Multi-level carparks for Ha Noi

The Ha Noi People's Committee has approved a proposal to construct 24 new car parks around the city in order to ease the current parking overload.

This photo shows a model of a multi-storey car park for Tu Liem District, Ha Noi City. — File Photo

Capital for the project would be mobilised via public-private-partnerships (PPPs), in which bidding would be held openly for investors. The total cost is estimated at more than VND778 billion (over US$37 million).

The approved plan includes a 5,100sq.m parking lot and services complex in the Cau Giay New Urban Area, a 45,000sq.m project in Mai Dich-Cau Giay Exchange City, an 8,000sq.m Truong Dinh Complex project and the 5,000sq.m Dam Trau Car Park.

There are 1,178 registered car parks in Ha Noi occupying a total area of 42.92 hectares. Despite this, the current resources have just met 8 to 10 per cent of the city's demand.

The city People's Committee has also asked the transport department to work on constructing bus stations around the city, especially in the suburbs such as Hoang Mai, Tu Liem, Gia Lam, Thanh Tri, Dong Anh, Dan Phuong, Chuong My and Ha Dong. The department has also requested a review and appraisal of bus routes in the city for better transport planning.

British woman killed in Ha Long car crash

Fifteen people were injured and two others killed in a collision between a bus, a truck and 7-seat van in Ha Long city of Quang Ninh southern province on Wednesday (November 16).

Among the deceased is a woman of British nationality, investigators have said.

According to some initial information, a bus with plate number of 14N-9994 which had been for Ha Long from Yen Hung, unexpectedly head-on collided with a truck numbered 26K-2866 coming from the opposite lane.

The truck then hit a 7-seat minivan numbered 30L-7781 nearby, immediately killing the truck driver Luc Van Tuan hailing from Lang Son southern province and the British visitor on the van.

At the time of the accident, three people were on board the truck, 20 passengers on the bus while the minivan was carrying 4 people including three foreigners.

According to a source from Bai Chay General Hospital in Ha Long city, 8 victims with critical condition are being treated at the hospital.

Authorities in Quang Ninh province have visited the victims at the hospital.

All victims have been yet to be identified.

Restaurant suspected of serving rare animals

Two highly endangered animals; the black-shanked douc (Pygathrix nigripes), a primate; and Ptyas mucosus, a type of snake, are believed to be available on the menu of a restaurant in southern Vietnam’s Dong Nai province.

On November 14, local authorities raided restaurant 9999 in Vinh Cuu District, where they found hundreds of wild animals and wild products.

Among them, two products were thought to be from the King-cobra and black-shanked douc species, which are listed in the 1B group of rare animals.

Trading in animals of this group is illegal in Vietnam, and is punishable by criminal charges.

The two samples were later sealed off and preserved by Hoang Van Dien, an official of the district’s forest management department.

On the morning of November 8, Dien sent the two samples to the Institute of Tropical Biology, under the Vietnam National Academy of Science and Technology, for testing.

The results showed that one of the samples is the Ptyas mucosus, a rare snake.

Regarding the sample suspected of being a black-shanked douc, the institute concluded that it is an animal belonging to the monkey family, but they couldn’t identify exactly what kind of monkey it was.

The institute later asked the district’s forest management department to provide photos for further testing.

On the afternoon of November 11, Dien brought three photos of the suspected douc, which the restaurant owner confirmed were taken on November 4, to the institute, as requested.

Based on the length of fingers, skin color, and molar teeth, as shown by the photos, the institute concluded that the sample is indeed from a black-shanked douc.

Many people believed that the two primate photos were actually from the same animal, calling into question the institute’s decision.

Local authorities are still investigating.

Workshop talks about preventing blindness

Eye doctors and experts from Australia, Cambodia and Viet Nam exchanged ways of reducing avoidable blindness at a workshop yesterday in Ha Noi.

The annual event is under the framework of a US$45million Avoidable Blindness Initiative funded by the Australian Government in the Asia-Pacific region for the next three years.

National Eye Hospital director Do Nhu Hon said 5,500 patients had been given cataract surgery and screening for refractive errors since last year.

Three hundred eye doctors and technicians have also been trained thanks to the initiative's programmes.

Murdered journalist’s mother demands fresh probe

Nguyen Thi Kim Nga, the mother of Le Hoang Hung, has through her lawyer called for a fresh investigation into the burning death of her son, allegedly perpetrated by his wife, 40-year-old Tran Thuy Lieu, in January.

Lawyer Nguyen Van Duc, Nga’s legal representative, said yesterday that he petitioned the Long An Province People’s Court to return the case file to the prosecutor’s office for a re-investigation, since a number of issues remained unclear.

This was the second time he had requested for a fresh probe, Duc said.

After having re-investigated into the case following his first request on August 5, the police last month confirmed that Lieu acted alone in the killing and rejected speculation that Nguyen Van Tam, Lieu’s lover and the former head of a local market management team, might have been involved in the crime.

Based on the conclusion, the prosecutor’s office later issued an indictment against Lieu for murder, but there remained at least seven points that needed to be clarified, Duc said.

First, Tam, who has been dismissed for various breaches of good conduct, including his extramarital affair with Lieu, has admitted that he and Lieu talked over the phone many times before and after the burning occurred, but this issue has not been included in the case file. Similarly, Hung’s statements before his death have not been included, either.

Second, the police re-created the crime scene during the day, while the burning occurred at night.

Third, the quantity of gasoline used to burn the journalist was not the same as the alleged killer claimed in her confession.

Fourth, an examination of the crime scene had found that the mattress on which Hung had been lying burst into fire at two places at the same time. The police’s explanation about this issue was not convincing, Duc said.

Fifth, two witnesses who took part in extinguishing the fire said the main door of Lieu’s house was open when they discovered the fire, while Lieu said the door was closed at that time.

Sixth, the police found three gas lighters on the scene, while Hung was a non-smoker. His family said they had not used such lighters, and Lieu said she had used only one lighter to burn her husband.

And the last remaining issue was that Lieu claimed to have bought a 12-meter rope and tied it to the balcony railing to create a red herring, but the rope was in fact only 10.5 meters long.

In addition, lawyer Duc asked the police to press a criminal charge on Tam’s sister, Nguyen Thi Nhiem, who acted as a messenger between Lieu and Tam, although she only revealed this after a long session of questioning.

The lawyer asked the investigating agency to clarify the contents of all communications, namely letters and phone calls, between Lieu and Tam.

As reported, on January 19 Hung, 51, was sleeping alone in a bedroom when Lieu went out to the balcony, tied a rope to the railing, and let it fall to the ground.

She returned to her room, got some petrol, a newspaper, and a lighter, walked into Hung’s room, poured the petrol on the mattress, set fire to the newspaper, and threw it on the mattress.

Hung died 10 days later in a hospital in Ho Chi Minh City.

He was a journalist for Nguoi Lao Dong newspaper covering social, underworld, and anti-corruption issues.

Official wants higher minimum wage, same overtime

Commenting on the amendments to the Labor Code, Dang Ngoc Tung, chairman of the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor, said he wanted the minimum wage to be increased and the number of maximum annual overtime hours to remain unchanged.

In an interview with Tuoi Tre, Tung said the number of extra working hours should not be increased from the current 200 hours to 360 hours per year as proposed in an amendment.

He emphasized that such a regulation should be considered “only when workers are allowed to work 44 hours per week, instead of 48 hours at present.”

According to the amendment drafters, workers hade demanded for extra work, but Tung said workers wanted to work overtime only because their monthly salaries were too low.

“No workers want to be overloaded with work if their income is enough to pay for their daily living activities,” he said.

Tung said the National Assembly should thus ensure that the minimum wage is actually enough to pay for the minimum needs of a worker.

In addition, that wage should not be fixed as a constant amount, but be timely increased in proportion to the rise of the consumer price index (CPI) in a certain period, he said.

Tung also pointed out that a number of businesses, especially foreign-invested enterprises, are unfairly taking advantage of the low minimum wage.

Those businesses pay their workers salaries that are only slightly higher than the minimum rate and then give them “incentives”, such as travel subsidy or housing allowance even though such incentives should be part of the salaries.

Meanwhile, they only pay social insurance on the low salaries offered to workers, he said.

VNN/VNS/Tuoi Tre