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Social
News 19/7
Seventy
bridges need early replacement
Seventy degraded
bridges along national highways in 25 provinces must be replaced by 2015,
three years earlier than planned.
Transport Minister
Dinh La Thang said the project had total investment of VND8.254 trillion
(US$388 million), including VND6.555 trillion ($308) from Japan International
Co-operation Agency.
Until now, bids had
been accepted for only four of the 25 construction packages.
Replacement works
for
According to the
ministry's Project Management Unit 6 assigned to carry out the project,
bidding for the other 21 construction packages will open in November.
Thang asked the
management unit to complete replacing all 70 bridges by next year.
"If the unit
cannot deal with the task, the work should be shared with other units,"
Thang said.
He said the project
would improve road safety, meet travelling demands and contribute to
socio-economic development.
Deputy director of
the management unit, Nguyen Tan Khoa, said that a big problem was the slow
dispersal of funds.
On top of this,
many bridge designs and investment documents were not completed, thus tenders
could not be called," Khoa said.
Deputy Transport
Minister Nguyen Hong Truong said that most of bridges in were only 200 to 300
metres long and would not take too much time to build.
"If the
paperwork is solved, it's possible to complete the project next year,"
he said.
The project
includes funding for land clearance and foundation enforcement for bridges,
including Thot Not on National Highway 91 in southern Can Tho City, Muong
Khai on National Highway 54 in southern
Traffic
congestion worsens at some gateways in HCMC
Traffic jams have
gone from bad to worse in recent days at some of HCMC’s main gateways in Binh
Tan, Thu Duc and other outlying districts due to road constructions and
upgrades.
Vehicles were seen
moving along inch by inch in a 10km line at the section of National Highway
1A in Binh Tan District on July 15 morning as its lanes have been rearranged
in preparation for construction of an overpass at the crossroads between Road
No. 2 and the national highway.
The road section in
District 2 that leads to Phu My Bridge has been narrowed for upgrade, forcing
hundreds of light and container trucks to move forward inch by inch on the
bridge in the past three days.
The HCMC Department
of Transport attributed the serious traffic jam to the Urban Traffic
Management Unit 2’s plan to expand the approach road from two to three lanes.
This unit has been told to speed up construction so that the third lane could
be completed in the next ten days.
Heavy congestion
has lasted around one week at the section of
Health
sector in dire need of vaccines for infants
The scarcity of
vaccines for infants remains acute at a number of hospitals and clinics in
HCMC.
The lack of
much-sought-after types such as Infanrix Hexa or those used to prevent chickenpox,
measles, mumps and rubella has been so striking for the past six months that
suppliers have had to make use of all possible sources from foreign
countries.
The health sector
has been unable to make accurate predictions of diseases, making it
impossible to store enough doses in the first place.
In the first half
of this year, many parents were afraid of getting their children vaccinated
with Quinvaxem in the wake of some fatalities caused by the adverse drug
reaction. As such, they have had to shift to using Infanrix Hexa, resulting
in an undersupply.
A source said
The Drug
Administration of Vietnam under the Ministry of Health has officially
announced the shipments of vaccines due to arrive in
Hong Thuy Company
will import 10,000 doses of five-in-one Pentaxim as early as July 20 and an
additional 23,000 doses in September while May Cosmedic Joint Stock Company
will import 12,000 doses of this type on August 10.
As for the
six-in-one vaccine Infanrix Hexa, Saigon Pharmaceutical Company is expected
to have 100,000 doses on August 15. The Company for Vaccine and Biological
Production No.1 will import 10,000 doses of Varicella-GCC.
Toll
collection at
The Ministry of
Transport has told Song Da Corporation, the investor of
The Directorate for
Roads of Vietnam said inspectors of the ministry found that the section on
National Highway 1A leading to the tunnel has subsided and affected traffic
safety for vehicles during their working trip to check works on the highway
section from Thanh Hoa to Thua Thien Hue provinces.
Previously, the
directorate wrote to Song Da Corporation several times warning it of the
subsidence but the investor has done nothing to fix the problem. So, the
ministry had to make the decision based on Circular 52/2013/TT-BGTVT
requesting the corporation to repair the sinking section; otherwise, it will
not be permitted to collect tolls from vehicles running through the tunnel.
Regional Road
Management Unit 2 under the directorate has been assigned to supervise the
parties involved in the tunnel project built under the
build-operation-transfer (BOT) format to see if they have stopped the toll
collection and repair the road section as ordered by the ministry.
Put into use since
2004,
The six-lane tunnel
is more than 2.1 km long. Vehicles are allowed to run at a maximum speed of
60 kilometers per hour.
Central
Citizen Reception Committee established
The Government
Inspectorate has announced the decision to set up the Central Citizen
Reception Committee in Ha Noi.
The establishment
of The Central Citizen Reception Committee is based on the spirit of the Law
on Citizen Reception and complaint and denunciation handling of the
Government Inspectorate.
The Committee’s
tasks are receiving, classifying, handling with complaint, petition and
denunciation of citizens, particularly the complicated, unsolved and
prolonged ones to make solution based on regulations of the law.
The Central Citizen
Reception Committee is responsible for guiding citizens to perform the
complaint, petition and denunciation in right order, organ, unit and
individual who have jurisdiction.
Efforts
made to save isolated ethnic minority
Authorities in Ha
Tinh Province have agreed to submit a project plan to the government to build
a road that would link the
The proposal was
made by Tu Van Dien, Chairman of the local Fatherland Front at a recent
meeting of the provincial People’s Council.
If the proposal is
adopted, a 15-km road will be built to link the
Mr. Dien said that
The most serious
problem for the villagers is inbreeding. Up to 60% of local people suffer
from asthma, while the rate of the disabled people has been on the rise.
The construction of
15-km road is expected to give the community access to the outside world and
hopefully help solve this problem.
Local authorities
have shown support for the project and will submit it to the government for
consideration.
H1 sees
fewer labor accidents in HCMC
The number of labor
accidents reported in HCMC in the first half of this year is 37, a reduction
of six cases compared to the same period last year, the city’s Department of
Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs announced on July 15.
Of the 37
accidents, which killed 37 people and wounded one, 24 were in the
construction sector, eight in industrial production and five in the services
sector.
So far, authorities
have pinpointed the causes of only ten labor accidents and the rest are still
under investigation.
In the first six
months, inspectors of the city’s labor department imposed fines totaling more
than VND306 million on 28 companies for violating labor safety regulations.
The department also
reported 184 fires occurring in the city during the period, which killed
seven people, injured ten and destroyed properties worth nearly VND8.5
billion.
The labor
accidents, fires and explosions were blamed on employers’ failures to train
employees on labor safety and use low-quality equipment which cannot ensure
safety for laborers at workplaces.
On the other hand,
authorities have not strictly required workers to abide by labor safety
regulations, which have also led to those accidents, said the city’s
occupational safety office.
Highway 20
operator told to repair road or stop collection
The investor of
National Highway 20 linking
The Directorate for
Roads of Vietnam said on Monday the maintenance, repair and upgrade of some
sections on National Highway 20 had not met standards, putting traffic safety
at risk.
The parties
involved in this project upgraded under the build-operate-transfer (BOT)
format are responsible for repairing the road now full of potholes, especially
in the section in
The project’s
investor is a consortium between 7/5 Co. Ltd. under the Ministry of Defense,
Hung Phat Co. Ltd., Dai Phat Investment and Development Co. Ltd., and Highway
20 BOT Joint Stock Company.
These companies would
have to repair the damaged road surface, repaint signboards and prune trees
to ensure visibility. They would also have to dredge and widen the road’s
ditches and drainage to boost runoff in the rainy season.
The Ministry of
Transport will force the investor to stop the toll collection unless they
complete the repair of the road section before the end of October, the
directorate said in a statement sent to the consortium.
In early July,
several accidents were reported on the damaged road, causing two fatalities
and prolonged traffic jams on Highway 20’s section in
Previously, the
toll station on Highway 20 stirred up controversies due to its location in
National Highway 20
is now being upgraded and expanded to serve traffic from HCMC to Dalat and
the transportation of alumina from
The directorate
last Wednesday stopped the toll collection at
Tapioca and rubber
manufacturers that polluted the environment in the southwestern
"There are 74
tapioca and 27 rubber manufacturers in Tay Ninh, but only 31 of them have
installed A-level wastewater treatment systems," said Xuan.
The municipal
People's Committee had ordered the remaining manufacturers to install the
system by late June or face suspension, but they failed to meet the deadline.
The local
Department of Natural Resources and Environment conducted 360 inspections on
wastewater treatment plants in the first six months of 2014, collecting fines
of VND1.9 billion (US$91,350).
Quang Tri
police seize smuggled cigarettes
Huong Hoa Commune
Police seized thousands of smuggled cigarettes in the central
The police found
the goods in a raid at the house of 42-year-old Nguyen Thi Tuyen.
She failed to
provide documents to prove the origin of 8,000 packs of Jet cigarettes and 50
boxes of Ensure milk.
The goods were
worth VND200 million (US$9,600).
Tuyen said her
house was used to store smuggled goods before they were transported to Dong
Ha City.
The case is under
further investigation.
Chief
accountant jailed for embezzlement
A chief accountant
who forged the signature of her company's general director to embezzle nearly
VND10 billion (US$476,000), has been jailed for 20 years.
Dam Van Anh, 31,
lives in Dai Kim Ward, Ha Noi's Hoang Mai District. So far, she has paid VND2
billion ($95,200) back to the company and will have to return an additional
VND8 billion ($380,900).
According to the
indictment, Van Anh started working as an accountant at the International
Telecommunications Investment and Commerce Joint-stock Company in November,
2010. She was promoted to the post of chief accountant at the beginning of
2011.
Between February
24, 2011 and June 15, 2012, Anh forged the signature of Nguyen Thi Dung,
general director of the company, to defraud the firm and used the embezzled
money to buy a car and three flats in Ha Noi's Ha Dong and Hoang Mai districts,
on gambling, and to loan the company VND700 million ($33,300) with interest.
Police
seize smuggled drugs, medical equipment
About 7,000 bottles
of smuggled antibiotics and medical equipment were seized while being
delivered to a clinic on Wednesday, said Ha Noi Environmental Police Division
Lieutenant Colonel Pham Giang Son.
The drivers of the
two three-wheeler vehicles, on which the smuggled goods were being
transported, could not show any documents regarding the origins of the drugs
and equipment which, they reportedly said, were going to be delivered to the
168 Clinic on
The clinic's staff
member, who was to receive the goods, was a foreigner and could not show any
legal documents related to the drugs, a computer and a machine used for
gynecology.
The 168 Clinic,
formerly known as Thanh Tri Clinic, has earlier been penalised by the police
for violating environmental norms.
The case is under
further investigation.
Workshop
seeks to push renewable energy development
A workshop was held
in
In recent years,
special attention has been given to researching and developing solar and wind
energy as a replaceable source of fuel for the country.
According to the
Energy Institute, a map tracking wind resources jointly made by the Ministry
of Industry and Trade and the World Bank is expected to be completed by 2015,
hopefully aiding projects to generate power from wind.
The country is also
seeking to develop other sources of renewable energy, such as bio-gas, waste
energy and biomass energy.
Ly Ngoc Thang from
the Energy Institute said the country will face the increasing needs for
energy and electricity in the coming time and need to import coal for power
generation after 2015.
Therefore, the
development of renewable energy recourses should be speeded as fossil fuels
are becoming exhausted. The move will help ensure energy security and protect
the environment.
Ho Chi Minh City
has carried out projects to turn solid waste into energy, bringing practical
benefits to its 10-million population, heard the workshop.
Experts suggested
the State come up with capital support and price subsidy policies to
investors operating the field.
They called for
clearing bottlenecks in administrative procedure and infrastructure for the
sector’s development.
Binh Thuan
moves to back offshore fishermen
The People’s
Committee of the central coastal
According to Huynh
Quang Huy, head of the provincial Fisheries Department, the policies focused
on fuel assistance, insurance and communications devices.
Most of the fishing
boats in Binh Thuan, accordingly, now have modern communication devices,
enabling fishermen to stay at sea longer than usual, contributing to
protecting national sovereignty, added Huy.
With a coastline of
192km, Binh Thuan is one of the 28 coastal localities playing a strategic
role in
During a recent
visit to Binh Thuan, Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong has asked the
province to further develop its maritime economy as it boasts one of the
country’s three largest fishing grounds.
The province is now
home to 7,500 fishing vessels, which caught 78,600 tonnes of seafood in the
first half of this year, up 6.2 percent from the same period last year.
In the first half,
Binh Thuan recorded a GDP growth rate of 8.6 percent.
Overseas Vietnamese
youths tour central region
More than 170
overseas Vietnamese youths from 30 countries begun a five-day tour of
The tour is part of
an annual summer camp which started in
The first stop was
"It's the
first time that I have visited
"I left
"This is the
third time I have returned to
Khanh Ngan, 18,
said she was interested in the annual summer camp because it gave her a
chance to find her roots.
Nguyen Huy Truong
"The
Vietnamese community in
"Many Vietnamese
in
"This journey
will help me learn more about the Hoang Sa (Paracel) and Truong Sa (Spratly)
islands."
Colonel Tran Van
Dung, of the Zone 2 Marine Police, and Vuong Manh Hoa from the Fisheries
Surveillance Force, talked to the youths about the acts of violence by
Chinese ships that endangered the lives of Vietnamese fishermen.
The youths were
also shown the images of the wreck of sunken fishing trawler DNa TS 90152,
which rammed by Chinese boats in Vietnamese waters.
The youths will
join a ceremony for souls of martyrs at Linh Ung Pagoda in
They leave for a
trip to Ly Son Island in central Quang Ngai province on July 18.
Ly Son Island
preserves Am Linh Pagoda, a place of worship for seamen sent to the
A museum of the two
archipelagos displays over 200 ancient documents and 100 objects that show
that the two island groups belong to
The summer camp has
been organised by the State Committee for Overseas Vietnamese Affairs and the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs since 2003.
The annual event
creates an opportunity for overseas youngsters to learn about national
traditions, culture and history, as well as enhance solidarity and exchanges.
This year’s summer
camp takes places in many localities across the country with the theme “My
country’s sea and islands.”
The city is
stepping up its inspections of local companies, especially those in the
construction field, to prevent the usual spike in the number of workplace
accidents near the end of the year.
Nguyen Quoc Viet,
head of the labour-safety division at the Department of Labour, Invalids and
Social Affairs, said the number of workplace accidents had declined in the
first six months of the year compared to the same period last year.
Speaking at a
meeting held on Tuesday, Viet said there were 37 workplace accidents during
the first half of the year, leaving 37 people dead and one person injured.
Forty-three deaths
were recorded in the same period last year, he said.
Most of the
accidents are due to workers' poor awareness of labour-safety regulations,
and enterprises' use of equipment that does not ensure labour safety at their
factories and construction sites.
Viet said that
department's inspectors had fined companies a total of VND306 million
(US$14,570) in the first six months of the year.
In addition, the
city recorded 184 fires in the first six months of the year, down 45 per cent
compared to the same period last year. The fires killed seven people and
injured 10.
Viet said that many
households and companies still had not bought fire extinguishers and other
fire-prevention devices.
In
Of these employees,
193 were diagnosed with occupational diseases, including stomach ulcers and
loss of hearing. Another 863 people have to be monitored closely for
workplace-related ailments.
Japanese
environment firms introduce technology in Soc Trang
Four environment
firms from the Japanese
The technologies
are used to treat hazardous waste and water treatment, process farm
by-products and develop aquaculture.
The exchange is
also meant to spread the practices of sustainable farming in the locality.
The delegation
grouped representatives from the Japan External Trade Organsation in
Demand for
renewable energy slopes upwards
This information
was released at a seminar held in
Ly Ngoc Thang,
Deputy Director of the Centre for Renewable Energy and Clean Development
Mechanisms under the Energy Institute, said
He emphasized the
need to develop renewable energy sources to gradually replace the use of
fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas. It is also essential to promote energy
efficiency to ensure national energy security and protect the environment, he
added.
Other participants
suggested that apart from wind energy,
Currently, HCM City
has around 10 million residents who produce between 8,000 – 9,000 tonnes of
municipal solid waste (MSW) a day, thus offering an opportunity to generate
thermal plant and produce several valuable materials, they said.
Nguyen Trung Viet,
a climate change expert in
He called for State
incentives to create more favourable conditions for investors in this field.
FLC
persists with illegal sand mining for golf course
FLC Group has
continued its illegal mining activities for its golf course project despite a
warning from the local People's Committee in the coastal central
The Ha Noi-based
company, which specialises in tourism and services, received approval for
sand mining from the People's Committee late May, but has yet to complete
legal procedures to carry out the mining.
Dozens of sand
mining ships hired by the company were reportedly operating illegally in the
Hoang Chau Commune's Noi dune area earlier in June.
The mining hindered
the waterway transportation and affected mangrove swamps and 20ha of clam
farm of the commune.
Thanh Hoa People's
Committee ordered the FLC Group to cease sand mining and complete legal
procedures before resuming.
FLC had yet to
identify and demarcate the sand mining zone inside an area of 60ha including
20ha in Noi dune area and 40ha of beach.
The company also
had to submit an environmental impact assessment report and plans for
environmental rehabilitation and safety of waterways.
Despite a warning
from the People's Committee, the company is carrying on with its mining
activities.
FLC is hiring about
20 to 30 ships a day to work in the area. Most of the ships are local or from
the northern
None of the ship
owners have provided registrations for their ships, sand mining licences and
contracts with the FLC Group.
The Maritime
Administration of Thanh Hoa is coordinating with local authorities to deal
with the violation.
Source: VNN/VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/ND
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Thứ Sáu, 18 tháng 7, 2014
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