Conversations on Vietnam Development
Tiếp tục đọc “Bọt trắng như tuyết bốc mùi, nổi dày đặc trên kênh Tàu Hủ sau trận mưa lớn”
Updated : 05/09/2017 15:33 GMT + 7
The administration of Ho Chi Minh City will go ahead with a project to build its first-ever retention basin in the rural district of Cu Chi as a means of curbing chronic flooding in the city.
The pond will reserve water for household and agriculture use during the dry season, and mitigate the impacts of flooding during the rainy season.
The project, which will see the construction of a retention basin between 2019 and 2025, has been approved by Le Van Khoa, deputy chairman of Ho Chi Minh City.
The city’s Steering Center for the Urban Flood Control Program will implement the project, the first of its kind in the southern metropolis, around the Ben Muong and Lang The canals in Cu Chi.
During the 2017-18 period, the city will focus on upgrading, expanding and dredging canals to improve the water flow and anti-flooding capacity of its drainage system.
Resolving water pollution and improving hygiene in the area are also prioritized, before construction of the retention basin commences in 2019.
According to the steering center, as much as 3,000 hectares of land in the Ben Muong – Lang The area is constantly flooded during rainy seasons, damaging crops.
Sedimentation in nearby waterways and the fast growth of industrial and residential zones without the installation of appropriate drainage systems have exacerbated the problem, it said.
Trung tâm Phát triển Sáng tạo Xanh (GreenID) vừa phát hành báo cáo Chất lượng không khí quý I năm 2017 tại Hà Nội và tp. Hồ Chí Minh. Bản báo cáo này dựa trên những dữ liệu sẵn có của Đại sứ quán Mỹ ở Hà Nội và Lãnh sự quán Mỹ tại tp. Hồ Chí Minh và là một hoạt động thường xuyên của GreenID trong việc giám sát chất lượng không khí ở Việt Nam.
Với chỉ số chất lượng không khí (AQI) trung bình trong quý I – 2017 là 123 (so với AQI trung bình quý I – 2016 là 144), chất lượng không khí tại Hà Nội đã có cải thiện. Tuy nhiên, vẫn có hơn 50% số ngày trong quý I (37/90 ngày), nồng độ bụi PM 2.5 vượt quá Quy chuẩn Quốc gia, nồng độ PM 2.5 cao nhất trong quý I đạt 234 μg/m3 vào lúc 11:00 sáng ngày 15/2. Chi tiết chất lượng không khí tại Hà Nội Q1-2017. Tiếp tục đọc “Báo cáo chất lượng không khí Quý 1 – 2017”
VietNamNet Bridge – HCM City faces a shortage of garbage collection stations, with empty pavements in public areas often used as makeshift stations.
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| A garbage collection station in District 3 of HCM City. |
At the collection stations, rubbish is collected, sorted for disposal and then transferred to dumping sites or treatment zones, but these unhygienic tasks have been performed in public areas.
Meanwhile, current garbage stations are dilapidated and overloaded, polluting the environment and becoming a nightmare for those living nearby.
A garbage collection station located at the Quang Trung-Tan Son Intersection in Go Vap District is an example. The station has become a nightmare for local people, including hundreds of students and teachers from the school nearby.
Le Van Truc, resident in Ward 8, told Ha Noi Moi (New Ha Noi) newspaper that the garbage collection station was built ten years ago, causing a terrible odour and traffic chaos.
He said locals asked authorised agencies to move the station, but received no reply.
In the area near September 23 Park in District 1, three stations plague the downtown area of the city. The one on Hai Ba Trung Road has become overloaded due to the large amount of rubbish collected from Ben Nghe and Ben Thanh wards.
Pham Le Nghia, resident in Ben Nghe Ward, said garbage was collected twice a day. Tiếp tục đọc “HCM City residents plagued by overloaded dumps”
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| HCM City has asked the government to allocate an additional VNĐ48.76 trillion (US$2.14 billion) worth of ODA funds for the city to continue work on two projects. — VNA/VNS Photo Mạnh Linh |
The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has urged the city to work with the government to request more funds to implement two JICA-funded projects this year.
The work includes construction on metro line No 1 Bến Thành-Suối Tiên and the second phase of a water environment improvement project on the Tàu Hủ-Bến Nghé-Đôi-Tẻ canal.
Under commitments with the contractors, annual ODA loans needed for the two projects would reach VNĐ29.512 trillion ($1.3 billion) by 2020, and VNĐ7 trillion ($308.34 million) for this year. Tiếp tục đọc “HCM City asks State for additional $2 billion of ODA”
Updated : 04/17/2017 15:52 GMT + 7
Erotic massage parlors have mushroomed in Ho Chi Minh City recently, with competent authorities struggling to find a permanent solution.
Their illegal operation is not a new issue in the southern Vietnamese city, with a handful of facilities busted every year.
A boom is these types of businesses has been recorded again in recent months, with their services even marketed in public places like local diners, coffee shops and bars.
In several city districts during the evening, people can be approached by young men who lay pieces of paper on their table before leaving without saying a word. Tiếp tục đọc “Erotic massage parlors publicly advertised in Ho Chi Minh City”
Updated : 04/14/2017 16:51 GMT + 7
Ho Chi Minh City leaders met with local tourism companies on Thursday to discuss ways to meet a target of welcoming seven million international visitors this year.
The southern tourism hub received 5.2 million foreign holidaymakers in 2016 and experienced a 15 percent jump in tourist numbers during Q1 2017, though experts are still unsure the city will meet such a lofty goal.
In the Jan-Mar period, more than 1.5 million international visitors spent holidays in Ho Chi Minh City, but Bui Ta Hoang Vu, director of the municipal tourism department, said the quarterly growth must be more than 20 percent for the seven-million target to be met. Tiếp tục đọc “Ho Chi Minh City rebuilds tourism strategy to meet 7 million int’l arrivals target”
Updated : 04/03/2017 16:28 GMT + 7
The World Bank data may not truly reflect the meat safety situation in those cities, according to local insiders.
The report, released on March 27, points out several alarming issues in Vietnam’s food safety risk management, such as the fact that 80 percent of pork is sold in wet markets, and 76 percent of meat is slaughtered in small and dirty facilities.
The World Bank also underlined that the most prevalent microbiological hazard in pork in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City is salmonella, with the bacteria found in 30 percent of the pork samples taken at slaughterhouses, and 40 percent of the pork found on sale at local markets. Tiếp tục đọc “World Bank report on Vietnam’s pork safety sparks concern, doubt”
Công nhân đến nhận tiền lương tại LĐLĐ huyện Củ Chi. Ảnh: L.TTiếp tục đọc “Nước mắt và nụ cười trong kỳ phát lương “vô tiền khoáng hậu””
Updated : 03/21/2017 18:30 GMT + 7
From a glass of iced coffee to a plate of broken rice served with grilled pork chops, the most iconic food and drinks in Ho Chi Minh City have become the subject for a group of young Vietnamese painters.
‘Saigon on the move’ is a project by members of Bui Fine Arts Center (Bui), an academy dedicated to the training of young artists, and which looks to depict Saigon youths’ favorite food and drinks in paintings.
The works are a gift to “those who once stayed, are staying and will stay” in the dynamic southern metropolis, Bui wrote in the description of the photo album uploaded to Facebook on Sunday. Tiếp tục đọc “Young artists reimagine Saigon’s iconic food, drink”
LĐ – 63 4:27 PM, 21/03/2017
Vườn mai, hoa kiểng được trồng tại bãi rác Đông Thạnh.
Cách đây khoảng 10 năm, nhắc tới bãi rác Đông Thạnh, người ta nghĩ tới ô nhiễm môi trường, là mùi hôi, là sự than phiền của người dân sống xung quanh bãi rác… Thế nhưng giờ đây, một màu xanh ngút ngàn đang phủ xanh bãi rác Đông Thạnh, khiến bất kỳ ai có dịp ghé thăm cũng phải ngỡ ngàng…
Tiếp tục đọc ““Xanh hóa” bãi rác Đông Thạnh bằng công nghệ cao”
20/03/2017 09:15 GMT+7
TTO – Nhiều đoạn vỉa hè tại một số tuyến đường ở TP.HCM vẫn đang bị cát cứ lấn chiếm buôn bán, thậm chí có cả đối tượng “bảo kê” thủ sẵn hung khí hăm dọa.
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| Đoạn vỉa hè trước Bệnh viện Răng hàm mặt trung ương TP.HCM (đường Nguyễn Chí Thanh, Q.5) được bà V. ra giá sang nhượng là 100 triệu đồng – Ảnh: Ngọc Khải |
Chiều 2-3, chúng tôi chạy xe máy chở theo một thùng xốp dừng tại lề đường nội bộ Viện Tim TP.HCM – Bệnh viện Nhân Dân 115 (P.12, Q.10).
Dù đã giải thích chỉ đứng chốc lát và không buôn bán gì nhưng một nam thanh niên bán hàng ở đây vẫn hăm dọa: “Không đi lát có chuyện”. Tiếp tục đọc “Rao bán vỉa hè giá trăm triệu”
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| More night entertainment activities, festivals, and large-scale shopping centres are planned to make HCM City “a city that never sleeps.” — VNA/VNS Photo An Hiếu |
HCM CITY — New York, famously known as the “city that never sleeps,” will soon be joined by HCM City, which is aspiring to that status in an effort to step up its tourism game.
The city, formerly known as Sài Gòn and the “Pearl of the Orient” in the early twentieth century, receives an average of 400,000 foreign tourists each month, generating revenues of thousands of billions of đồng, but some experts say it lacks night attractions that meet the demands of tourists looking to explore the city’s night life.
Lã Quốc Khánh, deputy director of the National Department of Tourism, said his office has found a real need among tourists to stay up late and explore the local night life.
“Some 30-40 per cent of national and international tourists want to go out after midnight, as well as 60-70 per cent of local citizens,” he told the Tuổi Trẻ newspaper, adding that the majority of foreign tourists typically suffer jet lag due to time differences and can only fall asleep after 2-3am. Tiếp tục đọc “Sleepless in HCM City: a tourism initiative”
NĐT – 01/03/2017 – 13:34 PM
Tiếp tục đọc “Giải tỏa các công trình tôn giáo lâu đời là không thỏa đáng”
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| Street spirit: Students from the HCM City Conservatory of Music perform on Nguyễn Huệ Pedestrian Street. Photo from the conservatory’s Facebook page |
Viet Nam News Phương Mai talks to HCM City authorities about the latest plan to liven up the city’s streets.
Though it has yet to be approved, a plan to establish a Music Street that would host both amateurs and professionals in downtown HCM City looks likely to get the go ahead.
District 1 officials, who submitted the plan to the People’s Committee, have proposed setting up the venue on either Alexandre de Rhodes or Hàn Thuyên streets, both of which surround the April 30 Park, one of the greenest sites downtown. Tiếp tục đọc “Music Street plan to liven up HCM City”
CVD 