The Van Don-Mong Cai expressway in Quang Ninh Province will be completed and opened to traffic in the second quarter of 2022, according to the investors of the project. The northern province will have 200 kilometers of expressway that will connect with the Hanoi-Haiphong expressway.

The province is speeding up work on the components of the 80-kilometer Van Don-Mong Cai expressway, with all 32 bridges of the project having been completed, the local media reported.

The expressway project, with a total investment of over VND11 trillion, will have four lanes and allow a maximum speed of 120 kilometers per hour.

The project was divided into two sections for construction and investment, with the first, or the 16-kilometer Van Don-Tien Yen, invested by the management board of Quang Ninh traffic construction investment projects.

The second section, or the Tien Yen-Mong Cai, which is over 63 kilometers long, is invested by Van Don Infrastructure Investment and Development Company.

Domestic gold prices climb to VND70 million per tael

Both the global and domestic prices of gold continued to pick up during the first trading session of the week, with global rates remaining at VND14.86 million per tael lower than the selling price of Vietnam’s Saigon Gold and Jewelry Company (SJC) gold at the same time.

The morning of April 18 saw each tael of SJC gold listed at VND69.35 million for buying and VND69.95 million for selling, making an increase of VND200,000 per tael compared to the trading session last weekend. The difference between the buying and selling prices of SJC gold stands at VND600,000 per tael.

Elsewhere, Doji Group also listed the buying and selling prices of each tael at VND69 million and VND69.65 million, respectively, up VND100,000 against last weekend’s session. The difference between the buying and selling prices of DOJI gold is VND650,000 per tael.

Furthermore, the global gold price listed on the global gold exchange Kitco was traded at US$1,984.8 per ounce, an increase of US$10.6 per ounce compared to last weekend’s session.

Amid the ongoing armed conflict in Ukraine and consecutive rises of inflation rates, both international and domestic gold prices are anticipated to continue edging up in the near future.  

Dong Hoi Airport to upgrade with more international flights

The Government has given the central Quảng Bình Province the go-ahead to upgrade Đồng Hới Airport if it gets more international flights.

Deputy Prime Minister Lê Văn Thành has asked the province to call on airlines to operate more international flights to the airport.

In the document No 2343 issued on April 4, Deputy PM Thành agreed with the Ministry of Transport’s report on the planning of Đồng Hới Airport. Last December, the ministry submitted the proposal to upgrade the airport from domestic to international level.

Đồng Hới Airport, which was established in April 2008, is designed to handle Airbus A320, A321 and other smaller aircraft, with the capacity of two flights at the same time.

There are five domestic airlines operating at the airport at three domestic routes: Đồng Hới-Hà Nội, Đồng Hới-HCM City and Đồng Hới-Hải Phòng.

There is also a regular international flight to Chiang Mai (Thailand).

VNR to reduce subsidiaries under restructuring plan
     
The Prime Minister has approved the restructuring of Vietnam Railways (VNR) to reduce the number of its subsidiaries.

According to Official Letter 303/TTg-DMDN issued by the Prime Minister on April 7 to approve this restructuring plan, branches of VNR's locomotive enterprise will reduce from five to three units.

Meanwhile, the railway project management boards of Regions 1, 2, and 3 will carry out a merger to become the sole railway project management board with the role of representing VNR as the investor in projects for VNR.

Also according to this official letter, the Prime Minister agreed to let VNR merge the Ha Noi Railway Transport Joint Stock Company (Haraco) and the Saigon Railway Transport Joint Stock Company (Saratrans) into one joint stock company.

The Commission for the Management of State Capital at Enterprises (CMSC) has directed VNR to restructure Haraco and Saratrans in accordance with existing regulations and will not lose capital and assets, according to Dispatch 303.

VNR must also finalise the VNR Restructuring Project for 2021-2025 to submit to the Prime Minister for approval.

Besides the approved issues, at the VNR Restructuring Project for 2021-2025 submitted to the Prime Minister in March 2022, VNR has proposed to maintain the holding ratio at 51 per cent of charter capital at 15 bridge and railway maintenance joint stock companies.

VNR will continue to hold over 51 per cent of the capital at five railway signal and information joint stock companies and gradually increase this ratio to 75 per cent or 100 per cent.

It has also suggested continuously holding controlling shares in Di An Railway Joint Stock Company and Gia Lam Railway Joint Stock Company to develop the railway mechanical industry.

For selecting a strategic investor, VNR will develop a roadmap to reduce its capital at these two companies to 51 per cent and submit it to the Prime Minister for approval.

La Son-Tuy Loan expy project opened to traffic

The 66-kilometer La Son-Hoa Lien section starts from the La Son intersection in Phu Loc District, Thua Thien-Hue Province, to the Hoa Lien intersection in Hoa Vang District, Danang City.

In the first phase, the route has two lanes, which are 12 meters wide, and a speed limit of 60-80 kilometers per hour. There are no toll stations on the route and motorcycles and rudimentary vehicles are barred from entering the route.

In the second phase, the route will undergo expansion to have four lanes with a total width of some 24 meters, equivalent to the Danang-Quang Ngai Expressway.

The La Son-Tuy Loan expressway project got off the ground on December 22, 2013. With a total length of 77.5 kilometers, it links the La Son intersection with the Danang-Quang Ngai Expressway. The project costs nearly VND11.5 trillion in investment sourced from Japan’s bank loans and was developed under the build-transfer format.

After years of construction, the Hoa Lien-Tuy Loan section of the project had faced multiple obstacles linked to site clearance. In early 2021, the prime minister agreed to stop the construction of this 11.5-kilometer section. The amount of unused capital will be used to pay off bank loans from Japan.

The development of the Hoa Lien-Tuy Loan section will be funded by the 2021-2025 midterm investment of the Ministry of Transport at an estimated VND2.1 trillion. In September 2021, the head of the ministry passed a plan to invest in this section.

Wedding tours proposed to attract Indian tourists

Asia DMC, a travel solutions provider with vast experience in the Indian market, has presented some measures, including further developing tours for meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions (MICE) and weddings to lure Indian guests to Vietnam.

Indian tourists are in high demand for the MICE tourism segment and wedding tours, according to Asia DMC. India sees its outbound wedding industry grow 25%-30% a year, with many destinations in Thailand, the United Arab Emirates, Malaysia, Bali, Greece and Italy.

Many nations and territories such as Turkey, Azerbaijan, Maldives and Thailand have launched various events and programs related to wedding parties to attract Indian couples, while Vietnam has yet to develop special events for wedding tours.

A survey conducted by Asia DMC showed that Indian tourist arrivals to Vietnam increased strongly over the past few years.

In the 2015-2019 period, Vietnam saw the growth rate of Indian tourist arrivals average 26.7% at 169,000, making it the 16th spot among the country’s largest source markets.

Ministry requires to accelerate implementation of ETC system on expressways

The Ministry of Transport (MoT) has just requested the Vietnam Expressway Development Investment Corporation (VEC) to drastically accelerate the implementation progress of the automated non-stop electronic toll collection system on expressway projects.

Currently, Cau Gie- Ninh Binh expressway, one of the expressway projects including Noi Bai-Lao Cai, Da Nang- Quang Ngai, Ben Luc-Long Thanh and Ho Chi Minh City- Long Thanh- Dau Giay 
under the management of VEC, has invested and put 15 out of 40 ETC lanes into operation.
VEC built a detailed plan of implementation, assigning specific responsibilities to each relevant unit and individual during the implementation process to have measures to handle cases involved in the delayed schedule. The company must report the results and implementation plan monthly for the Ministry of Transport to submit to the Prime Minister.

The Directorate of Roads of Vietnam and ETC service providers are assigned to coordinate and support VEC in the implementation process, ensuring the synchronization and connectivity of the entire toll collection system across the country.

According to the plan, VEC will complete the selection of toll collection service providers in the second quarter of 2022, install devices and operate the system in the third quarter of 2022.

Tight control over real estate credit to mitigate risks

The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV)’s decision to tighten control over real estate credit has helped to restrict speculation while making the market transparent and preventing a real state bubble, economic experts have said. 

Deputy Governor Dao Minh Tu underlined that the move only aims to restrict segments with high risk of speculation in major projects, instead of impeding investment flow in real estate.

Economic expert Nguyen Tri Hieu said control over real estate credit is necessary to purify the market and reduce risks for the economy, especially amid the boisterous development of the sector in the recent past.

According to expert Can Van Luc, data from the SBV showed loans for home purchases and repairs rose by about 15-16 percent, while loans for real estate trading were up 7-8 percent.

Real estate credit growth is forecast to rise 9-10 percent this year, Luc added.

In its latest strategy for the banking industry, the SBV said credit must be channelled into production and business industries to create positive impacts on socio-economic development. It also urged banks to refrain from providing credit to businesses operating in risky areas, such as real estate, securities, corporate bonds, or build-operate-transfer (BOT) and build-transfer (BT) transport projects.

Some banks have temporarily halted loans for the real estate sector in the short term in the wake of the SBV's policy on controlling credit growth in risky areas.

Power generation capacity projected to reach 146,000 MW by 2030

Deputy Prime Minister Le Van Thanh recently took part in an conference with localities regarding the completion of the National Power Development Plan for the 2021 - 2030 period, with a vision to 2045 (PDP VIII).

According to the Government Office’s announcement of the Deputy PM's conclusion at the conference, participants reached a consensus that the total capacity of power generation sources should reach 146,000 MW by 2030, with the structure of energy sources aligning with a report from the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT).

The figure is down about 35,000 MW compared to the version submitted on March 26, 2021. The peak capacity in 2030 is estimated at about 93,300 MW.

The power sector will focus on green energy transition and clean energy, and cut down on greenhouse gas emissions sources.

The MoIT has been assigned to collect opinions from localities to fine-tune the PDP VIII. It has also been asked to prioritise for each period and address bottlenecks in electricity development.

The Deputy PM requested the ministry to urgently study opinions to finalise the draft PDP VIII for approval by the State Appraisal Council by April 25, 2022.

Forum to promote tourism in Central Highlands

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MCST) and the Central Highlands province of Kon Tum will organise a forum on April 24 to seek measures to promote tourism in the locality and the region as a whole.

Ha Van Sieu, Deputy General Director of the Vietnam National Administration for Tourism (VNAT) under the MCST, said at a meeting on April 18 that the forum will contribute to tourism stimulus and development in the Central Highlands.

The event will be attended by some 600 representatives from the MCST, Kon Tum province, the VNAT, ministries, associations and businesses, and experts.

They are scheduled to look into the tourism potential of Kon Tum, as well as measures to build products, promote tourism and trade, and enhance connectivity in the sphere.

The Plan for Tourism Development in the Cambodia – Laos – Vietnam Development Triangle Area for 2021-2025 with a vision towards 2030 will be announced on this occasion.

Vietnamese exporters to be given advice on ways to access Swiss market

Regulations and standards regarding export of processed products to Switzerland will be introduced at a consultation to be held by the Vietnam Trade Promotion Agency (Vietrade) at the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) on April 20.

Vietnam’s Trade Counsellor in Switzerland Nguyen Duc Thuong will also brief participants on the local market. Nguyen Thi Thuc, Founder and President of Swiss-Vietnamese Business Gateway (SVBG), is expected to give consultations to Vietnamese farm produce and food exporters regarding ways to access the Swiss market.

Swiss customs data shows that trade between the two countries increased from 1.53 billion USD in 2015 to 2.4 billion USD last year, with Vietnam consistently running a trade surplus.

In 2021, Vietnam shipped some 1.87 billion USD worth of goods to Switzerland, mainly machinery, mobile phones, footwear, garments-textiles and agricultural products.

Meanwhile, more than 100 Swiss companies are operating in the Southeast Asian nation, including major brands like Nestle, ABB, Novatis, Roche and Holcim, while many are interested in expanding their businesses in Vietnam.

Tra fish production, exports surge

Vietnam’s tra (pangasius) fish sector is seeing a strong recovery after three years of gloom. 

Prices of tra fish have been on the rise due to shortages for processing and exports.

The COVID-19 pandemic and a disruption to the supply chain in 2021 hindered fish farming households, according to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP). The scarcity is projected to last until the end of the second quarter. 

Tra fish exports reached 646 million USD in the first quarter of 2022, posting year-on-year growth of 88 percent and making up 27 percent of the country’s aquatic product exports, data from VASEP showed. 

Q1 foreign investment into real estate increases

Foreign investment poured into real estate hit almost 2.7 billion USD in the first quarter of this year, outpacing the figure of the entire 2021, according to the Ministry of Planning and Investment.

Statistics show that foreign investment into real estate reached nearly 2.7 billion USD in Q1 alone, higher than the amount of 2.63 billion USD recorded last year. It included 1.1 billion USD channeled into existing projects and 992 million USD spent on contributing capital to or buying shares from domestic firms.

Notably, Singapore added over 940 million USD to a project on developing urban infrastructure and services of the Vietnam - Singapore Industrial Park in northern Bac Ninh province.

GLP, an industrial property giant of Singapore, also announced the establishment of GLP Vietnam Development Partners I, a logistics infrastructure development fund worth 1.1 billion USD.

New supply boosts residential real estate profits

Residential real estate is one of the segments considered by Vietnam Report Joint Stock Company (Vietnam Report) as having strong growth potential in the property market. Accordingly, the new supply and the expectation of a high floor price will increase profit margins for real estate businesses.

According to Vietnam Report, both supply and demand factors have been on the rise, driven by low-interest rates.

About 3,500 new apartments were put on sale in Hanoi’s housing market in the first quarter of this year. Mid-priced apartments remained the most popular product in the market, accounting for 66 percent of the new supply in the period. Demand was higher than the new supply with 4,200 units being sold.

CBRE property consultant experts forecast 26,000-28,000 units will be offered this year and most of the new supply comes from urban areas.

As market sentiment remains positive, over 90 percent of the new supply will be sold and the primary price will increase at a more moderate rate of 5-8 percent this year.

Experts of Mirae Asset Vietnam Securities Company agreed, saying that the supply will significantly improve for the apartment segment this year.

The new housing supply in Ho Chi Minh City is expected to reach more than 20,000 units this year, mainly from the handover of existing projects. A series of projects in the suburbs of the city are planning to open for sale this year, creating the supply for the following years.

Analysts believed that the faster opening of new projects will boost corporate profits this year.

MSC proposes US$6 billion super-container trans-shipment port

The Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) has proposed teaming up with the Vietnam Maritime Corporation (VIMC) to invest in an international super-container trans-shipment port in Can Gio district of Ho Chi Minh City.
 
The total investment of the project is estimated at VND135 billion, equivalent to roughly US$5.9 billion. Moving forward to 2025, the site is anticipated to have completed the initial phase after receiving a total investment of approximately US$660 million.

The project will feature a main wharf stretching 6.8 km, which is capable of berthing ships of 250,000 DWT, and handling 15 million TEUs.

In recent times VIMC has co-operated alongside MSC, the second-largest container shipping company in the world, to develop and exploit seaport infrastructure in Vietnam.
MSC is operating a fleet of some 625 vessels and boasting 60 seaports around the world. It can handle more than 30 million TEUs per year via its subsidiary company Terminal Investment Limited - TIL.

More ageing coffee trees to be replaced in VN

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development plans to replace 75,000ha of ageing coffee trees and graft 32,000ha more by 2025 to improve their yield and quality.

It targets an average yield of 3.5 tonnes per hectare a year from them and increasing farmers’ incomes by 1.5 – 2 times.

To achieve the targets, the main coffee growing provinces will draft plans for the replanting and grafting.

Land owners who want to replant or graft coffee trees have to register with their commune people’s committees and contact banks for loans.

The ministry plans to create new coffee strains suitable for each region that will offer high yield and quality and be resistant to diseases and adaptable to climate change.

In recent years the country has taken a number of measures to replace ageing coffee trees.

The Central Highlands region, which comprises Lâm Đồng, Đắk Nông, Gia Lai, Kon Tum, and Đắk Lắk provinces, has strengthened advocacy to persuade land owners to replace ageing trees with high-quality varieties.

The region has 639,000ha under coffee, for 92 per cent of the county’s total. It has an average yield of 28.5 tonnes per hectare per year. 

Enterprises want greater reforms to support recovery
     
Enterprises expect greater reforms to truly create a favourable business environment, according to the Viet Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI).

VCCI’s recent report about business law flow 2021 revealed a paradox that while the Government was required to reduce compliance costs for enterprises, there were some policies being drafted that might push up costs and cause difficulties for firms.

The report pointed out that a majority of the business community expected the Government to remove and amend regulations about business lines that required prerequisites mentioned in the Investment Law 2020, together with the abolishment of other regulations which were causing difficulties for businesses.

The latest updates of the General Statistics Office showed that nearly 35,000 new firms were founded in the first quarter of this year, representing a rise of nearly 18 per cent against the same period last year, which reflected the recovery of businesses.

Besides post-pandemic economic stimulus packages, business environment improvement was what the business community expected the most, VCCI pointed out.

Most ministries developed plans to reduce compliance costs for enterprises with the goal of cutting at least 20 per cent of the costs to comply with the existing laws.

However, some proposals would cause more difficulties while some new policies were erecting new barriers for businesses, according to VCCI.

Cassava industry seeks solutions to boost export value

Diversifying markets and taking advantage of free trade agreement (FTA) tariff quotas are solutions for the country’s cassava industry to boost exports and ensure sustainable development, a conference has heard.

Ranked second in global export turnover, cassava and cassava products are among Viet Nam’s 13 key agricultural export items making the country the world’s third largest exporter after Thailand and Cambodia.

Exports of cassava and cassava products currently account for about 70 per cent of total output with a turnover worth nearly US$1.2 billion.

However, the industry is facing obstacles in improving production and ensuring sustainable development.

The conference revealed many cassava factories, especially small-scale ones, are using low technologies, some of them are even outdated with no waste treatment measures. This has resulted in low investment efficiency and impacts on the environment.

Moreover, there are not many cassava varieties with high yield, good quality, high starch content and resistance capacity against the leaf mosaic disease.

Coordination between cassava factories and farmers is not tight enough in both mechanisms and benefits. Meanwhile, the purchasing methods and selling prices are not flexible so they are unable to encourage farmers to grow cassava, especially those in areas near factories. Unstable export prices, weak export markets depending on foreign countries and a lack of protection policies for cassava farmers in remote areas are among obstacles facing the cassava industry.

At present, 120 cassava starch processing factories are operating in 27 provinces with a total capacity of over 8.6 million tons of fresh tubers/year.

Cassava is the third most important food crop in Viet Nam after rice and maize, attracting 1.2 million growers, many of whom are from ethnic minorities.

VN-Index hits nine-month low on high selling power

Shares ended Monday in negative territory on both national exchanges as investors increased selling force amid fears of a steeper downtrend.

On the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange, the VN-Index decreased 1.78 per cent to end the day at 1,432.60 points.

The downturn on the southern market started on April 5 after the VN-Index hit the historical peak at 1,524.7 points. The VN-Index has lost more than 6 per cent in the last nine sessions – the strongest drop since July 2021.

Finance and real estate are the two stock groups pulling the market down the most.

On Monday, nine of the top 20 shares weighing on the VN-Index most came from these two groups with the biggest losers including Vietcombank (VCB), Vietinbank (CTG), VPBank (VPB), BIDC (BID), Techcombank (TCB), Vinhomes (VHM), Vingroup (VIC) and No Va Land Investment Group (NVL) with losses of between 1.5-4.8 per cent each.

Generally in the last nine sessions, more than a third of the VN-Index's loss came from five stocks, namely BID, VCB, TCB, CTG and VHM.

The financial group's representative index VNFIN also closed Monday down 3.23 per cent while the VNREAL Index of the real estate group decreased by 1.88 per cent.

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index declined 3.26 per cent to close at 403.12 points. The northern market’s index also lost nearly 14 per cent since April 4.

Overall market breadth was pessimistic with 755 losers and 223 gainers on both exchanges.

Liquidity increased with nearly 931.7 million shares worth VNĐ28.7 trillion (US$1.25 billion) traded on the two markets, up 28 per cent in volume and 20 per cent in value compared to Friday’s levels.

Vietravel brings over 1,100 MICE tourists to Hue

Hue City, a popular destination in central Vietnam, welcomed more than 1,100 visitors under a meetings, incentives, conferences and events (MICE) program yesterday, April 18.

The guests visited the central city via a MICE tour operated by Vietnam Travel and Marketing Transport JSC (Vietravel). This is reportedly the biggest MICE delegation to Hue in recent years, reported Nguoi Lao Dong newspaper.

The Department of Tourism of Thua Thien-Hue Province, in coordination with the provincial police, arranged vehicles to transport the visitors from the provincial airport to popular destinations as well as to their hotels in the province.

They also teamed up with the Hue Monuments Conservation Center to organize an art performance to welcome the delegation, among other activities.

OGC executives tender resignation in droves

Ocean Group JSC, which trades its shares on the Hochiminh Stock Exchange with the stock code OGC, has received letters of resignation from several of its executives, two weeks before its annual general meeting takes place.

OGC Chairman Mai Huu Dat, Vice Chairman Nguyen Thanh Trung and Director Nguyen Mai Phuong and two members of the supervisory board, Nguyen Huong Nga and Nguyen Thanh Tung, tendered their resignation, citing personal reasons.

OGC removed Lo Hong Hiep from the post as general director on April 15 and replaced him with Pham Thi Hong Nhung, former head of the supervisory board at Fecon Corporation and Tedi.

In another development, these OGC executives divested all their shares in the firm before quitting their jobs. In particular, Nguyen Thanh Trung sold 13.5 million shares, or a 4.5% stake, while Nguyen Huong Nga and her relatives offloaded over 14.5 million shares.

Closing the trading session today, April 18, OGC lost 1.55%.

Source: VNA/SGT/VNS/VOV/Dtinews/SGGP/VGP/Hanoitimes