CAAV proposes Ministry of Transport to adjust floor airfares

The Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV) has proposed the Ministry of Transport to allow an adjustment of the price ceiling for air tickets on domestic routes.

The national flag carrier, Vietnam Airlines (VNA) has proposed the Ministry of Transport to consider the adjustment of the price ceiling for air tickets that is expected to be applied starting April 1.

Under the proposal, prices of air tickets will be raised from VND2.2 million to VND2.25 million for flight distances of 500-850 kilometers; VND2.79 million to VND2.89 million for flight distances of 850-1,000 kilometers; VND3.2 million to VND3.4 million for flight distances of 1,000-1,280 kilometers; VND3.75 million to VND4 million for flight distances of 1,280 kilometers and above.

Singapore launches campaign to attract Vietnamese tourists

The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) launched a new campaign in HCMC on April 13 to encourage tourists from Vietnam to return to the island country.

The SingapoReimagine Reopening campaign showcases a different side of what the city has to offer, from exciting new attractions and novel dining concepts to wellness retreats and sustainable experiences. Visitors also enjoy enhanced hygiene and safety measures and peace of mind as they navigate the new state of travel in a Covid-19 world.

HCMC to accelerate smart city projects

The projects of digital transformation and smart city development in HCMC has reaped certain rewards.

Thanks to successful digital transformation, the Covid-19 prevention and control tasks in the city have been carried out more quickly and effectively. The Covid-19 Safety Information System of HCMC is able to issue QR codes for people citywide, and the digital Covid-19 map timely updates necessary information for public access. The hotline 1022 has been expanded to offer 7 functions of public healthcare consultations to fight against Covid-19 and feedback receipt as to pandemic prevention tasks (with over 80,000 calls being made each day).

HCMC excellently exploits its common database, containing big data for AI implementation in digital transformation in city operation and governance. At present, the HCMC Department of Information and Communications is cooperating with the HCMC Health Department to finish the medical record of each resident for the healthcare database, another important database besides the national population one.

Over 900 units of the municipal authorities have had their formal e-documents shared via a stable integration platform. The fields of traffic, healthcare, education and training, urban planning, environment, public security have owned useful applications to serve citizens as well as professional tasks.

HCMC is one of the localities with the highest number of residents using a smart phone, along with a 100 percent coverage of fiber optic network, broadband Internet, and 3G/4G mobile network. Last year, it stood at the fifth position in the Province-level Digital Transformation Index.

Over 500 enterprises join in Vietnam Furniture Matching Week 2022

The Ho Chi Minh City Handicraft and Wood Industry Association (HAWA) in collaboration with the Trade Promotion Agency under the Municipal Department of Industry and Trade this morning opened the Vietnam Furniture Matching Week (VFMW) 2022 with the participation of over 500 enterprises in the fields of wood processing industry and handicraft.

The VFMW is not only a chance for enterprises to showcase their products, it is also an occasion to connect businesses in the ecosystem from production, design, distribution to logistics and accreditation.

In the framework of VFMW, massive online meetings among businesses via the website hopefairs.com with the participation of over 100 enterprises serving local and international guests will be also organized.

The Vietnam Furniture Matching Week 2022 will last until April 20.

Corporate bond market expected to reach 20% of GDP by 2025

The Government has set a target to raise the scale of the corporate bond market to 20% of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) by 2025.

Under the Government’s Resolution 54 on economic restructuring in the 2021-2025 period, the stock market’s capitalization was targeted to be equal to at least 85% of GDP and the total bond-to-GDP ratio a minimum of 47%.

The Government has assigned the Ministry of Finance to coordinate with the relevant ministries, agencies and localities to come up with solutions to diversify financial institutions, venture funds, credit guarantee funds, financial consulting units and accounting and auditing services.

In addition, they should draft policies and regulations encouraging venture investment and develop a financial strategy by 2030 and submit it to the prime minister for issuance this year.

The Government also asked the Ministry of Planning and Investment to work with other relevant ministries, agencies and localities to study and determine the possibility of building a law on venture investment and report the results to the prime minister in 2022-2023.

In Resolution 54, the Government also set a target to maintain the bad debt ratio of all credit institutions at below 3%.

Moreover, a professional debt trading market will be developed with the Vietnam Asset Management Company playing the central role in the market.

The Government also expected all commercial banks to apply the Basel II standards.

March auto sales soar by 60%

Members of the Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (VAMA) sold over 36,960 autos in March, up 60% month-on-month and 17% year-on-year.

Sales of locally assembled and imported completely built-up (CBU) vehicles saw a month-on-month surge of 50% and 82% in March, respectively.

Passenger car sales jumped 62% month-on-month at nearly 28,500, while some 8,000 commercial vehicles found buyers, up 63%, and 677 special-use vehicles were sold, up 41%, according to a recent VAMA report.

Apart from VAMA members, non-member automakers TC Motor and VinFast sold over 7,000 and some 3,500 units last month.

In the first quarter of the year, the VAMA members sold over 90,500 units, up 27% year-on-year. Sales of passenger cars picked up by 39% year-on-year, while sales of commercial cars and special-use vehicles grew 7% and 32% year-on-year, respectively.

Many commercial housing projects in Danang face inspection

The Ministry of Construction will launch a 45-day inspection into commercial housing projects in Danang City.
Chief inspector of the ministry Nguyen Ngoc Tuan has signed a decision to inspect 18 units and organizations involved in commercial housing projects in the city, the local media reported.

The inspectors will look into investors, developers, agencies, organizations and individuals involved in commercial housing projects for compliance with regulations requiring them to set aside part of their commercial housing projects for social housing.

They will also review the management and use of maintenance funds for residential buildings in the city.

Commercial housing projects built from January 1, 2016 to December 31, 2021, will be subject to the inspection. These projects include An Trung 2, Dai Dia Bao, F-Home and Monarchy.

The inspectors will inspect Hai Hanh Trade and Service JSC, Olympia Company, Danang-Mien Trung Investment JSC, Phu Gia Thinh Investment Business House Corporation, Da Viet Trade Investment Management and Real Estate Business JSC and An Hoa JSC, among others.

FECON wins tenders worth over VND500 billion

FECON Corporation (FCN) has announced that it won many tenders worth over VND500 billion early this month.
They include a VND418-billion package to construct the foundation and infrastructure at Nhon Trach 3 and 4 thermal power projects in Nhon Trach District, Dong Nai Province.

These two power projects, invested by PV Power, are part of the national power development plan VII. They have a capacity of 1,500 megawatts and require an estimated investment of US$1.4 billion.

The projects will be able to supply some nine billion kilowatt hours of electricity to the national grid once they are put into operation in 2024-2025.

FECON has also won tenders worth over VND100 billion to drive piles and build fences of the Nam Hung hotel project and an office, commercial and residential complex in the An Hung New Urban Area.

BR-VT to spend VND670 billion on site clearance for expy project

Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province will spend VND670 billion of the total VND1.3 trillion needed for site clearance to build a 19.5-kilometer expressway section passing through this southern province.

The expressway, which links Dong Nai Province and Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province, will measure 53.7 kilometers in length, with four to six lanes and a total investment of over VND17.8 trillion. It is expected to get off the ground next year and be ready in 2025.

The Ministry of Transport proposed dividing the road project into three sub-projects. The first and second sub-projects, which are 34.2 kilometers long in total, will be built in Dong Nai Province, with a total cost of VND12.6 trillion. The remaining sub-project will be executed in Ba Ria-Vung Tau, requiring VND5.1 trillion in investment.

Around VND1.3 trillion is needed for compensation and resettlement linked to the section running through Ba Ria-Vung Tau. This province will tap its backup budget for the 2021-2025 public midterm investment plan to pledge 50% of the required capital, even though it is in budget distress.

As for the Bien Hoa-Vung Tau Expressway, it is one of the three expressways that the government added to a portfolio under a program to restore and develop socio-economic growth in the southern key economic region.

Investors pledge US$17 billion in Cu Chi, Hoc Mon

Investors have clinched agreements and memoranda of understanding to pour nearly US$17 billion into HCMC’s outlying districts of Cu Chi and Hoc Mon.

At a conference on investment promotion in the two districts on April 12, the city handed over investment certificates to projects with a total investment of nearly US$500 million, the local media reported.

Many investors said they would get involved in hi-tech agriculture, social housing, solid waste treatment and logistics projects in the two districts this year.

HCMC had earlier called for investment totaling US$12.4 billion in 55 projects in the two districts, mainly in the traffic sector, according to the municipal Investment and Trade Promotion Center.

Of the total investment, US$12.3 billion or nearly 99% would be mobilized for 18 traffic and technical infrastructure projects, including the HCMC-Moc Bai Expressway, Ring Roads Nos. 3 and 4, elevated road No. 5, the third phase of the third metro line linking the Tay Ninh Coach Station and the Tay Bac Cu Chi Urban Area and the expansion of provincial road No. 15.

The remaining investment will be for 12 urban revitalization projects, two trade-service projects, three industrial projects, 16 agriculture projects and four education-culture-sports projects.

HCMC urges Binh Duong, Dong Nai to complete procedures for Ring Road 3

HCMC Chairman Phan Van Mai, on April 12, signed an urgent dispatch proposing the governments of Binh Duong and Dong Nai submit their plans for developing the ring road project to their provincial People’s Councils so that the councils can issue a resolution to approve the project prior to April 20.

The proposal is aimed at ensuring the legality of the project’s prefeasibility study report before the National Assembly gives nod to the project at a sitting in May.

The Long An People’s Council and the HCMC People’s Council had earlier issued resolutions to pass the Ring Road 3 development project and commit to allocating sufficient funding for the project.

The first phase of the Ring Road 3 project will be over 76.3 kilometers long, have four lanes and allow a maximum speed of 80 kilometers per hour, while its parallel road will have two or three lanes.

The Ring Road 3 project will be executed under the public investment mode using the budgets of the State and the localities, with a total investment of more than VND75.3 trillion.

After the National Assembly passes the project, work on the Ring Road 3 will begin in 2023. The ring road will be opened to traffic in 2025, the local media reported.

Work restarts on riverside fruit park in Mekong Delta

The construction of the fruit park project along the Tien River in Tien Giang Province has resumed after being suspended for around four years for an environmental impact assessment, said a local official.

The park was named after Cai Be, the district of this Mekong Delta province in which the park is located. The park project covers nearly 10 hectares of land, reported Phap Luat newspaper.

The provincial government serves as the project’s investor. The Cai Be District Management Board of Projects and Land Fund Development is the investor representative. It requires a total investment of almost VND300 billion, said Nguyen Hoang Bao, director of the management board, on April 12.

The project will comprise the main components, such as an embankment along the river, an operation facility, an incubator garden, roads, fruit-shaped items depicting fruit species in the south, among others.

The project is slated for completion by end-2023.

Truong Thanh Furniture plans to issue 41.1 million shares

Truong Thanh Furniture Corporation (TTF) will seek approval from its shareholders to issue 41.1 million shares.
TTF is making preparations for its shareholders’ meeting this year, slated for April 26 in the southern province of Binh Duong.

The share price will be decided by the board of directors and the share sale could only go ahead after TTF gets the State Securities Commission’s approval. The money to be raised will be added to the firm’s working capital.

The shares will not be transferable for a year.

Hoa Phat seeks to invest US$4.3 billion in projects in Dak Nong

Steelmaker Hoa Phat Group plans to develop aluminum, ore processing and aluminum electrolysis factories and a wind power plant worth US$4.3 billion in the Central Highlands province of Dak Nong.
On April 11, the Dak Nong government worked with the group on these projects, the local media reported.

Accordingly, the aluminum and ore processing factories will have a capacity of two million tons and five million tons, respectively, per year. They will be developed in Dak Song District.

Meanwhile, the aluminum electrolysis factory will have an annual capacity of 0.5 million tons and the Hoa Phat wind power plant, 1,500 megawatts. They will be developed in Dak Song and Tuy Duc districts.