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Social News 21/1
Trucks blamed for congestion on Hanoi Highway
A nine-hour traffic jam on Hanoi Highway last Friday was due
to a long line of container trucks heading for Truong Tho port complex while
a road widening project has yet to get off the ground.
Container trucks were moving inch by inch to Truong Tho port
complex in Thu Duc District, causing serious congestion on other streets
including Mai Chi Tho and Dong Van Cong in District 2.
The Truong Tho port area comprises Phuoc Long 3, Transimex and
Phuc Long inland container depots (ICD), and some steel and cement factories.
At present,
Le Duy Hiep, general director of Transforwarding Warehousing
Joint-Stock Corp. (Transimex-Saigon), told the Daily that Friday’s heavy
traffic jam resulted from a narrow road leading to Truong Tho while an
increasingly large volume of goods was being transported there.
According to truck drivers, congestion will happen when there
is a surge in transportation volume.
Traffic was back to normal on Saturday.
Vu Kien Thiet, director of Urban Traffic Management Unit No.
2, said the Department of Transport had already mapped out a project to
expand the road to Truong Tho but a lack of funding has caused delays in the
project.
“Traffic light systems have been adjusted to better regulate
traffic and the traffic police have also been deployed to monitor and
regulate traffic before work starts on the road expansion project,” he said.
Last November, the HCMC government required the transport
department to relocate all ports in the Truong Tho area from 2015-2016 to
ease traffic on
Deadline for
HCMC authorities announced last weekend that tourist and
restaurant boats can use
“We missed a trip early in the morning because the
announcement came around 9 a.m. The municipal government allowed us to
continue operation at the wharf while looking for an alternative place,”
according to a source from hydrofoil operator Vina Express.
At the end of last month, the Transport Department announced
HCMC would not renew the operation license of
According to the Department of Transport, the closure of the
wharf is to make room for an upgrade project under a master development plan
of the city.
The HCMC Department of Tourism last Thursday met transport
firms and operators of tourist boats operational at the wharf to find a way
out for the matter. The department said it would write to the city government
seeking an extension of the deadline for the wharf’s closure.
“As the meeting was organized at the request of the Steering
Committee for Tourism Development, we hope that we will be allowed to
continue our operations at
Thursday was the last day for tourist boats to use
Some boat operators said they had had difficulty looking for a
new place so they could not leave Bach Dang.
According to the boat owners, some wharves are just suitable
for large ships and that high costs may prevent them from moving there.
An Son Lam, director of Indochina Junk Co. Ltd., said he had
contacted the authority of Saigon Port to find a place for three restaurant
boats but the monthly rent there was around VND100 million, three times
higher than at Bach Dang.
Some other wharves like Nha Rong,
At the end of December last year, the city government decided
not to renew the operation license of Bach Dang but later allowed tourist
boats to continue their operations until January 15.
Jetstar Pacific adds flights on HCMC-Thanh Hoa run
Jetstar Pacific has announced to add one more daily flight on
The low-cost carrier will operate two flights per day on the
route which it launched last September.
Vietnam Airlines and VietJet Air are also active on the route.
Jetstar Pacific has recently put into service one more Airbus
A321 jet to boost its flight frequency and prepare for the launch of five new
routes in the coming time. The new airplane has 184 seats with 16 business
class.
It will take delivery of two Airbus A321 aircraft from Vietnam
Airlines under a dry lease arrangement before the Lunar New Year holiday,
raising its fleet to 10 jetliners. Then the airline will be able to serve
66,240 passengers a month.
As scheduled, Jetstar Pacific will open five air services from
HCMC to Quy Nhon, Dong Hoi and Tuy Hoa, and from Buon Ma Thuot to Hai Phong,
Thanh Hoa in February and March.
Jetstar Pacific whose main shareholders are Vietnam Airlines
and
Charity walk to kick off this Saturday
Phu My Hung Corporation will organize the Lawrence S. Ting
Charity Walk 2015 in HCMC’s District 7 at 6:30 a.m. this Saturday to raise
funds for poor people in the city.
The 10th event will be held at the area of Crescent in Phu My
Hung town.
All proceeds will go to charitable funds of District 7,
District 8, Binh Chanh District and Nha Be to support the poor.
Actor/host Quyen Linh will continue his role as the charity
ambassador by encouraging more people to participate in the event and make
donations.
The Lawrence S. Ting Charity Walk has raised and donated
nearly VND17 billion and attracted more than 120,000 participants.
Ten sailors saved on sunken vessel
Fishermen in
The vessel, which belonged to Nam Dinh-based Xuan Lan Company
Ltd and was captained by 40-year-old Nguyen Van Duong, was carrying 3,000
tons of clinker from Hon La Port in
It started sinking around midnight on Sunday in a location
roughly 1.2 nautical miles west of shore. The sailors got into lifeboats and
were saved by the fishermen.
Their health condition remains stable.
Ministry seeks bridge investors
The Ministry of Transport is calling for financial assistance
from enterprises and philanthropists to build more bridges in remote and poor
areas.
The programme aims to build over 4,000 bridges by 2017 at a
total cost of VND8.3 trillion (US$389 million). So far 127 businesses have
donated VND310 billion ($14.7 million) to the scheme.
The construction of 186 suspension bridges has already begun
in extremely difficult-to-reach areas in 20 mountainous provinces in
northern, central and Central Highlands regions.
Around 86 bridges are scheduled for completion ahead of Tet
(lunar New Year) and the remainder is set to be finished before the flooding
season this year.
Hand, foot and mouth disease infects 36 children
Thirty-six children have been infected by the hand, foot and
mouth disease, with five outbreaks being reported in the city since the
beginning of this year, announced by the Ha Noi health department.
Deputy Director of the National Hospital of Paediatrics Tran
Minh Dien said that the hospital has received several cases of children
infected with the hand, foot and mouth disease in recent days.
However, the condition of the patients was not serious, he
added.
Head of the
According to health experts, the development of the disease will
be unpredictable this year. So far, no vaccine has been developed for the
disease.
Hand, foot and mouth disease is an acute viral infection,
common in children below three years old. The symptoms usually begin with a
fever, sore throat and painful red blister-like lesions develop on the
tongue, gums and inside the cheeks. The complications include viral
meningitis, encephalitis and acute pneumonia, which can be fatal.
To prevent the risk of infection, parents should wash their
children' hands with soap several times a day, disinfect touched surfaces
such as toys, and isolate the infected patients promptly.
Can Tho delays moving terminal to build park
Leaders in the southern city of
Last April, the Can Tho City People's Committee asked the
municipal Department of Transport to move Hung Vuong Terminal to Terminal
91B, nearly 4km away.
The Department of Transport allowed the 0.4ha terminal to
operate until the end of last year and then move. However, the Can Tho Port
and Ferry Stock Company asked the department for permission to move on
January 3 because it wanted to serve passengers on the occasion of the New
Year. Then the company proposed extending the deadline to February 25 to
serve passengers during Lunar New Year, which will fall in the middle of
February. Municipal authorities accepted the proposal.
Le Thuan Be, deputy director of the Can Tho Department of
Transport, told Tien phong (The Vanguard) newspaper that the deadline was
extended because passengers were familiar with the Hung Vuong Terminal, so
changes at this time would create difficulties for both passengers and the
company.
Chairman of the Can Tho People's Committee Le Hung Dung said
that while the city could force the terminal to move, Lunar New Year was the
peak month for the terminal's operations.
In meetings of the Can Tho People's Council during past years,
voters kept asking the municipal people's committee to move the terminal and
build a park as it had promised.
Construction on the 3ha Terminal 91B, intended to replace Hung
Vuong Terminal, started in 1995. The new terminal was also operated by the
Can Tho Port and Ferry Joint Stock Company.
However, in 2009, the company used 2ha of Terminal 91B to set
up an automobile driving training centre, delaying the move.
In 2013, voters from Ninh Kieu and Cai Rang districts
continued to urge the municipal people's committee to implement its promise.
The committee answered in a document released in February 2014 that the move
would be completed by the end of the year.
Khanh Hoa honours foreigners’ contributions to development
The People’s Committee of the central coastal
Under Decision No 88/QD-UBND, seven foreign companies will be
awarded certificates of merit, including Hyundai Vinashin Shipyard Company,
Komega-X Company, Aide Pourle Vietnam Association, and
The provincial People’s Committee will also present
certificates of merit to Daniel Mark Fisk, Director General of Australis Company;
Robin King Austin, CEO of Vina Capital Fund; and Ursula Nguyen, Chairwoman of
Medical Aid For Vietnam Association.
Transport Ministry to accelerate disbursement in 2015
The Ministry of Transport aims to disburse more than 86
trillion VND (4 billion USD) in 2015 and expects to see an average growth of
5 percent in freight and passengers transported in comparison with 2014.
The goals were released at an online conference reviewing the
2014 achievements and implementing tasks and goals for 2015 on January 19.
During the event, Deputy Minister of Transport Nguyen Ngoc
Dong urged the sector to effectively implement projects in terms of ensuring
progress, quality, and safety to prevent accidents.
The sector should make more concerted efforts to enforce vehicle
weight limits and focus greater attention to enhancing aviation safety, Dong
added.
The ministry also aims to accelerate the implementation of a
number of projects on improving and widening National Highway No. 1, the
section of the
It also hopes to see a 5-10 percent fall in traffic accidents
nationwide and traffic jams in big cities, especially
Additionally, as many as 43 enterprises will be equitised, 14
of which will have been completed within the year.
In 2014, the ministry implemented the equitisation of 11
State-owned corporations, said the Deputy Minister.
It has so far approved the equitisation value of 50
enterprises and equitisation plans for 39 enterprises, 37 of which have
completed the launch of their initial public offering (IPO). The rest intend
to implement their IPO earlier this year.
During 2014, the ministry mobilised more than 39 trillion VND
(1.8 billion USD) from the private sector to invest in 19
build-operate-transfer projects, making great improvements in transport
infrastructure.
Women’s
The Vietnam Women’s Union chapters across the country offered
support to over 1.1 million women with disadvantaged backgrounds in 2014.
They raised funds to build more than 3,000 houses for poor
women at a total cost of 62 billion VND (2.9 million USD) along with providing
vocational training and job counseling sessions for thousands of women in the
year.
Furthermore, the chapters maintained activities to educate
laws and prevent domestic violence for women. Two Houses of Peace were built
to provide shelters and assistance for trafficked women and abused children.
The outcomes were heard at the fifth conference of the
Executive Committee of the 11th Vietnam Women’s
The two-day conference also looks to discuss key tasks for
2015.
In 2015, the Union’s main task is to promote the role of women
in leading a new family lifestyle of “Five Nos, Three Cleans” (which refers
to No Poverty, No Criminal Offences, No domestic violence, No More Than Two
Children and No Malnourished or Dropout Children, in line with Clean House,
Clean Kitchen and Clean Gate) as well as in joint efforts to build new-style
rural and urban areas.
At the conference, the delegates are scheduled to review the
results of 10-year implementation of the Executive Committee’s resolution on
some issues relating to women and girls and seek to address social issues
with regard to girls and women.
Vietnam attends global young scientists summit in Singapore
Three Vietnamese scientists are attending the third Global
Young Scientists Summit (GYSS) on “Advancing Science, Creating Technologies
for a Better World” in
They are among nearly 300 young scientists and researchers
from around the world, engaging with some of the world’s top scientific
minds.
Dr. Nguyen Thi Thu Hoai from the
The event is an opportunity to boost scientific cooperation in
the future, according to Nguyen Minh Huong, a researcher from the Vietnam
Institute of Biotechnology.
The GYSS 2015 also brings together 20 leading scientists who
have been awarded the Nobel Prize, Fields Medal, Millennium Technology Prize
and Turing Award in their respective fields.
The summit aims to recognise innovative ideas from
participants of the GYSS that address challenges related to urban development
in large cities.
Nine projects have been selected out of 55 proposals to be
presented on the final day of the summit, and the winning scientist with the
best research proposal will walk away with a cash prize of 100,000 USD.
Professor Ngo Bao Chau, the first Vietnamese to receive the
Field Medal, is also attending the event.
Central Highland province faces alarming rates of
deforestation
An alarming decrease in the ratio of forest coverage in the
Central Highlands
The province has asked localities to review and evaluate all
destroyed and occupied forest areas for re-planting. So far this year, 2,000
hectares have been reclaimed for reforestation during the upcoming rainy season.
Currently, Dak Lak’s forest coverage ratio stands at only 38.6
percent, a 9.6 percent drop from 2013, said Trang Quang Thanh, Director of
the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.
According to the latest review, there are 507,274 hectares of
total forest area within the province, including 476,322 hectares of natural
forests and 30,951 hectares of planted area, 136,591 hectares less than 2013,
he said.
Natural forests have been completely destroyed in the Krong
Pak, Krong Buk and Cu Kiun districts, Thanh noted.
Apart from areas designed for hydropower, irrigation, and
other projects, over 26,470 hectares of forest were chopped down illegally
since 2008, said Thanh, attributed primarily to nomadic ethnic minorities
clearing new settlements.
He also highlighted the current loose and inefficient forest
management and protection, allowing the destruction of thousands of hectares
of forests.
Meanwhile, the progress on reforestation has thus far failed
to meet requirements. In 2014, the total newly-planted forest area of Dak Lak
was only 4,000 hectares, substantially below the set target of 5,000
hectares, added the official.
RoK hospital provides free medical check-ups in Hung Yen
As many as 100 doctors and medical workers from the Asan
Medical Centre in the
The beneficiaries are receiving medical examinations and
treatment in internal medicine, ophthalmology and dentistry.
The activity is jointly organised by Asan Medical Centre and
the Huyndai Aluminum Vina Joint Stock Company as part of a series of
corporate social responsibility activities launched by the two firms.
In addition to a number of charitable programmes, such as
launching a campaign to repair houses for impoverished workers and granting
scholarships for disadvantaged students, the company has also supported
vocational training and created jobs for thousands of rural labourers in the
province.-
Thanh Hoa prepares for 2015 National Tourism Year
The central
In an effort to promote the global image of its tourist
attractions and services, the province has produced several publications in
multiple languages, updated road signs to prominent locations, and actively
participated in regional and international festivals and fairs.
In addition, Thanh Hoa has invested in upgrading
infrastructure in its key tourism sites, including the World Cultural
Heritage Citadel of the Ho Dynasty, Lam Kinh National Special Relic, and Ham
Rong Culture Tourism Area, in order to preserve and promote their cultural
and historical values and create a clean, modern environment.
In 2014, Thanh Hoa built an additional 12 accommodation
facilities, raising the total to 608 facilities offering 13,000 rooms. Most
recently, the four-star, 219-room Muong Thanh Hotel was opened, diversifying
choices for visitors.
The local hospitality sector has also focused on increasing
the capacity of its staff. Currently, the sector has 15,000 workers, nearly
50 percent of which are considered skilled labourers.
The provincial People’s Committee has worked with the Ministry
of Culture, Sports, and Tourism to map out specific plans for organising the
2015 National Tourism Year. Accordingly, 11 national events will be held,
including a world heritage festival, a poster exhibition featuring the
country’s major festivals, and the opening and closing ceremonies of their
tourism year.
This year, Thanh Hoa expects to receive 5.5 million tourists,
an annual increase of 21.2 percent. Among them, 125,000 are foreigners.
Police identify foreigner who died in Da Lat
Vietnamese police have identified the foreign man who was
found dead hanging from a tree on a mountain in the Central Highlands tourist
city of
Police officers in Da Lat on Sunday afternoon said the dead
man was Rubpeov Aleksand, 36, of Russian nationality, according to Thanh Nien
(Young People) newspaper.
About a month ago, the foreigner arrived in Da Lat and stayed
at the H.B Hotel on
The man left the hotel on January 11 and was not seen until
his body was found hanging from a pine tree on Hon Bo Mountain in Ward 12,
about 12 km away from the heart of the city, on Saturday evening.
Locals who discovered the body reported their finding to
police, who then took the foreigner’s body down from the tree, examined the
scene, and launched an investigation into the death.
The body was transported to
Competent agencies are coordinating with the Russian Embassy
in
Over 1,500 hand-foot-mouth children reported since beginning
of 2015 in
The Department of Preventative Medicine, a part of the
Ministry of Health, yesterday said that the country has recorded of 1,551
cases of hand-foot-mouth since the beginning of the year.
Of 1,551 children infected and one succumbed to the disease.
The figure is down by 31.2 percent compared to the same period last year.
However, the development of the disease is very complicated as the virus is
acute. Infected children have with similar symptoms such as high fever, sore
throat, and fluid-filled blisters appeared on the hands, feet, and inside the
mouth.
Hand-foot-and-mouth disease can occur year-round and the peak
season is in summer and fall months. The viruses that cause hand, foot and
mouth disease can be spread in respiratory droplets. It is spread when poor
hand-washing after a diaper change or contact with saliva (drool) allows the
virus to be passed from one child to another.
Robotic engineering course launched in primary schools
Recently the Department of Education and Training in
Speaking at a seminar on the course,head of the Section of
Primary Education and Training Nguyen Quang Vinh said that the course aimed
to create a playground for primary pupils beside sports and cultural
activities.
The course is not compulsory. The tuition fee is VND450,000
(US$21) per student in three months. It includes 12 periods each 2 hours.
The tuition is not a big sum for urban students but their
rural peers.
After a basic course, those who love robotic engineering can
continue pursuing the knowledge of the field.
However, as the course is new, just a few schools launched it.
Fertilizer company fined VND350m over pollution case
Ha Bac Chemical and Fertilizer Company has been fined VND350m
(USD16,700) for polluting the Thuong River with an accidental discharge of
untreated waste water that killed tonnes of fish, Bac Giang Province
authorities said.
Bui Van Hai, chairman of Bac Giang Province People's
Committee, fined Ha Bac Company for letting waste water contaminated with
ammonia enter the
Ha Bac Company was ordered to deal with the pollution and
report to the provincial authorities, police and the Department of Natural
Resources and Environment by the end of January.
"The final results show that this is an unintended
incident," said Nguyen Manh Hung, deputy head of the Police Department
for Environment Crimes.
Hung said there was a misunderstanding during a change of work
shift, leading to the waste-water discharge.
Authorities accepted the company's argument that the discharge
was an accident. Had investigators determined Ha Bac Company deliberately
discharged untreated wastewater into
On January 1, tonnes of dead fish were found floating in the
According to the provincial Department of Natural Resources
and Environment, Ha Bac Company had not checked the waste-water treatment
system or drawn up pollution prevention plans before conducting tests on an
expanded production chain.
On January 5, the company explained it had been testing an
expanded urea production chain on December 30 and some valves in the system
leaked. The chain was shutdown for maintenance.
The provincial Department of Natural Resources and Environment
has ordered the company to draw up a response plan for potential future
environmental incidents and submit it to the Ministry of Natural Resources
and Environment for consideration.
Dong Nai-Binh Thuan road section opened to traffic
The Ministry of Transport on Saturday opened to traffic an
upgraded section of
The 114-kilometer section connects Trang Bom District of Dong
Nai and Ham Thuan Nam District of Binh Thuan.
The investor of the VND2 trillion (US$93.6 million) project
has been allowed to recover capital by collecting toll fees at Song Phan toll
station for a period of 22 years and eight months starting from January 1
this year.
The upgrade project included reinforcing the foundation,
improving the road surface and building a road divider. The section was not
widened as it will run parallel with Dau Giay-Phan Thiet Expressway which
will be constructed soon.
The Transport Ministry estimated nearly 50,000 automobiles and
120,000 motorbikes use this section a day.
Deputy Minister Nguyen Ngoc Dong said the project would help
reduce traffic congestion in Binh Thuan and Dong Nai as well as around the
gateway to HCMC, thus speeding up cargo transport in the key southern
economic zone.
Source: VNN/VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/ND
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Thứ Ba, 20 tháng 1, 2015
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