Social News 28/10 United States to Broaden Support for Persons with Disabilities in Vietnam  With continuing funding from the U.S. Congress, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) announced six new projects serving persons with disabilities in Vietnam aimed at promoting health, social inclusion and disability rights.  “Persons with disabilities can play an important role in Vietnam’s continued development,” said USAID Vietnam Mission Director Joakim Parker. “USAID’s support is designed to help them realize their potential with involvement of family, government and civil society, which will contribute to the broader goal of a more inclusive Vietnam. Cooperation supporting persons with disabilities is also an important element of the Comprehensive Partnership between our two countries.”  USAID’s new projects will include support for the implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, enhancing the coordination and enforcement of Vietnamese disability legislation, improving rehabilitation service systems and providing direct assistance to persons with disabilities in the areas of physical, occupational, and speech therapies. The projects broaden USAID assistance at the provincial level.  Three of the projects are implemented by local Vietnamese organizations; the other three are implemented by organizations that have been active in Vietnam for a long time.  The United States’ commitment to supporting persons with disabilities in Vietnam began in 1989 with the Leahy War Victims Fund. Building on that legacy, USAID has improved the welfare of over 23,000 persons with disabilities since 2010 alone by providing sustainable, higher quality services, enhancing education and employment opportunities, strengthening advocacy, and supporting public policies that protect their rights. French locality supports Vietnam AO victims The Van Canh Friendship Village (CFV) in Essone province Ile-de-France has held a Vietnam Day to introduce Vietnam’s 40-year construction and development and raise funds for Vietnamese Agent Orange (AO) victims. The event started with a film on physical and spiritual pain that Vietnamese AO victims and their relatives are suffering everyday since the end of the war four decades ago. President of the National Committee of Van Canh Friendship Village, Raphael Vahé told audiences about the building of CFV as a symbol of war healing, reconciliation and cooperation. On the occasion, Daviot Gérard, president of the France-Vietnam Friendship Association (AAFV), reviewed AAFV activities over the last 10 years to support humanitarian projects in Vietnam. Participants all agreed that every people should join hands to raise international awareness on the AO pain and to support the lawsuit by Tran To Nga, an AO victim who is now living in France against 26 US chemical companies. Newspapers and books on Vietnam and Vietnam-made handicraft products were sold during the Vietnam Day in Essonne to raise funds for AO victims living in the CFV in Hanoi. Lao Cai enhances agricultural product quality for tourists The northern province of Lao Cai aims to strengthen technological application in agricultural production in a bid to ensure high-quality food and flowers for tourists.  Lao Cai has more than 300 hectares of land under flowers, mostly in Sa Pa District, up ten-fold from that in 2010. Of the area, nearly 200 ha are dedicated to roses, and the remaining is mostly cultivated with lily and orchid.  According to the province’s plan for 2015-2020, Sa Pa plans to focus on varieties and preservation technologies in a bid to enhance productivity and product value from 2015-2020, instead of expanding the cultivation area.  More than 20 percent of nearly 400 households in Ta Phin commune in Sa Pa district grow orchids, providing nearly 10,000 pots of orchids a year.  Ly Quay Choi from the commune, who has grown orchids for four years, said he sold nearly 200 orchid pots last year and earned around 300 million VND (13,400 USD). He expects to bring home about 500 million VND (22,320 USD) this year.  Nguyen Ngoc Hinh, Vice Chairman of the Sa Pa People’s Committee, said households with such high earnings from orchids in the district are not rare, adding that it is evidence of the effective implementation of poverty reduction efforts.  The district has also developed other local specialties such as mountainous pigs and chickens, sturgeon and salmon to serve the increasing number of tourists flocking to the locality.  According to Director of the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Anh Tuan, Lao Cai has more than 30 salmon farms, mainly located in districts of Sa Pa, Bat Xat and Van Ban with favourable conditions for salmon growing.  Together, they produce more than 300 tonnes of salmon and sturgeon per year, two-thirds of which come from Sa Pa.  The province aims to expand salmon and sturgeon growing areas to produce 520 tonnes per year, Anh said. Former Japanese PM presents wheelchairs to AO victims Former Japanese Prime Minister Hatoyama Yukio in collaboration with the Institute of Community Health (ICH) under the Ministry of Health has held a ceremony to present wheelchairs to Vietnamese Agent Orange/Dioxin (AO ) victims. At the event, which took place in the Ecopark township, Van Giang district, Hung Yen province, about 13km from centre of Hanoi, 50 wheelchairs worth 3.98 million JPY (about 34,000 USD) were handed over to AO victims from provinces nationwide, including Dong Nai, Hung Yen and Nghe An. This is the second time the former Japanese PM Hatoyama Yukio Office and a Japanese association has donated wheelchairs to Vietnam. Hatoyama Yukio, who served as Prime Minister of Japan from September 2009 to June 2010, was also President of the Japan-Vietnam Friendship Parliamentary Alliance. Public wants firms criminally liable An overwhelming majority of citizens across the country approve of proposed amendments to the Criminal Code, which would hold legal entities and companies criminally liable for their violations, rather than the current practice of strapping them with administrative punishments. Of the 7 million responses submitted to the Ministry of Justice during an open comment period between July 15 and September 15, 92 per cent of citizens approved of the draft amendment. Minister Ha Hung Cuong told Viet Nam Television's Dan hoi–Bo truong tra loi (People ask – Ministers answer) Programme on Sunday night that the amendments were in response to an increasing number of companies found disobeying regulations. Administrative punishments were believed to be too weak to deter them, he added. Cuong said the draft also effectively eliminates the statute of limitations for corruption cases. At present, the statute of limitations is 5-10 years. Also at the programme, Cuong said about 75 per cent of the ideas applauded another proposal under the amended draft that reduces the number of total crimes that adolescents between the ages of 14 and 16 can be charged with from 350 to 22. Holding legal entities criminally liable in accordance with the national Criminal Code is expected to ensure fairness in dealing with business-related violations, according to officials. For example, a violation made by a group of people, such as a company's board of directors, will result in the legal entity rather than the individual being held accountable, Cuong said. Cuong said that the addition of criminal liability to the Criminal Code followed several international conventions that Viet Nam ratified. Viet Nam started researching criminal liability for legal entities in 1999 and learned about the experiences of other countries across the world, he said. It was estimated that 119 countries regulated criminal liability for legal entities, including Japan, South Korea and China, he said. He added that regulating criminal liability will help the national economy develop on the right track, especially because Viet Nam has participated in the ASEAN Economic Community, the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement and the Free Trade Agreement between Viet Nam and EU.  Factories to be removed from Hai Duong The northern Hai Duong Province People's Committee announced its plans to remove all factories from the central area of Hai Duong City by 2020. Nguyen Van Tho, director of the province's construction department, said the province wants to remove factories that have caused pollution in the city centre since 2008. Factories on the black list included those belonging to the Hai Duong Pump Manufacturing Company, Food Processing Company, Hai Duong Pottery Joint Stocks Company, Grinding Wheels Joints Stocks Company and The Viet Nam Building Glass and Ceramics Corporation (Viglacera). In 2011, the provincial committee also assigned relevant agencies – including the departments of construction, finance, natural resources and environment – to develop plans for the removal of factories. Tho said that the land currently used for factories will be used for public spaces like parks, public squares and children's playgrounds.  Construction rules violations increase It has become common for illegal construction works to encroach on agricultural lands and public areas in some of the capital city's districts. Local authorities have not dealt with the problem completely, according to Nhan Dan (The People) newspaper. People living in Song Phuong Commune of Ha Noi's Hoai Duc District for many years were angry about construction violations, according to the newspaper. Houses and production workshops have been built illegally in agricultural lands, public areas and dike protection corridors. Notably, most violations were noticed by local authorities, the paper said. Some construction works were forced to dismantle, but in a short time, the violations have returned. This made local people think there was a cover-up by local authorities, the newspaper said. Head of Phuong Vien Agricultural Co-operative Nguyen Cong Kien said since 2014 the co-operative had reported cultivated land encroachment to the authorities. But the reports were neglected. Another case of illegal construction causing fury among locals occurred at the commune's kindergarten. The VND5billion (US$225,000) kindergarten was completed four years ago, but has not been put into operation because a production workshop was barring the entrance. The unused kindergarten became dilapidated, while there was a lack of schools for the local kids. Construction regulations were violated more frequently in the commune recently. Many large-scale production workshops were built on agricultural land in front of the commune's People's Committee office. The same situation occurred in Cau Buou New Residential Area in Tan Trieu and Thanh Liet Commune of Thanh Tri District, the newspaper said. Many houses were built with licenses. According to inspection results from the Ministry of Natural Resource and Environment, there have been 63 illegal construction works in the Cau Buou New Residential Area. Most of the works were three-to-four-storey houses. The district's People's Committee said that the violations were serious and responsibility was taken by local construction inspectors, the communes' authorities and the residential area's investors. The district's People's Committee required the removal of illegal houses, but so far only some makeshift shacks were dismantled. According to statistics from Ha Noi's Construction Department, 3,000 works have violated construction regulations throughout the capital city since 2014. In the first half of the year, the construction inspection force discovered 1,300 violation cases. At present, many cases were not handled, due to a lack of co-operation between construction inspectors and local authorities, the newspaper said.  Overloaded automobiles damage road Overloaded automobiles carrying wood have damaged a road connecting the Tam Hop Border Gate to Highway No 7 passing Tam Hop and Tam Thai Commune in the central province of Nghe An. Only one road leads to the centre of Tam Hop Commune in Tuong Duong District, but everyday dozens of automobiles transporting wood from Laos seriously damage it. Lieutenant-colonel Nguyen Phuc Tu, deputy head of the Tuong Duong District Police, said that police had inspected and punished overloaded automobiles passing the district. On some days dozens of automobiles were fined. Tu said that police would continue to inspect and fine violating vehicles.  Vietnamese, Cambodian provinces reinforce solidarity The 8th plenary session of the Conference on Cooperation and Development between Vietnamese and Cambodian provinces is set to open in Ho Chi Minh City on October 28. Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh and Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Home Affairs Xo Kheeng will co-chair the meeting.  Senior Vietnamese and Cambodian officials met on October 27 to discuss preparations for the session. They reviewed cooperation between the two countries’ border provinces since the last session in March 2012 and examined measures to remove obstacles and promote friendship and comprehensive cooperation between the two countries and their localities. Conference discusses urban planning to tackle flood A national conference on urban planning in response to flood and climate change was held in Mekong Delta city of Can Tho on October 27. Discussion revolved around future flood risks, outstanding problems in flood prevention and urban building’s trends in the Mekong Delta, where 70% of land area would be submerged if the sea level rises by one metre. Can Tho and Ho Chi Minh City shared their lessons in carrying out flood control projects. The Institute for Social and Environmental Transition (ISET) – International Vietnam and the Can Tho People’s Committee co-organised the conference, which brought together participants from State and local agencies, universities, research institutes, and non-governmental organisations. There are 161 cities in the Mekong Delta region. They are located along main river systems, thus facing high risks under the impact of climate change.   Hanoi starts construction on 500-bed children’s hospital Chairman of the Hanoi People’s Committee Nguyen The Thao gave orders to commence construction work on a 500-bed children’s hospital in Yen Nghia ward, Ha Dong district, Hanoi on October 27. The six-storey facility, worth nearly VND785 billion (nearly US$35 million), is expected to be equipped with modern equipment and advanced technologies in a bid to serve healthcare needs of the people not just in the capital region but from surrounding areas as well. The Chairman urged the municipal Department of Health to work with stakeholders to ensure efficient implementation of the project while focusing on training human resources for the operation of the facility. He also called on other relevant bodies to provide support for the health sector in the project implementation as well as human resource training. The hospital, once completed, will contribute to ease overcrowding in the National Hospital of Paediatrics and health care facilities in the vicinity.  Vietnam Development Partnership Forum to be held this year Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has approved the organisation of the Vietnam Development Partnership Forum (VDPF) 2015. The PM appointed the Ministry of Planning and Investment to prepare the forum’s agenda with a focus on Vietnam’s key issues in its extensive global integration from 2016-2020 that require opinions and ideas from the partners. He is scheduled to attend the event and hold talks with development partners. The VDPF, firstly held in 2013, supports substantive policy discussion between the Vietnam Government, its development partners, the private sector, local and international civil society organisations, national research institutions and other development actors to foster broad-based socio-economic development and improved well-being for all Vietnamese. Last year, the forum was organised under the theme “Accelerating economic institutional reform, strengthening resilience and enhancing the competitiveness of Vietnam’s economy”. It sought recommendations pertaining to institutional economic market reforms and the development of the private sector to the Government. Smuggling and trade fraud are on the rise  About 150,000 cases of smuggling and trade fraud were detected in the first 10 months of this year, an increase of 30 per cent over the same period last year. These statistics were released yesterday at a meeting of the National Steering Committee on the Prevention and Control of Smuggling, Trade Fraud and Fake Commodities (or Steering Committee 389). The committee said more than VND8.7 trillion (US$3.9 billion) was contributed to the state budget during this period through seizures of smuggled goods. At the meeting, the officials said the smuggling of fake goods was getting more complicated with criminals using more cunning methods. The most common contraband goods are drugs, cosmetics, supplementary food and electronic items, besides refrigerated goods and clothes. "Smuggling operations are getting more sophisticated in the three northern provinces of Quang Ninh, Lang Son and Cao Bang," said Deputy Director of the General Department of Police under the Minister of Public Security Lieutenant-General Dong Dai Loc. "If we do not tighten control over smuggling, counterfeit goods and piracy, they will not be rooted out," Loc said. Head of the 389 Committee Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc highly appreciated the anti-smuggling actions taken by the committee, but also said some ministries, departments and sectors had failed to report several cases of smuggling. Phuc asked the committee to strengthen the investigation and assessment capacities in hotspots of smuggling and trade fraud as well as to impose strict punishment on smugglers. Phuc said the market watch force should co-operate with other government agencies to monitor smuggling activities and trade fraud on a larger scale, and improve discipline and transparency of officials at all levels. Huge Ca Mau City fire causes traffic jam A huge fire broke out today at a private company in Ca Mau City in the southernmost Ca Mau Province. The fire broke out at about 11am on the second floor of a building, owned by the Thanh Ngan Informatics Trading and Service Ltd Company, and located at 77, Phan Ngoc Hieàn Street in District 5, Three fire engines were sent to the site, and they quickly brought the fire under control. However the fire cause a huge traffic jam on the Phan Ngoc Hieàn route, the largest in the city, for one hour. "The fire broke out on the second floor of the building where our employees work. Luckily, no one was present at the time. The fire was probably caused by a burning ventilator that fell onto the mattress below," Nguyen Thi Bich Ngan, the company's chief, said. Municipal officials have begun investigating the cause of the fire and the damage it has caused. Emirates airline launches “free Dubai visa” offer Passengers who book return tickets from Ho Chi Minh City to Dubai between October 20 and November 20, 2015, for flights between October 20 and December 15, 2015, will get free Dubai visas that normally cost up to 90 USD each. This offer is valid only for individual travellers and for a maximum stay of 30 days. Mohammad Sarhan, Emirates' country manager in Vietnam, described Dubai as truly a fascinating destination and the top choice of travellers from across the globe. “With this complimentary visa offer, we would like to provide passengers from Vietnam a unique opportunity to discover the global city of Dubai this winter", he said. Da Nang seals cooperation agreements with NGOs The central city of Da Nang will shake hands with non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to implement three projects in the city between 2016 and 2018 as committed in agreements signed during a workshop in Hanoi on October 27. The projects focus on urban development in Son Tra district, eye care for students, and sponsor programmes for underprivileged children and those with disabilities across the city. From 2010 to 2015, NGOs pledged around 7 million USD annually to realise projects in Da Nang, 75-80 percent of which has been disbursed across the fields of health care, education, poverty reduction, assistance to disabled people, climate change adaptation, and natural disasters risks mitigation. Vice Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee Dang Viet Dung highlighted the growing cooperative ties between Da Nang and NGOs over the past six years, noting that the city has expanded its collaboration with 153 international societies and NGOs. The workshop is expected to create a new step in the cooperation between NGOs and the central city in the 2016-2020 period, especially utilizing effectively the capital resources from NGOs to maintain local sustainable growth, he added. Representatives from participating NGOs hailed the local active coordination and support, adding that they hope to receive more favourable conditions to carry out projects in the city. The workshop was organised by the Da Nang municipal People’s Committee and the Vietnam Union of Friendship Organisations, with the participation of nearly 100 NGOs representatives. RoK-funded upgrades to dilapidated bridges to begin soon Six downgraded bridges will get a facelift in the near future with concessional loans of the Republic of Korea (RoK)’s Government, according to the Ministry of Transport’s Project Management Unit No 2 (PMU 2). The facilities include Ben Moi bridge in northern Nam Dinh province, Doan Hung bridge in northern Phu Tho province, Da Phuc bridge in Hanoi, Xom Bong bridge in central Khanh Hoa province, and Song Truong and Nuoc Oa bridges in central Quang Nam province. They will be upgraded at a total cost of some 60 million USD. The PMU 2 said it will complete verification dossiers on the bridges within this October as the RoK side said it will provide 60 million USD in fiscal year 2015 after the dossiers are finalised. The aforementioned facilities are among 22 big bridges to benefit from a RoK Government-funded project that provides credits for the upgrade of fragile bridges and structures on national roads in Vietnam. The PMU 2 is striving to complete verification dossiers on the remaining bridges by December 31 this year so that they could be among the RoK-bankrolled projects in fiscal year 2016. The Ministry of Transport estimates that upgrades to the 22 target bridges will be funded with roughly 100 million USD by the RoK Government and a corresponding sum of nearly 640 billion VND (about 30 million USD) by the Vietnamese Government. Fundraising for AO victims takes place in France A Vietnam Day was recently held in France’s Essonne province to raise funds for Vietnamese Agent Orange /Dioxin (AO) victims living at Van Canh Village in Hanoi. The get-together began with the screening of a moving film on the AO community’s ordeal after the war. At the event, Raphael Vahe, President of the French Friendship Committee for Van Canh Peace Village, recalled the process to build the Van Canh village – a care centre for AO victims in Hanoi’s Hoai Duc suburban district – which he said is a symbol of cooperation to address war aftermath. He also announced that a therapy swimming pool to treat village children and veterans has been put into use. France-Vietnam Friendship Association (AAFV) Chairman Daviot Gerard said his organisation has taken part in a range of charitable activities to help the needy and AO victims across Vietnam. Participants agreed that raising international awareness on the post-war pain can trigger larger humanitarian response. They all supported Vietnamese-French AO victim Tran To Nga in her lawsuit filed in France against 26 US chemical companies which produced the AO used by the US troops during the war. Publications on Vietnam, Vietnam’s handicraft products were sold during the day with all proceeds going to assist Van Canh villagers. Vietnamese students hold sports festival in RoK On October 24-25, students from universities and research institutes across the Republic of Korea (RoK) participated in the eighth annual student sports festival, the Vietnam Student Association in South Korea (VSAK) has reported. “Sports instils good human virtues and moral values in youth as well as teaches them to be disciplined and competitive,” said Vice Secretary Le Thuy Trang from the Vietnam Embassy in the RoK in a speech at the opening. A VSAK student representative said this year’s festival was a fun filled two days, which saw some 250 matches in men and women’s football, badminton, table tennis, tug of war and track-and-field events. On the occasion, the student branch from Busan National University also organized a Bowling Busan tournament with the participation of 40 athletes from eight universities from the RoK’s southern region. The event was timed to coincide with the 23rd anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two nations, said the VSAK student representative. Six deaths from dengue reported in Dong Nai Province The southern province of Dong Nai yesterday reported two more deaths from dengue fever, raising total number of deaths in the province to six.  The province's Department of Health said that two fresh dengue victims lived in Bien Hoa city. Currently, the province has over 6,400 dengue infections, an increase of 200 percent compared to the same period last year. Bien Hoa city has the most infection cases, making up 40 percent and 3 deaths.  At present, the province has 200 new dengue infections per week averagely. U.S. to broaden support for handicapped in VN The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has announced six new projects serving persons with disabilities in Viet Nam aimed at promoting health, social inclusion and disability rights with continuing funding from the U.S. Congress. Persons with disabilities can play an important role in Vietnam’s continued development, said USAID Viet Nam Mission Director Joakim Parker, adding that USAID’s support is designed to help them realize their potential with involvement of family, government and civil society, which will contribute to the broader goal of a more inclusive Viet Nam. Cooperation supporting persons with disabilities is also an important element of the Comprehensive Partnership between our two countries, the USAID Viet Nam Mission Director revealed. USAID’s new projects will include support for the implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, enhancing the coordination and enforcement of Vietnamese disability legislation, improving rehabilitation service systems and providing direct assistance to persons with disabilities in the areas of physical, occupational, and speech therapies. The projects broaden USAID assistance at the provincial level. Three of the projects are to be implemented by local Vietnamese organizations; the other three by organizations that have been active in Viet Nam for a long time. The U.S.’s commitment to supporting persons with disabilities in Viet Nam began in 1989 with the Leahy War Victims Fund. Building on that legacy, USAID has improved the welfare of over 23,000 persons with disabilities since 2010 alone by providing sustainable, higher quality services, enhancing education and employment opportunities, strengthening advocacy, and supporting public policies that protect their rights. Dong Nai invests VND18,000 billion to upgrade electricity system An electricity development plan for 2016-2025 in the southern province of Dong Nai has been established, requiring at least VND18,495.5 billion. According to the province’s Deputy Head of the Department of Industry and Trade Nguyen Van Quan, the total investment is not extracted from the local budget. The province has been working hard to upgrade the electricity grid and enhance the capacity of electricity supply to meet the demands for its socio-economic and industrial development over recent years. In 2015 only, VND523 billion was spent for developing electricity networks. The province has mobilized the local preferential capital of VND68 billion to upgrade electricity system for rural areas in 2015. Vietnam’s hospital fees to rise by up to sevenfold next month Patients will pay two to seven times more than at present when using healthcare services at state-owned hospitals in Vietnam from November 15, under a roadmap set by the Ministry of Health, the Vietnam Social Insurance Agency said on Monday.   Such a hospital fee hike is necessary because all expenses directly related to medical examination and treatment of patients as well as various allowances for health workers will now be counted in the prices of some 1,800 medical services available at public hospitals, said Pham Luong Son, head of the agency’s department for health insurance policy implementation. For example, bed charges at first-class and special hospitals will double to VND677,000 (US$30.3) per day in intensive care units, and to VND197,000-306,000 ($8.8-13.7) per day in other wards, Son said. Similarly, the cost of stomach flushing will rise from the current VND30,000 ($1.34) to VND106,000 ($4.75), the official said. Regarding examination fees, they will increase from VND20,000 ($0.9) to VND39,000 ($1.75) at first-class and special infirmaries, and from VND15,000 ($0.67) to VND37,000 ($1.65) at second-class hospitals, Son said. At third and fourth-class hospitals, the examination will rise by three times to VND32,000 ($1.43) and by four times to VND30,000 respectively, he added. Meanwhile, the cost of surgery will go up by VND300,000-1.5 million ($13.4-67.2), said Nguyen Nam Lien, head of the ministry’s Department of Planning and Finance. The new pricing scheme will also include salaries for doctors and wages for other health workers in the prices of medical services from March 2016, Lien said. This means if a patient pays VND6 million ($270) for his medical treatment, VND350,000-400,000 ($15.8-18) of the amount will be used to cover wages for doctors and other health workers, Lien explained. As such, the hospital fee hike is heavy on people without health insurance, so the Ministry of Health has decided that the new prices will not be applied to uninsured patients between now and the middle of next year. Currently, 73 percent of the country’s population is covered by health insurance, which means about 25 million people are having to pay hospital fees by themselves, Son said. These uninsured people will be heavily affected by the upcoming hike in hospital fees, the second increase since 2012, he added. Dr. Nguyen Thi Bich Huong, deputy director of the Viet Duc Hospital in Hanoi, said, “The increase of hospital fees by 2-7 times will put a great burden on uninsured patients.” Therefore, from now until the middle of 2016, agencies concerned should take measures to encourage and support people in getting themselves covered by health insurance, Dr. Huong said. Traffic jam in Vietnam different from that the world over: officials The definition of traffic jam devised by authorities in Vietnam is not agreed on by the public and it is certainly not found anywhere else in the world. Why? Only Vietnamese officials can give the reply, but the people guess that the new definition is mainly intended to reduce the number of congestion cases in their reports. According to traffic police and the Committee for Traffic Safety in Ho Chi Minh City, the city had only one case of traffic congestion in 2014 and none in the first seven months of this year. Reported to the People’s Committee by the traffic safety committee, it is clearly not representative of reality, at least in the eyes of regular people and foreign tourists who call the metropolis “the kingdom of motorbikes.” But why is there that difference? A traffic jam is only reported by authorities when vehicles are kept motionless on streets for at least 30 consecutive minutes, officials claimed. Bui Xuan Cuong, director of the municipal Department of Transport, said the criterion was approved by the Ministry of Transport long ago and it should be modified to suit the current situation. Doctor Chu Cong Minh, from the Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology, said the 30-minute definition is completely baseless. Vehicles kept motionless for 30 consecutive minutes are considered parked, critics have said. Minh said that in his knowledge, streets and crossroads are generally categorized into different levels of service. Specifically, it is divided into six levels, A, B, C, D, E, and F. Level A means vehicles can run smoothly without any obstruction by others while level B has more vehicles, and it gradates down to the worst level F. Levels E and F are considered traffic congestion, he said. Thus, the definition that “vehicles kept motionless on streets for 30 consecutive minutes” is inaccurate. Vo Van Ba, a resident of Binh Tan District, called on authorities to stop their “play on words” to evade the increasing traffic jam situation in Ho Chi Minh City. The traffic safety committee admitted the definition of traffic congestion has not been clearly mentioned in any documents and thus there is difference in the perception between people and officials. Lieutenant Colonel Huynh Trung Phong, vice head of the local traffic police department, said that the average speed of vehicles running on streets in the city has been slower in recent years. VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/TT/TN/Dantri