Health officials find no addictive substance in street food

Head of the Department of Food Administration of Vietnam under the Ministry of Health Dr. Nguyen Thanh Phong yesterday said that no addictive substances have been found in street food in Hanoi.

After receiving the information of street food in Hanoi containing addictive substances, the Food Administration of Vietnam asked its sub-division, the National Institute of Food Control, to take samples for testing to update the information for consumers.

Following the direction, medical workers from the National Institute of Food Control have taken 15 food samples from street eateries including 5 samples of sausages,  5 samples of steak and 5 fermented pork rolls. Test result showed that no addictive substances was found in most of food samples

Dr. Nguyen Thanh Phong said that next time his Department would keep an eye on the matter especially health authorities in big cities to continue supervising food safety and hygiene in restaurants in sidewalk.

Health agencies will enhance information of safe food to people in a bid to cut poisoning and infectious diseases through eating.

Da Nang kicks off project on recycling organic waste

The central coastal city of Da Nang launched a US$500,000 project on recycling organic waste into liquid fertilizer for clean agricultural production at a seminar held on May 20.

Funded by the Japan International Co-operation Agency (JICA), the project will help build a pilot liquid fertilizer plant, and train engineers operating the plant, analyzing liquid fertilizer’s components and designing fertilizer.

It will also promote the use of liquid fertilizer in farming and improve public awareness of environmental protection through supporting farmers to turn metabolic waste into liquid fertilizer for farming at lower prices, and mitigating environmental contamination in irrigation channels caused by metabolic waste treatment facilities.

Together with the project, the JICA will also help Da Nang recycle organic waste into liquid fertilizer following the model and experiences of Chikujo town in Japan.

Earlier, Da Nang worked with Japanese partners to develop the project which was approved by the JICA in August, 2014.

Hisami Arakawa, Chikuj town’s mayor, said that since 1994, the town has operated a plant recycling domestic waste into liquid fertilizer, bring positive results, creating clean agricultural production and ensuring the environment for both sustainable development and preservation.

He affirmed that Chikujo town would help Da Nang find the most effective and appropriate solutions for the matter.

According to Nguyen Ngoc Tuan, Vice Chairman of the Da Nang municipal People’s Committee, the city encourages projects with international partners to recycle domestic waste into organic fertilizer with advanced and green technologies for agricultural production in order to resolve the matter of the increasing amount of domestic waste, and reduce costs of using chemical fertilizer in agricultural production.

At the seminar, experts and scientists from Chikujo town, Saga University, Kyushu University and Japan’s Environmental Solutions Company introduced their approaches, technologies and experiences in recycling waste into fertilizer for agriculture.

Malaysia, Vietnam hold talks on labour management

Vietnam and Malaysia have discussed employment issues of Vietnamese guest workers in Malaysia as well as their legitimate rights and interests but failed to narrow fully their differences.

The two held the third round of negotiations on two memoranda of understanding on the recruitment of Vietnamese workers in Malaysia in Putrajaya on May 18-19.

Counsellor Nguyen Kim Phuong, Head of the Overseas Labour and Specialists Management Department (OLSMD) under the Embassy of Vietnam in Malaysia, led the Vietnamese delegation, while the Deputy Minister of Human Resources in Malaysia, Wan Zulkfli Wan Setapa, led the host country’s delegation.

Representatives of authorised bodies in labour management, home affairs, immigration and healthcare in the two countries attended the talks.

The negotiators demonstrated efforts to solve the issues existed from previous negotiations and devise documents based on mutually approved content.

Vietnam’s concerns over the difficulties and adversities faced by Vietnamese nationals while working in Malaysia were noted but the two sides have yet reached consensus on a number of points in the issue.

They agreed to hold another round of negotiations in Vietnam in order to finalise the MoUs as soon as possible.

According to OLSMD, up to 60,000 Vietnamese nationals are currently working in Malaysia.

Police ask military to destroy illegal gold mines in Gia Lai

Police in Gia Lai Province wants local military forces to blow up an illegal gold mine found in its jurisdiction, with illegal mining becoming a major problem on Chu Ju Mountain in Rbol Hamlet of Ayun Pa Township.

Illegal gold miners are destroying forests in their quest for the previous metal.

The miners are being paid VND130,000 a month to dig the mountain, with bonuses if gold is found.

“I’m from Kbang and do not have land for cultivation,” said a gold miner. “My wife and children are often ill and cannot earn money. I do hope that I can find gold and sell for money to repair our house. I’m really afraid of an accident but I have no choice."

Nguyen Thanh Tam, deputy head of the township’s office for natural resources and environment, said 18 illegal gold mines had been found, but did not know how much gold had been extracted.

Senior Lieutenant-Colonel Vu Gia Long, the deputy chief of the Ayun Pa Commune’s police, said most of the miners came from outside the area and it was hard to identify them if they are caught, which is rarely.

“It takes us two to three days for a patrol, so it gives gold miners enough time to run away when we arrive,” Long said. “We’ve proposed that the local military use landmines to destroy these illegal gold operations, but they have yet to approve.”

Vietnam's road network collapsing

Vietnam's national road network is collapsing, as poorly constructed sections of highways crack and subside by more than 10cm, creating a major hazard for unwary drivers.

Within months of opening in November 2011, the USD465m Vo Van Kiet-Mai Chi Tho Highway - the East-West Highway - has had to be repaired after cracks appeared in the tarmac and sections subsided all along the route.

The 1-km section to Cat Lai Port is in very bad condition, with subsidence of 10cm, creating a hazard for drivers unused to the distorted road surface.

In 2013, HCM City authorities told contractors and consulting and supervising firms to find the cause and fix it. To date, they have yet to approve a repair plan, blaming subsidence on unexpectedly heavy traffic.

The same problem has been reported on sections of National Highway 1A, particularly from the northern provinces of Ha Nam and Ninh Binh. Opened to traffic in 2012, the section has collapsed to a depth that drivers mistake it for separate traffic lanes.

Other roads, such as the Long Thanh-Dau Giay Highway in HCM City and a section of the national highway running through Haiphong City have also failed, despite repairs in June 2014.

The Directorate for Roads of Vietnam said road subsidence was occurring nationwide on all major projects.

The agency said hot weather with prolonged high temperatures in the central region, underground water, and traffic overload were to blame, as well as substandard foundations using poor quality materials and lax supervision.

Transport Minister Dinh La Thang said subsidence was occurring across the country.

“Subsiding road surfaces have occurred with increasing frequency" Thang said. "It’s leaving me with sleepless nights."

He banned contractors in June 2013 that worked on National Highway 18 from other transport infrastructure projects after sections collapsed.

The monthly minimum salary that took effect on January 1 could not cover workers' living costs, representatives of trade unions in HCM City have said.

Under the law, minimum monthly salaries in HCM City were raised to VND3.1 million (US$142), VND400,000 higher than the previous threshold.

At a recent workshop, Nguyen Tran Phuong Tran, deputy chairwoman of the city's Labour Federation, said that, as of April 20, 3,904 enterprises in HCM City had increased their monthly wages.

She said that some companies had raised their wages even higher than the State's requirement, but many of them had stopped giving allowances for accommodation, petrol, and meals.

Tran Thi Hong Van, chairwoman of the trade union at Nissei Electric Viet Nam in Linh Trung Export Processing Zone, said total living expenses for a couple with two children were VND10 million ($476) each month.

"The average income of workers is more than VND4 million ($190)," Van said.

To increase their income, they have been allowed to work more shifts. However, even with 148 hours per month, they earn only VND6 million ($185.7), according to the chairwoman.

Nguyen Van Khue, chairman of the trade union at Domex Company in the Linh Trung Export Processing Zone, said that all of its workers had registered to work extra hours, but the company told them it did not have enough orders.

He said the employees who wanted to work more hours "stopped working" for a few hours to protest the decision by the company. Some workers had quit, he said.

Khue said that many companies had not raised the salary grade of workers even after the new minimum wage was passed.

Representatives said the Viet Nam General Confederation of Labour should petition the Government to increase the wage by 18-20 per cent.

Meanwhile, trade unions in foreign direct investment (FDI) enterprises in southern province of Dong Nai, for many years, have launched several measures to assist the employees.

In their role of representing and protecting the legal rights of employees, trade unions have negotiated with employers to increase salaries and benefits in recent years.

Employees in many FDI businesses have been offering benefits, such as low-price breakfasts and accommodation.

Besides, unions have organised after-work activities and holiday trips for workers to help improve their quality of daily life.

For many years, the trade union of the Viet Nam Precision Industrial Joint Stock Company (VPIC) in Ho Nai Industrial Zone has defined its main task as negotiating for higher salaries and bonuses.

Trade unions say that due to their active participation, democracy in businesses has been considerably improved. Company leaders have also agreed to make profits public. They have also accepted a trade union proposal to pay bonuses to workers if profits rise.

At present, VPIC workers get a bonus of up to 10 days' salary and are offered a free meal worth VND25,000. The workers have a monthly income of VND8 million (US$370).

The company has also offered low-price accommodation to employees at rents of VND700,000 (US$32) per month. The dormitories have a library, a playground and sports area.

A leader of the trade union said the union also acted as a bridge between employers and employees.

Meanwhile, at the Teakwang Vina Company in Bien Hoa Industrial Zone 2, the trade union opened a low-price supermarket for workers.

Dinh Sy Phu, chairman of the company's trade union, said that protecting the rights of workers had been carried out regularly.

Whenever the Government decided to adjust salaries, the union pushed for higher levels. At present, Teakwang workers earn a monthly income of VND7 million (US$320).

In the Month of Worker this year, the company held a football tournament and set aside VND5 billion (US$230,000) to buy gifts for its 26,000 employees.

Besides, the company has given financial assistance to build houses for poor employees.

According to trade union representatives in FDI businesses in Dong Nai Province, most foreign investors do not understand much about Vietnamese workers' way of thinking and working customs.

To ensure rights and benefits of employees and employers, the trade union must regularly explain the Government's policies as well as employees' demands.

Rubber tappers struggle to stay healthy at work

At 43, most labourers are still at an ideal age for work. But Tran Thi Nhan and many other workers in the rubber industry says she is suffering from backaches and her eyes are growing dim.

"Working continuously for many years in high humidity and limited sunlight and inhaling carbonic gas (CO2), it would be weird if we did not contract a disease," said Nhan, a latex harvester at the Phu Rieng Rubber Plantation in southern Binh Duong Province.

Every day, like all her colleagues in team No 12, Nhan arrive for work early in the morning, so as she will have enough time to harvest latex from between 400 and 500 rubber trees.

After a mid-morning break for food and drink, the workers cut lines into the trees to collect rubber milk. They carry their baskets holding up to 20 to 40 litres of latex to a central location a kilometre away.

"The work is repeated day after day. I'm just over 40 years old, but my eyes have lost their lustre and my bones and joints are aching," Nhan told Lao Dong (Labour) newspaper.

"I just want to finish work, but it would mean early retirement. I thought twice and decided to keep attempting to work."

According to Nguyen Thi Thanh Thuy, a latex harvester at the Dong Nai Rubber Corporation's An Loc Plantation, due to a regular exposure to chemicals, latex stimulants, and plant pesticides, the majority of labourers who directly harvest latex contract diseases such as anaemia, dim eyes and backaches.

"Quite a few are unable to fulfil their duty because of bad health and they ask to cease work at the age of between 40 and 45," she said.

"It is disadvantageous if they can't wait until they reach retirement age. Many people I know have to ask for help from family members or hire idle labourers to help so they can enjoy retirement benefits."

According to Lao Dong newspaper, to ensure health and prevent occupational diseases, the Viet Nam Rubber Group equips them with gloves, boots, hats, face masks and lights. Despite this, long exposure to harmful working conditions leaves many workers unhealthy.

A survey by the Viet Nam Rubber Group showed that up to 46.5 per cent of labourers had a medium to weak level of health whereas 11.5 per cent were extremely weak.

The survey also showed that nearly 60 per cent of labourers stopped working due to bad health.

Chairman of the Viet Nam Rubber Group's Trade Union, Phan Manh Hung, said the body had conducted a sociological survey and investigation with more than 1,000 female workers directly harvesting latex at 10 enterprises in the south-eastern region.

The results indicated that most aged 40 or more suffered from backache, anaemia, dim eyes, and gynaecological diseases.

The survey also said that 909 workers, or 91.1 per cent of the total people asked, said they wanted to retire before 50. Another 846 workers desired to retire at 45.

Hung said the trade union had recommended the Viet Nam General Confederation of Labour work with the Government and relevant authorities to consider reducing the retirement age for female workers who have paid social insurance for 20 years and been harvesting latex for 15 years.

Vietnam boosts public spending on population programmes

In recent years, the budget for national family planning programmes sourced from the State and foreign funds climbed 15 and 25 percent respectively, a research study unveiled on May 21.

The report examined the performance and continued feasibility of the Party Central Committee’s Resolution 47-NQ/TW on improving population control nationwide, which was introduced in 2005.

The study results show that Vietnam has stabilised its population, which reached 90.6 million people in 2014 and is expected to rise to no more than 93 million in 2015 and 98 million in 2020.

The living standards of locals are also on the rise, with medical services improved. More women are taking screenings during pregnancy and the rate of malnourished children under five years old has been reduced to 15.3 percent. The average life expectancy reached 73.1 years in 2013 from 72 years in 2005.

On the other hand, the country needs to handle the challenges of an aging population, gender imbalance and increasing migration to urban areas.

Participating experts proposed a policy switch from mainly focusing on family planning to also considering more comprehensive issues such as reproductive health and welfare services.

Related campaigns are required to facilitate local access to reliable information sources, they emphasised.

Government agencies and provincial authorities should regularly put population policy on the agenda while discussing their development action plans, the experts said.

Bac Giang strives to extend new-style rural standard communities

Northern Bac Giang province is striving to help 33 local communes fully meet the government’s new-style rural standards by the end of this year.

The national programme developing rural areas, initiated in 2010, includes 19 criteria on socio-economic development, politics and defence.

The list also includes the development of infrastructure, the improvement of production capacities, environmental protection and the promotion of cultural values.

Bac Giang has so far mobilised more than 5.1 trillion VND (237.2 million USD) to launch its rural development programmes.

So far 15 local communes have satisfied all required steps, 25 have achieved at least 15 of the criteria and 103 others only reached the halfway point.

As of May 2015, 407 kilometres of road were constructed and 118 kilometres of irrigational canals and ditches were upgraded across the province.

Effective models have been recorded in producing exported litchis in Luc Ngan district and growing subsidiary crops in Dong Phu commune, Luc Nam district.

According to Nguyen Van Khai, Director of the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, the progress has been hindered by a number of issues including poor development plans at some localities, the lack of crop diversity for cultivation, and funding shortages for building infrastructure.

Moving forwards, Bac Giang will focus on sustainable growth, increased produce quality and gaining more effective capital sources in order to complete the work.

An overall inspection and implementation review is also set to be carried out every six months to promptly address arising problems.-

Vietnam boosts disaster prevention efforts

The Party, State and Government, along with ministries, agencies and localities, have paid attention to natural disaster prevention, with a series of plans and projects put in place.

According to Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Hoang Van Thang, the task was performed strongly in 2014.

Decrees instructing on the implementation of the Law on Disaster Prevention were issued, while communication efforts were intensified helping raise public awareness of the law.

Additionally, disaster prevention infrastructure facilities were built and upgraded and a map of areas at high risks of flooding was formed.

By the end of 2014, nearly 750 km of dykes and embankments, and 235 flood control dams were upgraded, and 125 hectares of trees were planted for preventing water.

The National Steering Committee on Disaster Prevention and Control worked closely with ministries, agencies and localities to give swift and detailed instructions on coping with natural disasters, focusing on measures to protect boats operating offshore and in rivers.

The National Meteorology and Hydrology Centre has forecast that Vietnam is likely to face dangerous negative weather in 2015.

In order to proactively deal with disasters, active response measures should be rolled out and activities to evaluate the safety of water reservoirs, dykes and other infrastructure facilities must take place, the centre said.

Disasters across the country in 2014 left 113 people dead or missing. They also damaged nearly 2,000 houses, submerged 230,000 hectares of rice and crops and destroyed many traffic and irrigation works, causing a total estimated loss of over 2.8 trillion VND (nearly 129 million USD).

Mekong province increases efforts to stop cigarette smuggling

More than 74,000 smuggled cigarette packs, valued at VND1.4 billion (US$65,000), were recently destroyed in the Mekong Delta Vinh Long Province.

The cigarettes, which were set afire by officials, were confiscated by the provincial market watch and police forces from September 2014 to January 2015.

Head of the Vinh Long Province market watch force said local authorities have become aware that the smuggling of cigarettes has been on the rise in recent years in the province because of its location in the centre of the Mekong Delta.

Smuggling gangs have used high-speed boats, constructed hidden compartments inside buses and trucks, and attempted to smuggle cigarettes during weekends and holidays to avoid being caught.

The provincial authority has begun a campaign to encourage residents not to purchase or participate in the sales and transportation of smuggled cigarettes.

Also, market watch and police forces were ordered to step up efforts to closely monitor the province's roads and waterways to combat the smuggling of cigarettes and other illegal goods.

VN might split manual, automatic training

Minister of Transport Dinh La Thang urged agencies to study the feasibility of separating car driver training courses into those for automatic and manual vehicles.

The Directorate for Roads of Viet Nam would amend the necessary regulations. The separation of the training courses comes from popular demand, as well as the Ministry of Transport's instructions.

The change has been attributed to a number of accidents in Ha Noi and other localities recently, where drivers have lost control because they're driving a type of car they aren't used to. Though training courses are often taught on manuals, automatic cars have become more popular recently, said Nguyen Van Huyen, Director General of the Directorate for Roads of Viet Nam (DRVN).

The circular amendment aims to offer a separate training programme for those who want to only learn to drive an automatic, instead of both. It reduces the amount of time spent in training, he said.

The DRVN plans to add a rule that prohibits people who obtain driver licences on automatic vehicles from driving manual ones. Drivers who violate the rule will be fined the same as those who don't have a licence. But those who learned to drive on manual cars can drive both.

Manual vehicles are more demanding than automatic ones, due to the difference in training, Huyen said.

However, people who learn on manuals can still do damage without proper training on an automatic. Take the case of Tran Anh Huy, a 44-year-old doctor at Children's Hospital 1 in District 10. Huy's Toyota hit two other cars before crashing into 13 motorbikes stopped at the Ly Thai To-Su Van Hanh intersection on October 7, 2011. One woman was killed on the spot and another succumbed to injuries at the hospital. Seven others were seriously injured.

A number of other countries have separated driver licences for automatic and manual vehicles, Huyen said.

Many people are accustomed to automatic vehicles, but had to learn and pass their tests on manuals, which is a big problem in the Viet Nam licencing system, said Tran Quoc Toan, director of Dong Do Driver Licence Service Centre. Most driver licence service centres in the country only use manual cars.

Shop owners see poor sales on walking street

Since the opening of Nguyen Hue Pedestrian Street in downtown HCM City a few weeks ago, shops along the street, with the exception of restaurants, have seen sales decline.

The shops had already begun to lose revenue when construction started on the underground station for the Ben Thanh – Suoi Tien Metro line last July.

The busy trading atmosphere on the street has not resumed, shopowners have said.

A shopowner named Van told online website VNExpress that she thought sales would improve after nine months of construction but in the last 10 days, she had sold nothing.

She estimated that the number of customers visiting her shop had fallen at least 70 percent compared to nine months ago.

The owner of an eyeglass shop on the street said she would move to another location if business did not pick up within two months.

Previously, she had three employees. But she recently terminated their contracts as her shop was not earning enough money.

Cuc, an owner of a camera shop that has been on the street for 20 years, also had to dismiss two of her four employees due to declining sales.

She is considering a move to another location as the street is no longer an ideal place for trading, she said.

"If I'm lucky, one week my shop sells a few pieces of camera equipment," she said.

Nguyen Van Lam, who sells paintings at a shop along the street, said rent on the street was high and that most buyers were foreign visitors.

However, the number of tourists to the street has also declined in recent weeks as tour buses carrying visitors have been avoiding the street.

Like the other two shopowners, Lam had to lay off one of his employees to reduce his financial burden.

The street, which has a broad pedestrian area in the middle, still functions as a road for vehicles.

There are traffic lanes along the side of the long "pedestrian square", which extends the length of the street.

The lanes, however, are closed from 7pm to 6am, and on Saturday and Sunday.

Most shopowners on the street complain that the authorities have not done a good job of informing people about the hours. Customers often do not return because they mistakenly believe traffic on the roads is prohibited.

Although many of the retail shops have seen a drop in sales, shops selling food and drinks, especially in the evening, are experiencing a rise in customers.

Da Nang leads the way with organic fertilisers

The central city has started a project to recycle organic waste into environmentally friendly liquid fertiliser.

Funding was provided by the Japan International Co-operation Agency (JICA).

The project will enable Cam Le district to be the first in Viet Nam to produce the nutrient under a co-operation deal between the city and Chikujyo town in Japan.

"In Chikujyo town, a liquid fertiliser plant has been operating since 1994. We overcame a lot of difficulties in co-operation with Kyushu University, Saga University and Environmental Business Solution Inc before succeeding in managing it," the mayor of Chikujyo town, Hisami Arakawa, said at the launch yesterday.

"We organised the experience Chikujo Town has accumulated into an organic waste circulating system called the ‘Chikujo Model'. Based on this model, we will propose solutions and co-operate with Da Nang City," he said.

The major also said the Chikujo Model had cut fertiliser costs in the town by 90 per cent.

Vice chairman of the city's people's committee, Nguyen Ngoc Tuan, said the project would recycle 90 tonnes of household and office waste discharged daily.

He said the project would help build the city become ‘green' by 2020.

Thai Van Quang, an official from the city's agriculture and rural development department, said the project would be the first of its kind in Viet Nam.

"The technology will help farmers in rural areas reduce costs with liquid fertiliser from organic waste," Quang said.

Tamura Keiji, project manager in Chikujo, said the Vietnamese project would include construction of a liquid fertiliser testing facility in Cam Le district, technical training, education on the biomass circulation system and practical training in Japan.

Waste water upsets residents, pollutes

For six years, a dreadful stink has upset residents living near a channel carrying waste-water from the Phu Loc waste-water treatment station in the city's Thanh Khe District.

The smell is blamed on poor treatment of waste water at the station and failure to commence a project to upgrade the plant.

Residents have attempted to block the smells themselves by stuffing sand bags and soil in water outlets.

Director of Da Nang Waste-water Treatment Company, Mai Ma said the Phu Loc treatment station was only built in 2008.

It was supposed to break down sewage and waste with microbes and air (anaerobic treatment), but it did little to stop foul smells pouring from the plant.

"We installed a de-odorising system during the last stage of treatment, but the situation did not settle down," Ma said in talks with residents.

He said that in 2011, the company had built a chemical spray system and screen to try and disguise the smell. The city also built a 200 metre pipeline to carry waste water from Phu Loc station to Da Nang Bay.

However, sand from the sea slowed the flow and caused stagnation of waste water in the channel.

Ma said that as a temporary solution, the company would spray chemicals to eliminate the smells.

Meanwhile, waste-water from the Phu Loc channel has heavily polluted a large area close to seaside resorts and public beaches in Thanh Khe and the neighbouring Lien Chieu districts.

The city has now allocated VND137 billion (US$6.5 million) for the first stage of an upgrade to Phu Loc station, starting from the end of this month.

Director of the city's department of natural resources and environment, Nguyen Dieu, said the city had called for investment in an additional waste-water treatment station in the area besides the existing Phu Loc plant.

Total investment in the new station is expected to be VND304 billion (US$14.5 million).

The department will also develop a waste-water collection pipe system along coastal road Nguyen Tat Thanh and upgrade waste water treatment station in Lien Chieu District.

HCM City to build more overpasses to ease traffic congestion

HCMC has plans to build overpasses in the areas plagued by chronic traffic congestion.

HCMC Infrastructure Investment Joint Stock Company (CII) has proposed building an overpass and a parallel road in the area near the intersection between Xo Viet Nghe Tinh Street and National Highway 13, and expanding Ung Van Khiem Street to 27 or 30 meters wide and Ong Dau Bridge in Thu Duc District.

CII has proposed two plans, with Ung Van Khiem to be expanded to 27 meters in plan one at a cost of nearly VND1.6 trillion, including VND1.12 trillion for site clearance and compensation.

The second plan will widen the street to 30 meters at a cost of VND1.7 trillion, with site clearance and compensation making up VND1.23 trillion.

CII has suggested carrying out the first plan under the build-operate-transfer (BOT) format as it will be able to implement the street expansion project with a maximum investment of VND1.6 trillion.

In case the HCMC government picks the second plan, CII will implement the project under the BOT format at VND1.6 trillion and still pay VND1.12 trillion for site clearance and compensation. The city will cover the extra amount if any.

CII will recover capital by collecting tolls at the existing toll stations on Binh Trieu 1 and Binh Trieu 2 bridges.

The intersection and the road expansion are components of the BOT Binh Trieu 2 project invested by CII and are many years behind schedule due to slow site clearance.

The HCMC Department of Transport is planning an overpass and a tunnel at My Thuy Intersection near Cat Lai Port in District 2 where traffic is often congested, but the city’s budget cannot cover it now.

Early last month, a consortium of Thai Son Co. and Tuan Loc Co. proposed advancing capital to build the overpass and tunnel under the build-transfer (BT) model. The city will pay by land or cash. The total investment is put at VND2.8 trillion and work on the project could start this year if it is approved by the city government.

Labour productivity key to sustainable development

Vietnamese workers rank high in ASEAN skills competitions, but its labour productivity remains lower than other countries, Nguyen Anh Tuan of the Vietnam Productivity Institute told Ha Noi Moi newspaper.

Tuan said t he country's labour productivity has increased by 3.5 percent annually since 2005, reaching about 74.3 million VND (3,500 USD) per labourer, according to recent statistics. However, d ata from 2012 showed Vietnam's productivity was about one fifteenth that of Singapore, one ninth of Japan's, one seventh of the Republic of Korea's and one third of Thailand's.

Acdording to the official, labour productivity is affected by two factors: capital power and total factor productivity (TFP). TFP in economics is also called multi-factor productivity – the strengthening of investment capital in production and business activities. So, infrastructure and transport construction will help boost labour productivity.

Thus, with the same quantity of human resources but more preferable conditions, entrepreneurs will have more capacity to boost their production. Labour capacity will also improve, which will lead to an increase in labour productivity, he said.

In fact, as Vietnam is a developing country, more investment capital power would play an important role in improving socio-economic growth. However, to maintain economic development and help the nation catch up with others countries in the region, Vietnam needs to focus more on improving labour productivity through an increased use of science and technology.

He added that the country also needs to improve labour quality, and effectively allocate human and financial resources.

On measures being taken to improve national labour productivity, the official cited Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung's report at the 8th session of the 13th National Assembly, which said that the Government will restructure the agricultural sector; construct new rural areas; encourage bio-tech and information technology applications; accelerate mechanisation, technological modernisation and automation; reduce production costs; improve product quality; and promote domestic and foreign financial sources for investment in socio-economic infrastructure.

The measures also include improving the quality of education and vocational training.

Tuan said the Vietnam Productivity Institute will consult the Government and the Ministry of Science and Technology on creating policies on labour productivity.

They will also research human resource training and build new models for labour productivity, he said.

Preventive programme helps achieve WHO's child TB goal

Thanks to a national tuberculosis preventive programme, a tuberculosis-infected man in Ho Chi Minh City's Tan Phu district is not afraid that he will transmit the disease to his infant son.

The man, who asked not to be named, had exclaimed earlier to doctors in his district clinic: "How worrying! I am afraid of giving the disease to my nine-month-old son. What can I do to prevent transmission?"

They offered to put his son through the national programme for children under five, which has been underway in the city since late 2013.

Under the programme, children whose relatives have TB are encouraged to get tested, Nguyen Hong Nguyen, the clinic's deputy head, said. If the tests prove negative for TB germs, they are given free Isoniazid, an antibiotic used both to treat and prevent TB, to drink every day for six months to prevent TB, he said.

The children in the programme are monitored for side effects and examined every month, Nguyen said, assuring that the drug does not have side effects.

The World Health Organisation estimated in 2013 that globally, up to 80,000 children die of TB and over half a million are infected each year.

In Vietnam, nearly 180,000 new cases, including 18,000 children, are found and treated every year.

Dang Minh Sang, head of the National Tuberculosis Control Division, told a recent conference that children accounted for a mere around 2 percent of the cases only because TB was difficult to diagnose in children due to a shortage of equipment.

In Vietnam, the diagnosis is based on sputum tests, and obtaining children's sputum is very difficult, he said.

According to the US's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, children can develop TB at any age, but the most severe forms are most common between one and four years of age.

Children can get TB immediately after being infected or can get the disease at any time later in life. They can even infect their own children, decades later, if not treated.

District TB clinics and reproductive and child health centres provide the public with information about the programme, he said.

By the end of the first quarter this year, 62 percent of all children in the city who were in close contact with TB patients were attending the programme, he said.

Rhino horn buyers in Vietnam down 77 percent: report

The number of people who buy rhino horn in Vietnam has decreased 77 percent while there has been a 60 percent plummet in the number of people who think rhino horn has medical value, newswire Vietnamplus reported Wednesday.

The figures were released yesterday during a working session in Pretoria between a Vietnamese delegation, the South African Department of Environmental Affairs, and relevant agencies to review their partnership in the conservation field.

The Vietnamese government is willing to enhance cooperation with South Africa and other countries in biodiversity conservation, both bilaterally and multilaterally, Vietnamese Ambassador to the African nation Le Huy Hoang said.

Vietnamplus cited statistics released at the session as showing that rhino horn buyers in Vietnam has declined 77 percent while there has been a 60 percent decrease in the number of people who think rhino horn has medicinal properties, one year after the “Stop Using Rhino Horn” communication campaign kicked off.

The campaign was jointly run by WildAid, the African Wildlife Foundation, and Vietnamese non-governmental organization CHANGE, and was launched in Hanoi in March 2014. It will be run until 2016.

Do Quang Tung, director of the Vietnam Management Authority for the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), highlighted Vietnam’s efforts and determination in coordinating with other countries to prevent illegal wildlife trade by promulgating new regulations and launching campaigns to raise public awareness.

Skumsa Mancotywa, acting director with the South African department’s Biodiversity and Preservation Branch, spoke highly of the effectiveness of the two countries’ multifaceted cooperation, including biodiversity conservation.

The South African representatives appreciated Vietnam’s stringent measures in its law enforcement process and running campaigns to educate people to abandon the misconceptions about the use of rhino horn to cure incurable diseases.

Before coming to South Africa, the Vietnamese delegation also visited Kenya, Tanzania, and Mozambique to share experience in promoting cooperation in the conservation of biodiversity with the authorities of these countries.

Official statistics released by South Africa’s Department of Environmental Affairs in March 2014 showed that poachers killed 172 rhinos for their horns from the start of 2014, while 1,004 were killed in 2013.

Vietnam is considered one of the major hot spots of the illegal rhino horn trade.

According to a survey using door-to-door and face-to-face interviews of 400 individuals, both females and males in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, conducted by AC Nielsen in late 2014, 75 percent of the respondents thought rhino horn has health and medical benefits, particularly treatment of diseases.

Sixty-one percent believed rhino horn can cure a disease while 30 percent reckoned the horn can be used to strengthen health, according to the survey.

Twelve percent thought rhino horn can be used to prevent sickness, the study said, adding that 69 percent knew rhino horn has medical effects based on word of mouth.

Of the participants who believed rhino horn has medical effects (75 percent), half thought it can be used to cure cancer, 42 percent to treat rheumatism, 22 percent to treat impotence, 22 percent to ease effects of a stroke, 16 percent to treat fever, and 15 percent to soothe hangovers.

The Vietnamese Ministry of Health has concluded that rhino horn is not able to treat cancer, rheumatism, strokes, or to enhance sex life.

HCM City-Central Highlands cooperation requires rethink

The multifaceted cooperation between Ho Chi Minh City and the Central Highlands region needs to be revised in order to enhance its effectiveness, the Steering Committee of the Central Highland Region announced.

The committee acknowledged that the cooperation between HCM City and five provinces in the Central Highlands – Dak Lak, Dak Nong, Lam Dong, Gia Lai and Kon Tum – has driven socio-economic development in the Central Highlands over the last 14 years.

The cooperation has helped HCM City diversify its economic sectors and investments, thus boosting the city’s role as an economic hub, the committee said.

Over 200 enterprises from HCM City have been involved in 287 projects in a number of fields, from tourism to mineral resource extraction, with a combined investment capital of nearly 68 trillion VND (3.12 billion USD).

In addition, the city provided more than 70 billion VND for these provinces to build schools, health centres, electricity and road infrastructure, as well as houses for impoverished ethnic minority households in remote areas.

The committee, however, said the cooperation faced limitations, mostly due to the lack of a clear development strategy. It therefore has yet to create a common sustainable path of development for HCM City, the southern key economic region and the Central Highlands region.

In order to increase the effectiveness of socio-economic cooperation programmes, the committee asked the five provinces to provide more information on the different cooperation programmes, so that the involved organisations, agencies and individuals understand the context and carry out their tasks accordingly.

The provinces were also requested to review their cooperation programmes, revise them if necessary and draw up specific action plans.

An inter-regional and regional roadmap on how to effectively implement socio-economic cooperation and coordinate related programmes will be submitted to the Prime Minister for approval.

Health and safety often forgotten

Standards and procedures to ensure labour safety and health were often overlooked in about 65 per cent of the country's small-to-medium sized businesses.

This was among top concerns raised by labour experts at a conference on Wednesday to discuss the implementation of international labour safety and health standards in Viet Nam. The meeting was organised by the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA) and Better Work, an international programme to promote workers' rights.

Bui Duc Nhuong, deputy head of MOLISA's Department of Labour Safety, said the implementation of international labour safety and health standards was mandatory as part of many requirements set out in trade agreements that Viet Nam had signed or was currently negotiating.

He said it was important that the country followed these standards to improve workers' productivity and the nation's social security system.

MOLISA is working on the Viet Nam Draft Law on Occupational Safety and Health, which is based on international practices fine-tuned for Việt Nam conditions.

Better Work Viet Nam's enterprise adviser, Pham Thi Hoang Lien, said that better working conditions not only benefited workers but also businesses as it would speed up global integration, secure access to additional markets and minimise the risk of goods being discriminated against in foreign countries due to unfair labour practices.

The most important benefit, however, would be the improved quality of the labour force, which is considered the most important resource for international competition, Lien said.

Experts and labour representatives also voiced concern over the lack of guidelines to implement international labour safety and health standards on a national scale.

They also highlighted numerous shortcomings and limitations in the country's occupational accident insurance policy, which was said to only focus on compensating workers for work accidents when it should help prevent them from happening.

VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/TT/TN/Dantri