VietNamNet Bridge – Karaoke parlours in HCM City are set be bunched together in designated streets, and authorities will not issue licences for opening them anywhere else, a senior culture official has said.

Vu Trong Nam, deputy director of the HCM City Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, explained that this would make it easier to manage what is a "sensitive" business.

Last April the city People's Committee issued a decree on improving oversight of several industries, including karaoke, to combat prostitution and other social evils.

It tasked the department with drawing up comprehensive regulations for the functioning of karaokes and discotheques.

The only regulations in place now are on the number of karaoke parlours that can be opened in residential areas.

The department plans to designate areas in each district by 2015 where karaokes can be opened.

Similarly, discotheques can only operate in hotels and cultural centres.

Nam pointed to the case with which District 10 authorities manage the many karaoke parlours bunched together on Su Van Hanh Street.

"That is a good model for managing and preventing social evils," Nam said.

After refusing licences for karaoke and discotheque businesses for many years, the People's Committee has again started to allow them.

Nam said that district authorities had recently started receiving applications for setting up karaoke parlours, which are licensed for two years.

The department will decide the number of fresh licences to be issued in each district and submit to the People's Committee in the first quarter of this year.

Source: VNS