Social News 25/4 Major bridge and road project likely to be divided into two   The government of HCMC is seeking the Prime Minister’s approval to split a VND2.38 trillion bridge and road project into two smaller projects to make it easy to call for investors. The city has proposed implementing the two projects, if approved, under the public-private-partnership (PPP), instead of build-transfer (BT) as planned earlier, to deal with the financial issue that has dogged the original Binh Tien bridge and road project. In late 2011, the city government approved the Binh Tien project with an estimated cost of VND2.38 trillion (US$106.7 million), excluding land clearance compensation and loan interest. The BT project was originally scheduled for completion in 2014. However, the project has not got off the ground since the city has been struggling with difficulties to arrange a budget for the project and find a lot of land as a payment for the investor. The city now wants to divide it into two smaller projects, with the first being a section from Pham Van Chi Street to Ta Quang Buu Street and the second being a section from Ta Quang Buu Street to Nguyen Van Linh Highway. The Binh Tien bridge and road project is an important part of a road network connecting districts 6, 7, 8 and Binh Chanh. They will help reduce traffic congestion and improve the quality of life for citizens in the south of HCMC. HCMC has also asked the Prime Minister for approval to award no-bid contracts to investors involved into the two proposed projects to ensure construction could begin some time this year. The city government has told authorities of districts 6, 8 and Binh Chanh to speed up site clearance for the project. According to the original design, the four-lane Binh Tien bridge and its approach roads would run 3,200 meters from Pham Van Chi Street in District 6 through the East-West Highway, Tau Hu and Doi canals in District 8 and end at Nguyen Van Linh Highway. ADB proposes seawall road to adapt to climate change The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has proposed Vietnam build a seawall road along its coast for coping with rising sea levels. At a meeting with the Ministry of Transport last week, an ADB delegation put forth this project. Yasushi Tanaka, ADB principal transport specialist in the Southeast Asia Department, said the bank would provide technical support for the project next year after the two sides reach agreement. Ensuring a more sustainable environment is among ADB’s top priorities in its Country Partnership Strategy, he said. Vietnam’s Deputy Transport Minister Nguyen Hong Truong said at the meeting that the proposed project is also what the Government and the ministry are working on. The Government has approved a zoning plan for a project to develop a 3,200-kilometer road linking the northeastern province of Quang Ninh to Ha Tien in the Mekong Delta province of Kien Giang, he said. A couple of coastal roads have already been opened to traffic, including one in the south-central coast province of Ninh Thuan. The ministry and coastal provinces have been assigned to develop zoning plans for national seawall road projects. A proposed 65-kilometer seawall road between Hai Phong and Thanh Hoa in the north is the next project to be executed. International cooperation needed to address oil spills Oil spills at sea are a trans-border environmental problem which requires cooperation among all sides involved to be handled, Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE) Nguyen Linh Ngoc. The statement was made at a conference held in Hanoi last week to review the implementation of the Prime Minister’s Decision 1278/QD-TTg issued in 2009 on cooperation among Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia in response to oil spills in the Gulf of Thailand, and Decision 1864/QD-TTg issued in 2011 on Vietnam-Philippines work to address the issue. Strengthening international collaboration is determined as an important task to optimise the support and assistance of countries and international organisations for oil spill response efforts, he said. Ngoc also stressed shortcomings in implementing Decision 1278/QD-TTg, such as behind-schedule missions and loose coordination between relevant agencies. Programmes to enhance the capacity of the oil spill monitoring and responding systems fell short of expectation, he added. According to Vu Si Tuan, Deputy General Director of the Vietnam General Department of Seas and Islands, the MONRE has been assigned to complete a legal framework on addressing oil spills at sea, improve monitoring systems, raise public awareness of the problem, and enhance international cooperation in the field. The agency has worked to continue coordination between relevant forces of Vietnam and the Philippines on oil spill preparedness and response, he stated. Statistics from the ministry showed that on average, ten oil spills took place in Vietnamese waters annually in the past 20 years, posing serious pollution to the country’s coastal ecologies. Thua Thien-Hue steps up efforts to care for disabled people Authorities of the central province of Thua Thien-Hue have been making every effort to provide the best support for local people with disabilities, helping them surmount any inferiority complex and integrate into the community. President of the provincial Association of Disabled People La Thach said all the local agencies, through various forms, have offered great assistance to the disabled. According to Thach, over 1,500 disable people have benefited from training courses on skills, knowledge, rights and duties, during a project funded by the US Agency for International Development (USAID). Meanwhile, more than 7,800 disabled people and their relatives have been receiving legal advice on issues related to social sponsorship and free vocational training. A great number of people with disabilities have been supported in making their livelihoods and in searching for jobs, thus improving their income and living conditions. Thua Thien-Hue has 29,000 disabled people, including 1,000 people living at social sponsor centres. To date, as many as 18,695 disabled people have benefited from social support policies under the Government’s Decree No. 28. A total of 2,577 have been beneficiaries of the policies for national revolutionary contributors, and 1,078 others have received social insurance cards. Local authorities said they will continue all necessary work to ensure the continuous implementation of the policies. Student with disabilities starts library at rural school Poor children living in Phu Tho province’s Thanh Ba District believe that only books can open a door to the world. Unfortunately, not many books, particularly history and art productions, are sold in the area. To improve the situation, a disabled student at the Thanh Ba 1 Secondary School works hard every day on his computer to encourage people to donate books to Thanh Ba students. Pham Ngoc Thuong, 14, has had poliomyelitis since he was two months old. His grandparents sent him to live in Thanh Ba Centre for Disabled Children because his father died while his mother left home to take a job. The centre’s guard gives him a ride to school. Thuong decided to place a bookshelf in his classroom to help his friends improve their reading. He has used social media websites to encourage youngsters around the country to donate and send books to his school. “Many students in Hanoi and other provinces have delivered their books to help us build our own library,” said Thuong. “Every book delivers love and sharing from donors to us.” Thuong and his classmates spent more than seven months saving to buy a small bookshelf to store the charity books. They locked the shelf with a key, which was kept by their class manager. They called it “Our Library.” “To borrow a book from the library, you have to sign a paper to guarantee your return. We wanted to keep and deliver the books to our younger friends after we leave school,” Thuong said. Thuong said he likes reading history books and he dreams of becoming a historian. “Reading can improve your soul and will. All of the stories I have gained from good books offer me opportunities to change my destiny,” he said. Free performances on Pedestrian Street attract thousands Every Saturday, Hoang Van Huong, a resident of HCM City’s Binh Thanh district, takes his 11-year-old granddaughter to enjoy free traditional music performances on Nguyen Hue pedestrian street. They often take a walk around the area before watching the group of young artists. “I wanted my granddaughter to learn about traditional music,” said Huong, adding that there were few places that offer free music aimed at children and youth. In the first days, Huong bought an ice cream for his granddaughter to convince her to attend the music performances instead of playing online games on her iPad, which goes with her anywhere outside. “She now knows the name of several traditional instruments and folk songs and dances. She even told me she wanted to become a zitherist after school,” said Huong. Huong and his granddaughter are only two of several hundred visitors, including foreigners, who enjoy the free music performances on the pedestrian street on Saturday night. The shows are part of a cultural programme, Khong Gian Van Hoa-Nghe Thuat and The Thao (Space for Culture, Arts and Sports), launched by the city’s Youth Union. “Our programme aims to help visitors learn about Vietnamese music and theatre,” said Nguyen Ba Hung, a member of the group that began the programme. “Through our free performances, we hope to bring traditional music closer to the people,” he said. All artists in the programme work for free and they have to sometimes turn down invitations from music organisers and producers so they can perform on schedule. “I feel no barrier between my music and the audiences,” zitherist Phuong Linh said. Effective enforcement of laws unleashes telecoms market The effective implementation of the Laws on Telecommunications and Radio Frequencies, which took effect on July 1, 2010, unleashed the telecommunications market, according to Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Pham Hong Hai. Hai said after the five-year implementation of the two laws, telecommunications and internet services have become basic and necessary amenities to all households. The laws also helped reduce the gap in accessing telecommunications and internet services among regions and change the life of people and society, particularly people in remote areas, Hai said. The huge investment in telecommunications infrastructure led to the rapid increase of mobile phone and broad-band internet subscribers. The number of mobile subscribers increased from 45 million in 2009 to 120 million in 2015, in which 3G subscribers have numbered 40 million. On marine navigation, many offshore ships have been equipped with communication devices. Many offshore fishing boats were installed with high-frequency communication devices. Around 60 percent of frequency bands of the country’s second satellite VINASAT-2 have been used. The telecommunications sector’s combined revenue in 2015 reached 340 trillion VND (around 15 billion USD), generating a profit of 56 trillion VND and contributing 46.8 trillion VND to the State budget. The two laws have also contributed to forming a healthy, competitive and transparent telecommunication market with all economic sectors allowed to join the market on an equal footing, as seen in the rapid increase in the number of telecommunications and internet enterprises. The birth of the law on radio frequencies also enabled the effective management and allocation of telecommunications resources, especially radio frequency, meeting the demand of people and enterprises. The Ministry of Information and Communications said it is working on more sub-law legal documents to complete the legal framework for the telecoms sector. Dragon fruit farmers urged to ally for collective bargaining Dragon fruit growers should work together to ensure stable outlet for their products, said Director of Bình Thuận Province’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Mai Kiều. They should not only focus on growing organic dragon fruit, but also be proactive in marketing and managing the price of the product, he said, adding that farmers should help themselves by rearranging their farming models. “It’s necessary to expand the cooperative and farmers’ alliance model to unite farmers with each other from production to export,” Kiều said. He also emphasised the need to maintain focus on organic production, cutting short mediator activities and preventing traders from manipulating prices. With 16,000ha devoted to dragon fruit, Bình Thuận has the largest area allocated to the fruit in the country, with the area’s annual output topping 350,000 tonnes. According to Bùi Đăng Hưng, chairman of the Bình Thuận Dragon Fruit Association, the province’s dragon fruit have been exported to high demand markets such as the United States, the European Union, the Republic of Korea and Japan. However, Asia is still the dominant market with 70 per cent of the fruit exported to China through unofficial trade. This trade is risky as Vietnamese businesses depend on their counterparts for price and consumption. Businesses and farmers have suffered losses despite having a bumper crop as farmers’ profits were eaten up due to the extremely low price in the domestic market. To expand the export market, dragon fruit growers must follow strict regulations on everything from working the soil, using fertilisers, taking care of dragon fruit trees, harvesting, packing and preservation. Yet many dragon fruits farmers do not have capability to do all these things. Từ Tấn Thời, a representative for the Nam Thuận Việt Cooperative, said once a farmer joined the cooperative, as a member they would have the chance to share their experiences of growing dragon fruit, and have the ability to manage the market price in a way that limited dumping strategies and the power of traders to set the price for market. “A large-scale fruit growing area will create favourable conditions for the sale of products via contract compared with small scale production,” he told Tin tức (News) newspaper. “Setting up a farmers’ group or farmers’ alliance would help,” Thời said. Bình Thuận Province has a plan to limit spontaneous dragon fruit cultivation and instructs growers to follow VietGAP standards (Vietnamese Good Agricultural Practice), Kiều said. He said that the province would promote the setting up of a dragon fruit farmers’ group in the future, and focus on the business benefits a farmers’ group could gain through scaled-up consumption contracts, he said. In the Mekong Delta province of Tiền Giang, another large dragon fruit growing area, growers have joined together under the Mỹ Tịnh An Dragon Fruits Cooperative to develop their production in a sustainable way. The cooperative has taken the initiative in signing contracts with members and asked them to grow dragon fruit according to VietGAP standards. The cooperative has pledged to buy all the products at a price higher than market price. Work on My Thuan 2 bridge may start in 2017 My Thuan 2 bridge project in the Mekong Delta region is scheduled to get off the ground in 2017 if the Government approves the use of Japan’s official development assistance (ODA) for the project; otherwise, construction should start in 2018 at the latest. Le Quoc Dung of Project Management Unit 7 (PMU7) at the Ministry of Transport said the ministry has proposed the Ministry of Planning and Investment add the bridge to the list of projects financed by Japan’s ODA in the 2016-2018 period. Dung told the Daily that after the proposal, the ministries of planning-investment and finance will review and submit the project to the Government for approval. Dung described the My Thuan 2 bridge project as feasible, saying it is located between Trung Luong-My Thuan and My Thuan-Can Tho expressways, which will be put into use in the coming years. PMU7 has proposed a Japanese ODA loan of around 25 billion yen, or some US$231.2 million, for the bridge planned to go up more than one kilometer from the existing My Thuan Bridge spanning the Tien River. With a total length of 4.05 kilometers, the bridge project is designed to begin at the intersection between Highway 1A and the approach road of the existing My Thuan Bridge in Tien Giang Province, and end in Vinh Long Province. PMU7 proposed building the cable-stayed bridge with six lanes. The 33-meter-wide road leading to the bridge would meet Type A standards that allow vehicles to travel at a maximum speed of 120 kilometers per hour. Earlier, PMU7 made four designs for My Thuan 2 and corresponding investment plans. Under the first design, a 2,240-meter-long cable-stayed bridge would require VND9.76 trillion (US$438 million) and need 29 years and five months to recover capital. For the second design, a cable-stayed bridge stretching 2,270 meters would cost VND9.57 trillion (US$429.4 million) and investors would be able to recover investment capital within 29 years and one month. With the third design, My Thuan 2 would be like the current My Thuan Bridge with a length of 2,250 meters. Its cost is estimated at VND7.82 trillion (US$350.8 million) and investors would take back investment capital in 26 years and five months. Based on the fourth design, a 2,310-meter-long cantilever bridge would be built at a cost of nearly VND7.12 trillion (US$319.5 million). The investment would be recovered within 25 years and two months. New rail bridge ready in late June A new Ghenh rail bridge on the north-south rail line could be opened to traffic on June 28 instead of July 15 as earlier scheduled, the Vietnam Railway Corporation (VRC) said on April 11. The new bridge in Bien Hoa City, Dong Nai Province will replace the old Ghenh Bridge, which collapsed after it was struck by a sand-transporting barge on March 20. The collapse resulted in all train services to and from HCMC being disrupted. Doi Sy Hung, deputy general director of VRC, told a meeting with the Ministry of Transport in Dong Nai on April 11 that construction of the new rail bridge commenced on April 1. Besides, site clearance for the project has been completed and steel parts of the bridge are being produced at three facilities in Hue, Danang and HCMC. The steel bridge has three spans, with each having a length of 75 meters, instead of four spans as planned earlier. The bridge will be seven meters above the surface water, three meters higher than the collapsed one, to allow bigger ships to travel underneath. Hung said all the beams of the bridge would be finished on June 3 and other parts would be completed on June 10. The new bridge worth VND298.5 billion (US$13.4 million) will be put into use on June 28. Currently, passengers travel by train from Saigon Railway Station to Song Than Railway Station in Binh Duong province before they are transferred to Bien Hoa Railway Station by bus to continue their journeys to the central and northern regions. Religious organisations involved in environmental protection Religious organisations in Vietnam are engaging in a coordination programme on environmental protection and climate change response. The steering committee for the programme debuted in Hanoi on April 15, with the participation of dignitaries of the 14 religions in Vietnam, officials of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Central Committee (VFFCC) and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, the Presidents of some local VFF chapters, and representatives of the Nordic Assistance to Vietnam organisation. The steering committee, set up by the VFFCC, aims to promote religious dignitaries’ role in and contribution to environmental protection and climate change response efforts. VFFCC President Nguyen Thien Nhan said environmental protection must be based on people, and it only becomes effective when people are fully aware of the benefits of protecting the environment. As there are many religions in Vietnam, the steering committee has to take into account each religion’s features and local customs to carry out the coordination programme in an appropriate fashion, he said. He also asked dignitaries of the 40 religious organisations nationwide to encourage their followers to protect the environment. They should work closely with the VFFCC, the environment ministry and relevant agencies to monitor environmental protection and climate change prevention activities conducted by local State agencies, businesses and organisations. The strict supervision will help ensure the implementation of the law on environmental protection and the national target programme on climate change, he added. According to international environment experts, Vietnam is one of the five countries most vulnerable to climate change, which is estimated to kill and injure 457 people and cause 1.9 billion USD damage on average each year. Can Tho to build cable-stayed bridge costing billions The authorities in coordination with the concerned agencies yesterday began work on the construction of some key projects of 2016, including the building of the Cầm Thi cable-stayed bridge. The bridge in this Mekong Delta province will cross the Cần Thơ River and connect the Cái Răng and Ninh Kiều districts and will be 535m long and 20m wide. Its pavements will be 1.5m wide on either side. The project will incur an estimated investment of more than VNĐ670 billion (US$29.8 million) and is being funded by an Official Development Assistance loan. The bridge is specifically designed in the shape of a Vietnamese Đàn Bầu (single-string zither) and will be decorated with cloud and dragon patterns. In addition, lutes, kites, fountains, lighting and laser systems will be also installed. The construction of the bridge that is expected to be one of the highlights of the Mekong River Delta’s tourism programme will start this year and end in 24 months. Official guarantees summer power The country will receive adequate power this summer, Đinh Thế Phúc, deputy head of Electricity Regulatory Authority of Việt Nam (ERAV) under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, said. He made these assurances during an online dialogue held by Dân Trí online newspaper last Friday. The dialogue created a platform for readers to raise questions for leaders in the electricity and irrigation sectors regarding power and water supply in the upcoming dry season. Phúc said there would be no power cuts due to shortages in electricity. However, there might be incidents related to electricity lines due to oversupply, leading to power shortages in a few areas. ERAV has assigned localities to establish plans to deal with partial power shortages, he said. According to Nguyễn Danh Duyên, deputy director of Electricity of Việt Nam (EVN), power supply interruption for power line maintenance will be announced five days in advance through the media. Sudden power cuts will be announced to customers through direct phone calls or by fax with clear information on the reasons for the interruption, the duration of the power cut and when the power will be restored. Vũ Xuân Khu, deputy director of EVN’s National Load Dispatch Centre, said this year, the Ministry of Industry and Trade had given the nod to an additional charge for more than 26,000kwh. All additional power sources will be mobilised to ensure the best power supply is available. Regarding the water release by EVN hydropower plants in dealing with the difficulties of agricultural production in recent years, Nguyễn Mạnh Hùng, a senior official from the Water Resource Directorate under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, said hydropower reservoirs played a vital role in supplying water for households and production. In the Central region, reservoirs such as Đại Ninh, Hàm Thuận-Đa Mi, Đa Nhim, Sông Ba Hạ and Đắk Mi 4 provide water for thousands of hectares of land being cultivated in the Bình Thuận, Ninh Thuận, Phú Yên and Quảng Nam provinces. Some 450,000 out of 630,000ha of rice from the spring-winter crops in the north have received water from the Sơn La, Hòa Bình, Thác Bà and Tuyên Quang hydropower lakes. The company announced plans to use water from hydropower reservoirs for agricultural production for the summer-fall harvest, he said. In another report, the National Power Transmission Corporation (NPT) said it had recently completed a project to install 220kV transformers in a 550kV transmission station in Nho Quan District of northern Ninh Bình Province. The transmission station helped meet the increasing demand for power in Ninh Binh Province and part of the neighbouring province of Hòa Bình, NPT officials said. The station also helped ensure the stable and safe operation of the electric grid for the area. In the Tây Nguyên (Central Highlands) region, phase 4 of the 550kV transmission station project in Pleiku City of Buôn Ma Thuột Province has been completed. The operation of the station was intended to increase the power transmission capacity of the North-Central-South 550kV electric line. The NPT-invested station helped enhance power transmission from Việt Nam to Laos through the hydropower plants of Xekaman No. 1, Upper Xekong No. 3 and Lower Xekong No. 3 and the 220kV line in Pleiku. EVN, in recent months, has invested in building several electric works in the capital city of Hà Nội to ensure the efficient supply of power for production and daily life. One of the major projects involved installing a transformer in the 220kV station in Tây Hồ District. Last month, EVN and its member companies put into operation a 550kV line in Mỹ Tho City of southern Tiền Giang Province, a 220kV line in Huế City and a 220kV line in northern Yên Bái Province. Besides this, the corporation planned to complete a 220kV line connecting with Trung Sơn Hydropower Plant in northern Thái Bình Province, as well as upgrade some transmission stations in northern Lào Cai Province and Đà Nẵng City. According to EVN, power consumption was forecast to increase by 13 per cent in the upcoming dry season in the southern region. In May and June, the extra load capacity might reach 540 million kWh per day, of which the capacity of the southern region might be 250 million kWh per day. The corporation has asked power transmission companies nationwide to adopt measures to ensure the safe operation of transmission stations and lines, especially the North-South line. Lào Cai to host World Environment Day celebration A national meeting to celebrate World Environment Day on June 5 is scheduled to be held in the northern mountainous province of Lào Cai. This was announced by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment on Wednesday. The event is expected to help raise public awareness on the need to manage and appropriately use natural resources in connection with environmental protection and sustainable development. Over the past few years, Lào Cai Province has undertaken many activities to manage and protect natural resources and the environment. The province has much experience in organising important events. World Environment Day aims to inspire more people around the world than ever before to take action to prevent the strain on planet Earth’s natural systems from reaching breaking point. This year’s theme is based on the fight against the illegal trade in wildlife, which erodes our precious biodiversity and threatens the survival of awe-inspiring species, such as elephants, rhinos and tigers, as well as other creatures that are less celebrated. It also undermines our economies, communities and security, according to the United Nations Environment Programme. Lào Cai is considered an ideal location for this year’s event, with the theme “Wildlife Trafficking Prevention”, which is aimed at encouraging the community to take part in protecting all kinds of wildlife that are being threatened and face the risk of extinction. Last year, a national meeting in response to World Environment Day was held in the northern province of Vĩnh Phúc, under the theme “Responsible Consumption For A Sustainable Earth,” to call on every person, every nation and every territory to join hands in protecting the Earth through practical measures in production and consumption. World Environment Day is an important international event organised every year by the UN Environment Programme. Việt Nam began celebrating the day in 1982. The country has undertaken many activities to contribute to raising public awareness on environment protection and sustainable development. Citizens benefit from cash transfer plan Some 292,000 disadvantaged people in the four provinces of Hà Giang, Quảng Nam, Lâm Đồng and Trà Vinh have benefited from a cash transfer programme that has been trialled for nearly a year. Organised by the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, under the auspices of the World Bank and UNICEF, the US$62.5 million Social Assistance System Strengthening Project seeks to strengthen social welfare by improving management and service delivery. Đặng Kim Chung, the programme director, said the target is to provide better support to disadvantaged people, seek more support from society and ensure transparency in delivery of social welfare. Over 90 per cent of cash transfers have been successfully made using the postal system, reducing the pressure on management and ensuring transparency. To draft a national document, the project co-operates with the National Office on Poverty Reduction, Department of Social Protection and the country’s 63 cities and provinces to get information on poor households and people dependent on social support every month. The information is expected to be collected by July. The project also seeks to develop a team of collaborators, with over 6,000 of them working in 690 communes in the four provinces. A hot line has been set up at 18001567 to support beneficiaries. HCM City: family doctor clinics fail to attract patients Although the family doctor model has been implemented in many district and communal medical centres in Ho Chi Minh City, it is still an unpopular service among patients. Vo Thi Kim Oanh, head of a medical centre in Binh Hung Hoa A ward, Binh Tan district, blamed high costs and a lack of medicines and health workers for the problem. Each centre has only one doctor who works as a family doctor and head of the centre at the same time, said Nguyen Quang Loi, head of a medical centre in ward 8, Tan Phu district. He suggested that each medical centre should have two doctors to run the clinic. Since people are unaware of the benefits of family doctor clinics, popularising the model remains a challenge. Nguyen Huu Hung, Deputy Director of the municipal Health Department, said family doctors provide all health-related services for their patients and manage the medical records of all family members. He underlined the need for doctors to improve their qualifications in order to raise treatment quality and win patients’ confidence. According to the official, the department will soon issue electronic health records to make it easier for doctors to treat patients when they are transferred from grassroots levels to upper levels. HCM City, Hanoi, Thua Thien-Hue, Can Tho, Khanh Hoa and Tien Giang are all implementing the model. The Health Ministry plans to scale up the family doctor model across the country and promote the training of family-doctor physicians. Design competition to kick off direct flights to Auckland Vietnamese people are invited to take part in the “New Zealand - New Horizon 2016” slogan making and poster design competition. The contest will be launched by the New Zealand Embassy in Hanoi on April 22. Coming on the eve of the commencement of direct flights by Air New Zealand between Auckland and HCM City in June, the competition calls for entrants to design a poster and slogan promoting New Zealand tourism in Vietnam. It is an opportunity for the creative Vietnamese public to share their ideas about NZ and how it could be portrayed to Vietnamese tourists. “Tourism is a significant part of the economies of New Zealand and Vietnam but from the perspectives of our broader bilateral relationship, tourism has many other important spin offs, such as increasing cultural awareness and understanding, and education links,” said NZ Ambassador to Vietnam, Haike Manning. “The Air New Zealand’s direct service between Auckland and HCM City commencing in June is a huge opportunity for both countries,” he adds. More information about the competition can be found on the Embassy’s Facebook fanpage. Winner of the best package (poster and slogan) will earn an all-expenses paid trip for two to New Zealand. Lam Dong: Lac Duong district resettles ethnic minorities Lac Duong District in the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong has resettled local ethnic minority groups, stopping them from leading nomadic lives, which had been a threat to the Lang Biang Biophere Reserve. The district’s People’s Committee built two resettlement areas in Da Nhim hamlet in Da Nhim commune, and Dung K’Si hamlet in Da Chais commune, intending to provide accommodation to 190 ethnic minority households. The resettlement area in Da Nhim hamlet was funded with 21.7 billion VND (956,000 USD) from the State budget. The money was used to build houses for 90 households on 7.5 hectares of land, with each house on a piece of land from 300 to 400 sq.m as well as build 2 kilometres of roads and a water supply system. Phase 1 of the resettlement project in Da Nhim hamlet lies on the side of pine hills. Ko Sa Ha Dinh, one of 57 heads of households allocated land to build houses, is completing his wooden house on an area of 400 sq.m. “In the past I lived with my family in a cramped house and we have low income, so we qualified to receive land from the project. I am happy because our new house has all we need,” Ko Sa Ha Dinh said. Phase 1 of the project in Dung K’Si in Da Chais commune has a total investment of 10 billion VND and provides accommodation for 47 households spanning an area of 2.4 hectares. Bon To Ha Thu, from the Cil ethnic minority group, completed his main house and is completing his storage house with help from young people in the village. “In the past, my family lived on the other side of the stream. After the government built the resettlement area, we decided to move in here because it has all basic amenities like roads, electricity and water,” Ha Thu said. “In the past, most people led nomadic lives, when the area was built, they were very happy. Besides the main building, they all have facilities like toilets and storage houses. Their children now go to school as well,” said Ko Dong Ha Quyen, Da Chais’ Party’s Committee Secretary. According to Trinh Hoai Nam, Director of the Centre for Management and Exploitation of Public Facilities, the investor of the two projects, said the provision of all necessary amenities made ethnic minority people move into the two resettlement areas voluntarily. The district will not reclaim land and houses from households who moved into the resettlement areas. “The big success of the projects was people’s consensus and the projects met people’s requirements, so they eagerly supported and made efforts to create a stable life there,” Chairman of the Lac Duong People’s Committee Pham Trieu said. “Seven golden rules” for Southern specialites Professor Paul Brown, Chairman of Vietnam Consultant Company proposed “seven golden rules” for the Southern Specialities at the conference themed “The Southern folk cake festival–the way to conquer domestic and ASEAN markets” held in Can Tho on April 15. “Seven golden rules” include focusing on clients; creating beautiful packaging for goods; making it easy to use; saying no to poor quality; seeking for good distributors – giving compliments to clients and visiting neigboring countries. The conference is part of the fifth Southern Folk Cake Festival’s activities which is taking place from April 15 to 19, aiming to commemorate the Hung Kings, the Reunification Day and Labor Day. The festival attracted 150 folk cake stalls and the specilities across the country and 20 international stalls from Laos, Republic of Korea, Japan, France, Indonesia, India, Malaysia and Italy… The organization board hoped the festival will contribute to attract domestic and international tourists to the southern region and open more trade opportunities for domestic businesses. When all the procedures go smoothly Despite many agencies in Vietnam reporting that they are doing their work well and that "all procedures are going smoothly," various problems continue to plague the country. The illegal promotion of officials, the illegal granting land use rights and construction licences and illegal price rises on monopoly goods and services; are these the examples of smooth procedures that local agencies are talking about? In an interview with the Vietnam Economy Newspaper, Nguyen Sy Cuong of the National Assembly's Legal Committee said that it was strange that so many agencies were insisting that they were implementing procedures perfectly yet had to explain their mistakes or wrongdoings. "A serious mistake by a hospital that led to a death of a patient, a serious wrongdoing by a judicial body resulting in a man being wrongly imprisoned for 18 years, or a customs officer letting 230 kilos of drugs through, and then these agencies all claim they followed the right procedures? I think it’s rather obvious that they are just trying to deny responsibility," Cuong stressed. At present, food safety is one of the biggest problems hitting the country. It is predicted that Vietnam will probably see a cancer epidemic in the next five years due to dirty food. Deputy Tran Ngoc Vinh once told a NA meeting that "the road from the stomach to the cemetery has never seemed so short and straight." Despite the situation, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Cao Duc Phat told a recent NA meeting that there was good co-operation with the Ministry of Health on food safety management. His statement has been widely criticised. Ho Chi Minh City Party Secretary Dinh La Thang strongly reacted at the meeting: "How can you say ‘good co-operation’ when the number of food poisoning cases are on the rise? Or do you mean we have to wait until the procedures work properly?"  Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Cao Duc Phat were strongly criticised when saying that there was a good co-operation between his ministry and the Ministry of Health on food safety management. Recently, Danang City Party Secretary, Nguyen Xuan Anh proposed that the city set up a steering committee on food safety management with members from various city departments. Many such agencies have been urgently established to deal with rising problems in Vietnam, but with a lack of accountability and scrutiny, most of them just turn out to be a waste of money. VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/TT/TN/Dantri