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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Hackers pose growing threat to internet banking system

Hackers attacked more than 1,000 websites last year, double the 2008 figure and three times more than that in 2007, said Pham Viet The, head of the Computing Department at the Ministry of Public Security.

A survey of 40 banks conducted by the Bach Khoa Inter-network Security Center (BKIS) found that 20 of them were unsecured.

The investigation revealed vulnerabilities in money transfers and discovered that the password recovery function to user accounts could also be used to change the customer's password.

Customer question and complaint forms could be used to install dangerous codes into the server and control the internet banking system, the survey found.

Banking security networks were always at risk of being attacked if they did not have proper management systems, said director of the Ministry of Information and Communications' Vietnam Computer Emergency Response Team (VNCERT) Vu Quoc Khanh, adding that the banking sector was a favorite target for hi-tech criminals.

Statistics show that 80 percent of banks nationwide have established, or planned to establish, internet banking solutions.

However, there is an agreement within the sector that internet banking increases the risk that banks will be attacked by network criminals.

Dang Manh Pho, director of the IT Department at the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV), said the bank had made significant investments in technology, including a banking security system which accounted for 20-30 per cent of the total costs.

The bank spent VND1.6 trillion (US$82 million) on its banking security network in 2009 and another VND1 trillion ($47.6 million) in 2010.

BKIS experts offered solutions for banks to overcome the risks to their internet banking systems, such as independent assessments to determine the weaknesses in their systems combined with application of ISO 27001 standards on information security management, overall computer anti-virus solutions and digital signature certification to secure bank transactions.

Nguyen Minh Duc, general director of BKIS, said the existing vulnerabilities in network securities at Vietnamese banks was attributed to the lack of an independent security assessment process of internet banking systems as well as a lack of standards on information security.

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Danang development plan focuses on tech, tourism

A cyclist rides past a billboard advertising a luxury residential development, opposite the venue where Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) economic ministers were meeting in Da Nang.

Photo: AFP

The government has approved Danang’s socio-economic master plan for the period through 2020 which seeks to develop the city into one of the country’s biggest metros and a service, port, and transport hub for the central region.

It envisages maintaining annual economic growth at 12-13 percent and export growth at 19-20 percent.

Tourism will be one of the main sources of income for the city at VND2.42 trillion (US$ 123 million) in 2015 and VND3.89 trillion($198 million) in 2020.

Industry will be developed selectively with an emphasis on technology.

Infrastructure will be improved by renovating Lien Chieu and Tho Quang ports, expanding and upgrading Tien Sa port and Danang International airport, and building highways to Quang Ngai Province.

Danang hopes to spearhead economic growth in its neighborhood and achieve per capita annual income of $5000.

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