was reported that a 40 meter section of the dike in Vinh Chau Commune in Chau Doc Town collapsed by 9:30 local time and flood water cascaded into rice fields in two communes Vinh Chau and Vinh Te.
As the dike section locates in a deserted area and locals only discovered the incident around four hours later.
Local authorities and army units joined with 1,000 residents to rebuild the dike.
In a relevant note, streets in An Giang’s Long Xuyen City have become inundated in the last two days for heavy raining and rising tide from local rivers. Streets Tran Hung Dao, Hung Vuong and Ly Thai To have been sunken 0.5 meter under flood water.
Old woman's suspect murderer arrested
A young man who allegedly killed a 68-year-old woman in the Central Highlands city of Ban Me Thuot has been arrested.
After four days of investigation, the police arrested 20-year-old Pham Truong Pha at a beauty salon.
After being questioned, Pha pleaded guilty to killing Be for robbery.
Be’s body was discovered at 91 Dinh Tien Hoang Street in Tu An Ward, at 3 pm on October 8.
A part of her house is used as a health and beauty care salon of Be’s daughter.
After being informed by an employee of the salon, the municipal police came and found Be lying dead on her back, with many deep cuts on the neck.
Be’s neighbors told the police that she stayed alone in the house everyday, except for the working hours of the salon.
10 bankers indicted for fraud to pocket $240,000
The acting director of a branch of the Agriculture and Rural Development of Vietnam (Agribank) in Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province has been indicted for irresponsibility for allowing 10 of his subordinates to falsely claim deposit broking fees, local police reported.
But Nguyen Ngoc Khai has been let out on bail as have Ho Van Hoang, director of the Long Son transaction office; Nguyen Thi Tuong An, an accountant of the branch; Tran Thi Hoa, a credit officer of the branch; and Ngo Thi Cam Tu, a transaction officer at the Hoa Long office.
Six have been held -- Nguyen Thi Cam, director of the branch’s transaction office No. 2; Nguyen Thi Kim Xuan, head of the credit department; Nguyen Tam Hong Anh, a credit officer; Tong Thi Ngoc Kim and Pham Thi Thu Thao, deputy heads of the credit department; and Le Hong Nhung, head of the accounting and treasury department.
Khai has been charged with “irresponsibility causing serious consequences,” while the others face a charge of “abusing position and power to appropriate assets.”
To attract deposits, Agribank announced in June that it would pay a fee of up to 0.35 percent per month to brokers who secure deposits, but only upon their maturity.
Khai later signed a document stipulating brokerage fee rates of 0.2-0.3 percent.
Taking advantage of this, the 10 persuaded their relatives to deposit VND150 billion ($7.2 million) into 125 saving accounts and pocketed broking fees of nearly VND5 billion by submitting fictitious brokers’ names.
They also broke the rule by collecting the money up front, the police said.
Ha Tinh corrupt rangers scolded, to be transferred
After Tuoi Tre blew the whistle on corruption by forest rangers last month, four officers and two drivers in Ha Tinh Province have been disciplined for taking VND250,000 (US$12) from the driver of a truck carrying timber.
The local forestry protection sub-department’s disciplinary council had met yesterday and decided to take action against Nguyen Tong Phuong, Doan Ngoc Loi, Phan Viet Hoang, and Nguyen Van Chien, Nguyen Huy Loi, head of the sub-department and deputy director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, told Tuoi Tre.
The first two had been given a warning and the others a reprimand, he said.
Sub-department drivers Nguyen Quang Hung and Nguyen Van Quang had also been reprimanded, he said, adding all six would be transferred soon.
The six men admitted to the council they had taken a bribe from the truck driver on July 31 as reported by Tuoi Tre.
While on duty on a bypass off Ha Tinh city, a patrol team including the six stopped a truck for examination, and, though all its papers were in order, demanded VND250,000 from the driver.
This was one of the corrupt acts Tuoi Tre had reported in a story on bribery by forest rangers in central provinces.
Doctors admit causing girl’s death
A medical team of Nguyen Dinh Chieu General Hospital in Ben Tre Province has admitted irresponsibility that lead to the death of a 17-year-old girl last week.
At the meeting held by the hospital to review the death of Vo Nhu Hao from Giong Trom District, Dr. Truong Thi Dung, head of the Internal Medicine Department, and a nurse admitted that they had been irresponsible and caused Hao’s death.
They said they would accept any punishment from the hospital’s management board, said Dr. Pham Van Tuan, deputy director of the hospital.
According to an initial investigation of the hospital, Hao died due to an anaphylactic shock after injection.
But Tuan said the hospital was still waiting for the forensic result for a definite conclusion.
Hao’s mother Nguyen Thi Thuy had reported to the hospital’s management board about what had happened after Hao’s hospitalization.
As her daughter was suffering from hard breathing and fatigue, Thuy rushed her to Dung’s office and asked the doctor for help but Dung refused.
A moment later, the mother came back to the office and pleaded with Dung to examine Hao as her condition had worsened.
After examining the patient, Dung told Thuy, “Just hypocalcaemia, so no problem” and returned to the office, but Hao remained in critical conditions.
After a while, Thuy asked Dung to re-examine Hao again but she refused. Thuy thus had to carry Hao on her back to Dung’s office, imploring her to save Hao.
Dung then told Thuy to wait.
When a nurse was about to give Hao an injection, Thuy told the nurse that a doctor at the Tam Duc clinic where Hao was examined previously, warned that no injection should be given to Hao in her current conditions.
But the nurse ignored Thuy’s warning and just a short moment after Hao received the injection, she died.
At the meeting, Dung rejected Thuy’s complaint that Thuy had to carry her daughter on her back to her office.
Tuan said there would be another meeting to clarify all of Thuy’s complaints.
City puts in use major drainage under Saigon River
Ho Chi Minh City inaugurated Friday a major drainage system that carries sewage away from a canal running through the city to make it clean. The system is part of a key environmental project being accomplished to clean up the Saigon River and refurbish the canal.
The system, which includes three-meter-wide pipes installed under the river, filters wastewater from Nhieu Loc-Thi Nghe Canal, dilutes it and pumps the treated water into the middle of the river.
The drainage stretches more than 400 meters under the river from Binh Thanh District to District 2.
The Ho Chi Minh City Drainage Company has completed the system for 300 days. Before that, a group of Chinese contractors had installed 180 meters of drainage pipes, starting in 2003, and then abandoned the works two years ago because they failed to install the pipes under the river.
The company then took over the remaining works.
Addressing Friday’s launch of the major drainage system, Mr. Le Hoang Quan, Chairman of the city People’s Committee, said the finish of the under-the-river package showed that the company’s engineers and technicians were capable of carrying out similar works in the future.
The ongoing key environmental project comprises 32 packages in all and this package is the finish of the first stage.
The second phase will be carried out based on the accomplishment of the first one. Phase two will include the second stage of the Nhieu Loc-Thi Nghe Canal wastewater treatment plant, and a sewage conveying system.
Miscalculation of water level causes flooding in resettlement area
Relevant authorities miscalculated flood water levels in the northern mountainous province of Son La, resulting in the evacuation of residents from a resettlement area.
Son La Hydroelectricity plant. Relevant authorities miscalculated flood water levels in the northern mountainous province of Son La, resulting in the evacuation of residents from a resettlement area
The Steering Committee for Flood and Storm Prevention and Control in Son La Province sent a report to the National Steering Committee for Flood and Storm Prevention and Control on Thursday about the flooding in a resettlement area around the Son La hydropower plant, which resulted in the evacuation of 29 households of Muong Chien commune in Quynh Nhai district.
According to the report, the incident occurred as a result of gross miscalculation by relevant authorities who set up incorrect posts indicating the rise of water levels.
The concerned agencies said that they had miscalculated the highest water level at the hydropower plant to be at a safe 215 meters. As up to 218 meters is considered safe for establishing residential camps and for cultivation, the government set up a resettlement area for flood hit people on the indicated site.
The resettlement area was set up to protect the commune people as the plant’s reservoir was fast filling up and once the water levels crossed the danger mark, then 43,760 square kilometers across three northwestern provinces of Son La, Dien Bien and Lai Chau would have been inundated. For this reason, 19,000 families living near the Son La hydropower plant were moved to the resettlement area before further rise in water levels.
When water levels in the hydropower plant reservoir rose even higher, many parts of the resettlement area were inundated. Floods destroyed vegetable crops, ripe rice crops, livestock and much of the infrastructure.
Landmarks on Nam Yet, Song Tu Tay islands to be restored
The Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism in Khanh Hoa Province has announced a plan to restore all the landmarks that show Vietnam’s sovereignty over Nam Yet and Song Tu Tay islands in Truong Sa Archipelago.
The landmarks have existed since 1956.
The Department of Planning and Investment and the Department of Education and Training in Khanh Hoa Province have been asked to build a primary and a training school for all age levels in Truong Sa town, two classrooms in Sinh Ton and Song Tu Tay islands each and staff rooms for teachers on Truong Sa Archipelago.
Food security - a hot debate at Hanoi int’l conference
With an increasing population and limited resources, alongside frequent natural disasters, food security is likely to become a difficult problem for Asian nations, including Vietnam.
Agricultural economists, scientists and policymakers from Vietnam and other Asian countries are gathering for an international conference from October 13-15 to deal with challenges facing the region’s agricultural sector in the future.
Asia has long been emerging as an economic force in the world, however the region still has to contend with thorny issues related to poverty reduction, food security, more equitable income distribution and natural disasters.
Delegates at the three-day event also discussed the latest development strategies and evaluated the influence of policies on agriculture and farmers. They affirmed that the agriculture sector plays a significant role in the region’s economic development, and is now being confronted with food insecurity due to overpopulation and rapid urbanization.
During the conference, leading experts from agriculture-based economies such as India, Bangladesh and Vietnam shared their experience in increasing productivity and preserving cultivated land for sustainable development.
Dr. Uttam Deb, principle scientist from India’s International Crop Research Institute for Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), said Vietnam should exploit its advantages of a large labour force and improved technologies to further develop its agricultural sector.
The country has the potential for developing aquaculture and cattle rearing, not only for domestic consumption but also for export. To make full use of market opportunities, agricultural productivity should be enhanced through collaboration with ASEAN and international agricultural research centres, and negotiations with the WTO, he said.
Dr. Uttam Deb highly valued Vietnam’s incentive policies towards agriculture, saying that they will help the sector provide a boost for national development in the future.
Professor Seung-Ryung Yang of Korea University’s Food and Resource Economics Department, expressed his belief that Vietnam’s agricultural sector is able to overcome negative impact caused by the global economic downturn and climate change.
He said that the country has already successfully developed from being a rice importer into one of the world’s top rice exporters. With such remarkable achievements, the country will reap higher productivity thanks to its current application of advanced technologies and methods, he added.
Prof. Yang also raised concerns over the decreasing area of cultivated land, not only in Vietnam but also in other countries, in the current context of rapid urbanization and globalization.
According to Dang Kim Son, Head of the Institute of Policy and Strategy for Agriculture and Rural Development (IPSARD), high economic growth requires a better quality of farm produce and food hygiene and safety. This also widens the gap between urban and rural areas. More research should be conducted to outline orientations and strategies for agriculture and rural development in the new era to ensure food security in both the domestic and global markets.
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)’s recent statistics show that 32 countries around the world are in need of food aid due to poor crops, conflicts, political instability or surging food prices.
The global demand for food is constantly increasing in both developed and developing countries. The price index of food over the past two years has gone up 82 percent, pushing hundreds of millions more people into poverty, making the concerns over food security a truly pressing issue.
Seminar discusses German experience in environment planning
The University of Natural Sciences, in co-ordination with the German Academic Exchange Service, organized an international seminar on the environment, changes in land use and environment observation in Hanoi on October 14.
German scientists exchanged their knowledge about planning systems and tools for environment observation, particularly for developing countries like Vietnam.
Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment, Nguyen Linh Ngoc, said the event is a good opportunity for Vietnamese scientists to learn from their German counterparts. The Ministry will assist environment observation planning to ensure environmental protection in Vietnam.
The seminar is one of the activities to be held to strengthen cooperative relations, creating a premise for scientific research in universities and institutes of Germany and Vietnam.
Month for the Poor launched
The Vietnam Fatherland Front Central Committee (VFFCC) has launched a “Month for the Poor 2011” from October 17 to November 18.
At the launch ceremony in Hanoi on October 14, Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai said poverty reduction is a major policy of the Party and State aimed at ensuring socio-political stability and sustainable development. He praised the good deeds for the poor performed by people from all walks of life, overseas Vietnamese and international organizations.
Mr Hai emphasized that Vietnam can only achieve poverty reduction goals if it brings into full play the strength of the whole political system and masses as well as support from international friends.
VFFCC Chairman Huynh Dam called on ministries, departments, organizations, individuals, businesses at home and abroad and overseas Vietnamese to support the “Day for the Poor” campaign and social welfare programmes, raise funds for the poor and help those living in disadvantaged areas to escape poverty.
Fourteen organizations and businesses have pledged to contribute to the fund for the poor and other social welfare programmes so far this year with an estimated amount of VND1,700 billion.
Over the past 10 years, the fund for the poor has spent nearly VND5,700 billion building nearly 1.12 million houses for the poor and carrying out thousands of social welfare projects across the country.
However, Vietnam still has more than 3 million poor households, accounting for 14.2 percent of the total population and more than 1.6 million of families which are just above the poverty line.
ADB helps Hanoi improve traffic situation
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will provide US$293 million credit to the Vietnamese Government to build a metro railway to ease the heavy traffic congestion in Hanoi.
The credit agreement was signed by the Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam, Nguyen Van Binh, and ADB Vietnam Country Manager, Tomoyuki Kimura, on October 13.
Kimura said the project will help municipal authorities effectively ease the traffic situation, reduce the emission of greenhouse gases and ensure sustainable socio-economic development.
The metro railway will have a total length of 12.5km and run from the Hanoi Railway Station through Cau Giay district to Nhon town.
It will also receive support from the French government and the European Investment Bank. This is the first of four metro railways planned for Hanoi.
The railway is scheduled to be completed by 2015 and will be capable of transporting 150,000 commuters a day, aiming to reach a capacity of nearly 500,000 by 2030.
Vietnam, Laos boost scientific and technological cooperation
The Vietnamese government supports the cooperation between Vietnam and Laos’s ministries of science and technology, said Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai.
Deputy PM Hai emphasized this at a meeting with Lao Minister of Science and Technology Boviengkham Vongdara in Hanoi on October 14.
Mr Hai said in addition to the cooperation between the two ministries, it is necessary to boost ties between departments of science and technology of border provinces in order to bring advanced technologies to life, thus improving people’s living conditions.
Mr Vongdara reported on the outcome of the second session of the Vietnam-Laos Committee on Scientific and Technological Cooperation.
During the second session, he said, both sides reached a consensus to train the human resources, exchange information, build infrastructure for scientific and technological activities; as well as exchange experts on intellectual property and transfer technologies for each country’s socio-economic development and poverty reduction.
Mekong Delta told to rebuild dyke system
The Prime Minister, after inspecting flooding areas in some provinces in the Mekong Delta on Thursday, has instructed provincial authorities to make a plan to rebuild the dyke system and develop residential areas so they are able to adapt to floods.
Long An, Tien Giang, Dong Thap, An Giang and Kien Giang provinces should harmonize crop seasons with flooding seasons to avoid floods, said Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung.
The Government will also think out plans for the coastal area of the Mekong Delta so that it can cope with climate change.
The water level of this year’s flooding season is 20 centimeters lower than that of the historic flood in 2000 and the death toll has risen to 34. Over 6,000 out of 650,000 hectares of the third rice season and 59,000 houses were flooded.
Long An, Dong Thap and An Giang provinces also asked the Government for VND800 billion to repair damage caused by the floods. (PV)
World Bank: Vietnamese students lack skills
While access to higher education has been growing fast in Vietnam over the last decade, many challenges remain for tertiary education institutions to improve skill delivery, said the World Bank in a report released in Hanoi on Thursday.
The World Bank’s report “Putting Higher Education to Work: Skills and Research for Productivity and Growth in East Asia” said the supply of higher education graduates remains below par regionally and does not yet address the needs of the labor market.
Vietnamese employers find gaps to be particularly severe in communication and English skills, as well as practical knowledge of one’s job, in newly hired graduates. And skill gaps are found to be significantly larger in technologically intensive sub-sectors, constraining technological improvements and innovation.
Higher education also needs to do a better job of providing the type of research needed to boost innovation. Quality research enables universities to produce ideas for the business community and contribute to technology upgrading in firms, generating knowledge and technological innovation.
International rankings and research output indicate that the Vietnamese higher education system is not yet providing research of sufficient quality. Even university involvement in technology adaptation and upgrading is limited.
According to surveys, for instance, less than 3% of firms declare cooperating with universities or research institutes in product innovation.
Clearly, beyond simply providing skills, Vietnamese universities need to do more to support innovation through research and technology.
According to the report, “higher education does not produce the expected results because higher education institutions are “disconnected” from the other actors at the core of the higher education system.”
For Vietnam to continue its rapid growth and achieve continued technological deepening, these main priorities are evident for higher education: addressing skills gaps through better graduate quality and more inclusiveness; encouraging selected university-industry linkages to improve curriculum relevance, support entrepreneurship, and help with technological upgrading.
VNN/VNS/Tuoi Tre/VNA
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