Passengers panic as hydrofoil seizes up

Passengers traveling on an express hydrofoil from Ho Chi Minh City to Vung Tau Monday morning were in for a rude shock when the engine seized up just 20 minutes into the journey.

Unable to fix it, the crew on the Greenlines boat herded the passengers into another vessel, which was already nearly full.

Thus, the other vessel, which had a capacity of 75, was carrying 125 people.

But for the passengers it was to be a case of jumping from the frying pan into the fire as fierce waves began to rock the boat. Some called their families and authorities, pleading for help.

Others pleaded with the boat captain to stop but he ignored them.

After the boat docked in Vung Tau, port officials discovered the captain did not have a driving license and there were not enough life jackets on board, Thanh Nien newspaper reported.

They have reported to transport authorities.

The passengers were furious with the company, saying it should have sent an empty boat to the spot to evacuate them.

Hydrofoil services between HCMC and Vung Tau, 120 km to the southeast, have been plagued with service and safety problems.

The fast boats take just one and a half hours to do the trip compared to four hours by road and so are popular with tourists. This leads operators to often overload the vessels.
 

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Deputy PM advises Delta to focus on human resource

CAN THO — Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan has called on Can Tho city and the 12 provinces in the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta to tailor human-resource development plans to their economic strengths and potential.

Speaking at a meeting held in Can Tho last Saturday by the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) to discuss HR planning for the region for the next decade, Nhan said it must ensure the full potential is developed to turn the Delta into a key economic hub.

The region has nearly 18 million people and 10 million are of working age.

But the proportion of trained workers is low compared to other regions, according to the Ministry of Education and Training (MoET) – 34 per cent have not completed primary school while 0.9 per cent have college diplomas and 2.1 per cent have university degrees. The national average for university degrees is 10 per cent of the workforce.

Nhan pointed out that though the Delta was the country's rice granary and had a major seafood industry, the enrolment rate in the agriculture and forestry faculties at universities was very low.

In fact, only 10.4 per cent of students in the region's 12 universities studied agriculture or forestry.

To put it in perspective, the rate was 31.7 per cent for economy, finance, and banking, he said.

To encourage students to study agriculture, forestry and some other unpopular streams like culture, physical training, and sports, Nhan said the universities should soon expand these faculties or set up universities and colleges dedicated to them.

More training

The MoET has said it will set up more schools to meet the target of increasing the rate of trained workers from the current 23.5 per cent to 45 per cent in 2015 and 60 per cent in 2020.

Local administrations have promised to set up 10-12 new universities, 22-24 colleges, and 10 vocational schools to ratio of college and university students to 2 per cent in 2020 compared to the current 0.85 per cent.

At the meeting, delegates said the region needed more architecture, law, culture, and technology universities and polytechnics.

It was also necessary to upgrade some existing institutions like the Tra Vinh Province Medical College, the Mien Tay Construction College into universities, they said.

Nhan ordered MoET and MPI to work with authorities in the region to make zoning plans for building universities, colleges, and vocational schools.

He also urged the region to report their HR plans by December 15 to the MPI, which would in turn report them to the Government by January. — VNS

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Support available for firms employing ethnic minorities

Workers with the Son La Rubber Joint-Stock Company, most of whom are from ethnic minorities, prepare seedlings for new rubber plantations in mountainous Son La Province's Thuan Chau District. Businesses employing ethnic minorities are tipped to receive Government support. — VNA/VNS Photo Dieu ChinhToi

HA NOI — Enterprises in Tay Nguyen (Central Highlands) region employing workers from ethnic minorities will be entitled to receive State support from January 1.

As part of Government Decision 75, the State will give targeted financial aid to agroforestry companies, management boards of protected and specific-use forests and to non-state enterprises which use land for the manufacture of agro-forestry products.

"The aim is to create jobs for ethnic minorities and help reduce poverty," said Director of the Tay Nguyen's Gia Lai Province Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Pham Ngoc Thach.

He said that although vocational centres in Tay Nguyen region had trained more than 50,000 people from ethnic minorities in the past three years, most could not find proper jobs.

To improve the situation, the State will now pay all workers up to VND3 million (US$150) for three-month vocational training courses.

In a further incentive for business, companies where 30-50 per cent of workers belong to ethnic minorities will receive a 50 per cent reduction in land rent for one year. If this rate is more than 50 per cent, companies will then be exempt from land rent for twelve months.

The State also plans to pay the social, medical and unemployed insurance for ethnic minority workers within five years.

Tran Tam, director of the Krong Ana Coffee Company in Dac Lac Province, said that 350 of 475 workers in his company belonged to ethnic minorities.

"In previous years, few enterprises employed ethnic minority workers because they did not adapt to the company working environment and only worked for a short time," he said.

Tam added that he believed the new decree and proper training would result in more people from these groups finding jobs in the future.

Foreign-owned enterprises will not receive State support under the new scheme. — VNS

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Jail for human traffickers

TAY NINH — Tay Ninh Province People's Court yesterday sentenced four offenders to a total of 21 years in prison for trafficking nine Vietnamese women to work as prostitutes in Singapore.

The ring's head, Vo Thi Hiep, 46, received eight years. She admitted to meeting a Vietnamese women who immigrated to Sing-apore known as "pimp Ngan" in the middle of 2009. Hiep and "pimp Ngan" then planned to cheat and take Vietnamese women to Singapore and sell them for Ngan's brothel. For each woman sold, Hiep would be paid VND1 million (US$50).

Ngan then hired Ly Thanh Mong, 25, to receive the women that Hiep sold and take care of necessary documents and flights for these women to come to Singapore. Ngan paid Mong VND2 million ($100) per month.

In September 2009, Hiep promised twins Tran Thi Kim Ngoc and Tran Thi Kim Ngan, 19, that she had found a well-paying job for them at a restaurant in Singapore. Ngoc and Ngan, from Tay Ninh Province, agreed to go and were then sold to pimp Ngan's brothel.

They were later sent back to Viet Nam by Hiep and were required to find more women to send to Singapore.

Later in the month, Ngoc introduced another woman to Hiep. Unlike the others, she did not agree to work as a prostitute and told her family to buy her back for VND18 million ($900). She then denounced Hiep's trafficking ring to local police.

On February 4, police seized Mong and Ngan at Tan Son Nhat Airport in HCM City while they were trying to fly nine women to Singapore.

At the court Mong, Ngoc and Ngan were sentenced to six, four and three years in prison, respectively.

According to the General Department for Anti-crime Police, 140 cases of human trafficking were detected between August and October this year. The majority of the 1,300 victims were women, the department said. — VNS

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Building workers can refuse unsafe jobs

HA NOI — According to the Ministry of Construction's new regulations, workers can refuse to work in conditions that do not meet safety standards.

Specifically, if workers report unsafe conditions and do not receive responses, they can choose to stop working. The regulations also stipulate that they can resist work if not provided adequate protective equipment.

Construction workers are barred from assignments that involve work they are not trained to do. Contractors must keep workers safe at all costs, including taking injured workers to hospitals and reporting accidents to relevant authorities for investigation.

According to Truong Anh Tu, a construction supervisor of the private Ha Noi-based Acore 3D, workers are already refusing unsafe jobs. In fact, contractors already try to maintain safe construction sites.

He said if accidents occur, "Construction will be stopped and our prestige will be damaged. So, any safety suggestions raised by workers will be seriously considered to make necessary changes."

However, he also said that it was nearly impossible to give assignments in line with workers' trained skills given that a majority of country's construction workers are freelance seasonal workers with little or no training at all.

At smaller firms, workers are usually required to do multiple jobs.

The regulations will come into effect as of January 16 next year. — VNS

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Building Ministry orders revamp of all master plans

HA NOI — The Construction Ministry has ordered a total revision of construction master plans across the country to ensure better co-ordinated planning.

Approved construction master plans had been made for about 98 per cent of Viet Nam but their implementation had revealed numerous weaknesses, said Construction Minister Nguyen Hong Quan

But a ministerial document sent to people's committees identified a breakdown between construction master plans and local development goals, he said.

"Many investment projects were based only on industry planning and not construction planning," explained the minister.

The result was many disparities, including location, and heavy economic losses.

Some industrial zones and new urban precincts added to already approved masterplan transgressed provincial transport, electricity, water and environment infrastructure, he said.

Tourism

Most tourism sites lacked the construction planning.

"The major reason for this is the shortage of clear regulations for co-ordination between master plans," said the minister.

Socio-economic development planning was intangible but construction planning that linked tangible space with specific sizes was a tool to maintain urban development.

The ministry document sent to the people's committees required construction planning to now include urban and rural residential systems, industrial zones, tourism sites and infrastructure that accords with local socio-economic development.

Cushman&Wakefield, Viet Nam, general manager Andrew Peak said it was important that master plans included such infrastructure provisions as land for public transport.

He also agreed with the Construction Ministry's House Management and Real Estate Market deputy director Vu Xuan Thien that any changes in construction planning could affect real estate markets.

"Any changes in plans will have an impact on land values and building values," said the Cushman&Wake-field representative.

For example, Ha Noi's Cau Giay District had many on-going development projects because of plans to transfer some Government offices.

But the situation might be different if there were changes to the master plans, he said.

But Century Real Estate Joint-stock Company deputy general director Pham Thanh Hung said the revision of construction master plans would make little difference to the real estate market unless it was for places undergoing massive changes, such as Ha Tay which had been merged with Ha Noi. — VNS

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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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