ODA funds one third of road building costs

A road is being built in mountainous Quy Chau District in central Nghe An Province to prevent erosion during the flood season. The country needs VND12 trillion to upgrade its road system. —VNA/VNS Photo Le Ba Lieu

HA NOI — Almost VND12 trillion (US$600 million) will be needed for road building next year, estimates the Transport Ministry's Roads Directorate.

More than VND3.7 trillion ($188 million) would be drawn from Government bonds and more than VND1.8 trillion ($90 million) from official development assistance (ODA), said Deputy Transport Minister and Roads Directorate director Ngo Thinh Duc.

The focus - as this year - would be road maintenance.

"We will ask the Government to establish a fund for road maintenance to ensure a stable supply of capital for the work," he said.

The directorate has also proposed the installation of 23 standard weighing stations to protect roads from damage.

"The work will be expanded after the directorate completes two pilot weighing stations in northern-coastal Quang Ninh and southern Dong Nai provinces by the end of this year," said deputy minister Duc.

The directorate had completed 11 projects with total funds of VND4.6 trillion ($230 million) this year, he said.

As much as VND2.7 trillion ($135 million) had been spent on maintenance.

"Although it was the highest amount so far, it met only 60 per cent of demand," the deputy minister said.

The cause had been four tropical lows and three bouts of heavy rain between September and November that destroyed more than 70 roads in the central provinces.

Flash-floods had also seriously damaged roads in both the central and highland provinces.

The deputy minister said the directorate would co-operate with relevant agencies in the use of the capital it was provided and seek the money from both domestic and international sources.

It would also seek capital via build-operate-transfer and build-transfer projects.

Projects such as the upgrading of Highway 1A linking central Thanh Hoa and Ha Tinh provinces and Highway 49A linking Hue City and its A Luoi highland district that could be completed in 2011 – 12 would be given priority.

"The increasing number of vehicles had seriously damaged both highways," said deputy minister Duc.

The directorate has 20 projects planned, if it can raise the necessary funds.

These include widening Highway 18 in northern Quang Ninh Province and upgrading Highway 20 in central-highland Lam Dong province.

Directorate figures show that Viet Nam's road system extends more than 279,927km and includes 39,800 bridges. — VNS

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Vietnam commits to tiger conservation

Vietnam stands ready to cooperate with foreign countries and international organizations in improving tiger conservation on its own soil and the region as whole.

Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Bui Cach Tuyen made this commitment at a historic tiger conservation forum held in Saint Petersburg, Russia, from November 21-24.

Tuyen also pledged to fulfil the target of the Global Tiger Initiative as a key element in the effort to protect biodiversity.

“Vietnam is committed to full involvement in and stronger support for relevant regional or global programmes,” said the Deputy Minister. He cited the ASEAN-Wildlife Enforcement Network (ASEAN-WEN) website, the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) and Interpol as evidence of this.

He also pledged full participation in other bilateral and multilateral frameworks on conservation of tigers in particular and biodiversity in general.

The summit, hosted by Russian Prime Minister V. Putin, was the first international forum on conservation of an endangered wildlife species.

The event was attended by high-profile representatives from 13 countries home to wild tigers, namely India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Russia, Thailand, China and Vietnam. Also present were representatives of UN agencies and foreign non-governmental organisations engaged in biodiversity conservation.

At the summit, governments capped a year-long political process with about 127 million USD in new funding to support the plan known as the Global Tiger Recovery Programme. The funding will include a large loan package from the World Bank to some tiger range countries and millions in additional grants from the Global Environment Facility.

The World-Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) committed 50 million USD over the next five years on tiger conservation and set a goal of increasing that to 85 million USD.

The Global Tiger Initiative was raised by the WB President in 2008 with tiger range countries committed to doubling the current wild tiger population of close to 3,200 individuals by 2022./.

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Vietnamese integrate into German society: official

The Vietnamese community in Germany is increasingly integrating into society and making substantial contributions to the economy in the German state of Brandenburg.

Dr. Karin Weiss, Brandenburg’s Commissioner of Immigration, stated this at a recent reception for the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Chairman of the State Committee for Overseas Vietnamese, Nguyen Thanh Son, in Potsdam, the capital of Brandenburg.

Weiss underlined the enormous potential for the traditional friendship between Brandensburg and Vietnam and said that he believed this visit would consolidate relations between the two sides, especially in economics and investment.

Deputy Minister Nguyen Thanh Son asked his German hosts to continue helping the Vietnamese community to develop the economy and integrate into German society. He also mentioned the possibility of twining the cities of Potsdam and Hue, as they share many similarities.

Earlier on August 25, Son had a meeting with representatives of the Vietnamese community in Berlin and asked them to foster solidarity and set up a Vietnamese Association in Germany to ensure the interests of Vietnamese people living in the country.

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Reception for Ngo Bao Chau held in India

A reception was held in Hyderabad on August 19 to congratulate Professor Ngo Bao Chau, who has just been awarded the Fields Medal, the most prestigious global award for mathematicians.

Laszlo Lovasz, president of the International Mathematical Union (IMU), Rajat Tandon, head of the Organising Committee of the 26th International Congress of Mathematicians, Bui Van Ga, Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Education and Training, and Nguyen Hoanh Son, Minister Counsellor of the Vietnamese Embassy in India, were among others at the event, jointly held by the Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training and the Vietnamese Embassy in India.

Deputy Minister Bui Van Ga congratulated Prof. Chau and wished him further success in his research and contributions to development of the country’s mathematics.

Prof. Chau expressed his thanks for the Party and State’s due attention. He said he hoped the Fields Medal would offer him opportunities to call for support from mathematicians in the world for development of Vietnam’s mathematics./.

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