A customer examines the content and usage information of a milk product in District 3. Customers have become increasingly worried about the quality of milk products they are buying. Ho Chi Minh City health authorities and the national quality control agency have traded accusations over the delay in informing the public about the false labeling of protein content in milk products.

The city’s health authorities knew of the discrepancies four months earlier, but only chose to announce it last week. Last Friday, the HCMC Institute of Hygiene and Public Health announced that 37 of the 99 milk samples tested had protein content up to 30 times lower than what was displayed on their labels. The announcement followed growing public concern after the suspension a day earlier of a local firm, Hung Lam Joint Stock Company, for selling five different milk products that had very low levels of protein. Thanh Nien has found that last October, the southern branch of the Vietnam Standard and Consumer Association (VINASTAS) had sent a report to HCMC’s Department of Health to warn about several milk products that had protein content much lower than indicated on the labels. Speaking with Thanh Nien Monday, leaders of both the health department and VINASTAS blamed each other for the delay in announcing the results. Health Department Director Nguyen Van Chau said upon receiving the VINASTAS report, city health authorities had launched inspections [into milk products] and reported back to VINASTAS last December. In the report, the department acknowledged that several dairy products had incorrect protein levels mentioned on their labels. LOW-PROTEIN MILK PRODUCTS Vinacali Co. Ltd.: Intellac milk (400 grams, 500 grams), Supermilk (400 grams), Intellac for malnourished (500 grams) Bich Co Enterprise: Powdered Milk (500 grams), “Ha Lan” powdered milk (500 grams), “Ha Lan” fat milk (500 grams), High-calcium and Nutrition powdered milk (500 grams) Thanh Ngoc Co. Ltd.: New Milk Powdered milk (500 grams), “Ha Lan” fat powdered milk. CMB Ltd. Co.: Gold Weightton powdered milk (400 grams) Hoang Ngoc Enterprise: Titifood powdered milk (400 grams) Hung Lam Joint Stock Company: Calcium Food Milk, Brain Nutrition Food Milk, Mama Food Milk, Height-gain Food Milk, Food Milk for thin people. Nhu Trang Company: Maylac powdered milk Tua Cuong Phat Company: Milk powder, Holland Gold, New Zealand, High Nutritious powdered milk. Dai Hoa Company: Calyx Canxi But Chau said his department could not be blamed for hushing up the test results. “We thought we had informed the public [about those faulty products] through their representative agency [VINASTAS],” Chau said. The head of VINASTAS’ southern office, Nguyen Nam Vinh, confirmed Monday that the city health department had sent the test results to his agency last December. But Vinh slammed the department for neglecting its duty. The department should have expanded its investigations and made public the test results by itself instead of passing the buck to VINASTAS, Vinh said. Thanh Nien found that the city’s health department had also failed to report the problem to the Ministry of Health. Many inspections by the HCMC Institute of Hygiene and Public Health last year had uncovered several low-protein milk products. But the institute only made public those test results last Friday. Institute head Le Hoang Ninh argued that different test results last year would not have stood up to legal scrutiny to penalize any company. The institute had to report back to the Ministry of Health for further action, he said. Experts have said some dairy firms mixed cheap milk materials to package with labels claiming false protein levels to sell at high prices. Such ingredients have a major percentage of fat, no vitamins and very little protein - less than 2 percent compared with the standard of between 11 and 15 percent set by the World Health Organization. Consumers wary After the dubious milk products were made public, consumers have become very anxious about choosing dairy items. Many consumers have even brought with them the list of products to avoid when shopping, a milk vendor in District 3 said. Duong Thi Quynh Trang, the external manager of the Big C supermarket chain, said the firm has withdrawn the blacklisted Dollac 2 product from circulation. Big C has also asked its milk suppliers to send back the test results of their products within 10 days, Trang said. Earlier delays In May 2007, the Health Department blacklisted 10 soy sauce makers whose products contained the carcinogen 3-MCPD. But media investigations later revealed the department had in fact been aware of the problem since 2001 and had discovered at least 20 tainted soy sauce brands in 2005 and 2006 that were never publicized. The press reports infuriated the public, prompting the HCMC Inspectorate to step into action. Nguyen Duc An, the then health department inspector chief was sacked in September 2007. Nguyen The Dung, the former department director, was transferred to another job while his deputy Le Truong Giang was reprimanded. Last month, the Ministry of Interior instructed the HCMC government to revoke the dismissal decision against An. The ministry said the city had flouted regulations by not setting up a panel to review An’s sacking. The ministry also found there were not enough grounds to penalize An for dereliction of duty in overseeing the withdrawal and destruction of 3- MCPD-tainted soy sauce products in 2005 and 2006. Reported by Thanh Nien staff

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The power to assess and ratify the environmental impact of new projects coming up in Ho Chi Minh City industrial zones may be transferred from the environmental regulator to zone authorities at the latter’s request.

Ngo Anh Tuan, deputy head of the HCMC Export Processing and Industrial Zones Authority (HEPZA), said his agency would soon send a request to the city People’s Committee. The Department of Natural Resources and Environment is currently entrusted with the task. Earlier, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment released a circular, effective from January 7, saying the management board of economic, industrial, export processing, and hi-tech zones can be allowed to evaluate and approve projects if they satisfy certain conditions. Tuan added that HEPZA would also ask the city administration for authority to approve investors’ environmental protection commitments which now invests in district-level people’s committees. Source: TBKTSG Online

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While some large textile and garment firms received enough orders for the first half of this year, smaller ones are still trying to get enough contracts to avoid layoffs, according to the Vietnam Textile and Garment Association Many workers in the garment and textile industry are expected to move from struggling small firms to larger ones as the economic downturn magnifies disparities in wages between the two categories, a union official said.

Vu Ngoc Quyen of the Trade Union of Garment and Textile Workers said while job-hopping is common in the industry, it was not a problem in the past thanks to small differences in salaries. Until six months ago, workers at small firms could do a lot of overtime work, meaning their total income was close to the wages paid by larger companies. But now, with the industry hit hard by the global economic turmoil, small businesses are struggling to maintain sales and their workers can no longer work overtime. With the gap in wages and bonuses gradually increasing, Quyen said it is likely that small companies would face a shortage of workers after Tet (Lunar New Year festival). Successful companies like Nha Be, Phong Phu and Viet Tien pay workers as much as VND2.6 million (US$148) a month on average while smaller firms pay around VND1.8 million ($103). Pham Xuan Hong, deputy chairman of the Vietnam Textile and Garment Association, said while some large firms received enough orders for the first half of this year, smaller ones are still trying to get enough contracts to avoid layoffs. The large companies will pay VND5-6 million as Tet bonuses while the smaller ones are likely to pay just a month’s wage or even less. A human resources manager at a garment and textile company employing 20,000 people, who wished to be unnamed, said his company recruited more than 500 workers in the last quarter of 2008, compared to around 90 a year earlier. But he said many workers applied to his company after their small enterprises closed down. His firm needs to employ 700 more, he said, admitting for the past several years it had been more than 1,500 workers short. But with supply expected to exceed demand, he said his company would focus on recruiting skilled workers after Tet. Tuan Nguyen Nghi, managing director of Nha Be Corp., said since the company has already received enough orders to remain busy for the first six months, recruitment would go on. Other companies’ layoffs give his the opportunity to hire experienced workers. Truong Lam Danh, deputy chairman of the HCMC Labor Union, said while many workers had lost their jobs recently because of the economic downturn, large companies like Viet Tien, Nha Be, Viet Hung and Viet Thinh regularly announce they are hiring. But the Vietnam Textile and Garment Association’s Hong warned: “Workers who want to keep their jobs at large companies or wish to work for them will have to concentrate on their skills since the sector is expected to face more problems.” Source: TBKTSG Online

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Hanoians buy food for Tet (Lunar New Year) holidays at street shops. From the making of several dishes to visiting relatives, Tet traditions have undergone a transformation.

As the main part of her Tet celebrations, Nguyen Thu Ha is in touch with some travel agents so she can take her family to the beautiful coastal city of Nha Trang for a holiday. For Ha, choosing an attractive place for her family to visit is the most interesting part of Tet preparations. As the 37-year-old chief accountant of a bank in Hanoi, she puts in long hours – as many as 12 – at the office every day, and she reckons her break is well-deserved. “My family wants to make use of the occasion to relax after one year of hard work. In addition, my son could learn swimming,” Ha says. She knows there is a world of difference between the way she prepares for Tet and what her mother used to do during her childhood. “My mother used to struggle to make some delicious food and get some new clothes for us every Tet. Now, we don’t have to worry about food, since meat and fish, which were on the dining table only at family parties or Tet during my childhood, have become a common part of our daily meals.” Vietnam's strong economic development has seen the emergence of middle class and high-income groups of people that can afford a luxurious lifestyle, which has spilled over into how they welcome Tet. Most of these people, especially in big cities like Hanoi, Hai Phong and Ho Chi Minh, no longer make the banh chung (square cakes made from glutinous rice, pork and green beans), lean pork paste and fruit jams during the Tet season. People choose blossoms trees in Hanoi to decorate their house during Tet Modernization means they have neither the time nor the inclination for such activities. Spending many hours at offices and factories leaves little time for cooking at home, and everything. Expensive imported items and locally-made food products that serve many budget levels are available in the market. From street vendors, groceries stores, and regional markets to plush upmarket trade centers, the options are plentiful if you have money. Already clogged with motorbikes and an increasing number of cars, streets in the cities are snarled on pre-Tet days as people rush to markets, supermarkets, trade centers and other shops. “The number of customers coming here during the Tet shopping season has increased many times over ordinary days. We have prepared more goods and mobilized more staff to serve them,” says Nguyet Anh, an employee of the Trang Tien Plaza in Hanoi. At a supermarket in the plaza, streams of customers with shopping carts loaded with foods, beverages, cosmetics and garments cram through its narrow doorways. “In my mother’s generation, cooking used to be one of their joys during Tet. Now, we don’t want to spend much time on it [cooking]. We want to spend Tet relaxing,” says nurse Nguyen Thi Hanh, 27, while choosing some semi-processed chicken. People today also spend more time decorating their houses with flowers and bonsai for Tet. Many have spent hundreds of dollars on bonsai plants and trees with beautiful shapes for the holiday, which falls on January 26 this year. People in the north have a tradition of displaying peach blossoms and kumquat trees while those in the south display ochna plants that bloom yellow flowers during Tet. This year, many people in the south have chosen peach blossoms and kumquat bonsai mainly grown in Hanoi and the northern provinces of Bac Giang and Hung Yen, as well as that of ochna plants grown in southern localities, says gardener Nguyen Duc Minh, as he waters trees pruned in the shapes of pyramids, dragons, phoenixes and even waterfalls. There are other changes in the way Tet is celebrated, including one indispensable activity, which is to visit relatives and not leave without eating or drinking. That custom is changing now. Instead of welcoming Tet at home, many people are choosing beaches, including Nha Trang, Phan Thiet, Phu Quoc and Tuan Chau, while others prefer to travel abroad, mainly to regional countries like China, Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia. Another Tet tradition that has changed a lot in recent years is the offering of gifts. Previously, Tet gifts were locally-produced wine bottles and boxes of jams as offerings to parents, relatives and bosses as a sign of affection and respect. Now, many people choose to buy expensive gifts for their superiors with some presents destined for officials worth thousands of dollars. Amidst all the changes, there is a constant. Every New Year is awaited with expectations and hopes of greater joy and prosperity in the coming year. Reported by Bao Anh

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A Ho Chi Minh City court Wednesday sentenced 24 defendants, including three Malaysians who are still on the run, for organizing and participating in illegal gambling.

Lim Leong Seng, Goh Ming Huat, and Chan Chee Sing, all from Malaysia, received five, four, and three years respectively for organizing gambling, the court ruled Wednesday. The Malaysian trio fled Vietnam after charges were laid last year and they were placed under house arrest. The Vietnamese police have been working with the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) but have not been able to locate them. Vietnamese Le Anh Tuan was jailed for three years, Vietnamese Le Thi Hong Nhung two and a half years, and Vietnamese-American Hua Quan Timmy six months and 22 days, also for organizing gambling, the court said. The other 18 Vietnamese defendants, found guilty of illegal gambling, received sentences ranging from one-year suspensions to two and a half years in jail. All 24 defendants were fined between VND10 million-50 million (US$572-2,860) each. According to the indictment, the six people charged with organizing gambling had connived to lure Vietnamese citizens to casinos at three luxury hotels in HCMC between April 2006 and May 2007. Vietnamese law prohibits Vietnamese citizens from gambling but allows hotels rated four-stars and above to operate casinos for people holding foreign passports. The police shut down the operation in May 2007 after raiding three clubs: De Palace Club at the Saigon Food Center in District 1, the Victoria Club at the Duxton Saigon Hotel in District 1, and the OV Club at the Equatorial Hotel in District 5. All of the clubs were run by Malaysian businessman Yap Kim San, who still hasn’t been charged. The court Wednesday also called for continued investigations into Yap’s role in the case. Reported by Le Nga

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The “notorious” Van Thanh 2 Bridge opened to traffic last Thursday Ho Chi Minh City residents will have a new vantage point to the Lunar New Year’s Eve firework displays when the Khanh Hoi Bridge opens to traffic a day earlier.

The new bridge will connect District 4’s Nguyen Tat Thanh Street with District 1’s Ton Duc Thang Street when it opens on January 24. At 167 meters long and 22 meters wide, the bridge will be able to handle 30-ton trucks and would meet the demand for transporting goods from HCMC’s Saigon River to southeastern provinces, said Vuong Hoang Thanh, deputy head of the East-West Highway and Water Environment Project Management Unit. The unit is tasked with overseeing construction of the bridge. Another bridge belonging to the East-West Highway project and linking districts 1 and 4, the Calmette Bridge, is also set to open next Tuesday, Thanh said. The new Calmette overpass includes an intersection of six streets. Two major sections from District 1’s Calmette Street and District 4’s Doan Van Bo Street are scheduled to be completed on Tuesday, while the remaining sections connecting to the East-West Highway and Thu Thiem underground tunnel will be completed by the year-end. Thanh said the commission of the two new bridges would significantly ease traffic congestion at the city center. ‘Notorious bridge’ also ready The controversy-mired Van Thanh 2 Bridge also opened to traffic last Thursday after being rebuilt for more than a year. The bridge, on Binh Thanh District’s Nguyen Huu Canh Street, is also expected to resolve traffic gridlocks from HCMC to neighboring provinces in a big way, an official said. After being put into operation in 2002, it was found soon after that the bridge was sinking on both sides. In 2007, the city approved a 10-month repair project costing VND141 billion (current US$8 million) to upgrade the road on both sides. The Tan Thuan Bridge 1 in District 4’s Nguyen Tat Thanh Street also opened to traffic last Thursday. Another bridge-opening in the offing is that of the Nguyen Van Cu Bridge over Ben Nghe Canal that connects districts 1, 4, 5 and 8. The section linking districts 1 and 5 with District 4 will open very shortly, while that connecting districts 4 and 8 is scheduled for completion soon after the Tet holidays. The bridge will ease traffic congestion on the Nguyen Tri Phuong, Y and Cha Va bridges. Reported by Phuong Thanh

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Workers at Saigon 2 Garment Company. Apparel makers anticipate a tough year ahead and want the government to give them a helping hand. The textile and garment industry is demanding government assistance to overcome the export hurdles posed by the recession.

At a meeting organized by the Vietnam National Textile and Garment Group (Vinatex) with Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Bui Xuan Khu in Ho Chi Minh City Wednesday, apparel exporters suggested that the government should consider introducing a package of three measures. The first is for assisting workers in businesses facing export difficulties or considering layoffs, Le Quoc An, chairman of the group and of the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association, said. He suggested spending 1 percent of the total garment export earnings. The second, worth VND5 trillion (US$294 million), is for subsidizing exporters’ bank credit. An said the rate offered by banks may have fallen to 12 percent recently but it is still too high at a time of recession. The third measure is for promoting the industry in the international market at a cost of VND50 billion ($2.94 million). Vietnam’s main apparel markets are the US, Japan and the EU. Khu assured them that the government would support the industry since it is a major foreign currency earner. Textiles, in fact, replaced crude oil as the top earner last year at $9.1 billion after the plunge in oil prices. The industry also created more jobs than the others, he said, adding his ministry would submit the package to the government for approval. Shrinking orders An said Vietnam’s apparel producers had less export orders than last year. Foreign businesses were affected the most though they have more orders than local producers, he said. Many of them cut jobs and closed factories because of the economic slump in key markets like the US, Japan, and the EU, he said. He forecast exports to fall 15 percent year-on-year in the first quarter. But he said it is difficult to set a target for the whole year since no one knows when the recession would end. Bui Van Tien, general director of Viet Tien Garment Corporation, said recessions occurred in every decade, adding firms should not worry too much about them. But they should restructure their business and train human resources, he said. The industry would recover soon if apparel producers focused on the home market in addition to their traditional export markets, he assured. Reported by Minh Quang

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The Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange moved lower Tuesday over growing concern about negative corporate earnings this year.

VN-Index lost 5.05 points, or 1.62 percent, to close at a 10-day low of 307.13. Of its 175 members, 26 gained and 113 declined. Trading remained quiet, with only 7.7 million shares being traded. “The outlook on corporate earnings is very gloomy, given the current economic situation,” Huynh Anh Tuan, chief executive officer of the Ho Chi Minh City-based SJC Securities, said. “Companies have started to release 2008 earnings and many of them have made losses or missed their profit targets. For those who managed to make some profit, it was because of the gains they made in the first half of 2008. “In addition, people also lost a lot of their confidence in the market after HSBC said the Vietnamese market is no longer investable for overseas investors. “Besides, almost half of January has passed but we are still not yet clear how and when the government is going to implement its US$6 billion stimulus package to boost the economy. So, the market has no momentum.” Dau Tu Chung Khoan (Securities investment) newspaper quoted Kim Long Securities Company Deputy General Director Pham Vinh Thanh as saying, “Companies with a strong cash flow and those not involved in finance are a good choice this year.” He added that petroleum, transport, technology and financial stocks would be his top picks when the market shows signs of recovery, without explaining his choices. How they fared Vinpearl (VPL) lost VND2,500, or 4.17 percent, to close at VND57,500. VFG Investment Joint Stock Company became a major shareholder in the resort operator after buying 5,045,000 shares, or a 5.05 percent stake last month, according to a report on the exchange’s website. Saigon Securities Inc. (SSI), the country’s leading brokerage, slipped VND1,100, or 3.63 percent, to VND29,200. ANZ Bank failed to buy around 1.4 million shares amid a “gloomy market and its low liquidity,” the exchange said on its website. ANZ now holds 18.35 percent in the Hanoi- based brokerage. Thu Duc Trading and Import Export Joint Stock Company (TMC) remained unchanged at VND21,500. The firm said on the exchange’s website that retail investor La Tang Duc bought 242,060 shares, or 6.05 percent, to become a major shareholder. Saigon Fishing Net Joint-Stock Company (SFN), a silk thread and fishing net producer, gained VND400, or 4.2 percent, its most in two weeks, to finish at VND9,900. The HCMC-based company will start buying back 100,000 shares from January 20, according to a stock exchange announcement. “The buyback volume is not huge, but given the daily trading volume of the shares, which is about several thousand a day, this buyback plan could move the stock,” Hoang Thach Lan, chief analyst at HCMC-based SME Securities Company, said. Reported by Hoang Uy

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An increase of less than 10 percent in retail electricity prices, as proposed by the Ministry of Industry and Trade, will not seriously affect production and daily life, Deputy Minister Do Huu Hao said Tuesday.

The impact of the proposed price hike on the economy and society had been carefully calculated, Hao said. In December, the ministry submitted to the government a proposal to raise retail power prices by less than 10 percent. Pham Manh Thang, head of the Electricity Regulatory of Vietnam, said the Ministry of Finance was assessing the proposal and the increase will be considered alongside the prices of coal and oil used for producing electricity. If the proposal is approved by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, the new retail power prices will take effect in late February, Thang said. The Ministry of Industry and Trade has proposed the first 50 kilowatt hours of electricity used by families each month be subsidized to minimize the effect of higher power prices on the nation’s poor The current average retail price in Vietnam is VND860 (5 US cents) per kilowatt hour, with power for production costing more than power for household use. Thang said the proposed electricity price increase was expected to wipe 0.05 to 0.07 of a percent off economic growth and push inflation up by 0.25 to 0.3 percent. Power and gasoline are the two products that determine the prices of almost all goods on the market, and both power and gasoline prices should not be raised at this juncture, Lao Dong (Labor) Newspaper quoted economist Dinh Son Hung as saying. Hung said an increase in power prices would undermine efforts to stimulate the economy this year in the face of a global economic slowdown. Nguyen Van Son of the Vietnam Standard and Consumers Association said local consumers would be unhappy with the price increase proposal. The proposal favored power producers and did not mention any efforts by the power industry to lower prices or anything about consumer rights, Son said. Hao said power prices were not being raised to help Electricity of Vietnam (EVN) offset its losses but to encourage investment in new generation capacity. The price increase was necessary to facilitate investment, Hao said, pointing out that electricity costs in Vietnam were lower than those in other Southeast Asian countries. State-owned EVN currently controls all power transmission grids and retail networks, including the Hanoi Electricity Company and Ho Chi Minh City Electricity Company. EVN had previously submitted a plan to the government proposing increases of up to 20 percent in the retail price of electricity. According to the proposal by the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the state will subsidize the first 50 kWh of electricity used by local residents each month to minimize the effect of the price hike on low-income families. Up to 2.5 million poor households in Vietnam use less than 50 kWh of electricity per month, Hao said. He also said from 2010 power prices will be adjusted in accordance with input costs. Hao said his ministry will coordinate with the Ministry of Finance in deciding power price adjustments of 5- 7 percent. Price changes of more than 7 percent will require approval from the prime minister. Vietnam, whose electricity capacity stands at some 15,000 megawatts now, is expected to increase capacity by 4,000MW a year by 2025. Meanwhile, the country now is out of sources for hydroelectricity plants, which need less investment than thermoelectricity or nuclear power plants. Vietnam’s relatively low electricity prices have attracted many steel, cement and chemical production technologies from other countries. Last year, Vietnam’s power demand jumped around 16 percent while supply only rose 12 percent, forcing the government to import electricity from China and rotate power outages across the country. Vietnam plans to generate about 83.3 billion kWh of power this year to support an economy forecast to grow by 6.5 percent. Reported by Ngan Anh – Xuan Toan

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Swiss and German institutes will help Vietnam train international marketing and export management experts in an attempt to improve the image of local businesses in the global market.

Switzerland-based European Institute of Foreign Trade and German Reutlingen University’s Export Academy will collaborate with TFF (Training For the Future), a Vietnamese business training school, to offer courses from April. A TFF official told Thanh Nien Daily Tuesday the 18-month courses, partly funded by the Swiss government, would offer essential knowledge about marketing and export skills in an international setting. Those who complete the courses will obtain masters degrees in international marketing and export management. Reported by Minh Quang

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At least 350 households at the 727 Tran Hung Dao apartment block in District 5 have refused to relocate, citing unsatisfactory compensation. The block is in imminent danger of collapsing. Unsatisfactory compensation and relocation plans are blamed as residents stay on.

Its foundation has sunk and cracks run up and down the walls as though they are ropes used to tie the building to the ground. Residents of the apartment block in Ho Chi Minh City’s District 5 know that their building is crumbling and on the brink of collapse, but they are staying put. The deadline for relocating the residents, so that the 727 Tran Hung Dao apartment block in District 5 could be demolished for a skyscraper to take its place, was April 30 this year. As with other similar projects, inadequate compensation and relocation plans have left residents angry and uncertain about their future. On December 10, the municipal administration issued another dispatch saying the eviction and site clearance of the apartment block, home to 535 households, must be completed by next March at the latest. But so far at least 350 households have declined to move, despite the fact that the block could collapse at any time. Under the relocation plan, each evicted resident would receive compensation of between VND7-8 million (US$412-471) per square meter depending on the floor they live. “The compensation fees for my apartment, covering an area of 25 square meters, would be just around VND200 million ($11,772). How can I buy a new house with that money?” asked a resident on the third floor. Nguyen Van Nha, the block’s deputy manager, pointed out another shortcoming hindering the relocation. As part of the plan, the block residents are set to be moved to the Nguyen Bieu apartment block in the same district. Since each apartment there is nearly double the size of their current residences, evicted residents are being asked to pay for the surplus area which costs between VND23-29 million ($1,350-1,700) per square meter. That means each evicted resident would have to pay an additional VND600 million (about $33,400) each for their new apartment, Nha said, saying this was another reason discouraging hundreds of households in the block from moving. Compensation disputes have also bogged down two other dilapidated apartment blocks in the city. In its December 10 dispatch, the city government mentioned that the buildings on 192 Nam Ky Khoi Nghia Street in District 3 and 289 Tran Hung Dao Street in District 1 will also have to be demolished by March 2009. But 15 households sharing the same walls with the 289 Tran Hung Dao apartment block in an adjacent alley have insisted on staying though the investor has offered to increase their compensation fees to VND90 million ($5,300) from VND69 million ($4,061) per square meter. The investor also promised to provide them with financial assistance of between VND350-450 million ($20,600-26,500) each. Recently, the District 1 government warned it would carry out compulsory eviction of those 15 households if they continued to defy the relocation directive. At the apartment on Nam Ky Khoi Nghia Street in District 3, two evicted households have lodged complaints about unsatisfactory compensation. THE MASS RELOCATION PLAN In a dispatch issued on December 10, the HCMC government said it would spend around VND1.78 trillion (US$104.4 million) for revamping dilapidated apartment buildings with around 2,000 households set for eviction. The Department of Construction is tasked with overseeing the demolition of 20 ramshackle apartment buildings between now and 2010 and ensuring evicted residents are properly housed in new homes. The apartment buildings at 289 Tran Hung Dao Street in District 1, 192 Nam Ky Khoi Nghia Street in District 3 and 727 Tran Hung Dao Street in District 5 will be the first to be demolished. After 2010, another 156 apartment buildings are set to be demolished and some 14,300 households resettled, the dispatch said. Reported by Tran Thanh Binh

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The Rach Mieu Bridge that connects Ben Tre and Tien Giang provinces is set to open on January 19 Several infrastructure projects in the southern region are set for completion this year and work has been expedited on construction sites to ensure they adhere to the schedule.

The Transport Ministry plans to inaugurate the Rach Mieu Bridge that connects Ben Tre and Tien Giang provinces on January 19. The VND1.4 trillion (US$80 million) suspension bridge, which has been under construction since 2002, is the country’s first Vietnamese-designed and built cable bridge crossing the Tien River. It measures 2.9 kilometers in length and 12 meters in width. The build-operate-transfer (BOT) project was financed to the tune of 58 percent by the government budget and the remaining 42 percent was invested by the Transport Ministry’s Civil Construction Engineering Corporation (Cienco) No.1, Cienco No. 5 and Cienco No. 6. Under the BOT model, ownership of an asset reverts to the government after a set period of time. In Ho Chi Minh City, the project to widen the Cong Ly Bridge that connects Phu Nhuan District’s Nguyen Van Troi Street and District 3’s Nam Ky Khoi Nghia Street, is expected to be completed by the year-end. The Cong Ly Bridge that links Phu Nhuan District’s Nguyen Van Troi Street and District 3’s Nam Ky Khoi Nghia Street, a major route in HCMC, will be completed by the end of 2009 The project includes construction of a 30-meter wide bridge and installation of underground cables for power, telephone and information lines. The contractor will complete paving the surface and sidewalks and planting trees by the second quarter. Several important bridges on the East-West Highway project are also scheduled for completion in 2009. The new Khanh Hoi Bridge will connect District 4’s Nguyen Tat Thanh Street with District 1’s Ton Duc Thang Street, instead of Ho Tung Mau Street as it did earlier. The new Calmette overpass includes an intersection of six streets at its center. Two major sections from District 1’s Calmette Street and District 4’s Hoang Dieu Street are scheduled to be completed before the Tet holidays, while the remaining sections connecting to the East-West Highway and Thu Thiem underground tunnel will be completed by the year-end. Construction of the Phu My Bridge connecting District 2 and District 7 is expected to be completed in September. The 2,031- meter bridge crossing the Saigon River will be the city’s longest, with an estimated traffic flow of around 100,000 vehicles daily. The bridge has a clearance of 45 meters for waterway traffic, allowing vessels of up to 30,000 tons to reach the city’s ports. The Nguyen Van Cu Bridge that connects District 1, District 4, District 5 and District 8 over Ben Nghe Canal will be completed by the first quarter of the year, says Director of the municipal Transport Department’s urban traffic management division No. 1, Le Quyet Thang. The bridge section connecting District 4 and District 8 is scheduled to complete soon after the Tet holidays. The bridge will ease traffic congestion on the Nguyen Tri Phuong, Y and Cha Va bridges, he said. Eighty percent of the construction of the HCMC–Trung Luong Highway, which runs through Long An and Tien Giang provinces, has been completed. The highway will open to traffic in mid-2009 on the Tan Tao-Cho Dem-Trung Luong section. The remaining sections that connect Binh Thuan Street to Cho Dem in HCMC will be completed by the year-end. The 62-kilometer highway will allow speed limits of up to 120 kilometer per hour (kph) on one 40- kilometer stretch and up to 80 kph on the remaining part. This highway is the first one in southern provinces that has been designed and constructed by local engineers. Source: TN, Agencies

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Early birds at the Hanoi tax office arrive to get a slot number for submitting applications for the permanent tax code. The Personal Income Tax Law will take effect next Thursday as scheduled but the Party Politburo will take the final decision on how it will be enforced, the vice speaker of the Vietnamese parliament said Saturday.

There have been calls for deferment of the law because of its possible impacts in the context of an economic slowdown when the need of the government is to stimulate investment and boost consumer spending. The law stipulates that the taxable income threshold is VND4 million ($238) monthly for both locals and foreigners working in Vietnam, with taxpayers allowed deductions of VND1.6 million (US$95) for each dependent. National Assembly (NA) deputy chairman Nguyen Duc Kien said that the government and the NA would refer three proposals on implementing the law to the Politburo, the decision-making committee of the Communist Party, to make a final decision. Under the first proposal, enforcement of the law will be postponed until July 2009 or January 2010. During that time, the ordinance on high-income people would still take effect but grant a 30 percent reduction. Under the ordinance, people whose monthly income exceeds VND5 million have to pay income tax without any deduction for dependents. Under the second proposal, a one-year waiver will be granted for incomes on capital gains and stock market transactions as well as those on the transfer of contributed capital and interest received on loans. A 30 percent personal income one-year tax cut for households and individuals who had been subjected to the corporate tax earlier is also included in this proposal. The third proposal made by the NA has all taxpayers having their tax payment deferred until next October when the NA convenes its year-end session, for further decisions. But the NA Standing Committee unanimously decided Saturday that the Personal Income Tax law would take effect on January 1, 2009 as approved at its plenary session in November last year. Tong Thi Phong, another NA deputy chair, also said it was unnecessary to convene an extraordinary session to decide upon this issue. The five-day session of the NA Standing Committee wrapped up Saturday in Hanoi. Rush for tax code applications By 4 a.m. on Friday, people were already queuing up at the Hanoi tax office, braving the chilly weather to submit applications to obtain tax codes. Nguyen Thanh Loc, an employee of a Hanoi-based transport and forwarding company, said he had to get up half an hour earlier so that he could be the first to hand in the applications for his firm. To his chagrin, however, he received slot number 28, meaning he could have to wait until the afternoon to have the applications processed. Pham The Dung, who arrived at the tax agency on behalf of an animal feed company, said his lot number was 34 despite the fact that he had come at 5a.m. Both Loc and Dung told Thanh Nien they had to come early because they hadn’t been served during the previous days because of the large crowds. Not as lucky as Loc or Dung, Linh, who represents the Hanoi Natural Science University, said she was not expecting her documents to be processed on that day because she arrived at the office only at 7:15 a.m. “I might as well come tomorrow,” Linh said. Every organization or company is required to hand in their applications by the end of this month so that their personnel are granted a permanent tax code. Each organization has deputed its representatives to carry hundreds of documents to the tax agency where the personnel are understaffed, leading to an overload. Many people have opted to come very early to pick up their slot numbers. Thanh Nien found a person at 3:30 a.m. on Thursday. But many people have complained about the way the Hanoi tax agency has handled their applications, saying it had used only two out of 10 counters to receive them. Only 32 firms were able to submit their documentation in a morning session, they said. Thanh Nien found that there was considerable pushing and shoving among applicants to get to the counter early. The tax office was asking applicants to start from scratch the next day if their paperwork was not accepted within the day, said Nguyen Xuan Hoang, an Amway company employee. Many people have resorted to staying in the queue no matter how hungry and thirsty they were, applicants said. Thanh Nien could not contact senior officials of the Hanoi tax office on Friday for a comment. Reported by Thanh Nien staff

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An American-Korean consulting team signed Friday a nearly-US$6-million contract with the Vietnamese government to develop a master construction plan for the capital city of Hanoi to 2030, with a vision to 2050.

The team, which comprises experts from the US Perkins Eastman and Korea’s Posco E&C and Jina, is expected to submit their draft plan to Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung for approval in June 2010 at the latest. They promised to preserve Hanoi’s 1,000-year-old characteristics in the planning. “The contract is of historical significance as it relates closely to the capital city’s future growth,” Deputy Chairman of Hanoi’s People Committee Phi Thai Binh said at Friday’s signing ceremony. Sub-contractors in the project include the Institute for Architecture, Urban Planning and Rural Development of the Construction Ministry, the Hanoi Construction Planning Institute and other local consultant units. The city officials want Hanoi to develop sustainably as the national political, administrative, cultural, scientific, educational and economic and international trade center in the 21st century. At present, the capital covers a land area of 3,344 square kilometers and has a population of more than six million people. Source: VNA

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