Social News 7/6 Mong Cai border gate working hours extended Starting next month, Mong Cai border gate will remain open for immigration activity from 7am to 8pm (Ha Noi time), one hour later than the current closing time of 7pm. Time for imports and exports, from 7am to 7pm, will remain unchanged. Mong Cai, located in the northern province of Quang Ninh, and China's Dongxing border gates have become important entrepots for goods, investment capital, and travellers between Viet Nam and China. They are also the only land and sea border gates between the two countries. Dongxing is the most favourable gateway for China's south and southwest regions to trade with Viet Nam and other ASEAN countries. The extension of operational time, which has been approved by the Prime Minister, aims to facilitate cross-border travel and trade between the two countries. Quang Ninh Customs Department has directed Mong Cai border gate Customs Division to arrange staff and equipment for extra working hours. First girder of city’s metro rail project installed in HCMC The first concrete girder of metro route Ben Thanh-Suoi Tien that is one of the parts of the first city’s metro rail system was successfully installed yesterday. The Ben Thanh-Suoi Tien metro route stretches 19.7 kilometers including a 2.6 underground section. Twelve kilometers of the rest 14.5 viaduct will be built with prefabricated girders, being put together through a mobile scaffold system. A total of 4,563 U-shaped girders, equivalent to 372 bridge spans, were made of concrete at a yard in District 9 before being transported to the construction site for installation. A girder is about 11m wide and 2m high, weighing 500 tons. The girders were designed by the French contractor Systra and prefabricated by FVR joint venture. The girder prefabrication and installation bid is expected to complete in two years ending in 2018. Speaking at the girder installation ceremony City Chairman Le Hoang Quan said that Ben Thanh-Suoi Tien was an important project with complicated construction techniques and a large investment capital of US$2.2 billion. He asked the project’s investor, contractors, supervisory and consultant units to ensure the project’s quality and labor safety. Winners of Vietnam Environmental Awards honoured    A ceremony was held by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment on June 4 in Vinh Yen city, the northern province of Vinh Phuc to present the Vietnam Environmental Awards to outstanding organisations and individuals. Award recipients included 27 organisations, two communities and 21 individuals that have gained outstanding achievements in the work of environmental protection during the 2013 – 2014 period. The awards included eight categories: State management on environmental protection; education, training and communication on environmental protection; solutions to protect, use rationally and develop natural resources; conservation of biodiversity and biosafety; coping with climate change; study and implementation of the results of scientific research and technologies on environmental protection; pollution reduction and environmental improvement; and waste management and treatment. The biennial awards ceremony is held to honour and encourage organisations and individuals for their significant contributions to natural resources and environmental protection in Vietnam. The awards also aim to raise public awareness of environmental protection, effectively coping with climate change, as well as in production and consumption with consideration for the environment. Initiated in 2001, the awards have been presented to hundreds of organisations, collectives and individuals around the country. Television station merged with national radio The Government on Tuesday approved a decision to move the VTC Digital Television Station from the Ministry of Information and Communications (MOIC) to the Voice of Viet Nam (VOV) radio. According to decision 752/QD-TTg, the television station will be transferred "in whole piece" to VOV, meaning all of its personnel, finance (including debts) and equipment (including all transmission stations) to VOV. The MOIC says that the merger will help VOV to promote its television channel on the National Assembly (Vietnamese legislature), which is also identified as one of the key tasks for VTC when merged. The National Assembly television channel went on air from January 1. VTC is the first television station to have provided digital television services in Viet Nam. Established in 2004, this station runs 15 television channels and now has extended its coverage to the entire national territory from both ground transmission stations and satellites. HCMC has no way to deal with illicit bus stations The National Traffic Safety Committee and the Ministry of Transport have organized two seminars recently but yet to decide how to tackle unlicensed bus stations, which have operated for four decades in Ho Chi Minh City. At first, only some single coaches sneakily picked passengers up outside bus stations. Now many renowned transport firms have also used these stations. Travelers to the Central Highlands city of Da Lat can get bus tickets of Thanh Buoi Company station in Le Hong Phong Street, District 10 and wait there for buses to pick them up. According to regulations, transport firms can open ticket selling outlets inner HCMC but must use small buses to carry passengers to stations before starting their journey to other provinces. However, many companies have just sent their coaches to collect passengers directly from various spots in the center areas. The HCMC Transport Department has applied several measures to cope with the issue. For instance, traffic inspectors penalize violators or sequester their vehicles if they pick up or drop off passengers at unpermitted places. It has also allowed buses to ply for hire at industrial zones and student dormitories during peak time such as Tet holiday. However it has been unable to tackle the issue and recently had a policy to legalize some spontaneous stations. Last August, the department instructed interprovincial bus stations Mien Dong and Mien Tay together with some transport firms to do survey of possible places to pick up and drop off passengers. Many of them were unlicensed stations. Chairman of the HCMC Interprovincial and Tourist Bus Association Le Trung Tinh said that they had located some possible spots and proposed the Department of Transport to legalize them. However the department has yet to make any respond. The problem was that many places under the proposal are not listed in urban and transport system development plans, an official from the department told Sai Gon Giai Phong Newspaper. A Ministry of Transport leader revealed that many provinces and cities have also faced with the same issue. On the other hand, the policy of permitting coaches to pick up passengers at places outside legal stations has also caused disagreement from other agencies. If interprovincial coaches are also eligible to receive passengers in the city center, it will negatively affect pubic and urban order, according to a Department of Architecture and Planning leader who is member of the HCMC Planning Association. Therefore, these coaches should operate at stations that have been built under the city plan, he added. Many years ago, HCMC had a policy to call on social resources for the construction of planned bus stations. However, it has found hard to find out suitable locations in such a crowded city. Transport firms have proposed some spacious areas for the purpose but they do not suit the plan while traffic-advantageous places are not easy to be cleared with dense population. Even the state-own Saigon Transportation Mechanical Corporation (SAMCO) has also been unable to build new Mien Dong and Mien Tay bus stations as schedule for the last ten years due to compensation and site clearance problems. Tough action urged over lead poisoning in village The People's Committee in the northern Hung Yen Province yesterday held a meeting to discuss urgent solutions to deal with serious lead poisoning in Dong Mai craft village. The results of a survey conducted by local authorities show that the percentage of lead in soil, groundwater and water bodies exceed permitted levels, posing a serious threat to the health of the local residents. Medical tests conducted on 335 children in Dong Mai village revealed that 207 have high concentrations of lead in their blood. At the meeting, representatives of the departments of environmental resources, industry and commerce and science and technology suggested several urgent measures to deal with the situation. The officials said 13 households involved in the manufacture and recycling of lead and those living in residential areas close to an industrial complex of handicraft villages have to be shifted. All hazardous solid waste in the residential areas should be removed, the officials said. They said the inspection and monitoring of lead recycling need to be increased, the environmental impact in production bases controlled and plans set up to improve the soil, water and air quality in the village. Health checks and guidance about methods to treat excess levels of lead at local health centres would be prioritised to cope with the situation, a health official said. On the other hand, land contaminated with lead will be identified and treated. The province also needs to have a long-term plan to create jobs for local residents to encourage them to give up the work of recycling of lead. Vice Chairman of the People's Committee Dang Ngoc Quynh asked Van Lam District to review the production licences of lead-recycling units in Dong Mai village and take strong measures to stop their operations. VN makes headway against tobacco Viet Nam has made significant progress in preventing and controlling the harmful effects of cigarettes, officials say. Associate professor Luong Ngoc Khue, director of the Medical Services Administration and the Viet Nam Steering Committee on Smoking and Health (VINACOSH), said that many provinces and cities, including Hai Phong, Thai Nguyen, Tien Giang, Da Nang and Tuyen Quang, had stopped smoking in public areas. Speaking at a meeting marking World No-Tobacco Day (May 31) last week, he said these localities had included the prevention of cigarette impacts in their annual plans. Smoking had been banned in all offices. The Viet Nam General Confederation of Labour has also banned smoking at many work places. Khue said that inspections by VINACOSH showed many provinces and cities had put up "no-smoking" signs at bus and railway stations, schools and hospitals. He said more signs and information should be provided in public places, including warnings that people could be prosecuted for smoking at schools and hospitals. A recent survey of youth aged 13-15 carried out by the Ministry of Health (MoH) in 13 provinces and cities showed that the rate of smokers in 2014 had fallen by 3.3 per cent over 2007. As many as 90 per cent of students said they intended to give up smoking and 70 per cent said they'd given up smoking successfully in 2014. Khue said that this year, VINACOSH would step up awareness campaigns in poor remote and ethnic areas. Localities would receive financial and technological support to train health workers as well as social workers. A Health Ministry study also found that many smokers wanted guidance in kicking their habit. The ministry plans to set up a hotline to help them. The hotline would be maintained for a year on a pilot basis, and expanded if found to be effective, Khue said. National population programme faces several challenges The inclusion of the National Target Programme on Population and Family Planning in the National Programme on Building New Rural Areas brought benefits but also raised several challenges. Deputy Director of the Dong Nai Department of Health Truong Thi Thu Hang said this at a conference on "Policy Dialogue with Parliamentarians on Population and Development," held in Ha Noi yesterday. Hang said the two national programmes would help save funds, and residents in rural areas would receive more attention and ensure work progress of both programmes. But the management capacity of commune officers was still limited, leading to difficulties in inspection, supervision and reporting of the work, Hang said. Gender imbalance at birth decreased in all provinces and cities across the country, but the trend was not sustainable and could party affect the programme on building new rural areas. Some new problems that arose such as surrogacy and taking care of the elderly needed more manpower for handling them, whereas the workforce for the two programmes was limited. The latest research of the General Office for Population and Family Planning showed that while Viet Nam was in a demographic divide phase, the country entered the ageing phase in 2011, as a result of declining fertility and mortality rates and longer life expectancy. Viet Nam is among the most rapidly ageing countries in the region. In 2013, the proportion of the elderly in the total population increased to 10.5 per cent. Hang suggested the spread of awareness on the issue, and that more workers and inspectors should be assigned for the two programmes to ensure sustainable results. Ritsu Nacken, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) representative in Viet Nam, said the country should integrate population variables into development planning. The country should also have skill development for older persons to ensure income and benefits in old age. Nguyen Van Tan, deputy director of the General Office for Population and Family Planning, said migration should be tightly managed as emigrants faced a lot of difficulties in accessing basic social services, especially population services. Tien Giang reports increase in dengue cases The Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta province of Tien Giang saw an increase in cases of dengue, hand, foot and mouth disease and chicken pox during the rainy season. Director of the province's health department, Tran Thanh Thao said since the beginning of this year, nearly 300 cases of dengue have been reported in the province, 16 per cent higher than the same period last year. It also recorded nearly 500 cases of hand, foot and mouth disease, 137 cases of chicken pox and six cases of measles. Thao said the health sector was co-operating with other sectors, agencies and people to promote awareness and training to prevent and fight the diseases. The health sector also launched campaigns to kill mosquitoes and keep the environment clean. Statistics from the health ministry said Viet Nam reported 8,320 dengue fever cases in the first three months of 2015. In the southern region, new dengue fever cases have increased by more than 35 per cent, compared with the same period last year. DAAD provides scholarships to 50 Vietnamese lecturers, students The German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) on June 5 granted scholarships to 50 young Vietnamese lecturers and students at an awards ceremony held at the Vietnamese-German Centre for Scientific and Technological Exchange (VDZ) at the Hanoi University of Technology (HUT). The scholarships have a total value of nearly EUR1 million funded by the German government's budget. The 50 scholarship winners will travel to Germany this summer to begin studying for their Masters and PhD degrees, whilst also taking German language courses. The event is part of activities to celebrate the 40th anniversary of diplomatic ties between Vietnam and Germany. On the same occasion DAAD President, Prof.Dr. Margret Wintermantel and leaders of HUT signed an exchange programme of scientific officials to promote the research co-operation between HUT and Germany's universities. In addition, since 2003, DAAD has provided scholarships to recipients of the Vietnamese government scholarship programme named Project 911. This year, DAAD presented scholarships to 20 students. Since the DAAD Office in Hanoi was established in 2003, DAAD has spent over EUR40 million on scholarships, language teaching, and science exchanges among others. At 6pm today, DAAD in co-ordination with the German Embassy in Hanoi will open a photo exhibition and a book project entitled 'Studying in Germany - a family tradition. Vietnamese alumni and their stories.' at the VDZ. Later, these photos will be shown on the outside wall of the German Embassy at 29 Tran Phu Street. Source: VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/TT/TN/Dantri