South Central rains to continue

Floods wreak havoc in the Huong Son District of central Ha Tinh Province. National weather forecasters warn that heavy rain will continue in the South Central region. — VNA/VNS Photo Anh Tuan

HA NOI — Heavy rains are forecast to continue in south-central provinces, while local authorities and people are trying to surmount the consequences of floods that have hit the region over recent days.

Rainfall from Quang Tri to Binh Dinh Province over the past three days averaged 150-300mm, but reached 500mm and 740mm in some areas such as Thua Thien-Hue and Quang Ngai.

Prolonged torrential rains of up to 982mm in mountainous Tra Bong District in Quang Ngai caused double floods and pushed water levels in local rivers beyond alarm level.

Most water reservoirs in the central region had begun discharging flood water. Ten of eleven reservoirs in Quang Ngai exceeded their overflow levels.

Director of the National Hydrometeorological Forecast Centre Bui Minh Tang said heavy rains would continue during the next few days,with storms tending to move southwards through the provinces of Quang Ngai to Phu Yen.

Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai instructed authorities of south-central provinces to stay alert to the progress of rains and floods to minimise losses to human life and property at an urgent online meeting with the National Steering Committee for Flood and Storm Control and local authorities yesterday.

"Rains and floods are causing severe problems, particularly in highland areas where there are a limited number of rain measuring stations, so it is essential to keep a close watch, while maintaining a flow of reports on the progress of rainstorms and floods to prevent a loss of lives through carelessness," Hai said.

Localities should continue mobilising all available forces for rescue and relief work and to support flood victims and help local people overcome the consequences of the storms.

He required the national steering committee for flood and storm prevention and control to check and ensure the safety of reservoir systems and promptly respond to landslide-affected areas.

He noted that hydropower reservoirs needed to discharge floodwaters in line with regulations to avoid creating flooding in low-lying areas.

Torrential rains have triggered floods in south-central provinces over recent days, killing 12 people and leaving two missing.

More than 44,500 households and many roads and highways in the region have been submerged under 0.2-2m of floods.

Thua Thien-Hue authorities reported that the Ho Chi Minh Highway sections crossing A Roang and Hong Van communes which had been damaged by floods, reopened to traffic yesterday.

Police in Quang Nam have mobilised forces to guide local people travelling across submerged and landslide affected roads, as well as monitoring National Highway 1A for traffic jams.

According to the Trieu Thuong Commune People's Committee, Quang Tri Province, people in low-lying areas have been evacuated with their possessions to higher ground.

People's Committee Chairman Nguyen Dai Vui of Phong Dien District in Thua Thien-Hue said drawing on the experience from previous floods, the district had bought 40 tonnes of rice to supply people in isolated areas.

"Children and old people have already been relocated to higher ground to ensure their safety," he said.

More than 4,700 households with over 21,000 people in high risks areas have been evacuated to safe places in the region. — VNS

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Vietnamese dies in French hostel fire

A Vietnamese was killed among seven others when a fire broke out in a hostel for immigrants in France Sunday, local media reported.

Other victims include two Senegalese, one Algerian and three French workers. Eleven others were seriously injured in the fire.

One person died after jumping from the seventh floor of the state-subsidized hostel in the city of Dijon, western France, while others died of smoke inhalation.

More than 130 people were evacuated from the building.

The firefighters said the fire started early Sunday in a dumpster next to the building.

Commander Jean-Louis Marc told AFP that by the time firefighters arrived, 10 minutes after being called, the fire was already well established and the occupants of the building were trapped inside.

Eric Besson, French Minister of Immigration and Integration, said most of the victims were killed by toxic fumes.

“The disaster shocks me because it affects individuals and families that France has received, and who brought not only their work to our country but also the richness of their cultures and their origins,” Besson said.

Three of the 93 firefighters who battled the blaze also suffered from smoke inhalation.

French authorities are investigating the case further.

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Brick kiln fumes kill Hanoi family

Three people died in Hanoi after inhaling toxic fumes from a brick kiln Monday.

Nguyen Van Ty, 56, owner of the kiln, his son Nguyen Van Hop, 24, and brother-in-law Vu Van Binh, 41, were found dead by a neighbor.

Ty’s wife, Vu Thi Mui, 53, and their son-in-law, Nguyen Van Chung, who fell unconscious at the kiln were rushed to a local medical center.

Four dogs and more than 20 ducks and chickens of the family also died in the accident.

Their neighbor Nguyen Thi Sen said she found the victims lying on the ground when she came to buy eggs at 5 a.m., Dan Tri reported.

“I saw the dogs and chickens lying dead in the front yard… Ty’s son lay near the door. I tried to wake him up but he didn’t react. His wife Mui was also lying on the ground,” said Sen, who then called other neighbors for help.

Police have concluded that the family was poisoned by gas from the brick kiln, which is fueled by a mixture of coal called than to ong (bee hive-shaped coal) in Vietnamese.

Than to ong can produce toxic chemical compounds such as sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and carbon monoxide (CO).

The kiln next to the house was still burning when the police arrived. Local residents said Ty started making bricks around six months ago and he burned the second kiln on Sunday evening.

Police believe that the toxic fumes from the kiln didn’t go up but blew into the house instead as it was cold overnight.

There are hundreds of brick kilns made and operated by the residents in the neighborhood. Police are investigating the matter.

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Brick kiln fumes kill Hanoi family

Three people died in Hanoi after inhaling toxic fumes from a brick kiln Monday.

Nguyen Van Ty, 56, owner of the kiln, his son Nguyen Van Hop, 24, and brother-in-law Vu Van Binh, 41, were found dead by a neighbor.

Ty’s wife, Vu Thi Mui, 53, and their son-in-law, Nguyen Van Chung, who fell unconscious at the kiln were rushed to a local medical center.

Four dogs and more than 20 ducks and chickens of the family also died in the accident.

Their neighbor Nguyen Thi Sen said she found the victims lying on the ground when she came to buy eggs at 5 a.m., Dan Tri reported.

“I saw the dogs and chickens lying dead in the front yard… Ty’s son lay near the door. I tried to wake him up but he didn’t react. His wife Mui was also lying on the ground,” said Sen, who then called other neighbors for help.

Police have concluded that the family was poisoned by gas from the brick kiln, which is fueled by a mixture of coal called than to ong (bee hive-shaped coal) in Vietnamese.

Than to ong can produce toxic chemical compounds such as sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and carbon monoxide (CO).

The kiln next to the house was still burning when the police arrived. Local residents said Ty started making bricks around six months ago and he burned the second kiln on Sunday evening.

Police believe that the toxic fumes from the kiln didn’t go up but blew into the house instead as it was cold overnight.

There are hundreds of brick kilns made and operated by the residents in the neighborhood. Police are investigating the matter.

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Treacherous pulley crossings end over Po Ko

Residents of a commune in Kon Tum province will not have to glide on cables to cross the Po Ko River any longer.

On Monday, a bridge linking the two banks of the river opened to traffic.

The VND1.1 billion (US$56,500) Dan Tri and Khuyen Hoc Bridge, funded by the Vietnam Association for Promoting Education and online newspaper Dan Tri, has a length of 120 meters and a width of 1.2 meters after five months of construction.

Work on the bridge began in June after local media reported that residents in Dak Ang Commune in the Central Highlands Kon Tum Province’s Ngoc Hoi District had to cross the chasm using a 150-meter long cable and a pulley to get to school, work and the market.

The river is almost uncrossable by boat due to the fast-flowing current and the steep slopes along the river banks.

The residents rigged up the cable soon after a storm, in September last year, swept away several hanging bridges over the river.

Dan Tri and Khuyen Hoc Bridge was the first of three bridges to begin operating whose construction was funded by people nationwide to link two banks of the Po Ko River.

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ADB funds safe water project for central VN

Some 350,000 rural workers in six provinces, mostly in the parched central region, will have access to safe water supply thanks to a project funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

At a seminar to launch the project in Hanoi on November 17, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) Dao Xuan Hoc said the project was of primary significance to locals in the central region, where the rate of safe water users in its population is lower than the national average. The region is also prone to natural disasters, suffers saline water sources and is hit by high poverty rates.

Hoc added the Government has issued a number of incentive policies to encourage private investors to invest in safe water supply along with foreign assistance in order to increase the number of safe water beneficiaries.

Paul Van Klanveren, a representative from ADB in charge of the project in Vietnam said it is the first project on safe water supply and environmental hygiene that his employer has ever funded in the central region. He expected that the project would not only bring in more equality to people in disadvantaged areas but also help Vietnam sustain its socio-economic development.

The project will run until 2017 with investment totalling 50 million USD, of which ADB provides 45 million USD in credits and the rest is contributed by Vietnam.

MARD reported that the national target programme on rural safe water supply and environmental hygiene has helped up to 79 percent of the national population to access safe water supply and 54 percent of families build standard latrines.

The nation, however, is still coping with a number of challenges in this regard./.

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Parents blamed for role in teacher corruption

Students of Le Quy Don High School for gifted students in the northern province of Lai Chau study in a foreign language lab. Improving the quality of teaching in accordance with national standards at every school is expected to help prevent corruption in schools. — VNA/VNS Photo Bich Ngoc

HA NOI — Parents made the defeat of corruption in schools very difficult because often they were accomplices, the Education and Training Ministry's Deputy Inspector Pham Van Tai told a workshop in Ha Noi yesterday.

"Often, parents will abet teachers and educators in their corruption as long as they think it's best for their children," he said.

"If the parents do not speak for themselves about corruption, who will?" he asked the workshop which assessed the results of the 7th Anti-corruption Dialogue in May.

"Do you think the defeat of corruption will ever become a reality given that teachers attain certain, and in some cases, absolute, power over their students?"

The inspector told the workshop that corruption continued despite regular inspections.

"But few parents want to spill the beans about how much they paid to get their children admitted to a good quality class," he said.

"Without evidence we often end in a situation where we know what has happened but can't prove it.

"The important task is to raise awareness among parents and students about the evil of corruption and encourage them to exercise their right of denunciation."

Deputy inspector Tai said paying bribes for admittance to schools was the most common form of corruption.

Parents were willing to pay extra to get their children into a public high school because they assumed the teaching at State-subsidised institutions offered the better teaching quality and the fees were much lower than at private schools.

Peer pressure also made parents partly responsible for extra-curricula teaching and learning.

"Although extra teaching and learning are allowed only students of poor achievement or excellent students, parents whose children were outside both groups still want them to take part in extra classes," he said.

"Otherwise, they feel their children are being left out."

Enrolment pressure on public high schools and all other quality schools was high because the schools had not met society's requirements.

Deputy Minister of Education and TrainingNguyen Thi Nghia said the ministry had finalised the compiling of teaching materials to pilot anti-corruption teaching in high schools early next year.

The deputy minister said the pressure for entry to quality schools could be attributed in part to the difference in teaching quality and facilities between schools.

"One measure which will be taken to bridge the gap is to improve the quality of teaching staff in accordance with the national standards at every school," she said.

The workshop also assessed a survey to identify the risks of corruption in the transfer of land-use rights and house ownership.

The survey, the work of the Government Inspectorate, is scheduled for publication next week. — VNS

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Potholes plague new road

Work to bury cables leaves a gaping hole in a HCM City street, threatening lives and vehicles. The impatience of contractors and the public about the time taken to complete infrastructure projects is blamed for poor quality of some new roads. — VNA/ VNS Photo The Duyet

HCM CITY — Traffic returned to normal yesterday morning after crews worked late into Sunday night to fix two dangerous potholes on Hoang Van Thu Road, Ward 9.

The potholes, 1m wide and 1.5m deep and linked to each other, were just 2m from the railway.

Ward 9 People's Committee member Nghiem Van Thai said the potholes had been filled with soil and rocks to prevent any further subsidence.

Dan Tri newspaper says traffic inspectors had erected warning signs and security barriers immediately after the potholes were reported.

HCM City Sewerage Company workers had also checked nearby sewerage systems.

The newspaper attributed the pot-holes to the poor work that results from a rush to finish infrastructure on schedule and at any price.

Potholes appeared in the HCM City – Trung Luong Highway soon after it was opened in early February, 2010, and much work still remains to be done.

A major example was the Ham Luong Bridge in southern Ben Tre Province which was finished to coincide with Liberation Day, April 30, 2010.

"Building of the bridge set a record," the newspaper says.

"It was completed two months ahead of schedule - a rare occurrence with road works.

"But potholes in the path leading to the bridge from the Mo Cay District were found five months later."

Viet Nam Architects Association member Le Cong Si complained that investors, contractors and even the public were too impatient about the time taken to complete infrastructure projects.

"Each job must be allowed time to ensure adequate quality," he said. "If not the finished work will be of poor quality."

Often projects are technically incomplete when contractors decide to open them "temporarily". But capital works such as roads and bridges have to carry the ‘real' load.

"Many think of the ‘temporary' opening as a way to check the quality of the work. If there are no mishaps within a set time, they dismantle the so-called ‘temporarily-open-to-traffic' order."

Architect Si said that if failures occured the contractors provided their own rationale for what had happened.

"When potholes in the HCM City – Trung Luong Highway appeared and accidents occurred, the investor explained it had happened because the project was incomplete and in temporary use," the architect said.

But those who allow such "temporary use" must be held accountable for any mishaps.

HCM City Civic Engineering Technical Science Association deputy director Phan Phung Sanh said design consultants must approve shorter construction times together with adequate technical measures.

"It can't be done through subjective orders from investors or contractors," he said. "Contractors have to maintain design criteria."

"If contractors are forced to shorten the time for construction progress, they will lower quality rather than make a loss."— VNS

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Online railway booking system suffers overload ahead of Tet

HCM CITY — Scores of customers failed to book railway tickets online for the Tet (Lunar New Year) holiday on the very first day the service was opened due to persistent overload of the network.

The Sai Gon Railway Passenger Transport Company opened online bookings at 8am on Monday for train travel during the Tet (Lunar New Year) holiday that falls in February next year.

The tickets can be booked at http://www.vetau.com.vn.

More than 100,000 tickets for the peak period prior to the holiday from January 25 to 31 will be issued online, including 80,000 tickets departing from the Sai Gon Railway Station and the remaining from other stations under the management of the company, according to Dinh Van Sang, deputy general director of the company.

Le Anh Tai, who lives in the city's District 12, said that he spent a whole morning on Monday trying to book a ticket from HCM City to Vinh City on January 28, one week prior the holiday, but it was very difficult to access the website.

"I managed to access the website after a long time but it ran very slow and stopped running when I was in the process of the booking," Tai said.

"I had to arrange the time to wait in a long line at the station to buy a ticket to return home for the holiday after failing to book the ticket online," he said.

Sang said that the system became overloaded with around 33,000 customers accessing the system at the same time while its capacity was only 1,000 customers.

On the same day, the network's capacity was upgraded two times, making it easier for customers to access the network after three in the afternoon, he said.

A total of 100,000 tickets issued online will be sold out in the next two or three days, with 15,280 being booked between 8 am to 3 pm on Monday. — VNS

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Outlook eyes heritage preservation

Viet Nam's rapid urbanisation during the past several years has produced many benefits, but one of the drawbacks has been the growing threat that modernisation poses to the nation's heritage.

This month's issue of our news magazine Outlook examines efforts to preserve the nation's rich culture - from historical sites to centuries-old art forms.

Outlook, which goes on sale in Ha Noi, HCM City and other major centres this morning, reports that ensuring effective preservation of historically important relics and art forms faces many challenges, including a lack of funds for preservation work.

We travel to Hoi An to report on the threat of urbanisation and a booming tourism sector to the city's old quarter, while in the Central Highlands, we find that the local gong culture is in danger of being lost as a dwindling number of musicians chose to keep their traditional art alive. We also report on successes in restoring the highly refined and unique art form of nha nhac (court music), and talk to the director of the Institute for Preservation of Monuments, Le Thanh Vinh, about recent successes in heritage preservation.

Elsewhere in this issue, we visit the sleepy village of Lo Hanh, tell the story behind Nguyen Dinh Thi's revolutionary anthem The Hanoian and meet an English singer who has been wowing local audiences with his fluent performance of Vietnamese songs.

Readers can also catch up on what's hot in the country's culinary, sports and arts scenes - and check out our listings for everything from bars to embassies.

Outlook retails for VND15,000 at news-stands, major hotels and restaurants, at the head office of the Viet Nam News at 11 Tran Hung Dao Street, Ha Noi, or at our HCM City office at 120 Nguyen Thi Minh Khai Street. — VNS

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Vietnamese man ‘nabbed with frozen tiger’

A Vietnamese man was arrested in possession of a frozen tiger before he was able to sell the body of the endangered animal to collectors, state media reported on Tuesday.

Pham Hai Nam told police he bought the animal for VND600 million (US$30,800) in the northeastern port town of Hai Phong and planned to sell it for VND46,000, according to An Ninh Thu Do newspaper.

The 39-year-old, who was detained in Hanoi on Monday, also reportedly told police he would crush the tiger’s bones to make traditional medicine if he failed to find a buyer for the whole carcass.

The animal, which weighed 150 kilograms (330 pounds) and was 1.5 meters (five feet) long, has been given to the Museum of Nature for preservation, the report said.

It is believed the tiger was smuggled into Vietnam from overseas.

Environment police in Hanoi declined to comment.

The natural habitat of tigers has been threatened by rapid urbanization in Asia where they are hunted for fur and body parts used in traditional medicine.

Tigers are threatened by rapid urbanization in Asia where they are hunted for their fur and body parts

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Man charged with anti-State propaganda

Hanoi police on Nov. 15 charged Cu Huy Ha Vu with “conducting propaganda against the Socialist Republic of Vietnam” pursuant to Article 88 of the Penal Code.

Vu, 53, a permanent resident at No. 24, Dien Bien Phu Street, Dien Bien ward in Ba Dinh district of Hanoi, will be held in custody for four months for investigations.

Earlier this month, the Ministry of Public Security’s Investigation Agency arrested Vu and initiated a criminal case against Vu’s illegal actions.

The case was handed over to Hanoi Police’s Investigation Agency for further investigations under supervision by the Hanoi People’s Procuracy, according to the decision of the Supreme People’s Procuracy.

While raiding Vu’s house, police seized documents containing information against the Vietnamese State, as well as distorted information and libel against the people’s administration, propaganda arguments for the psychological warfare, calling for overthrowing the regime, and demanding pluralism, multi-party and foreign intervention which is contrary to the nation’s interest.

According to the police, Vu has ties with anti-State elements and overseas forces hostile to the Vietnamese State. He has also created documents containing groundless, fabricated and distorted information on the State and government’s leadership and management to incite the public to sabotage the State./.

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VUFO celebrates 60 years of service

People’s diplomacy for of peace, solidarity, friendship and aid from non-governmental organisations (NGOs) has created breakthroughs and a social, public foundation for the relationship between Vietnam and other countries and peoples, said the head of the Vietnam Union of Friendship Organizations (VUFO).

VUFO President Vu Xuan Hong made this statement on the outstanding results over the past 60 years of the construction and development of VUFO as an external relations agency of the Party and State.

In a letter sent to a conference on the establishment of the Vietnam World Peace Protection Committee on Nov. 17, 1950, Uncle Ho affirmed the Vietnamese people’s ardent desire for peace and their noble task in protecting world peace.

The inauguration of the Vietnam World Peace Protection Committee and friendship associations and the Committee of Solidarity with Foreign Countries has reflected the clear-sighted vision of the Party and Uncle Ho on the important and unique role of people’s diplomatic organizations in each of Vietnam’s revolutionary periods, said Hong.

Hence, Nov. 17 has become the traditional anniversary day of the VUFO, he said.

In the context of national integration and the renewal process, VUFO has fulfilled its task in the fields of peace, solidarity, friendship, cooperation, keeping contact with old friends and developing relationships with new partners to set up a network of friends understanding, uniting with and helping Vietnam.

Talking about the role of people’s diplomacy in the new situation, the VUFO leader said that VUFO’s mission aims to help people worldwide understand Vietnam.

Apart from the role in national liberation, external relations have an increasingly important position in mobilising foreign NGOs in national socio-economic development, Hong said.

According to VUFO President Hong, foreign NGOs operating in various fields in Vietnam have made significant contributions to directly supporting and helping humanitarian aid projects, overcoming the aftermath of the war and engaging in sustainable development.

Boasting achievements in hunger eradication and poverty reduction worldwide, NGOs have provided not only financial assistance but also diversified experiences in building hunger eradication and poverty reduction models.

Vietnamese people have effectively used this aid source and the effective application of various hunger eradication and poverty reduction models in the nation have been recognized in the world.

In addition, NGOs have experience as well as scientific and technological expertise to help Vietnam in clearing bombs, landmines and unexploded ordnances (UXO) in war-devastated provinces and also help people injured in the war.

Over the past 10 years, NGOs have provided around 1.3 billion USD to Vietnamese people in non-refundable aid. This is a significant source for the most disadvantaged, poorest and most remote areas in Vietnam, stressed Hong.

The aid, which has a direct impact on the country’s socio-economic development and other fields, has increased, reaching 275 million USD in 2009 and is expected to reach around 300 million USD this year, said the VUFO leader.

A VUFO traditional house was inaugurated on Nov. 16 at No. 105 Quan Thanh Street, Hanoi, on the occasion of its 60th traditional day./.

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Vietnam attends ASEAN Skills Competition

Vietnam has sent 36 competitors to the 8 th ASEAN Skills Competition being held in Bangkok , Thailand from Nov. 14-24.

Competing in 18 of 21 events, the Vietnamese team hopes to rank third at the competition.

Last September, the General Vocational Training Department in coordination with the British Council held a training course for those Vietnamese competitors under the instruction of four experts from the vocational skills organisation of the UK . The British experts said the Vietnamese workers have good skills.

The Lao dong (Labour) daily on Nov. 16 quoted Mark Forsyth, Director of the Corioliss International Co., and an expert in refrigerating-electrics as saying that Vietnamese competitors are enthusiastic and determined and have good basic skills. He said he believed that they would attain good results.

Deputy Minister of Labour, War Invalid and Social Affairs Dam Huu Dac said that participating in the competition gives Vietnamese competitors and trainers opportunities to learn experiences from other countries, thus helping improve the quality of vocational training in Vietnam .

The ASEAN Skills Competition has been held since 1997 and Vietnam took part in the event in 2001 for the first time.

Vietnam ranked first among participating teams at the 2004 and 2006 events, ranked second at the 2002 competition, and ranked fourth in 2001 and 2008./.

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Vietnam hands over Chinese, Taiwanese cheaters

The Security and Investigation Agency of the Ministry of Public Security early this month handed over 16 Chinese and Taiwanese swindlers to China and Taiwan for further investigation.

The leader of these swindlers, Tsao Chia Lin, pleaded guilty after they were found to use telecom equipment in Vietnam ’s territory to deceive Chinese people to appropriate their money.

These people, including 11 Taiwanese and five Chinese people, were arrested, together with equipment they used for the trick, at the Yen Hoa Urban Area in Hanoi ’s district of Cau Giay on October 26, 2010.

According to investigators, these swindlers, who belonged to various cross-border criminal rings, had operated in China , Taiwan , Thailand and Indonesia before sneaking into Vietnam to escape from these countries and territories’ police.

Previously, police in Ho Chi Minh City , the Mekong delta city of Can Tho , and the southern province of Binh Duong , brought to light a number of hi-tech crimes involving Chinese and Taiwanese people./.

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VN leads SEA in student enrollments in US

Vietnam currently ranks first among countries in the Southeast Asia in the number of students in the United States.

The International Institute of Education (IIE) in Vietnam quoted its annual Open Door 2010 report as saying that the number of Vietnamese students enrolled at universities and colleges in the US during the 2009-2010 academic year increased slightly from 12,823 to 13,112, up 2.3 percent over the last year.

Also according to the report, the total number of international students in the US during the 2009-2010 academic year was 690,923. China now boasts the largest student enrollments in this country while Vietnam remains at the ninth place.

The Open Doors report is released by the IIE, the world’s leading non-profitable organisation in the exchange of culture and education.

Established in 1919, IIE is headquartered in New York and conducts annual surveys in the number of international students in the US, with support from the Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs under the US Department of State./.

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Decree aims to curb kindergarten overcrowding

Six-year-olds learn to draw at a kindergarten in the southern coastal city of Vung Tau. A decree drafted by the Ministry of Education and Training that aims to limit classroom sizes to 35 is said to be unfeasible. — VNA/VNS Photo Kim Phuong

HA NOI — There are growing public doubts about the Ministry of Education and Training's new draft decree stipulating that there should be no more than 35 children in each public kindergarten classroom.

Many people say the plan is unpractical and unfeasible, especially as students at schools are often divided into different age groups that share the one classroom.

While classrooms often have several teachers, the draft decree, which was released early this week, stipulates there be no more than between 25 and 35 children aged between three and six years old in each classroom.

The decree also stipulates that day-care centres must ensure each carer looking after children under one year of age has no more than four children to look after. Previously each carer could look after up to 15 children.

For children aged two to three years of age, each carer should have no more than 25 children to look after.

Apart from the required number of teachers and carers at kindergartens and day-care centres, the decree also regulates that one additional teacher was needed for four or more disabled children at public nursery schools.

The regulations aim to gradually ease the serious overload of pupils at pre-schools in major cities across the country, while also improving the quality of teaching.

However, the regulations have been criticised as being too difficult to reach.

Nguyen Thu Hang, mother of a three-year-old student enrolled at Ba Dinh A Public Nursery School in Ha Noi, said there were more than 50 children in her child's classroom and only three teachers to take care of them.

"Only private pre-schools can ensure no more than 35 students in each classroom," said Hang. "Public schools may have more than 50 students in a class and the better a school's reputation, the more crowded the classes."

Principal of Tuoi Hoa Public Nursery School Nguyen Thai Thuan said many students would be left with no place to go if schools were forced to limit class sizes.

"Parents do not have many choices," said Thuan. "Few feel secure about sending their children to small private child care centres, as the larger private child care centres that offer peace of mind are a lot more expensive.

"Not many parents can afford the VND2-3 million (US$95-142) in fees charged each month at good private schools."

School representatives also said the municipal Department of Education and Training's new regulation, which encouraged all children to enrol at pre-schools before starting primary school, would put nursery schools under pressure to receive more students and make classrooms even more crowded.

Statistics from Ha Noi Department of Education and Training shows that there are 667 State-owned pre-schools and 160 privately-operated schools. State-supported schools are reported to have an average of 50 to 60 students in each class.

Many parents have to queue up all night for a chance to register their children at one of these schools, which are often larger and better equipped, as well as less expensive than private schools.

Hoang Thi Kim Thuy, senior official from the ministry who is in charge of collecting feedback on the issue, admitted the target might be hard to achieve.

"But the ministry will collect feedback from the public on the issue during the next two months and adjust the regulations if necessary," said Thuy.

Earlier, Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan called on the Ministry of Education and Training to complete proposals on construction and upgrades of schools and teacher-training facilities that used official development assistance.

The nation aims to spend more than VND14.6 trillion (US$736 million) on developing education facilities for five-year-olds during the 2010-11 period.

The programme, which will be submitted to the Government for approval, includes the construction of new schools and classrooms, purchase of study and teaching aids, training of teachers and support for poor students.

Also under the programme, 86 new kindergartens meeting national standards will be built in 62 poor districts, of which 24 are in six mountainous provinces bordering the Central Highlands. — VNS

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Gov't bids to speed up administrative reforms

HCM CITY — The Government has pledged to complete its administrative reform programme for the 2001 – 2010 period in an aim to reduce cumbersome procedures for both individuals and businesses.

The Government has urged several ministries involved in pressing issues like land and taxation to complete their tasks by the end of the year.

Of the 194 administrative procedures of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, 117 will be changed, nine replaced and 38 abolished, according to minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, director of the Government Office.

The ministry said it would modify 43 procedures involved in land issues by the end of the year, including simplifying land transfer and inheritance, land-right use and property-on-land use rights.

It also plans to simplify the issuance and reissuance of land and house-ownership certificates.

Because many fees will be abolished, reforms related to land procedures could help save around VND10 billion (US$500,000) per year, according to Phuc.

The Ministry of Construction has asked the Government to abolish three and modify 13 procedures related to housing and house construction.

Construction fees will no longer be collected, and construction licenses will be valid permanently and will not need to be renewed.

In addition, the Ministry of Finance will ask the Government for permission to simplify 271 out of 330 procedures.

These reforms would help individuals and organisations save about VND1,921 billion ($96 million) per year.

The ministry has also asked the Government to modify 35 priority procedures, which would help save VND1,582 billion ($79.1 million) per year.

As for customs procedures, the Government wants to simplify 138 out of 168 procedures, which would help save about VND705 billion ($35.25 million) per year, according to Phuc. — VNS

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Floods wreak havoc in central region

Flash flood coming down from Dong Tranh Mountain damaged thousands of houses in Quang Ngai Province's Binh Son District. More than 1,500 households were isolated and a road was ripped apart. Two people were killed and 11 reported injured in the flooding. — VNA/VNS Photo Tien Tri

QUANG NGAI — Torrential rain and floods left at least two dead and 11 injured, submerged multiple houses and blocked roads in Quang Ngai and Quang Nam provinces yesterday.

According to the Quang Ngai Province Committee for Flood and Storm Control, Binh Son District was the worst hit region.

Nearly 3,000 houses in the district were flooded. Flood waters pulled down 19 houses, damaged schools, rice fields and cereal crops, and swept away animals and poultry.

The Binh Son District People's Committee estimated the total loss at VND58 billion (US$3 million).

Floods also caused landslides and blocked traffic routes linking Binh Son District with National Highway 1A.

Thousands of passengers moving between the North and South got stuck in Quang Ngai Province because of the storm's effects.

"Many passengers and I were wrestling with idle time waiting for flood water to recede," said Nguyen Bay, who travelled to HCM City by bus to visit his ill son.

Son Binh Bridge that crosses To Hap River was buried in soil, isolating Son Lam and Thanh Son communes in Khanh Son mountainous district.

About 6,000, mostly ethnic people, live in the two communes.

According to the Khanh Son District People's Committee, local donors have provided 19 tonnes of rice to the two communes.

More than 330ha of the district's cereal crops were completely damaged and nearly 40ha of agricultural land destroyed.

The committee has asked authorities to help impacted locals. In Binh Son District, each family whose house collapsed has been given a tent and 50kg of rice.

Work is also underway to repair damaged roads and clear routes to isolated regions.

About 1,586 houses in low-lying and submerged areas in Binh Son, Tra Bong and Nghia Hanh districts were relocated to higher ground.

The Quang Ngai Hydro-Meteorology Forecast Centre said river water levels had already reached the third alarm level. Water levels on Tra Bong and Tra Khuc rivers were reported to be even higher. In fact, Tra Bong River is said to have water levels that surpass the historic flood in 1999.

To cope with this issue, the province has moved an additional 660 vulnerable houses from the same three districts.

Eight of the eleven big reservoirs in Quang Ngai Province are full. Two of them, Da Ban (in Mo Duc District) and Hoc Mua (in Binh Son District), are reportedly in danger of overflowing.

Provincial authorities have already crafted solutions to cope with the worst circumstances.

Other localities

Prolonged downpour also blocked traffic routes and separated many districts in Quang Nam Province.

Mo Su Mountain caved in, blocking traffic roads connecting the town of Nui Thanh with Tam Quang Commune and those linking National Highway 1A with the Ky Ha sea port.

Many communes of Nam Tra My and Nong Son districts were also submerged under 0.5 to 1.5 metres of water.

Central provinces from Quang Tri to Thua Thien-Hue also experienced between 50mm and 100mm of rain yesterday. In Binh Dien of Thua Thien-Hue Province, water levels reached 163mm.

Heavy rain caused river water levels to rise quickly. As a result, flash floods and landslides are forecast at an alarming level.

Since about 40,000 wells were submerged, the National Centre for Rural Water Supply and Environmental Sanitation has also supplied Cloramine B powder, Pur chemical and individual hygiene bags to disinfect the water in Phu Yen Province.

Cold spell in north

The National Hydro-Meteorology Forecast Centre says that low pressure mixed with a cold spell have brought rain and wind to the northern and mid central regions since last night.

Rain also occurred in some areas in the north and central Thanh Hoa Province.

Ha Noi is expected to experience low temperatures of 16 to 19 degrees Celsius.

The centre said river water levels from Thua Thien-Hue to Quang Nam would continue to increase while levels in the rivers of the Quang Ngai, Gia Lai and Kon Tum provinces would recede.

The centre also warned of flash floods from Thua Thien-Hue to Quang Nam provinces. — VNS

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Can Tho official arrested for accepting bribes from brides

Can Tho Police took a Justice Department official into custody, on Thursday, for receiving bribes to help local girls obtain necessary papers for marrying foreigners.

Phan Thanh Dung, 58, Deputy Director of the Judicial Administrative Section under the city’s Justice Department, was caught red-handed accepting US$900 in bribes from Tran Ngoc Trung at a coffee shop on Nguyen Trai Street on Thursday, according to Colonel Le Viet Hung, Deputy Chief of the Can Tho Police Department.

Trung, 32, admitted to the police that he gave the sum to Dung in exchange for speeding along paperwork for local girls looking to marry Korean and Taiwanese men.

Many girls in the Mekong Delta region view foreign marraiges as a ticket out of poverty.

After the arrest, the police raided Dung’s office, confiscating $12,125 and VND161 million (US$8,500) in bribes which the official allegedly admitted accepting from local girls seeking foreign marriages.

The police also seized two savings books worth 46 taels of gold (One tael is equivalent to 1.21 ounces), 19 taels of gold, and an illegal gun at Dung’s house on Hai Ba Trung Street in Ninh Kieu District.

The investigation continues to be underway.

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Steel bar shoots through Hanoi taxi

A falling steel beam impaled a parked taxi cab in Hanoi on Friday and settled right next to the steering wheel. The driver was not hit.

The driver said he was starting the engine and he heard thunderous crash, the next thing he knew, he was covered in broken glass.

He had just managed to calm down, when the steel bar (around five meters long) suddenly appeared through the windshieldof the car.

“I quickly stopped the engine and left the car,” he said.

Police said the bar had gone from the windshield on the head of the cab through the space under it.

The driver had stopped to drop off a passenger at the Momota apartment building, which sites near a building whose the 23rd floor is under construction.  

Hanoi police are still trying to determine the origin of the bar.

Another construction-related accident also on Friday injured four employees at a branch of ANZ bank in Ho Chi Minh City.

A huge chunk of plaster (more than 25 sqare meters, in all) fell from a four meter-high ceiling insie the ANZ building.

The four women were rushed to hospital while other employees were evacuated to avoid further accidents.

ANZ has rented the building from Saigon Jute Company.

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Steel bar shoots through Hanoi taxi

A falling steel beam impaled a parked taxi cab in Hanoi on Friday and settled right next to the steering wheel. The driver was not hit.

The driver said he was starting the engine and he heard thunderous crash, the next thing he knew, he was covered in broken glass.

He had just managed to calm down, when the steel bar (around five meters long) suddenly appeared through the windshieldof the car.

“I quickly stopped the engine and left the car,” he said.

Police said the bar had gone from the windshield on the head of the cab through the space under it.

The driver had stopped to drop off a passenger at the Momota apartment building, which sites near a building whose the 23rd floor is under construction.  

Hanoi police are still trying to determine the origin of the bar.

Another construction-related accident also on Friday injured four employees at a branch of ANZ bank in Ho Chi Minh City.

A huge chunk of plaster (more than 25 sqare meters, in all) fell from a four meter-high ceiling insie the ANZ building.

The four women were rushed to hospital while other employees were evacuated to avoid further accidents.

ANZ has rented the building from Saigon Jute Company.

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Landslides hit central Vietnam hard, Phu Yen declares emergency

Authorities in the central province of Phu Yen on Friday announced a state of emergency as landslides triggered by heavy rains badly damaged a section of the National Way 1A.

Pham Dinh Cu, chairman of Phu Yen’s People’s Committee, said landslides had hit more than one-third of the section or nearly 100 meters of the road in Tuy An District, and were threatening to spread the damage further.

At the moment, vehicles are only being allowed to move in one direction of the main road only.

In the announcement, Cu asked the district’s authorities to evacuate locals from the landslide-stricken areas, and ordered traffic police to be on duty twenty-four-seven to manage traffic.

The provincial authorities also urged the Directorate for Roads of Vietnam’s Roads Management Area No.5, which is in charge of roads in the central region, to open another road on the mountainous side.

Nguyen Van Son, chairman of People’s Committee in Chi Thanh Town of Tuy An District, said the town has been struck by a big landslide and many “dangerous cracks” have appeared near residential areas.

Torrential rain starting last weekend have also brought floods and landslides to other provinces on the central coast like Quang Nam, Quang Ngai and Binh Dinh, isolating thousands of people, local news website VnExpress reported.

Meanwhile, the National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting Friday warned about a tropical low in the East Sea, about 330 kilometers from the coast of Quang Ngai and Khanh Hoa provinces.

There’s little chance that it will strengthen into storm, but it would mainly cause rains in the sea, the center said, stressing that it still needs close observation.

Since last month Vietnam’s central region has been continuously lashed by floods that have left hundreds of people dead or missing.

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River sans bridge puts lives of children, adults at risk

Children from a village in Thanh Hoa Province cross a fierce river everyday on a raft because many promises to build a bridge have never been kept.

The Bon Village with a population of more than 600 people is isolated from other places in the province by the Muong Min River and every time heavy rains raise the water levels, the students would quit class for a week.

But most of the time, the villagers accept the risk, and take turns to row the raft.

Vi Van Son, 60, was rowing the raft on Thursday, when the river was in spate and the waters were rough.

“This water is dangerous indeed but the raft still has to run as many children and adults need to cross the river,” Son told local news website VietNamNet.

The waters being too rough for independent navigating, a cable tied to two trees on either sides of the river is held on to as the raft crosses there with the aid of another cable attached to a pulley.

The villagers made the raft themselves and bought the cables. They fix the rudimenatary system themselves when it breaks down and no one pays anything to cross the river.

Teacher Nguyen Xuan Hau said when it rained heavily, he couldn’t go to school to teach the children.

“There have been several deaths in this river. Falling into the river is a common occurence,” Hau said.

Vi Thi Hang, an eighth-grader, said, “I am scared every time I go on the raft, especially during heavy rains, but I couldn't go to school otherwise.”

Vi Van Nguyen, a nurse in the village, said there were times the water was too strong for him to carry sick people to medical stations across the river, so he had to tie bottles to his body and swim across the river to get the medicine.

“It almost got me killed last year,” Nguyen said.

“Our situation is miserable,” said Vi Van Hoa, another villager. “For many years, we have had to be reckless to cross the river when needed. The poorest ones are the teachers and children, having to cross the river two to three times every day.”

Hoa said many visitors, district and province leaders have promised to help then with a boat but this has not been materialised yet.

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River sans bridge puts lives of children, adults at risk

Children from a village in Thanh Hoa Province cross a fierce river everyday on a raft because many promises to build a bridge have never been kept.

The Bon Village with a population of more than 600 people is isolated from other places in the province by the Muong Min River and every time heavy rains raise the water levels, the students would quit class for a week.

But most of the time, the villagers accept the risk, and take turns to row the raft.

Vi Van Son, 60, was rowing the raft on Thursday, when the river was in spate and the waters were rough.

“This water is dangerous indeed but the raft still has to run as many children and adults need to cross the river,” Son told local news website VietNamNet.

The waters being too rough for independent navigating, a cable tied to two trees on either sides of the river is held on to as the raft crosses there with the aid of another cable attached to a pulley.

The villagers made the raft themselves and bought the cables. They fix the rudimenatary system themselves when it breaks down and no one pays anything to cross the river.

Teacher Nguyen Xuan Hau said when it rained heavily, he couldn’t go to school to teach the children.

“There have been several deaths in this river. Falling into the river is a common occurence,” Hau said.

Vi Thi Hang, an eighth-grader, said, “I am scared every time I go on the raft, especially during heavy rains, but I couldn't go to school otherwise.”

Vi Van Nguyen, a nurse in the village, said there were times the water was too strong for him to carry sick people to medical stations across the river, so he had to tie bottles to his body and swim across the river to get the medicine.

“It almost got me killed last year,” Nguyen said.

“Our situation is miserable,” said Vi Van Hoa, another villager. “For many years, we have had to be reckless to cross the river when needed. The poorest ones are the teachers and children, having to cross the river two to three times every day.”

Hoa said many visitors, district and province leaders have promised to help then with a boat but this has not been materialised yet.

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Vietnam mulls end to flood-causing power plants

The Ministry of Industry and Trade plans to put an end to small hydropower projects that have serious environmental impacts, an official said Saturday.

There are 86 small hydropower plants with a capacity of less than 30 megawatts and many of them have caused severe flooding, Deputy Minister Hoang Quoc Vuong told a conference in Hanoi.

Vuong said his ministry will ask its energy department to review all small plants and take action to stop inefficient projects.

He has also asked the plants to follow strictly the operating procedures of their reservoirs and to cooperate with local communities and authorities to prevent floods.

Several power plants in the central region, including Ba Ha in Phu Yen Province and A Vuong in Quang Nam Province, have been blamed for worsening flooding and causing huge damages.

Early this month, Phu Yen provincial authorities said the reservoir at Ba Ha Power Plant discharged more water than it was allowed, making it difficult to relocate residents.

But at Saturday’s conference, some experts argued that these plants were not completely responsible for the serious flooding.

They said Ba Ha and A Vuong plants, for instance, became operational around two or three years ago while flooding in the central region has been a serious problem for years. 

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Landslides cut off mountainous district

Around 6,000 people in Khanh Hoa Province’s mountainous Khanh Son District have been isolated for the last ten days as landslides destroyed many road sections and a bridge, a local newswire has reported.

The Provincial Road No. 9, which runs along the mountain cliffs in the district, has many of its sections seriously eroded, VnExpress reported Saturday. At one place, the road has a 20-meter-long and seven-meter wide hole.

The Son Binh Bridge which crosses To Hap River to connect the two communes of Son Lam and Thanh Son with To Hap Town, has collapsed.

Some people have used large plastic containers and sacks to carry residents over for with a fee of VND5,000 (25 cents) per person and VND20,000 per motorbike.

Those who can't afford this carge wade across the river by themselves to buying food and goods despite potential risks.

The Khanh Son District People’s Committee and some sponsors have sent around 14 tons of rice to residents of the two communes. Military personnel have also transported five tons of the grain to these areas.

Nguyen Quoc Thinh, deputy chairman of the committee, said work on repairing Tinh lo 9 Street was underway.

Thinh said construction and repairs to the Son Binh Bridge will be carried out after this year’s rain and flood season.

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Landslides cut off mountainous district

Around 6,000 people in Khanh Hoa Province’s mountainous Khanh Son District have been isolated for the last ten days as landslides destroyed many road sections and a bridge, a local newswire has reported.

The Provincial Road No. 9, which runs along the mountain cliffs in the district, has many of its sections seriously eroded, VnExpress reported Saturday. At one place, the road has a 20-meter-long and seven-meter wide hole.

The Son Binh Bridge which crosses To Hap River to connect the two communes of Son Lam and Thanh Son with To Hap Town, has collapsed.

Some people have used large plastic containers and sacks to carry residents over for with a fee of VND5,000 (25 cents) per person and VND20,000 per motorbike.

Those who can't afford this carge wade across the river by themselves to buying food and goods despite potential risks.

The Khanh Son District People’s Committee and some sponsors have sent around 14 tons of rice to residents of the two communes. Military personnel have also transported five tons of the grain to these areas.

Nguyen Quoc Thinh, deputy chairman of the committee, said work on repairing Tinh lo 9 Street was underway.

Thinh said construction and repairs to the Son Binh Bridge will be carried out after this year’s rain and flood season.

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France helps Nam Dinh’s water works

A French National Assembly member for Hauts-de-Seine province has pledged continued financial assistance to the northern province of Nam Dinh to carry out water works and environmental hygiene.

At a working session in the province on Nov. 15, Andre Santini, who is President of A Public Drinking Water Service for the Greater Metropolitan Paris Area (SEDIF), told Nam Dinh authorities that he was happy at bilateral cooperation over the recent past.

Vice Chairman of the Nam Dinh Provincial People’s Committee Doan Hong Phong highly valued works of a SEDIF-financed solidarity fund establishment project for Nam Dinh water sector.

This is a humanitarian project which not only directly benefits people where the project is carried out but also helps alleviate hunger and reduce poverty for provincial people in difficult regions, Phong said.

The project has been carried out under a document to implement a framework agreement signed between SEDIF and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development’s National Centre for Rural Water Supply and Environmental Hygiene on June 26, 1998.

It is intended to improve the social and medical conditions for rural people through supplying safe water for their daily use, disseminating environmental hygiene information in the community and establishing a solidarity fund of the provincial water sector by using 8-10 percent of water plants’ turnover to invest in small projects in the field.

Since the project was carried out in 1998 in Nam Dinh province, 10 water works with a combined capacity of more than 8,500 cu.m of water per day have been built with almost 15 billion VND, of which 5.5 billion VND sourced from SEDIF. Seven out of 10 works have been upgraded with an investment of around 5.8 billion VND.

In addition, SEDIF provides a funding of more than 105,000 EUR to a water supply service assistance project in Nam Dinh and Ninh Binh provinces.

Also on Nov. 15, SEDIF delegation toured Ninh Binh province to inspect water and hygiene projects.

Founded in 1923, SEDIF has been implementing 141 projects that benefit around 1.6 million people in almost 20 Asian and African nations. In Vietnam, SEDIF has funded seven projects, worth more than 1 million EUR, that benefit almost 164,000 people./.

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City needs over $1 billion to hold back rains, tides

Flooding caused by rising tides and heavy rains has gotten worse in Ho Chi Minh City; officials say they need more than US$1 billion to fix the problem.

Figures from the Southern Hydrometeorology Station showed the high water markin the city has continued to rise since 2004. It reached 1.47 meters in 2006, then 1.49 meters in 2007, but 1.55 meters in 2008 and 1.56 in 2009.

On Saturday and Sunday high tide topped 1.55 meters, very near the record high.

Pham Viet Thang, Deputy Office chief of the HCMC Flood and Storm Prevention and Rescue Steering Center, said the tide at the upstream Saigon River in Binh Duong Province reached 1.36 meters on Monday, the highest since 1966.

The Southern Hydrometeorology Station said that tides have risen throughout the year.

HCMC will get a late start this month, constructing a system of 12 drains to control high tides at local waterways. The drains will work in coordiation with a 172 kilometer dyke that stretches from Cu Chi District to the city's border with Long An Province.

Nguyen Ngoc Cong, Standing Deputy Director of the HCMC Center to Coordinate the Flood Prevention Program, said the drains are expected to be completed in 2015. The drain is slated to be installed first along Nhieu Loc-Thi Nghe (the city's major canal) and the dyke is to be finished in 2016, costing around VND20 trillion in total.

“[Our center] will take responsible for flooding after this project,” Cong said.

He said the city has spent around VND10 billion ($513,200) every year to maintain concrete dykes in canals located on the outskirts of town but they continue to break, regularly.

Cong said the city has the money to fund the project but lacks skilled irrigation and drainage engineers.

In the city's downtown, valves have been installed at the mouths of drains which automatically close when the tide gets too high.

The method has proved effective. Three hundred and ninteen valves have been installed since October 2008. In 2007, the downtown HCMC reported 92 flood spots during high tides but during Monday's high tides only 12 streets were flooded, he said.

But Cong said some valves in Districts 8 and Binh Thanh were installed when the high water mark was much lower than today. These drains no longer funciton properly, he said.

He also claimed that the rampant dumping into drainage ditches has blocked the valves. In addition, residential development has encroached onto certain ditch sites, blocking the valves from being installed.

Nguyen Ngoc Anh, the temporary head of the Southern Institute for Water Resources Planning, said that in order to tackle the problem, the city needs to set aside at least 17 percent of its total area for drainage ponds.

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