HCM City rescues 21 endangered animals

Twenty one animals belonging to 11 endangered wildlife species were rescued in the first quarter, according to the Cu Chi Wildlife Rescue Station in HCM City.

They included the yellow-cheeked crested gibbon (Nomascus gabriellae), pygmy loris (Nycticebus pygmaeus), slow loris (Nycticebus bengalensis), Asian palm civet (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus), leopard cat (Prionailurus bengalensis), and Burmese ferret-badger (Melogale personata).

In February the centre released a green turtle (Chelonia mydas) back into the sea at Hai Tac island in Kien Giang Province.

It has upgraded its facilities, installing a new fish tank and a new enclosure for civets and creating more room for volunteers, many of them foreigners.

Two students drown in Quang Nam lake

Two primary school students drowned in a fishing lake in Quang Nam Province's Binh Duong commune in Thang Binh district on Wednesday.

Vice chairman of the communal people's committee, Dang Van Hung, said yesterday the two victims, a boy and a girl both aged seven, fell into the lake while on their way home from school in the evening.

Hung said local residents later discovered the bodies of the students.

In March, three junior secondary school students in Bac Tra My district's Tra Giang commune also drowned while they were swimming in a river.

Ha Noi preps for rainy season

Ha Noi Water Drainage Company estimates that there are about 10 inner-city sites will be vulnerable to flooding during the rainy season, which is expected to arrive in June, earlier than usual.

General director of the company, Nguyen Le, said that last year, more than 20 sites experienced serious flooding after rain of up to 100mm.

Le said that improved drainage works at many streets, including Nguyen Xien, Le Trong Tan, Truong Dinh, Linh Nam and Nguyen Luong Bang.

Work had also been done at the intersection of roads, including Dien Bien Phu and Nguyen Tri Phuong - and Hang Chuoi- Pham Dinh Ho.

Le said flooding occurred in areas where new infrastructure projects were under way, such as in Pham Van Dong Street, Nhue River Valley, and the western part of West Lake.

"The company also plans to frequently inspect sewage outlets to the Nhue River to ensure that it cannot overflow into inner city areas," he said.

Ha Noi's Department for Agriculture and Rural Development began inspecting dyke systems and irrigation projects early this month ahead of the rainy season expected in June.

Hospital provides free asthma treatment

The Bach Mai General Hospital will provide free check-up consultations and treatment to newly asthmatic patients on April 26, to mark Global Asthma Day (May 1).

Residents of Ha Noi and neighbouring areas suffering from coughs, respiratory problems and chest pains may register for appointments by calling 04.36291027 or emailing [email protected].

Recent health sector statistics have said Viet Nam has around 3.5 million asthma sufferers, equivalent to 4 per cent of the population. The disease places a significant burden on patients and their families due to costly treatments and fatalities.

Concerted effort needed to employ disabled workers

Authorities at all levels need to work together with the whole society to provide vocational training and create jobs for people with disabilities, Deputy Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA) Nguyen Trong Dam has urged.

At present, there are some 6.7 million disabled people in Viet Nam, 60 per cent of whom are of working age.

In 2013, about 80,000 people with disabilities gained vocational skills in jobs that suited their condition, such as spa services, animal husbandry, mushroom cultivation, carpentry, and making clothes and bamboo products.

Over the period, chapters of the Viet Nam Association for the Support of Disabled People and Orphans trained 2,900 people with disabilities and provided jobs for 1,100 of them.

The association organised 33 training courses in 16 provinces across the country.

Nearly 800 people with disabilities from Hung Yen, Ha Nam, Hai Duong, Binh Thuan and Lam Dong and Ha Noi benefited from a Spanish Red Cross-funded project that looked at socio-economic integration and employment support for the target group.

More organisations and businesses also employed people with disabilities. For example, the Customs Division of District 1 in HCM City has recruited more than 40 disabled staff, while 30 more have found jobs at Protec - a safety equipment company, which has built production lines that are friendly to people with disabilities.

According to MOLISA's General Department of Vocational Training, around 1.5 million people in Viet Nam were taught vocational skills every year, but only 6,000 of them were people with disabilities, an insignificant 0.4 percent.

Tran Quang Dung, Chairman of the Association of People with Disabilities in the northern province of Ha Nam, said disadvantaged circumstances and poor capacity made it hard for people with disabilities to afford training fees.

Additionally, most are only equipped with handicraft-making skills, but those with more advanced skills struggle to find workplaces with suitable facilities.

A prejudiced attitude among businesses towards the group was also stopping people with disabilities from accessing vocational training, Dung added.

At a job placement event organised for people with disabilities in Ha Noi yesterday, Nguyen Thi Kim Oanh, a job consultant for the "Recovery of Working Capacity for Peopl with Disabilities" project which has helped create jobs for 120 people over the past two years, said more companies had become willing to employ people with disabilities, but it was very difficult to find suitable applicants that met their requirements.

"The number of highly skilled workers with disabilities remains limited," she said.

Oanh said training courses for people with disabilities needed to be adapted to meet the demands of the labour market and the limitations of people with disabilities.

Chairman of the Viet Nam Association for the Support of Disabled People and Orphans Nguyen Dinh Lieu said that society should know that people with disabilities were as capable of working as well as able-bodied people.

He added that providing the group with professional skills was an important mission for managerial agencies and social organisations.   

Blind people need more supportive policies: VP

State agencies needed to review existing legislation to make suitable changes to Government policies towards the blind and offer them better support, said Vice President Nguyen Thi Doan on Wednesday.

Doan made the statement at a ceremony held in Ha Noi to mark the 45th anniversary since the establishment of the Viet Nam Association for the Blind.

Her statement mirrored that of Cao Van Thanh, the association's chairman, who said several policies had become outdated.

Doan also took the occasion to praise blind people and the association for their determination to overcome difficulties, make remarkable achievements and contribute to the country's development.

As chairman, Thanh thanked the Government for its support over the past 45 years.

Thanks to that support, the association had gone from only 100 members at the beginning to 66,440 members today, he said.

He said that 334 factories which produced a wide range of products and services such as souvenirs and handicraft objects to stationery and spa services were operating under the management of the association, employing more than 4,000 workers.

He added that before, 95 per cent of blind people were illiterate, but now, tens of thousands knew how to read and write.

He said the proportion of the association's poor members remained high at 27 per cent, and the intellectual capacity of its members was still low compared to ably-sighted members of society.

Over the last 45 years, the association has extended its branches to 52 of the country's 63 localities. The association plans to set up branches in the remaining provinces to provide more widespread support for blind people.

HCM City kindergartens need funding aid

HCM City should provide financial and other support to private kindergartens too, city officials said at a meeting on Wednesday.

Officials from the Department of Finance, who met with People's Council members, said the city provides a subsidy of more than VND10 million (US$480) a year for each student in public kindergartens, but at private kindergartens parents have to pay all the fees themselves.

Dao Thi Huong Lan, the director of the department, said direct subsidies for private kindergartens would cost the city an estimated VND1 trillion ($47 million) this year, an amount hard to raise currently.

So there should be indirect support for them, she said.

She suggested that the city could extend their loan terms, waive or reduce land fees for them, and offer free training for teachers at private kindergartens.

While the Government announced the payment of an allowance for private kindergarten teachers around the country from last year, it has yet to be paid at least in the city.

Around 80 per cent of kindergarten students in the city attend private ones.

Tien Giang to preserve guild villages

The Mekong Delta province of Tien Giang is striving to preserve its trade villages to elevate tourism as a major driver of its economy.

It will enable production facilities to boost goods exchanges with other localities nationwide to boost employment and increase resident incomes.

Under a long-term strategy, the province will organise training courses to raise the capacity of managing officials and labourers, and apply more technology to production.

It is also planning to deploy nearly VND300 billion (US$14.1 million) between 2016 and 2020 to preserve and develop trade villages, and another VND200 billion ($9.4 million) on management training courses and teaching vocational skills.

The province has 14 trade hubs, including five traditional villages. The trades, including carving, knitting and girdle cake making (banh trang), now create jobs for nearly 5,400 locals. 

Lam Dong subsidises vocational training

The Lam Dong Province People's Committee has approved a project to provide vocational training for rural labourers at a cost of more than VND115 billion (US$5.5 million) from 2014 to 2020.

About 7,000 - 10,000 rural labourers will be trained each year, with 60 per cent of them expected to take jobs in the agriculture sector. The remaining 40 per cent will work in industrial, non-agricultural sectors or as guest labourers in other countries.

Under the project, at least 80 per cent of the trainees will either continue their current job at a higher income or be hired by another company.

Each worker will be offered a grant of VND2-3 million ($95 - 140) to take a three-month short-term training course.

The province has 10 vocational training centres and over 50 vocational training establishments. About 70 per cent of vocational training courses focus on the agricultural and rural sectors.

Since 2010, Lam Dong Province in the Central Highlands region has provided vocational skill training for about 30,000 labourers, most of whom live in rural areas.

Pedestrian bridges to ease congestion

Thirteen more pedestrian bridges and tunnels will be built in HCM City to reduce traffic gridlock, at a total cost of VND120 billion (US$5.7 million), the city's Department of Transport has said.

One pedestrian bridge would be built on Dien Bien Phu Street in front of Binh Dan Hospital and a flyover (or tunnel) opposite the Economic Law University in Thu Duc District, according to the economic budgetary committee of the People's Council.

Recently, HCM City has completed construction on six pedestrian bridges, including Cong Quynh, Nguyen Trai, Hoang Van Thu, No Trang Long, Van Thanh and Suoi Tien.

It has also built two tunnels for pedestrians, one in front of Linh Trung Export Processing Zone and another under National Highway 1 and the Nguyen Van Linh roundabout.

Children succumb to measles virus

A total of 108 children have died from measles and its complications so far this year out of a total of 2,492 confirmed cases throughout the nation.

The health ministry has been ordered to bring the situation under control as soon as possible.

This was announced yesterday by Health Minister Nguyen Thi Kim Tien at a meeting with hospital chiefs and medical experts from the World Health Organisation.

One hundred and three of the children who died were admitted to Viet Nam National Hospital of Paediatrics, four to Bach Mai Hospital and one to the National Hospital of Tropical Diseases.

Deputy Director of the Viet Nam National Hospital of Paediatrics, Le Thanh Hai, said that 25 children had died directly from the infection, while another 78 had died from its complications, including pneumonia and diarrhoea.

Hai said that the hospital had 48 medical ventilators, but found itself overloaded with child patients.

Authorities are now considering how to reduce the load on the paediatrics hospital and how to reduce the number of measles-related fatalities.

Nguyen Thi Minh Chanh, director of Thai Binh Hospital for Paediatrics, told Viet Nam News Agency yesterday that the hospital had received 130 children with measles so far this year.

Chanh said that measles attacked children under nine months, which was unusual. Normally, measles attacked older children.

She advised parents to maintain good daily personal hygiene for their children and to give them healthy diets to strengthen their immune systems.

Director of the National Hospital of Paediatrics, Nguyen Van Kinh, said that this year, measles had created acute immuno-deficiency in child patients.

"So, it's hard for children with measles to avoid contracting other diseases, leading to a high mortality rate, especially for young babies," he said.

He announced an additional medical regime to treat children with measles. This will involve .giving gamma globulin injections to strengthen a patient's immunity.

At another meeting on Tuesday, head of the Health Ministry's General Department of Preventive Medicine, Tran Dac Phu, said the ministry had yet to announce a measles epidemic.

He said the ministry only announced an epidemic when at least two major localities in the country reported that the spread of a disease had reached epidemic proportions. "At present, no locality has reported an epidemic," he stated.

Phu advised parents to take their children to provincial hospitals first if they thought they had the disease.

He said this would help avoid overcrowding at central-level hospitals, which could complicate treatment.

At the Tuesday meeting, Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam ordered the health ministry to provide the best facilities to treat the children.

Dam asked the ministry to mobilise all medical ventilators from national reserves to help in treatment.

In a related move, health departments in Hai Phong City have mobilised resources for the examination and treatment of measles.

The city's health department said that 59 children had been diagnosed with measles since early this year, including 16 children under the age of one.

Failure to address water pollution has consequences

Viet Nam needs to have a comprehensive, unified set of rules to control water pollution in the country, because the problem has assumed very serious proportions, experts and officials said at workshop yesterday.

"We now have several regulations scattered over several legal documents," said Pham Van Loi, head of the Institute of Science for Environmental Management.

This has meant that efforts to control water pollution throughout the country have not been effective, Loi said.

Many localities hardly implement existing regulations on controlling water pollution, he added.

He said concerned agencies should learn from the experiences of other countries before issuing effective regulations for managing water pollution in Viet Nam.

Loi also suggested the agencies to learn experiences from foreign countries before issuing the set of rules on controlling water pollution.

Viet Nam is home to more than 2,300 rivers.

Le Hoang Anh, deputy head of the Centre for Environmental Monitoring said that surface water in rivers in the northern region was highly polluted.

She cited the Nhue and To Lich rivers as examples.

The pollution has mostly been caused by untreated wastewater discharged by households, industrial zones, hospitals, and craft village, she said, adding the situation was almost the same in the southern region.

For instance, wastewater discharged from industrial zones had polluted long stretches of the Dong Nai River, Anh said.

In the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta, wastewater from aquaculture and agricultural production had polluted local rivers, she added.

Anh suggested that authorised agencies in the northern region step up installation and operation of wastewater treatment systems for handling household waste in major cities like Ha Noi and Hai Phong, as well as provinces like Quang Ninh.

In the southern region, there is a need for greater focus on treating wastewater discharged by industrial zones, she said.

Mekong Delta authorities, meanwhile, should increase inspections of aquaculture farms as well as agricultural production processes that generate polluting waste, she added.

Loi said authorized agencies should be asked to ratify and apply international conventions on water pollution.

The two-day workshop was jointly organised by the Centre for Environment and Community Research, the Viet Nam Union of Scientific and Technology Associations and Coalition for Clean Water and OXFAM.

Ministry urges local departments to work harder against measles

The Ministry of Health has pushed healthcare departments in all cities and provinces nationwide to keep a close eye on measles that is currently developing in 61 out of 63 localities.

The ministry asked local hospitals to set up clearly marked isolation wards for measles treatment to prevent the disease from spreading, while focusing all resources on ensuring the best conditions for patients.

According to Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long, as of April 16, there were as many as 3,126 measles cases nationwide.

Since the beginning of this year, 108 deaths have been caused by complications arising from measles. In total, 25 were killed directly by the disease, most of them under the age of 10 who had not been vaccinated.

The outbreak of the disease has resulted in the overloads at the National Hospital of Paediatrics and other central hospitals.

The ministry advised locals to apply preventive measures.

It also directed local health departments to continue vaccination campaigns against measles to make sure that 95 percent of total children are safe from the disease.

In a notice issued on April 16, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung urged ministries and local authorities nationwide to intensify measures against measles, blaming the high death toll on the insufficient quality and quantity of vaccinations administered.

In 2013, Vietnam recorded 1,048 measles cases, mostly in children under the age of 10 (75.9%).

Photo exhibition explores lives of the disabled

An open-air photo exhibition exploring the lives of 25 local workers with disabilities is well underway in the southern province of Dong Nai.

Opened on April 17, the nine-day show is co-organised by the provincial Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs and Handicap International in Vietnam to mark Vietnam’s Day for People with Disabilities (April 18).

In addition to honouring their services to the nation, the event also encourages employers to recruit the handicapped, helping them integrate into the community, said department Director Le Thi My Phuong.

According to her, Dong Nai is home to nearly 23,000 people with severe and extremely severe disabilities, only 1,000 of them currently employed.

The exhibition will be held at Amata and Bien Hoa 2 industrial zones in the province’s Bien Hoa city from April 25 - May 9.

Labour exports - leave workers uncared-for in the open

Many local people have lost trust in labour export agencies and believe government officials have not paid sufficient oversight and attention to guest workers needs.  

As a result, many question whether the guest worker programmes are making any significant contribution to sustainable poverty reduction.

A work contract between workers and intermediary agencies delineates the responsibilities of both the worker and the agency.

In accordance with the contract, the agencies are required to monitor the relationship between employers and worker to ensure their rights and legitimate interests are not being violated and that problems which inevitably arise, are promptly dealt with and resolved.

However, poor and ethnic minority Vietnamese workers in Malaysia are reporting that feel as if they have been abandoned.

Bhanuoch Lieu in Poning commune, Lang village in Tay Giang district, Quang Nam province says workers such as himself have been required to work seven days a week from Monday to Sunday with minimal pay.

They work under harsh and brutal conditions exacerbated   by the extremely and hot and humid weather without electric fans and water.

Employers continuously cursed at workers, even not let them go to toilet, he reported.

Zo Ram Nhung, Vice Chairman of the Ga Ry village People’s Committee in Tay Giang district, Quang Nam province, says he is very concerned about workers’ conditions.

“Some workers are  working these long arduous hours under the impression that they are going to work their way up the ladder and earn a higher salary, but they are moved into another low paying position at a new unfamiliar task and not getting ahead. This is not fair for workers,” Nhung says.

In recent times, guest workers in Malaysia have not paid due attention. Sending ethnic minority people to work abroad is akin to leaving them uncared-for. This is responsibility of labour export agencies, to look out for the best interests of the workers.

Le Minh Thuy, Deputy Director of Lien Viet Development JSC, southern branch, says that workers often have the misconceived notion that they will get rich quickly after working abroad and that will not have to work hard to do so.

In addition, they are entering into an unfamiliar working environment and the work ethic of foreign companies is different, which conditions lead to unfortunate mistakes.

Many foreign businesses readily acknowledge their responsibility for lax management and admit that they need to provide more oversight for Vietnamese guest workers.

Recently, Tay Giang district authorities held a meeting with labour export intermediary agencies and workers who returned from Malaysia to address their concerns.

Nguyen Cong Thanh, Vice Chairman of Tay Giang district People’s Committee

Nguyen Cong Thanh, Vice Chairman of Tay Giang district People’s Committee, says relevant authorities have drawn valuable lessons from sending ethnic minority workers abroad and devised measures to force intermediary agencies to take their responsibility

The dream of a wealthy life thanks to labour exports and encouraging ethnic minority youth to register to work abroad has gone by the wayside.

Now many ethnic minority people are afraid of working abroad. Those who returned home are advising others give up their dream and as a consequence many local authorities in poor districts are no longer keen on the program.

Ho Minh Long, Deputy Head of the Tay Giang district Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, says the department asked 10 communes in the district to register 10 workers.

Nearly half of the 110 registered workers have now returned home earlier that anticipated. Particularly, in 2013, a target to register 3 labourers from each commune to work abroad was not fulfilled.

Meanwhile intermediary agencies have gone to each commune to encourage local people to register to work abroad. What do the workers benefit from the program?

According to a project to support poor districts in promoting labour exports, the State finances poor and ethnic minority workers in terms of vocational, foreign language and training fees, accommodation expenses, travel fees, making procedures in applying for passports and visa fees.

Workers have to pay around VND23 million to labour export companies. However, if they have recruitment certificates from intermediary agencies and commitment to pay debts from their family, the money will be subsidised by the local Bank for Social Policy.

In case, workers are forced to return home before scheduled, the loan will end up not being repaid and become a burden on the State either to be granted an extension for repayment or forgiven. Thus, the State suffers from losses.

Meanwhile, for each worker that is sent to Malaysia, the intermediary agency collects more than VND10 million.

In addition the intermediary agency earns a fee from providing training for these workers before sending them abroad.

Thus, the intermediary agencies benefit tremendously from the programmes, but not workers.

It is still not clear and remains to be seen if the project to support poor districts in promoting labour exports has made any significant contribution to sustainable poverty reduction.

Russia, Vietnam enhance sci-tech cooperation

Vietnam and Russia will increase oversight of joint scientific and technological cooperation in the areas of oil and gas, nuclear power development, and human resource training.

The agreement was reached during talks in Hanoi on April 17 between a Vietnam National Assembly Committee for Science, Technology and Environment led by its chairman Phan Xuan Dung, and a Russia State Duma Committee on Energy led by its vice chairman Sergei Levchenko.

Both sides said they need to oversee signed agreements and increase committee-level delegation exchange to share experience in legislation.

They will work closely together to supervise the implementation of annual cooperation agreements and big projects, and work out future cooperation programmes.

Sergei Levchenko noted besides the close cooperation between the two countries and their legislative bodies, the two committees have also developed fruitful relations, contributing to strengthening the Russia-Vietnam comprehensive strategic partnership.

Strategy for cruise ship tourism under discussion

The development of Vietnam’s cruise ship tourism was discussed at international seminar held in Hue on April 16 by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the Thua Thien Hue provincial People’s Committee, and the Asian Cruise Association (ACA).

Local and foreign delegates delivered 19 presentations on the development of the tourism industry, focusing on cruise ship services in particular.

Every year Vietnam welcomes approximately 200,000 visitors via cruise liners, which are increasing in popularity among international tourists.

However, Vietnam’s cruise ship services face a number of shortcomings, such as poor infrastructure, and a lack of promotion and advertisement.

The country currently has 39 seaports under zoning plans, but most of them are used for cargo transport.

Culture, Sports and Tourism Deputy Minister Ho Anh Tuan said the Vietnam Administration of Tourism is drawing up an action plan to build seaports for tourism development, adding that special attention will also be paid to developing tourism infrastructure and increasing the quality of cruise ship services.

World class cruise ship brings over 1,000 visitors to Hue

A Bahamas national ship with more than 1,000 passengers and crewmembers on board docked in the Chan May port in the central province of Thua Thien-Hue on April 17.

This is the third time that Silver Shadow, one of the world’s top 10 luxurious cruisers, has made its landfall in Chan May port so far this year. The five-star ship’s main routine in 2014 is to Asia and Alaska.

The passengers are to visit a number of beauty spots and world cultural heritage sites in Hue ancient capital, Hoi An, My Son and Da Nang.

During recent years, Chan May port has been a favorite destination for international cruisers in their cross-Vietnam journey.

Thua Thien-Hue province is also working to develop entertainment services in areas surrounding the port to make visitors stay longer in the locality.

Deputy PM meets OVs in the UK

Deputy Prime Minister Vu Van Ninh held a meeting with overseas Vietnamese and students in the UK on April 16 as part of his visit to the country.

At the meeting, Deputy PM briefed overseas Vietnamese on the country’s socio-economic situation, especially Vietnam’s major achievements over 30 years of Doi Moi (Renewal) process. Despite the global economic downturn, the country has stabilized the macro-economy, curbed inflation, developed sustainably and maintained social welfare policies.

Vietnam has effectively implemented policies on compulsory education and medical insurance as well as actively integrated into the global economy. At present, Vietnamese goods are available in nearly 130 nations around the world.

Many foreign investors are keen on investing in Vietnam while local businesses are investing abroad and reaping success. Vietnam has also maintained its national sovereignty and pursued cooperative and peaceful dialogues with its international friends.

Vietnam-UK relations have developed well in politics, economics, culture, education and people-to-people diplomacy. Especially noteworthy, was the participation of nearly 100 UK businesses at Vietnam-UK Business Forum, demonstrating their keen interest in the Vietnamese market.

Ninh affirmed the Party and Government’s policies which always consider overseas Vietnamese an important part in the Vietnamese State, contributing to the country’s socio-economic development.

He expressed his hope that overseas Vietnamese in the UK will continue to unite and help each other in their daily lives and business activities, creating a strong community and further contributing to the country.

With more than 8,000 Vietnamese students in the UK, Ninh underscored the need for students to achieve good academic results and said he considers them a highly potent force for making positive contributions to the high quality human resources ofthe nation.

Son Thanh, President of the Vietnamese Association in the UK voiced his desire that the Vietnamese Government will devise policies to help the Vietnamese community abroad to further develop and maintain its identity.

Representatives of Vietnamese students in the UK also delivered speeches thanking the Vietnamese Government for giving them an opportunity to study in the UK and saying they look forward to returning home and making contributions to the country.

Law students join exchange with US Senate leader

Law students from the Vietnam National University – Hanoi acquired general knowledge of the US legal and judicial system at an exchange with visiting US Senate President Pro Tempore Patrick Leahy in the capital on April 17.

Informing them of key activities by the US Senate Department of Justice which he leads, Leahy recalled the days when he pursued a law degree in his country.

He also drew their attention to human rights issues mentioned in the Declaration of Independence delivered by President Ho Chi Minh in 1945, stressing the significance of protecting the values of equality, democracy and humanism that the world is looking towards.

At the event, students raised questions about Vietnam’s negotiations for the Trans-Pacific Partnership deal and gender equality in labour in the US, among other legal issues.

Japan to help purify Xuan Huong lake in Lam Dong

The Japan-based Pacific Corporation will donate the Jet Streamer system to clean up Xuan Huong lake in the resort city of Da Lat, the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong.

The move aims to treat the lake’s lasting pollution, resulted from wastewater and agricultural wastes generated by local residents and farms in an area of 2,800 hectares.

Although the city has taken various measures to deal with this problem, there are no visible improvements.

The lake, one of the city’s popular tourist attractions, has a circumference of more than 5km and covers the area of up to 38 hectares.

Vietnam urged to build water pollution law

Vietnam needs to soon build a strong and effective legal framework for preventing water pollution as the problem is getting out of hand, experts warned at an international workshop in Hanoi on April 17.

The function drew more than 100 experts from Vietnam, the US and Thailand, alongside representatives from businesses and non-governmental organisations.

Tran Viet Hung, Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Union of Science and Technology Associations, said Vietnam is home to some 2,360 rivers and streams that are over 10km long, as well as thousands of lakes. Those bodies of water are the source of life for millions of people, as well as fauna and flora.

However, the water sources are being degraded by over-exploitation and pollution, which is attributable to a deficiency in the management and protection of the water environment.

He added that current regulations are not strict enough to prevent actions contaminating the water.

Director of the Centre for Environment and Community Research Nguyen Ngoc Ly said the most severe pollution can be seen in water bodies near industrial clusters, craft villages and urban areas.

Since there are a wide range of pollution factors and many rivers run from other countries into Vietnam, the control of water pollution is complicated and requires a feasible legal framework, she said.

She suggested priority be given to dealing with pollution in small rivers pending the building of a law on water pollution control.

Research shows that some 9,000 people die of diseases caused by polluted water and poor hygiene conditions in Vietnam every year. There are also nearly 200,000 new cancer cases annually, with contaminated water one of the main suspected reasons.

Vietnam strives to attract more foreign visitors by sea

The number of foreign tourists to Vietnam by cruise ships is still relatively low and has yet to meet the potential provided by the country’s advantageously long coastline, a conference heard in the central province of Thua Thien-Hue on April 16.

According to Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Ho Anh Tuan, about 3-5 percent of international tourists visit Vietnam by sea each year.

Asia is now considered an attractive destination for big tourism ships with many modern seaports, Tuan said, adding that an estimated 3.7 million foreigners will choose cruise ships to go to Asian countries by 2017.

Vietnam defines its maritime economy, including maritime tourism, as one of its key development orientations in the time ahead. This is clearly reflected in the tourism development strategy by 2020 with a vision to 2030, approved by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung.

Accordingly, the country will focus on increasing the quality of maritime tourism products, improving the capacity of hospitality staff serving tourists by sea and simplifying customs and administrative procedures they face, the deputy minister added.

During the conference, participants proposed encouraging investment in modern shopping centres and entertainment services near beaches and seaports to lengthen visitors’ stay and increase their expenditure.

They also suggested relevant agencies coordinate with the Asia Cruise Association to attract more international tourists using cruise ships to Vietnam.

VNN/VOV/VNA/VNS