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Social News 7/9
Slow
progress on highway upgrade
Workers
upgrade National Highway 1 crossing southern Binh Thuan province. Slow
progress has been blamed on the incompetence of the investors and the
contractor.
About
21 of the 38 projects to upgrade National Highway No 1 from the central
Head
of the Transport Engineering Construction and Quality Management Bureau Tran
Xuan Sanh said this at a meeting with the transport ministry for reviewing
the progress of the National Highway No 1 upgrade project on Thursday.
Work
on all sections would be completed by the end of this year, and National
Highway No 1 would be opened to traffic soon after that, he said.
The
upgrade of National Highway No 1 from Ha Noi to Can Tho covers 1,475km. It is
divided into two sections that connect Ha Noi with
All
National Highway No 1 projects had maintained the progress and quality
requested by the ministry, Sanh said, except for the Nam Binh Dinh and Bac
Binh Dinh projects. He blamed the projects' sluggish progress on the financial
incompetence of the investors and the contractor.
Sanh
asked the investors to work with relevant agencies to mobilise all equipments
and human resources to complete the two projects before October 30 this year.
He said all subsidence seen in completed projects (the section from Thanh Hoa
to Can Tho Province) had been repaired.
Immunisation
does save lives
Most
Vietnamese children aged 12-23 months were fully vaccinated before their
first birthday, experts told a workshop held by
MICS,
the world's largest source of statistical data on the well-being of women and
children worldwide, indicated that while more than 82 per cent of Vietnamese
children aged 12-23 months were fully vaccinated, the coverage was higher
among Kinh (the Vietnamese majority) children at 84.6 per cent compared to
ethnic minority children at 69.4 per cent.
Poor
households possessed the lowest coverage at 72.2 per cent, compared to 87 per
cent coverage in households of other wealth categories.
Experts
noted that immun-isation played a key role in the country achieving
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to reduce child mortality by two-thirds
by 2015.
The
report also indicated disparities in the death rate for children-under-five.
While it remained relatively low in cities and rural areas at 20-22 per 1,000
births, the mortality rate was high among ethnic minority populations at 43
deaths per 1,000 births.
Ninety
eight per cent of the urban population and 89 per cent of the rural
population now have access to safe drinking water and 79 per cent of
households use improved sanitation facilities.
However,
MICS also reported only 75 per cent of ethnic minority households had access
to improved drinking water sources and only 73.3 per cent of rural households
had sanitation facilities. The situation was particularly dire among ethnic
minority groups where only 47 per cent had access to sanitation facilities.
Data
from MICS 2014 indicated that nearly 94 per cent of Vietnamese women went
through labour with the assistance of skilled birth attendants. However, the
figure dropped to around 75 per cent for women from ethnic minorities. They
were also reported to be likely to give births at a younger age 15-19.
In
child education, the country has made significant strides. Ninety eight per
cent of children of age attended primary schools. The figure was only
slightly lower in the
MICS
are organised by the General Statistic Office of
Acacias,
shrimps make Quang Ninh farmer rich
With
an annual income of more than 2.5 billion VND (111,200 USD), a farmer in the
northern province of Quang Ninh has fellow farmers queuing up to learn his
new techniques in agriculture production.
For
years, Pham Van Tan, 53,
Seeing
the abundance of unused land and barren hills near his house, he decided to
quit his job at Mong Duong Coal Joint Stock Company. He then asked local
authorities for 59ha of land for planting trees to improve his financial
situation.
He had
to use his family's savings and take a 30 million VND (1,335 USD) bank loan
for his business.
"At
first, I thought finding capital was the most difficult thing but soon I
realised my lack of knowledge in science and technology was a bigger
challenge," Tan recalled.
But
with determination and the encouragement of local authorities, he visited
places where he could learn planting techniques such as in Lang Son, Yen Bai.
He even travelled to
He
first found success in 1997 when his family nursed enough acacia seedlings
for 10ha of forest.
Five
years later, the number of acacia seedlings by his family nursery was enough
for the family's 30ha forest with the surplus sold to neighbouring farmers.
The
first batch of acacia trees were ready in 2000 but Tan didn't see much profit
as the price for the trees was not high.
Then
in 2003, acacia became in demand. It is used in coal mining and as material
for paper and plywood. He earned about 50 million VND (2,225 USD) per ha.
The
secret of his success lies in his planting method. According to Tan, planting
acacia for paper material is not as effective as planting for a 10-year
cycle.
Thanks
to this he earned about 200 million VND (8,900 USD), a fourfold increase
compared to normal planting.
Thanks
to the vast area of land and abundant food, he bred white-leg shrimp at his
4ha pond.
In
2009, Tan expanded the pond and started to breed shrimp on an industrial
scale. Now, he harvests 20 tonnes of shrimp a year.
Inspired
by Tan's success, his fellow farmers decided to follow him and listened to
his advice. As a result, many have escaped poverty.
Apart
from guiding other households on how to grow trees in an appropriate manner
and how to breed shrimp, he created jobs for 30 labourers with an average
income of 4 million VND (178 USD) per person per month.
Thanks
to his efforts, Tan was presented with certificates of merit by the Prime
Minister.
Gala
heats up enthusiasm of Vietnamese students in Australia
A gala
marking the 18th founding anniversary of the Vietnamese Dynamic Students
Association (VDS) in the Australian state of
More
than 10 singing and dancing performances and the
The
event was supported by the Vietnamese Consulate General in the state, the 4
Nations International Education and Migration Services, the King’s Own
Institute, and the Education Centre of Australia.
It is
an annual activity of the students’ association, which also organises an
array of other events such as the VietFest and sports competitions like
Easter Sport and Winter Sport while providing helpful advice on the study and
settlement in
The
VDS’s efforts over the past years have connected and received warm response
of Vietnamese students from vocational schools, colleges and universities
across
Thua
Thien-
The
central
According
to the Standing Deputy Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Phan
Ngoc Tho, the project will cover over 67 hectares in An Tay ward, Hue city
and in Thuy Bang commune, Huong Thuy town from 2015-2020.
The
project aims to conserve and preserve biological diversity and the genes of
typical forest floras in the central coastal provinces, serve scientific
studies and ecological tourism in the region and increase public awareness of
protecting natural resources and the living environment.
The
province has urged authorities to collect sample specimens of rocks, minerals
and plants and conduct scientific research studies.
The
tropical rainforest has evolved over nearly 200 million years from the
dinosaur epoch. Today, tropical rainforests account for only 7 percent of the
earth’s land surface but half of the world’s total species. In Asia, tropical
rainforests span from
Tropical
rainforests are overfilled with life from the forest floor up to the
treetops.-
Japanese
firm studies using waste as fuel
The
project will cost 3.8 billion JPY (31.5 million USD), with Japan providing
2.6 billion JPY, Dau Tu (Investment Review) cited the ministry’s source.
It
will install equipment at cement factories to convert solid waste and sewage
into gas.
Tens
of thousands of patients have had their lives saved in the last 23 years by
doctors at the Ho Chi Minh City Heart Institute.
Over
25,000 patients with complicated heart problems have been cured at the
infirmary, with support from
The
hospital also gives free surgery and treatment to poor patients across
Over
6,700 impoverished patients have had free operations that cost VND230 billion
(US$10.2 million) at the institute.
In
addition, 96 surgeons and nearly 500 medical staff of the heart facility have
carried out charitable health checks on 12,000 patients in many provinces and
cities.
Doctor
Nguyen Van Phan, head of the surgery department of the Ho Chi Minh City Heart
Institute, said his infirmary needs only one surgery to both treat valvular
problems and switch the heart rate of a patient.
Seeing
many heart patients in
The
professor is also the chairman of the Alain Carpentier association.
The
French association answered the call for help from
“In
general, the heart institute can now perform most complicated heart surgeries
as other developed nations do,” said Doctor Do Quang Huan, director of the
institute.
To
lower the overwhelming number of patients flocking from other provinces and
cities to seek treatment at the Ho Chi Minh City Heart Institute, the
infirmary has run cooperation programs to transfer technology and heart
surgery techniques to provincial hospitals.
The
cooperation has shortened the length of the waiting list at the institute
from 10,000 patients per annum in the first ten years to 800 patients a year
now.
Cable
car greenlighted for
Khanh
Hoa authorities have approved a US$15 million project to build a cable car
system to the Hon Ba Nature Reserve, a popular tourist attraction on a
mountain some 57 km (35 miles) from Nha Trang.
An
eco-cultural tourism area will also be established to attract more tourists
to the Hon Ba Mount, according to the project.
According
to the investor, Hon Ba – Yersin Tourism Investment Joint Stock Company, Hon
Ba is expected to attract up to 1.5 million tourists every year once the
project completes.
Currently,
the nature reserve attracts about 800,000 tourists annually.
The
new tourism area will be established on an area of 190 hectares (470 acres)
on top of the Hon Ba Mount, on an altitude ranging from 1,400-1,578 meters.
The
6.2-km cable system of
Currently,
Hon Ba is reachable by cars and motorbikes.
Soaring
1,578 meters above the coastal plains of
It was
the place that Alexandre Yersin, the Swiss-born French bacteriologist and
doctor, decided to climb 90 years ago and stay to do his pharmaceutical
research.
The
devoted doctor is known worldwide for co-discovering the bacillus, a genus of
bacteria causing a zoonotic disease that can kill most infected humans within
days.
Yersin
created a path to the top of the mountain in 1915 after discovering that Hon
Ba had similar climate and soil to Da Lat, which were conducive to growing
cinchona, from whose bark quinine is made.
PM
starts power supply project to
Prime
Minister Nguyen Tan Dung launched a project to supply power to Lai Son island
commune in Kien Hai District, the southern
According
to the Southern Power Corporation, a 110-kilovolt transmission line will be
installed with a total cost of VND368 billion (US$16.4 million). The
43.9-kilometre-long line includes 19.4-km inland and 24.5-km sea-crossing
segments using 48 power poles.
A
110-kV transformer station with two 25-MVA transformers will also be
constructed. The project is scheduled to be completed in April 2016.
Addressing
the launching ceremony, PM Dung said the project, the country's largest sea
crossing 110kV line, was expected to boost local socio-economic growth,
improve the living conditions of locals and attract investment.
It
would help reduce the use of diesel generators on the island, easing
pollution, and improve defence on the island, helping protect national
sovereignty and sovereignty rights over the sea and other islands, he said.
He
praised efforts of the Electricity of Viet Nam, the Southern Power
Corporation and Kien Giang government in implementing the project, meeting
the demand for socio-economic and tourism development in Lai Son.
Located
in the southwest waters of the country and 60 kilometres southwest of
Currently,
local residents only have access to electricity for half the day using diesel
generators, which greatly affects their economy and living conditions.
Lai
Son is one of seven island communes benefiting from a programme to connect
inshore islands in Kien Giang with the national power grid, with over VND1.5
trillion ($66.7 million) invested, bringing power to 8,600 households.
Lai
Son is included in the first phase of the three-phase programme spanning from
2015-16. In the second phase, from 2016-18, power will be supplied to the
four communes of Hon Nghe, Son Hai, Tien Hai and Hon Thom via a 22-kV
transmission line with VND474 billion ($21 million) in total investment.
In the
last phase from 2018-20, An Son and Nam Du communes will be connected to the
power grid using a 22-kV undersea transmission line with a cost of VND664
billion ($29.5 million).
Also
yesterday, PM Dung issued an order to kick off a construction project of a
resort complex on
According
to the project's investor Sun Group, the three-track cable car will be 8km
long, connecting An Thoi town in Phu Quoc district and Hon Thom island.
Once
completed, it is expected to be the world's longest three-track cable car
system, longer than the 1.5km
The
cable car runs at an average speed of 8.5 metres per second and is capable of
carrying 3,500 passengers per hour.
The
first phase of the project costs approximately VND4.9 trillion (nearly US$218
million) and uses the most modern cable car technology imported from
Austria-based producer, Doppelmayr Geraventa Group, renowned for building
thousands of aerial ropeways worldwide, including in the Alps (France) and
Table Mountain (South Africa).
The
Hon Thom complex will be built into a world-class resort with a marina, hydro
plane service, marine and cuisine villages alongside an entertainment park
featuring adventure games and scuba diving.
The
Sun Group aim to launch the cable car project on April 30, 2017 and believed
the resort complex would improve local incomes and boost the province's
economic growth, said its General Director Dang Minh Truong.
KinderWorld
launches classroom on the high seas
Outward
Bound Vietnam has recently rolled out an exciting new outdoor adventure-based
experiential learning concept through a three-day sea expedition off Quy Nhon
in
The
expedition, which successfully ended on August 30, included members from
Outward Bound Vietnam, Outward Bound Singapore and the Ho Chi Minh Communist
Youth Union of Binh Dinh province.
Outward
Bound Vietnam is a life skills training centre belonging to KinderWorld
Education Group, one of
The
sea journey set off from Tan Thanh economic area in Cat Hai commune where the
Outward Bound Vietnam campus will be developed. The members embarked on a 55
kilometre kayak journey to the surrounding islands off the waters of Binh
Dinh before arriving at their final destination on Quy Nhon beach where
training in kayaking technical skills were conducted for the members of the
Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union of Binh Dinh. Other activities to promote
the concept of outdoor adventure based experiential learning of Outward
Bound were also conducted for students from Cat Hai commune.
According
to the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union of Binh Dinh, the event provided
students with a valued opportunity to study as well as exchange experience
and culture with skilled instructors who direct and organise life skills
training programmes.
Lu Yi
Gideon, assistant director (training), Outward Bound Singapore, said, “This
expedition is a demonstration of KinderWorld’s capability and strong
commitment to establish an Outward Bound Centre here in Binh Dinh. During the
last couple of days, the new kayakers gain self-confidence as their paddling
skills improve. They also displayed perseverance as they endured long days
and tough conditions.”
“These
three skills, self-confidence, resilience and teamwork are just some of the
many important values that an Outward Bound programme can instill in our
youth today,” Gideon added.
Outward
Bound Vietnam is the newest member of Outward Bound International, a
membership organisation of the worldwide Outward Bound network that currently
operates in 34 countries and serves over 250,000 participants each year.
Outward Bound Vietnam will soon open to all youths in
With a
total area of 100ha, the three proposed reservoirs are expected to accumulate
tens of millions of cubic meters of water and resolve the flooding problem in
District 4, Tan Binh District, and Thu Duc District.
The
largest will be the VND600 billion ($26.4 million) Go Dua reservoir measuring
95 hectares in area in Thu Duc, followed by the VND300 billion ($13.2
million) Khanh Hoi facility covering 4.8 hectares in District 4, and the
VND50 billion ($2.2 million) 0.4ha Bau Cat lake in Tan Binh.
The
construction plan, which will be executed in 2016-20, will come along with
other measures like canal dredging, better sewer system installation, and the
building of new sewage plants.
What
is more, the city will also expand some existing artificial lakes in many
parks into reservoirs for water regulation.
Local
authorities have also identified 103 other heavily-flooded spots, mainly in
Binh Chanh District, Nha Be District, and District 9, to set up smaller-scale
regulating reservoirs to prevent flooding.
However,
these are the projects that will be implemented in the distant future.
Some
experts told local news website VnExpress that the current solution to raise
the level of roadbeds is merely short-lived as it just moves inundation from
one place to another.
As a
result, if implemented uniformly the construction of the new reservoirs and
the upgrade of the existing lakes will help store up to tens of millions of
cubic meter of rainwater and cut flooding by 30 percent, VnExpress reported.
In
August, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung asked the southern city to solve the
flooding problem in the next five years with a focus on rectifying the
situation in the downtown area.
The
head of the government also directed the municipal authorities to closely
manage the construction of reservoirs for water retention, boost the dredging
of canals, and restrict the extraction of groundwater to avoid subsidence
risks.
According
to officials, the total loans granted to prevent flooding in
This
means that in the next five years, the city will pay the principal and
interest of about VND4.25 trillion ($187 million) per annum.
The Ho
Chi Minh City Transport Department has urged the municipal administration to
direct authorities of three districts to urgently evacuate residents from 31
locations deemed most vulnerable to serious landslides.
A
recent survey by the department found that 44 areas in these districts are
prone to landslides, 31 of which are considered under especially dangerous
situation.
The
situation in the ten other locations are classified as dangerous, and the
remaining three, less dangerous.
The 31
areas most vulnerable to the disaster are in Nha Be District, District 2 and
District 8, according to the transport department.
The
administrations of these districts should relocate all residents and their
assets to safer places as soon as possible, it urged.
The
dangerous and less dangerous locations have been identified in the districts
of Can Gio, Binh Thanh, and Thu Duc.
The
said survey has been conducted by the department in conjunction with the
steering boards for flood and storm prevention and control of the city and
its 24 districts.
The
survey focused on residential areas located alongside the rivers, arroyos and
canals across the city, according to the department.
3
month old baby dies after Quinvaxem vaccination
A
3-month-old boy in the highlands
Police
in the highlands
The
boy was taken by his mother Tran Thi Quy, 18, to the commune's medical clinic
for vaccination following a notice of the station on September 3.
After
vaccination, doctors kept the baby in the clinic approximately 40 minutes and
then allowed parents to take him home.
At
home, he was still normal. However, at 4 PM on the same day, he was crying a
lot, breastfed less and had breathing problem.
As the
boy’s condition got worse, his parents brought him back to the clinic again
at 6 PM yet there was no medical worker there. Accordingly, the boy was taken
to the
Supposing
that the baby's death was caused by medical staffs' mistakes and neglected
behavior, ten relatives of the infant took the body to the clinic, asking to
verify the case. Police officers soon arrived at the clinic to keep order and
told the baby's relatives to keep calm, saying that police would investigate
causes of the death and there would be harsh penalty on medical workers who
made mistake to cause the death.
The
baby's relatives agreed for an autopsy to be performed on the boy to find out
the real cause of the death.
Talking
with the press, a leader of the Department of Health in
The
Department of Health in
Quinvaxem
is meant to prevent five common, potentially fatal childhood diseases:
diphtheria (D), tetanus (T), pertussis (P, whooping cough), hepatitis B
(HepB), and haemophilus influenza type B (Hib).
Ninh
Thuan clean grape growing project wins startup contest
A
project to grow clean grapes by a group of three from the south-central
Beating
11 other projects, the project “Growing grapes in compliance with Vietnam’s
Good Agriculture Practice (VietGAP) standards and providing cartons for local
youths to transport grapes” of Hoang Quy Duong, Nguyen Thi Tuong Vy and
Nguyen Van Quy pocketed the VND30 million first prize (US$1,335).
According
to the authors, the project comes from their idea of boosting the value of
green grape, a specialty of Ninh Thuan.
Traders
usually force farmers to lower prices of green grapes to around half the
market price, which is VND50,000-70,000, as farmers do not have a good plan
to grow and harvest grapes, Duong said.
Therefore,
around a year ago, Duong and his two friends contributed capital to grow
grapes in accordance with VietGAP standards in different lots totalling three
hectares.
The
project has been able to turn out grapes of higher quality while harvest
schedules for these lots are 10 to 15 days apart, thereby preventing an
oversupply. The group has harvested two crops in the past year with total
revenue of VND350 million.
A
project of Le Minh Vuong from HCMC to produce micro-organic fertilizer
combined with raising earthworms in pond came in second.
The
third prize was given to a project of Tran Minh Tan from Dong Thap Province
to set up a group of youth making cu kieu (pickled scallion heads) combined
with tourism development.
Organizing
the contest for the first time this year, BSA and the Association of
High-Quality Vietnamese Goods hopes to encourage young people to tap the
potential of the agricultural products in their hometown.
Apart
from giving cash to the winning projects, BSA supports winners to find
markets for their products by connecting them with distributors, supermarket
operators and enterprises consuming agricultural products.
Source: VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/TT/TN/Dantri
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Thứ Hai, 7 tháng 9, 2015
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