WB funds urban upgrading project in Mekong Delta

The World Bank (WB) will provide 293 million USD in official development assistance for a 399 million USD project to upgrade six urban areas in the Mekong Delta region.

The project, with expected completion by December 2017, targets the cities of Can Tho, My Tho, Cao Lanh, Ca Mau, Tra Vinh and Rach Gia.

It will upgrade infrastructure and build resettlement areas in the cities while helping improve project management and coordinating capacity.

A total of 25,900 households will be connected to the water supply system, 18,900 others linked to the sewage system and 139,500 people connected to upgraded roads.

The project is part of a national urban upgrading programme ratified by the Prime Minister with the aim of upgrading 100 urban areas nationwide between 2009 and 2020.

Since 2007, about 2.2 million people in Ho Chi Minh City and Can Tho city in the south, Hai Phong city and Nam Dinh province in the north have benefited from the programme.

Police hold 8 drug traffickers with 70 drug cakes

Police in central Nghe An Province have busted a large drug trafficking ring, detaining eight people, including a teacher and a former teacher, while seizing 70 cakes of heroin.

Part of the 70 cakes of heroin police seized in Vinh City, Nghe An Province. (Photo: GDVN)

At noon on July 31, local anti-drug police stopped seven suspicious people who got off a train in the province’s Vinh City railway terminal for examination.

They were waiting for another train to go to Ho Chi Minh City.

On searching their cargo, the police found 30 cakes of heroin. They also seized US$207,000, VND2.87 billion, a motorbike and several mobile phones, said Colonel Nguyen Xuan Lam, director of the provincial police.

Four of the arrested are residents of Vinh City and the rest are of the Mong minority people in the city’s Que Phong District.

The police later searched their homes. Yesterday morning, at the house of Nguyen Hoai Thu, a 30-year-old teacher at Tien Phong Junior High School in the district, police found 40 more cakes of heroin hidden in her working room.

From the testimonies of the detainees, police seized a 44-year-old woman, Nguyen Thi Chau, a former teacher at the same school, the same day.

According to police’s initial investigation results, the ring bought the drugs in a Laos-Vietnam border area and then transported them to Nghe An.

The police are expanding their investigation to track down other members of the ring.

JICA assists Hanoi’s public transport

The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has sent experts to Hanoi to carry out a technical assistance project on improving public transport in the capital city.

Japanese experts arrived in Vietnam at the request of the Hanoi municipal People’s Committee, with the aim of making a detailed plan for the implementation of TRAHUD-II.

The two-year project, which is expected to be completed by June 2014, aims to minimize traffic congestion in Hanoi, raise the awareness of public transport, and increase the number of people using public transport, especially bus services.

Takagi Michimasa, chief advisor to the TRAHUD-II project, said Japanese experts would help build local transport managers’ capacity and increase the quality of public transport services to meet increasing demand from the public.

Cross-border effort busts drug trafficking ring

Border guards in Vietnam’s northern mountainous province of Dien Bien, in coordination with the security services in the Lao province of Phongsaly, arrested five people for smuggling 32 kg of opium on July 30.

All five, who include To Lo, Chu Cho, A Cha, Xu O and Ki Xa, come from Noong Lom village, in Muong May district in Phongsaly province.

Earlier, border guards in Dien Bien province had interrogated suspects who had been previously involved in drug cases and uncovered a gang smuggling drugs and weapons from Noong Lom village to Na Bung commune in Muong Nhe district, Dien Bien province.

The five were arrested after a four-day joint operation.

Vietnam marine police carry out live-fire drill

The Marine Police Region 1, based in the northern port city of Hai Phong, has conducted a live-fire rehearsal within its training program for the year.

Colonel Tran Huu Khoan, the Region Commander, said the maneuver was carried out to check and assess performance of the naval soldiers who have been trained in the program, which helped them improve skills in using weapons, implementing operation plans, handling unexpected circumstances, and enforcing sea-related laws.

Through the drill, the Marine Police Region 1 force has assessed the combat-readiness of naval soldiers and their boats; for example, how well they can command, control, and use artillery to fight enemy boats in both day and night time.

According to the drill’s results, 100 percent of the boats have been rated as good and fairly good in firing, while some of them were considered excellent, Khoan said.

The Marine Police Region 1 is in charge of the country’s northern coastal area between the Bac Luan River estuary in Quang Ninh Province and Con Co Island in Quang Tri Province.

Nghe An girl saved from prostitution

Police in northern Quang Ninh Province yesterday rescued a 21-year-old woman from kidnappers who had forced her into prostitution.

Four suspected kidnappers were arrested by police officers.

On the previous day, police received a call from the woman's mother in central Nghe An Province, asking for help to rescue her daughter. The 21-year-old had managed to send her mother a text message saying that she had been kidnapped on Monday and forced to work as a prostitute.

Police found the girl after checking on guest houses in the area. The girl told police she fell unconscious after hanging out with some friends of her boyfriend on Monday in Hai Phong City, before waking up 30km away in Quang Ninh Province. She said she was forced by a pimp and his young accomplices to be a prostitute.

VNN/VOV/VNS/Tuoi Tre