Authorities in Ho Chi Minh have announced their proposal to develop underground urban areas at three major locations across the metropolis.
The underground spaces are expected to be constructed under the downtown area, which is about 930 hectares, Tan Son Nhat International Airport, and Thu Thiem New Urban Area, Nguyen Thanh Nha, director of the municipal Department of Planning and Architecture, said during a meeting on Thursday.
Detailed plans will first be set up for the 930-hectare downtown area and the Thu Thiem zone, Nha continued.
According to the proposed scheme, the underground space is divided into five layers depending on depth.
The city’s technical infrastructure is situated on the first layer, which is from 0.5 to 3.5 meters beneath the surface.
Public constructions and trade and service centers will also be built on the first as well as the second layer, which is from 3.5 to 10 meters deep.
The third level, between 10 and 25 meters underneath, will be reserved for parking basements.
The metro system will be on the fourth level, from 25 to 40 meters deep, and the fifth, which is over 40 meters deep.
Competent agencies will evaluate the geological and hydrological features, conditions of the constructions above the ground, and define the boundaries to prepare for the establishment of these underground areas.
Along with the development of the metro system as well as multiple constructions beneath the ground, the management, connection, and exploitation of underground areas across the city have become more important than ever, according to the Department of Planning and Architecture.
One of the challenges the plan is facing is that data regarding the use of underground spaces, especially technical infrastructure, is being scattered across multiple agencies, said Vo Kim Cuong, a local architect.
Accordingly, the municipal Department of Transport currently manages such facilities as urban railroads, road tunnels, drainage and sewer systems, and water supply networks.
The Department of Industry and Trade is supervising the underground power network; the Department of Information and Communications is in charge of the underground telecom system.
Information regarding these types of technical infrastructure should be kept in one place, experts advised.
In addition, development plans of underground areas must be in sync with those of areas above the ground, said Le Hong Quang, deputy director of the city’s Urban Planning Institute.
Considered a country with great potential for solar and wind power, Vietnam continues to be one of the 12 ‘hotspots’ in the globe for coal-fired power development.
The global coal-fired power plant monitoring system’s updates on March 22 showed that the indicators in thermal power capacity, including the planning, construction and completion phases, continued declining significantly in 2017.
The decline is attributed to Chinese policies on tightening coal-fired power plant control and India’s decision to cut financing of coal power projects. The capacity expansion in other countries has slowed down to 22-29 percent from 41-73 percent two years ago.
Meanwhile, more old coal-fired plants have been shut down with 206,000 MW cut in 2009-2017. A report shows that 290,130 MW coal-fired power plants have been running for more than 39 years, the average life expectancy, and the figure would be 315,580 MW.
It is expected that by 2022, the number of old plants to be shut down would be higher than the number of plants to become operational. This will be the beginning of the period of coal-fired power development decline.
In India, the renewable power price has decreased by 50 percent in the last two years because of higher capacity. Because of financing problems, there is no electricity sale contract for 16 GW of coal-fired power, while 17 GW has been frozen at construction sites.
In the US, as of 2017, 266 coal-fired power plants have stopped operation or committed to stop operation.
Since 2015, more than 700 organizations from 76 countries have committed to withdraw investments from projects related to fossil fuel, totaling $5.5 trillion, and 58,000 individuals committed to withdraw $5.2 billion worth of capital.
The fourth survey report by Greenpeace, Sierra Club and CoalSwarm showed that Vietnam is one of 12 hot spots for the globe’s coal-fired thermopower development. No new plant was built in 2017, but many projects were proposed.
Under the seventh power development program released in 2016, Vietnam had 12,100 MW announced, 15,040 MW to be licensed, 8,750 MW licensed and 10,635 MW under construction.
A report from GreenID in 2017 showed that most projects used foreign financing, mostly from China, Japan and South Korea.
Japan had three projects listed among top 10 investment projects in Vietnam in 2017, including two coal-fired power projects, namely Nghi Son 2 ($2.793 billion) and Van Phong ($2.581 billion).
According to Takimoto Koji from JETRO office in HCMC, some Japanese investors came to Vietnam to seek opportunities to invest in renewable energy. However, the projects were unattractive to investors because of the low electricity pricing policy.
Relaxing its visa policy could be Vietnam’s ‘magic wand’ to attract more foreign visitors and transform itself into a top regional and global destination, experts say.
Nearly 13 million foreign tourists visited Vietnam in 2017, a year-on-year growth rate of almost 30 percent.
Experts attribute the remarkable growth to the country’s visa waiver program for citizens from five European countries – Germany, France, the UK, Italy, and Spain.
First launched in July 2015, the visa-free policy immediately boosted tourism from these countries by 13.8-29 percent over the following year.
The yearly growth rate was maintained at levels between six and 20 percent in 2017.
“Such growth is rare if not unprecedented, especially for tourists from countries as geographically distant from Vietnam as Western Europe,” said Nguyen Van Tuan, director of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism.
“It shows that the visa waiver program positively impacted Vietnam’s tourism.”
Since Vietnam implemented a visa-free policy for Japanese passport holders in July 2004, the number of annual tourists from Japan has increased threefold, from 267,000 in 2004 to nearly 800,000 in 2017.
Japan is now Vietnam’s third-largest market for foreign tourists.
The numer of visitors from South Korea saw a tenfold rise from 233,000 in 2004 to more than 2.4 million in 2017, following the introduction of a visa waiver program for Korean citizens in 2004.
Similar results were seen for visa exemptions given to Danish, Norwegian, Finnish, and Swedish nationals in 2005 and Russian nationals in 2009.
Foreign tourists buy tickets for a cable car service to Fansipan Mountain, Vietnam’s highest peak, in Lao Cai Province, northern Vietnam. Photo: Sun Group
“The fee for a single-entry tourist visa to Vietnam is currently US$25, a minimal fee compared to how much a tourist spends during their stay,” said Nguyen Thi Huyen, CEO of local tour operator Vietrantour.
“A tourist from Europe spends an average of $100-130 a day, and they tend to stay in the country for seven to ten days. It benefits the community by boosting the GDP and creating jobs for locals.”
Despite the benefits, Vietnam only offers visa exemptions for citizens from 23 countries and territories as of April 2018.
In comparison, other popular tourist destinations in Southeast Asia, such as Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines, have visa waiver policies for between 160 and 169 countries, even though not all of them hold bilateral visa waiver agreements.
Vietnam’s e-visa and visa-on-arrival policies are also considered less competitive than emerging regional markets such as Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar.
Tour operators complain about the fact that some visa waiver programs, such as the one for citizens from five Western European countries, need to be renewed yearly, leaving travel agencies walking a thin line when targeting those markets.
These drawbacks contribute to Vietnam’s rank of 116 out of 136 countries in terms of visa requirements, according to a 2017 tourism competitiveness report published by the World Economic Forum.
“For tourists from developed countries, what troubles them is not the visa fee but the arduous process of applying for a visa,” said Dr. Luong Hoai Nam, deputy general director of Vietstar Airlines.
Vietnam reported tourism revenue of VND510 trillion ($22.36 billion) last year, a much larger number than the revenues it generated from visa fees, Nam said, citing statistics from the tourism administration.
With more relaxed visa policies, Vietnam’s tourist industry could be freed from its chains and become a popular destination, capable of competing with others in the region, experts say.
Two foreign tourists visit Fansipan Mountain, Vietnam’s highest peak, in Lao Cai Province, northern Vietnam. Photo: Sun Group
Even though the State Professorship Council announced that the number of candidates meeting standards for the title of professor in 2017 was twice as many as the year before, educators say that Vietnam still lacks professors.
An MOET (Ministry of Education & Training) report shows that by the end of 2016, Vietnam had over 11,000 professors and associate professors. In 2017, 1,226 candidates were recognized as meeting standards for professorships.
However, only one-third of professors and associate professors now work for universities, which means that each university has only 20 professors or associate professors. The ratio to the total number of university instructors is also low, 7 percent in 2017.
Hanoi National University is leading in the country in the number of internationally published scientific articles. According to the Web of Science, the university has 405 professors and associate professors, accounting for 28 percent of total lecturers, much higher than the average level, but modest compared to many other countries.
MIT in the US, for example, has 605 professors, accounting for half of total lecturers. The ratio is 33 percent for Lincoln, a medium-tier school in New Zealand.
Le Viet Khuyen, former director of the MOET Higher Education Department, said Vietnam has numerous professors and associate professors, but has few “knowledge transmitters”.
The State Professorship Council denied that Vietnam has too many professors, saying that the ratio of professors remains modest.
Professors’ research
The number of internationally published scientific articles in 2017 was about 5,000, a slight increase of 17 percent in comparison with the year before, while the number of professors and associate professors increased sharply by 60 percent.
In the last three years, only four Vietnamese scientists have been listed among the top one percent of the world’s most influential scientists.
Of the four scientists, only Nguyen Xuan Hung of the HCM City University of Technology is working as a lecturer and researcher in Vietnam. Hung is now a PhD and associate professor.
According to the Web of Science, each Vietnamese professor or associate professor had an average of 0.3 scientific research works each year published in ISI/Scopus journal.
Hanoi National University had 540 published articles in 2016-2017. This means that each professor and associate professor had 1.3 scientific research works published, lower than the expected four to six articles for professors and three for associate professors.
In Vietnam, professors/associate professors, after the appointment, will hold the titles for life.
A park in the northern Vietnamese province of Cao Bang has been recognized as a UNESCO Global Geopark.
The Executive Board of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) gave the title to the Non Nuoc Cao Bang Geopark during their 204th meeting in Paris on Thursday.
Non Nuoc Cao Bang is Vietnam’s second park to be recognized as a UNESCO Global Geopark, joining the ranks of the Dong Van Karst Plateau in the northern province of Ha Giang.
Located about 300 kilometers from Hanoi, the 3,000-square-meter park is home to fossils, ocean sediment, volcanic rocks, minerals, and karst landscapes which offer researchers insight into more than 500 million years of Earth’s history.
The park is also known for its rich biodiversity, including hundreds of species of fauna and flora.
Tangible and intangible cultural heritage sites are scattered throughout the park, particularly Pac Bo, where late President Ho Chi Minh lived and worked for several years and the Tran Hung Dao Forest, where the Vietnam Propaganda Liberation Army (the predecessor of the Vietnam People’s Army) was established.
It is also home to Ban Gioc, the world’s fourth-largest cross-border natural falls.
Vietnam’s Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Le Hoai Trung attends the UNESCO meeting in Paris on April 12, 2018.
Photo: Ministry of Foreign Affairs
According to Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Le Hoai Trung, the title is UNESCO’s recognition of diverse landscapes and the spiritual cultural values of the Non Nuoc Cao Bang area.
It will also help the province boost sustainable socio-economic development and improve local living standards, Trung added.
Authorities in Cao Bang Province pledged to continue assuring the sustainable conservation and development of the Non Nuoc Cao Bang Global Geopark in conjunction with the province’s socio-economic development.
UNESCO Global Geoparks are single, unified geographical areas where sites and landscapes of international geological significance are managed with a holistic concept of protection, education, and sustainable development.
There are currently 127 UNESCO Global Geoparks across 35 countries.
Non Nuoc Cao Bang was established in 2015.
In November 2016, local authorities submitted a dossier to UNESCO for the recognition.
A UNESCO survey team visited the province in July 2017 to assess the park’s values and conservation work.
Vietnam’s automation-savvy firms will be helped to establish international networks and adopt the last technologies.
Industry 4.0 is nearing and should provide a platform for Vietnamese businesses to increase productivity to meet consumer demands, the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) said at a conference in Hanoi on Thursday.
Themed, Internet of Things – Robotics – Artificial Intelligence, the event was co-organized by the VCCI and Taiwanese tech corporation Solomon with the aim of pointing out what the fourth industrial revolution offers Vietnamese companies.
“This new wave of technology will help firms raise production, innovate their products and services, and reduce costs,” said Nguyen Quang Vinh, general secretary of the VCCI.
Vinh said the VCCI is planning to start working with local businesses to provide them with consultancy and connect them with foreign firms.
The VCCI is trying to increase local awareness of Industry 4.0 so that domestic firms can take advantage of automation and data exchange in manufacturing technologies.
A VCCI working group has already conducted initial studies on the impacts of technological advancements on productivity across various sectors.
It found that production and automation, transportation, finance and banking, education, healthcare and agriculture are major domains influenced by new technologies.
The conference offered high-tech solutions for businesses, including a smart pick and drop system based on artificial intelligence and 3D imaging from Solomon.
Solomon’s technical director, Nguyen Xuan Loc, stated that 4.0 solutions would allow his company to cut production costs.
The company said that the event would open up cooperation opportunities in the Vietnamese market as it expands into Southeast Asia from its traditional Taiwanese and Chinese strongholds.
At the event, Dao Ngoc Chien, deputy director general of Advanced Technology at the Ministry of Science and Technology, also asserted that the ministry’s policies would help local businesses benefit from the revolution and apply 4.0 innovations in practice.
But residents say what they need is a city that does not flood so easily with less traffic and trash on the streets.
Ho Chi Minh City is planning to transform three of its eastern districts into “innovative urban areas” as part of a master plan to become a “smart city” by 2020.
The plan, which was rolled out last year, promises a bright future for both local residents and businesses, officials said.
The areas will be developed at the hi-tech park in District 9, the university precinct in Thu Duc District and the new urban area and financial center on the Thu Thiem Peninsula in District 2.
“Once in shape, these areas will be the launch pad for the city’s fourth industrial revolution,” deputy chairman Tran Vinh Tuyen told a conference on Thursday.
If the city fails to connect these three districts, it will be unable to turn startup ideas into reality, which would be a huge waste of public assets, the city’s Party chief Nguyen Thien Nhan said.
Authorities in charge of these new innovative areas should act as role models and ensure transparency through e-governance to stop businesses from being hassled by state officials.
Traffic infrastructure should also be “smart” and environmental protection should be taken into serious account, he said.
“This will be Vietnam’s Silicon Valley,” Le Van Thanh from the HCMC Institute for Development Studies said at the event.
It will gather the most advanced technologies and be home to the largest university research centers in Vietnam. Investment for these areas will come from the city’s budget and private and foreign investment, he said.
Professor Phan Van Truong, an expert in urban economics, planning and international negotiations, said he agreed that the eastern part of the city had potential for future development, but in order to make this plan work, the city had to start with the basics, namely traffic infrastructure.
Urban areas in the city’s downtown are currently facing major traffic problems, with people taking over the sidewalks and the streets looking a mess most of the time.
For the innovative urban areas, he suggested the city should give priority to pedestrians, offer free bus services and ban all cars and motorbikes. Two metro lines are under construction in the areas in question, but it is unclear when they will be completed.
Under the new plan, locals and businesses will be able to complete administrative procedures online instead of wasting time in government offices waiting for the final seal of approval.
The plan also promises “advanced tools” for better management that will prevent state officials from causing problems for residents and businesses.
The same solution will be applied in public hospitals, allowing patients to book appointments and services online.
Despite these promises of a bright future, locals don’t seem to be that enthused.
Most VnExpress readers commented that the plan is macroscopic and unfeasible, saying what they need now is a city that does not flood so easily with less traffic and trash on the streets.
Tuyen said at the meeting that the city will learn from residents’ feedback and be proactive rather than just trying to fix existing problems.
One woman in Ho Chi Minh City has spent the past three years making countless sacrifices to save dozens of homeless animals.
Tran Uyen Nhu looks after more than 85 dogs and 45 cats in two home-based facilities in the southern metropolis.
The 27-year-old woman is a key member of the Saigon Time Dog and Cat Rescue, a group established to care for stray cats and dogs.
The group’s current three-member roster was whittled from a much larger group that just could not handle the full-time commitment of caring for needy animals.
By Nhu’s estimation, the monthly cost of feeding and nursing the animals varies between VND10-15 million (US$439-658).
That money comes from a combination of the income Nhu earns as a wedding photographer and donations.
The group’s three members all share the responsibility of caring for their ‘babies,’ taking turns to prepare the eight kilograms of rice needed each day to feed the animals, washing them, and cleaning their small iron cages.
Tran Uyen Nhu cleans a dog cage. Photo: Tuoi Tre
Khanh prepares food for rescued cats and dogs. Photo: Tuoi Tre
Nhu and her team even go as far as giving the animals cute names, such as Cat Tuong (‘Good Luck’), Dong Tao, Dom (‘Spotted’), and Nam (‘Fungus’), each name specifically chosen to fit the animals’ distinctive features or as a reference to the situation in which they were found.
All it takes is the mention of one of the animal’s names for Nhu to recall the life story of her ‘babies.’
Before being found and taken in, many of the cats and dogs cared for by the Saigon Time crew wandered the streets, surviving off scraps of garbage, and living with disabilities such as serious injury, blindness, and muscle atrophy in the hind legs.
“There are many difficulties, especially when I don’t have enough money to feed them. In certain circumstances, when we have no money and aren’t receiving financial donations, we’re forced to ask our parents for help,” she said.
Animals with severe injuries or diseases must be taken to a vet before they can be moved to one of Saigon Time’s shelter facilities.
The bills for their treatments often run as high as VND50 million ($2,193).
The most memorable rescue, Nhu recalls, was when she and another member traveled more than 200 kilometers to Ca Mau – the southernmost Vietnamese province – to help a pair of old dogs sold by their owner to a slaughterhouse.
“As soon as we got the news, we rushed there on our motorcycle. We drove at night and depended on Google Maps for directions. Luckily, we were able to save the dogs,” she said.
Nhu and her boyfriend of ten years, Khanh, had intended to celebrate a wedding last year, but instead chose put their savings toward caring for the animals.
They say looking after the cats and dogs has only brought them closer together.
A dog rescued by Tran Uyen Nhu. Photo: Tuoi Tre
Two of Tran Uyen Nhu’s rescued dogs. Photo: Tuoi Tre
Tran Uyen Nhu and Khanh prepare food for their dogs and cats. Photo: Tuoi Tre
Two of Tran Uyen Nhu’s rescued dogs. Photo: Tuoi Tre
Tran Uyen Nhu and one of the dogs. Photo: Tuoi Tre
Tran Uyen Nhu surrounded by her dogs. Photo: Tuoi Tre
The emergence of Superdry Plc., a British international clothing company, may create competition among international fashion brands in Vietnam and hinder their plans to continue expanding in the country.
Superdry fires first shot in Vietnam
On April 21, Superdry will launch its first store in Trang Tien Plaza, one of the most crowed shopping centres in Hanoi, marking its first appearance in Vietnam in general and Hanoi in particular.
The store will showcase the latest menswear, women’s clothing, footwear, undergarment, and accessories product lines, as well as products for kids at competitive prices.
Along with casual clothing products, Superdry will introduce customers other products, including accessories, perfume, and sportswear.
On this occasion, Superdry will display its latest perfume collection called “Superdry SS18,” which inspired by the summer of the 1990s on the Italian seaside.
Superdry is an exciting contemporary brand which focuses on high-quality products that fuse vintage Americana and Japanese-inspired graphics with a British style.
They are characterised by quality fabrics, authentic vintage washes, unique detailing, world leading hand-drawn graphics, and tailored fits with diverse styling. Such distinctiveness has gained the brand exclusive appeal as well as an international celebrity following.
Heating up competition
Superdry Store shop in Dubai Mall Dubai United Arab Emirates
Once it officially enters the Vietnamese market, Superdry may have to compete with Zara because both fashion brands focus on young people and adults with competive prices, with Zara’s average price being $48 (edited.com) and Superdry’s $200 at most (superdry.com).
Furthermore, these two fashion stores are located in the centre of Hanoi—with Zara in Vincom Ba Trieu in Hai Ba Trung district and Superdry in Trang Tien Plaza in Hoan Kiem district. This will lead to consumers picking between Zara and Superdry when deciding on their shopping destinations.
Zara came to Vietnam last September by opening its first, 2,400sq.m store at Vincom Dong Khoi, Ho Chi Minh City. The store reportedly achieved sales of VND5.5 billion ($246,000) on its first day. Following the success of the store in Ho Chi Minh City, on November 11, Zara launched its store in Vincom Ba Trieu, marking its second store in Vietnam.
H&M’s first store was opened on September 9, 2017 in Vincom Dong Khoi, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, a two-storey 2,200sq.m flagship unit. According to the brand’s representative, the debut witnessed a record number of 4,000 customers queuing up for the opening and a total of 10,000 customers visiting on the opening day.
On November 12, the H&M fashion store in Hanoi welcomed more than 2,000 visitors and shoppers to celebrate its first official opening day.
Both Zara and H&M had impressive openings in Vietnam, however, there has been no official information about their business results in Vietnam alone, excluding bleak performance on global markets.
Notably, according to newswire Bloomberg, Zara’s turnover in 2017 dropped significantly, reporting the lowest profitability during the past ten years.
Specifically, Zara’s gross margin narrowed to 53.6 per cent in 12 months through January due to the USD exchange rate. Sales in the second half of 2017 increased to 5 per cent, the lowest rate over the past three years.
Similarly, H&M on March 27 also announced low global revenue, with high amounts of stockpiles worth $4 billion, equivalent to 17.6 per cent of its turnover in this year’s first quarter, while profit as at a 16-year low. As of this February, H&M’s net profit reduced to 44 per cent on-year, equivalent to $167.4 million.
During last year’s announcement of Zara’s turnover, chairman of Inditex (owner of Zara) Paolo Isla said that he plans to open 93 stores in five markets, including Vietnam and New Zealand, upgrading the total number of stores to 7,292.
In early 2018, H&M also opened its third store in Ho Chi Minh City, suggesting its two previous stores have been successful.
In addition, H&M announced its plan to open 430 more stores globally and mainly focus on five markets, including Vietnam, Kazakhstan, Colombia, Iceland, and Georgia.
A high school student in Ho Chi Minh City is dead after jumping off the roof of his school, leaving behind a suicide note blaming his decision on the heavy burden he felt to achieve academic success.
The police bureau in Tan Binh District confirmed on Wednesday afternoon that a student at Nguyen Khuyen High School had committed suicide.
The young boy was identified as H.T.C., 16, from the Central Highlands province of Dak Lak, a boarding student in class 10E.
At around 5:15 am on April 10, Nguyen Khuyen High School students were performing a morning exercise routine when two teachers spotted C. standing on the roof of a four-story building on campus.
The teachers ask C. to come back inside and asked two of his classmates to assist in the effort.
One of the classmates climbed on the roof in an attempt to convince C. to reconsider jumping.
However, C. remained silent. Without warning, he smiled, cried, and ran off the building.
The boy was admitted to the My Duc General Hospital in Tan Binh at around 6:50 am that same day, but doctors stated he was already dead on arrival.
Police officers later arrived at the school to collect statements and carry out an investigation.
Initial reports state that C. had left behind a suicide note sharing that he had been under enormous pressure from schoolwork.
His family wanted him to achieve high scores in order to be a member of the best class in the school.
Vietnam has got better connected with other countries in the Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS) thanks to a wide range of projects on transport infrastructure development conducted within this cooperation framework.
Vietnam is the only country in the GMS that has participated in all three economic corridors. They include the north-south corridor that connects Vietnam with China, the east-west to link Thua Thien-Hue province and Da Nang city in the central region with Laos and all the way to Thailand and Myanmar and finally the southern one bridging HCM City with Phnom Penh and Bangkok.
According to Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Transport Le Dinh Tho, with financial aid from sponsors, especially the Asian Development Bank (ADB), and concerted efforts, Vietnam has been completing works within these important connectivity corridors. Connecting with China, Vietnam put the Kunming – Lao Cai – Hanoi – Hai Phong expressway into use in December 2015.
Notably, the Hanoi – Lao Cai expressway with a total length of 264 km and investment of US$1.2 billion sourced from the ADB was considered a strategic part of the Kunming – Lao Cai – Hanoi – Hai Phong road corridor under the cooperation programme between the six GMS countries, namely Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Myanmar and China.
The expressway, the longest of its kind in Vietnam, was put into operation in September 2014 as part of the North – South Economic Corridor (NSEC), helping reduce travel time between Hanoi and the northern border province of Lao Cai from seven to three hours and facilitating the transport of goods.
It is not only important to Vietnam but also the whole GMS region by changing the economic panorama of localities in northern Vietnam and southern China through enhancing transport connectivity, trade exchanges, investment and tourism cooperation.
The Nanning – Lang Son – Hanoi – Hai Phong and Hai Phong – Ha Long – Van Don – Mong Cai – Pingxiang expressways are set to become operational before 2020.
The East-West Economic Corridor (EWEC) features Da Nang Port – Dong Ha (along National Road No.1) – Lao Bao International Border Gate – National Road No. 9 of Laos – Thailand – Dawai Port of Myanmar route with a total length of 1,450 km. This is an important corridor that helps shorten road travel time from the Pacific Ocean to the Indian Ocean to three hours.
Another route in the east-west corridor running along National Road 217, funded by the ADB, will be completed soon.
On the basis of the east-west corridor linking the Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean, Vietnam and Laos have put forth an initiative to build another corridor from Myanmar to Laos via Thailand, running along Paksan (Laos) – Thanh Thuy International Border Gate – Vinh (Vietnam’s Nghe An province) section to Vung Ang Port in the central province of Ha Tinh. It is a branch of the Hanoi – Vientiane expressway.
To connect with Cambodia, the Southern Economic Corridor (Southern Coastal Corridor – SCC) has been built with the ADB’s support. Vietnam and Cambodia have signed an agreement on accelerating the construction of the 180-km Ho Chi Minh City – Phnom Penh expressway. The route runs from Ho Chi Minh City through Cai Mep – Thi Vai Port to Phnom Penh and then to Thailand before joining the SCC.
Transport infrastructure development a priority of Vietnam
Addressing a session on infrastructure development and financing as part of the GMS Business Summit in Hanoi on March 30, Vietnamese Minister of Transport Nguyen Van The said infrastructure plays an important role in socio-economic development of a nation and infrastructure development is a priority of many developing countries, including Vietnam.
Vietnamese Minister of Transport Nguyen Van The addresses a session on infrastructure development and financing as part of the GMS Business Summit in Hanoi on March 30.
In recent years, the Vietnamese Government has spent about 9%-10% of its annual GDP on transport, energy, telecommunications and water infrastructure, he said.
However, the transport infrastructure system in Vietnam is still small in terms of scale with asynchronous connections. The country has only 756 kilometres of expressway while the railway system is out-of-date.
According to the minister, Vietnam plans to step up development of high-quality transport infrastructure to spur its socio-economic growth. It will continue completing its expressway system. Between now and 2020, the country expects to finish construction of about 654 kilometres out of 1,300 kilometres of the north-south expressway in the form of public-private partnership (PPP).
It also considers the building of new roads and high-speed railways to get connected with ASEAN, GMS and trans-Asia road systems, while paying attention to airport development, including the construction of Long Thanh International Airport with annual capacity of 100 million passengers and 5 million tonnes of cargo in the southern province of Dong Nai, The said.
He revealed that Vietnam needs an estimated VND1,015 quadrillion (US$44.7 billion) in investment to develop transport infrastructure in the 2018-2023 period.
Of the total, VND651 trillion is for road development, VND119 trillion for railways, VND101 trillion for air transport, VND68 trillion for sea routes and more than VND33 trillion for inland waterways.
About VND300 trillion (US$14 billion) is expected to come from non-budget sources inside and outside the country, especially foreign investment.
Therefore, Vietnam calls on businesses, investors and development partners to invest in developing transport infrastructure in Vietnam as well as other GMS nations, thus turning the GMS into a prosperous and developed sub-region, The stressed.
Enhancing transport connectivity for prosperous GMS
Transport connectivity is a top priority of the GMS Economic Cooperation Programme. At the time when the programme was launched, most of the sub-region’s infrastructure was in very poor quality. In response to this, the GMS adopted the Transport Master Plan in 1995, which identified priority transport links – mostly road projects – designed to generate the greatest and most immediate connectivity improvements.
This was an important step in economic development, with improvements in transportation infrastructure boosting economic opportunities throughout the region, especially by reducing travel times and costs. As the countries have moved from a strategy of self-sufficiency to regional cooperation, major efforts have been made to develop infrastructure linking the GMS and beyond, particularly through the identification of economic corridor projects.
A GMS transport strategy for 2006-2015 was developed to build a seamless GMS transport network, connecting not only sub-regional nations but also neighbouring countries and regions.
Now, the GMS transport strategy towards 2030, with a vision of “seamless, efficient, reliable, and sustainable GMS transport system”, recommends expanding road and railway connections, focusing on multimodal transport development and integrating climate change assessments into transport development projects.
The sub-region’s member nations have pledged to implement the GMS Cross-Border Transport Facilitation Agreement (GMS-CBTA) to boost economic cooperation and development.
Turning the countries’ infrastructure into economic corridors, generating jobs, developing tourism and trade, creating cohesion in terms of interest and promoting peace in the region are among the GMS’s goals.
“Infrastructure is the key of the GMS connectivity, especially the inland connectivity. It is the trend of our sub-region to enhance the inland connectivity,” Tak Sriratanobhas, a member of the Thai Chamber of Commerce and Board of Trade told the Vietnam News Agency on the sidelines of the GMS Business Summit, which took place in Hanoi on March 30 as part of the sixth GMS Summit.
The key is turning infrastructure from transport corridors to economic corridors, meaning hardware and software infrastructure must combine, he said, adding that the hardware is the efficiency of roads linking the countries while the software is how to go through the border easier, faster and cheaper.
“If we make the border crossing more efficient, faster and less costly, it is the key to successfully turning the region into a real economic corridor,” he noted.
According to Chris Malone, Partner and Managing Director at the Boston Consulting Group, the GMS countries need to work together to have a win-win solution so all of them benefit from further infrastructure connectivity and contribute to economic development as well as the harmony of people in the Mekong River.
Transport infrastructure development will help optimise the supply chain of companies, reduce their costs and make them more competitive, said Casaba Bundik, Vice Chairman of the Central and Eastern European Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam.
“A better linked infrastructure will make people’s life and companies’ operation easier,” he noted.
The current trade among the GMS countries could double if there is better infrastructure in the region, according to Htun Zaw, Deputy Director General of the Foreign Economic Relations Department under the Ministry of Planning and Finance of Myanmar.
“There is a huge opportunity to increase infrastructure connectivity in the region but the real challenge is funds,” he said.
Meanwhile, Japanese Ambassador to Vietnam Umeda Kunio said at the session on infrastructure development and financing of the GMS Business Summit in Hanoi on March 30 that his government has put forth an initiative to promote quality infrastructure and made efforts to improve connectivity in the GMS region.
As a partner of the GMS, Japan has provided support for fostering regional economic growth, contributing to narrowing the development gap as well as boosting investment and trade through infrastructure projects.
Japan’s assistance not only covers hard infrastructure such as expressways and bridges but also human resources training and development of areas along the economic corridor, he said.
The ADB has for years been a major sponsor of the GMS. ADB President Takehiko Nakao said his bank plans to provide US$7 billion over the next five years for a range of projects supporting transportation, tourism, energy, climate change mitigation and adaptation, agribusiness value chains and urban development in the sub-region.
The sub-region is expected to receive US$66 billion in investment to strengthen regional economic cooperation in the next five years, Alfredo Perdiguero, Director of Regional Cooperation and Operations Coordination Division, Southeast Asia Department, told Vietnamese media.
The sum increased by US$2 billion compared to what ministers of the six member countries agreed in the action plan framework for 2018-2022 late last year.
It will more than triple the total sum of US$21 billion mobilised for the region since the GMS economic cooperation programme was first launched by the ADB in 1992.
Besides the ADB, the amount is also expected to be contributed by many other partners, together with the governments of the GMS countries, he noted.
The GMS cooperation was launched in 1992 as an initiative of the ADB. The GMS Cooperation Programme is the most complete cooperation programme that involves Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Myanmar, and China’s Yunnan and Guangxi provinces. The programme prioritises infrastructure development, energy, telecommunication, tourism, trade-investment, human resources, and environment.
People in Dak Lak Province in Vietnam’s Central Highlands may not be able to access a newly-built general hospital worth over US$48 million until the end of this year due to multiple reasons.
The provincial People’s Committee previously ordered that the Central Highlands General Hospital, located in Buon Ma Thuot City, be put into operation by the end of this year’s first quarter.
However, the Department of Health assessed that the inauguration would have to wait till the end of the year.
Covering an area of 12 hectares, the infirmary is designed to have 800 beds, whose investment is estimated at VND1.1 trillion (48.4 million) funded by government bonds.
The project was developed by the Dak Lak health department and initiated in 2010. It was expected to be finished in 2013.
It has been delayed, however, because of financial difficulties and plan changes.
A road leading to the hospital is still under construction. Photo: Tuoi Tre
According to the original plan, the facility will become the new general hospital of Dak Lak Province, while the existing Dak Lak General Hospital would be only specialized in oncology, obstetrics, and pediatrics.
As the cost of brand new equipment would be too high, the developer decided to transfer all human resources and equipment from the existing Dak Lak General Hospital instead.
Competent agencies will also seek official development assistance (ODA) for purchasing new technology for the infirmary.
The construction is now basically completed with five buildings ready for use.
According to Nguyen Tuan Ha, vice-chairman of the provincial administration, sluggish road construction may also affect the opening of the new hospital.
All routes leading to the facility are still not finished.
Vietnam’s real estate sector saw mergers and acquisitions (M&A) reach a total of $200 million in the first quarter this year, according to estimates by real estate and investment management firm JLL.
“This year is expected to be another record year for M&A in the country,” said Trang Le, Manager, Research & Consulting at JLL Vietnam.
A recent regulation by State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) asking credit institutions to limit their lending to the real estate and construction sectors to better control bad debts and maintain credit growth has made real estate investors seek other capital sources, she noted.
Some of the prominent deals in the first quarter were CapitaLand acquiring a plot of land in the West Lake District of Hanoi for $30.2 million, Nomura Real Estate purchasing 24 per cent of Sun Wah Tower and Thailand’s Strategic Hospitality REIT buying two projects in Ho Chi Minh city.
“Foreign investors see Vietnam as a destination for their long-term investment, at least five years. Instead of existing projects, they are more interested in real estate to be formed in the future,” Trang said.
Last year, Vietnam’s real estate sector saw M&A touch a total of $1.5 billion. Some of the prominent deals last year were a joint venture between Hongkong Land (HKL) and Ho Chi Minh Infrastructure Investment JSC (CII), a $40-million acquisition of 1.45-hectare site District 4 by CapitaLand, and VinaLand divesting its entire stake in the Vina Square Project for about $41.2 million.
There is also greater interest among private equity funds to tap the market. The year 2017 saw the establishment of a joint venture between Warburg Pincus and Becamex IDC Corporation to develop international standard logistics warehouses in the country.
“The legal system continues to improve which provides more confidence to investors looking to gain a foothold in this exciting market. As Vietnam is an emerging market, there are a number of opportunities that can offer investors high returns not seen in other more mature markets,” Stephen Wyatt, JLL’s Country Head for Vietnam, had told this portal earlier.
The number of foreign tourists to Vietnam grew by nearly 30 percent in 2017, largely thanks to a visa waiver program for five European countries
Relaxing its visa policy could be Vietnam’s ‘magic wand’ to attract more foreign visitors and transform itself into a top regional and global destination, experts say.
Nearly 13 million foreign tourists visited Vietnam in 2017, a year-on-year growth rate of almost 30 percent.
Experts attribute the remarkable growth to the country’s visa waiver program for citizens from five European countries – Germany, France, the UK, Italy, and Spain.
First launched in July 2015, the visa-free policy immediately boosted tourism from these countries by 13.8-29 percent over the following year.
The yearly growth rate was maintained at levels between six and 20 percent in 2017.
“Such growth is rare if not unprecedented, especially for tourists from countries as geographically distant from Vietnam as Western Europe,” said Nguyen Van Tuan, director of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism.
“It shows that the visa waiver program positively impacted Vietnam’s tourism.”
Since Vietnam implemented a visa-free policy for Japanese passport holders in July 2004, the number of annual tourists from Japan has increased threefold, from 267,000 in 2004 to nearly 800,000 in 2017.
Japan is now Vietnam’s third-largest market for foreign tourists.
The numer of visitors from South Korea saw a tenfold rise from 233,000 in 2004 to more than 2.4 million in 2017, following the introduction of a visa waiver program for Korean citizens in 2004.
Similar results were seen for visa exemptions given to Danish, Norwegian, Finnish, and Swedish nationals in 2005 and Russian nationals in 2009.
Relaxed visa policy could be ‘magic wand’ for Vietnam’s tourism
Foreign tourists buy tickets for a cable car service to Fansipan Mountain, Vietnam’s highest peak, in Lao Cai Province, northern Vietnam. Photo: Sun Group
“The fee for a single-entry tourist visa to Vietnam is currently US$25, a minimal fee compared to how much a tourist spends during their stay,” said Nguyen Thi Huyen, CEO of local tour operator Vietrantour.
“A tourist from Europe spends an average of $100-130 a day, and they tend to stay in the country for seven to ten days. It benefits the community by boosting the GDP and creating jobs for locals.”
Despite the benefits, Vietnam only offers visa exemptions for citizens from 23 countries and territories as of April 2018.
In comparison, other popular tourist destinations in Southeast Asia, such as Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines, have visa waiver policies for between 160 and 169 countries, even though not all of them hold bilateral visa waiver agreements.
Vietnam’s e-visa and visa-on-arrival policies are also considered less competitive than emerging regional markets such as Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar.
Tour operators complain about the fact that some visa waiver programs, such as the one for citizens from five Western European countries, need to be renewed yearly, leaving travel agencies walking a thin line when targeting those markets.
These drawbacks contribute to Vietnam’s rank of 116 out of 136 countries in terms of visa requirements, according to a 2017 tourism competitiveness report published by the World Economic Forum.
“For tourists from developed countries, what troubles them is not the visa fee but the arduous process of applying for a visa,” said Dr. Luong Hoai Nam, deputy general director of Vietstar Airlines.
Vietnam reported tourism revenue of VND510 trillion ($22.36 billion) last year, a much larger number than the revenues it generated from visa fees, Nam said, citing statistics from the tourism administration.
With more relaxed visa policies, Vietnam’s tourist industry could be freed from its chains and become a popular destination, capable of competing with others in the region, experts say.
Relaxed visa policy could be ‘magic wand’ for Vietnam’s tourism
Two foreign tourists visit Fansipan Mountain, Vietnam’s highest peak, in Lao Cai Province, northern Vietnam. Photo: Sun Group
Washington’s former ambassador to Hanoi said the U.S. is looking to deport thousands of immigrants from Vietnam, many of whom are protected by a bilateral agreement.
The former ambassador, Ted Osius, told us that a “small number” of immigrants from Vietnam that are reportedly protected under the treaty have been deported already.
“These people don’t really have a country to come back to,” he said.
He said the effort to deport these immigrants was a factor in his decision last October to resign.
Brendan Raedy, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) spokesman, told us that 8,600 Vietnamese nationals in the U.S. last year were subject to deportation. The spokesman said “7,821 have criminal convictions”.
Osius said many of the immigrants from Vietnam who are now being subject to deportation came to the U.S. before 1995. Diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Vietnam resumed that year.
Under a 2008 bilateral agreement between Vietnam and the U.S., Vietnamese citizens are “not subject to return to Vietnam” if they “arrived in the Untied States before July 12, 1995.”
Katina Adams, a spokeswoman for the State Department’s East Asia bureau, told us that the two countries “continue to discuss their respective positions relative to Vietnamese citizens who departed Vietnam for the United States.”
A senior Vietnamese official told us that “many of the people went to the U.S. as a consequence of the war.”
“For those who came to the U.S. later, not as a consequence of the war, that’s a different thing,” the official told us.
