Investment in Phu Quoc: the paradise still far away

VietNamNet Bridge – Five years have passed since the day Vietnam put forward the plan on building and developing Phu Quoc Island into a large global tourism and trade exchange centre. But it seems that nothing considerable has been accomplished yet.

Only four projects operational

To date, the island development programming remains controversial. A lot of projects have been registered, but investors have made no moves. Many big infrastructure items on the island are unfinished. The Duong To International airport project, which kicked off construction in 2008, still has not finished main items, including a resettlement area.

According to the Phu Quoc Island Investment and Development Management Board, 33 investment projects have been licenced by Kien Giang People’s Committee. The projects are expected to cover an area of 1,157 hectares with the total capital of 31 trillion dong. 174 other projects have gotten agreement in principle, expected to cover an area of 7,855 hectares.

On October 5, 2004, the then Prime Minister Phan Van Khai signed a decision approving the master plan on developing Phu Quoc Island in Kien Giang province with outlook until 2020. The master plan said that Phu Quoc will be developed into a big and modern international tourism and trade exchange centre in Cuu Long River Delta, which will be gradually turned into a large regional and global tourism and trade centre. By 2010, there will be several high-quality tourism and entertainment complexes, attracting 300-350,000 travellers a year. It is expected that by 2020, it will receive 2-3 million travelers.

However, only four of the licenced projects have become operational, namely Berjaya Long Beach, Veranda, Cataco and Miramar resorts.

Eighty-eight projects of the said 174 projects which have got agreement in principle have not followed stipulated investment procedures for many reasons.

The projects registered by big names including Swiss Tructsse in cooperation with Vietnam’s Vinaconex (the Euro2 billion project on finance and tourism centre), the US-based Rockingham Group (the $1 billion high-grade tourism and entertainment complex), Starbay Veitnam ($1.8 billion Starbay resort complex) have not moved farther than asking for land.

Earning money from project trading

Hearing about the great potentials of Phu Quoc Island, a lot of people have rushed to lobby to get the right for investment in projects and rushed to commit fraud, totalling several billion dong.

Trinh Van Trung, former Head of the Economics Division under the Kien Giang People’s Committee, was arrested after reportedly receiving 500 million dong from Xa Huong Company and promising to allocate forest land to the company for a tourism project.

-->đọc tiếp...

Hue honours pottery, lacquer and phap lam

VietNamNet Bridge – The third Hue traditional handicraft festival opened on June 12 in the central city of Hue with the nam “Pottery, Lacquer and Phap Lam”, attracting over 100 craft villages in Vietnam.

Among them are famous names like Phuoc Tich pottery village in Hue, Bat Trang pottery village in Hanoi, Chu Dao pottery in Hai Duong, Bau Truc pottery in Ninh Thuan, and Go pottery from Binh Thuan province.

The festival also features lacquer art of the Hue royal court, lacquer products of craft villages in Hanoi and Binh Duong.

Collections of pottery items fished out of the Red River, Mekong River, and Huong Giang River are also displayed at the festival.

Hue’s phap lam ceramics, which are decorated with semi-precious stones and rare metals such as gold, sliver, or bronze, are also introduced.

Bat Trang pottery, Hanoi.

Cay Mai pottery of the 19th century.

Pottery items fished out from rivers.

Go pottery items, Binh Thuan province.

An artisan was making an Apsara dancer statue.

Objects fished out from rivers.

Ancient phap lam pieces.

A ceramic artwork by late artist Do Ky Hoang.

Chu Dau ceramics.

Bau Truc ceramics.

A work by Le Ba Dang.

Ha Thai lacquer, Hanoi.

Thanh Duong

-->đọc tiếp...

More businesses join forest protection network

VietNamNet Bridge – The Vietnam Forestry and Trade Network, which aims to preserve natural forests, on June 12 admitted three wood processing companies as members.

The Vietnam Forestry and Trade Network's experts (photo: WWF Vietnam).

The Vietnam Forestry and Trade Network (VFTN) was established in 2005 by the Global Forest and Trade Network (GFTN), WWF’s worldwide initiative to eliminate illegal logging and improve the management of valuable and threatened forests, the Vietnam Timber and Forestry Association and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

The network had its first four members in 2006 and three more in 2008. The three latest members are the Khai Vy Group, Tri Tin Co., Ltd and Duc Nhan Group.

“By facilitating trade links between companies committed to achieving and supporting responsible forestry, the GFTN creates market conditions that help conserve forests, while providing economic and social benefits for the businesses and people who depend on them,” said VFTN coordinator Le Khac Coi.

"We are very enthusiastic about participating in the VFTN,” said Doan Van Trang, Khai Vy’s chairman. “We hope that our participation in this forum will help raise the awareness of responsible, sustainable forestry activities.”

Vietnamese exports of wood products have tripled since the mid-1990s, making the manufacture of wooden furniture for export one of the fastest-growing industries in the country. The more than 1,200 companies involved in timber processing require approximately 2 million cubic metres of wood per year.

Increased timber imports are feeding the industry, and the resulting footprint that Vietnam leaves on the forests of other nations could be destructive. By helping processors to find legal and sustainable sources of wood, the VFTN will play a valuable role both in Vietnam and throughout the Asia-Pacific region.

There is great potential to build sustainable forestry within Vietnam using certification as a key tool. The VFTN provides a supportive framework by which forest managers can work towards credible certification. In addition, it facilitates links with a global network of responsible buyers, helping to stimulate a vibrant Vietnamese forest industry.

The services and market links provided by the VFTN will help Vietnamese state forest enterprises to comply with current Vietnamese government reforms, which aim to modernise state-owned enterprises and help bring them into the increasingly competitive global market.

Vietnam is the 24th FTN to join this rapidly-growing network, which is active in nearly 30 consumer and producer nations throughout Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas. Over 400 companies have made commitments to responsible forest management and purchasing of forest products, including major retailers such as IKEA, Carrefour, and B&Q.

VietNamNet/VNE/WWF

-->đọc tiếp...

HCM City witnessing rented room thirst in exam season

VietNamNet Bridge – Students have begun flocking into HCM City to seek boarding houses to stay during the exam season. However, rooms for lease are running out.

Rooms for lease are running out

Lai, the owner of a boarding house on Nguyen Van Cu road in district 5 near the HCM City University of Natural Sciences, said that he has no rooms left to lease. He said that previously he collected 400,000 dong from a client a month in rent, including water and electricity. However, the leasing fee has been raised to 500,000 dong per client since the beginning of June.

Other boarding house owners on Nguyen Van Cu and Tran Binh Trong streets also say that they have raised rent because it is now the ‘high business season’.

Le Thi Hue, the owner of a boarding house on Ly Thuong Kiet street in Tan Binh district, said that she prefers leasing rooms by day rather than by month because she can earn more money. If she leases by month, she can earn 600,000 dong/room/month, while if she leases by day, she can collect 30,000 dong per person per day and can put many people in the same room.

Le Thanh Tai, a student from Lam Dong province, who has been staying in HCM City for a couple of weeks to prepare for the university entrance exams, related that at first, he tried to find a room to rent in Thu Duc district because it is near the university he wants to study at. However, Tai could not find a room to lease there and finally had to stay in a house in Go Vap district, which is very far from the centre.

Tai is now sharing a narrow 12 square metre room with three other people and each of them has to pay 20,000 ($1.1) dong per day. Tai said he cannot find anywhere that offers a lower leasing fee.

Phi Nhat Nam from Binh Thuan and his four friends, who are preparing to sit for the exams to get into Le Hong Phong Gifted School, said they had to lease a room near the school at 3 million dong, or nearly $200, a month. Tai said that as they do not have motorbikes, they have to pay a lot to rent a room near the school.

It seems to be impossible to find ‘soft price’ rooms at this moment to rent. Pham Thi Lan Huong from Binh Phuoc province, who is taking the exam to enter the HCM City University of Law, said that she has asked for support from the team ‘Giving strength in the exam season’. However, she dares not dream of finding a low-fee room to rent.

Thu Duc district is the area where students who register to take exams for the HCM City Agriculture and Forestry University, HCM City Technical Education University and HCM City Economics University like staying. In previous years, students could register to stay at the dormitory of the HCM City National University. However, the dormitory is not open to students until early July.

-->đọc tiếp...

Modern underpass opens in Hanoi, and then closes…

VietNamNet Bridge – Hanoi’s Kim Lien underpass, the most modern underpass in Vietnam, opened this morning, June 16. However, it was closed after two hours because of flooding.

Only two hours after the underpass was opened this morning, it was closed because of flooding caused by a big rain.

Nguyen Sy Bao, director of the Hanoi’s key projects management board, the investor of the Kim Lien traffic centre project, explained to VietNamNet that the major pumping system was not in operation yet.

The pumping system at the construction site of the Kim Lien traffic centre had to be used, so it took one hour to pump out the flood water.

Bao said that once the major pumping system becomes operational, the underpass will not be flooded in big rains like the one this morning.

He emphasised that the close of the underpass after two hours of opening was only because of flooding, not any technical problem.

Meanwhile, Takagi, JICA’s high-ranking advisor, told VietNamNet that the underpass being flooded was not an abnormal thing.

Kim Lien underpass is one of the last components of the project on transportation infrastructure development for Hanoi supported by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). It is the most modern underpass in Vietnam with 140m reinforced concrete box culvert structure and 405m reinforced concrete retaining wall structure.

The work was built by Japan’s Taisei Corporation under the supervision of the Japan Bridge and Structure Institute, which also drew up the detailed design for the project. Kim Lien underpass is a section of ring road 1 in Hanoi.

Within the framework of the project on transportation infrastructure development for Hanoi, which is funded by a Japanese official development assistance (ODA) loan worth $130 million, the construction of Kim Lien underpass and other components including flyovers at Nga Tu Vong and Nga Tu So intersections, mini bypass at the southern end of Thang Long Bridge and Huu Hong dyke road, Kim Lien-O Cho Dua Road and 16 pedestrian flyovers aim to eliminate major problem areas in the city’s transport system.

The underpass was temporarily blocked off with barriers.

VietNamNet/VNE

-->đọc tiếp...

Foreign investment freefall eases in China

Foreign direct investment (FDI) has been in decline for eight months, but the size of the fall in May was smaller than the one in April, probably signaling an easing off.

In comparison with other economies, China is still poised to be among the first choices for global investors in the next five years, the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) said.

According to the figures released by the ministry yesterday, in May, the FDI dropped 17.8 percent compared to a year earlier - equaling $6.38 billion. The number of newly approved foreign enterprises contracted by 32 percent to 1,649.

The figures exclude those in the financial sector.

But May's performance was better than April's, when the FDI registered a negative growth of 22.5 percent.

Between January and May, the FDI fell by 20.4 percent year-on-year to $34.05 billion and newly approved foreign enterprises dropped by 33.8 percent to 7,890.

In the same period, foreign investment in China's central and western regions fell by 35.7 - more than the national average. Newly approved foreign enterprises fell 30.2 percent. For several years prior to the financial crisis, the regions had seen higher rates than the national average.

Yao Jian, a MOFCOM's spokesman, noted the central and western regions' sharp decline: "The coastal areas have the advantage of having gathered a much larger number of foreign investment enterprises in the last three decades."

Encouraged by confidence from global investors in China's 4 trillion yuan stimulus plan, the "decline in FDI will probably be slowing during the rest of the year," predicted Li Jianfeng, macro-economics and trade analyst with Shanghai Securities, a domestic brokerage.

"There is a good chance that the FDI will register a positive growth in the last quarter, given the low reference point in 2008," he added.

During the first quarter, the FDI decline showed some signs of bottoming out. But in April, the performance went down again by 22.5 percent, compared with a decline of 9.5 percent in March.

At the same time, the International Monetary Fund predicted China's GDP would grow by 6.7 percent this year, 1.3 percentage points lower than the Chinese government's target, but higher than the 5.25 percent of India and 5 percent for Vietnam, two countries vying for FDI.

The stimulus plan is having an effect, said Yao, who pointed out that retail volume rose to 4.88 trillion yuan in the first five months, up by 15 percent year-on-year.

Yao predicted that in 2009, China's FDI will contract by an annualized 20 percent in contrast to last year's growth of 27.65 percent.

VietNamNet/Xinhuanet

-->đọc tiếp...

Small businessmen hope Assembly will approve tax reductions

VietNamNet Bridge – Small merchants are as nervous as cats on hot bricks. For them, much depends on the final decision of the National Assembly on a proposed tax exemption and reduction. The Assembly’s vote is expected soon.

Demand for goods and services has fallen dramatically since the end of 2008. Some markets have reported a fall of 50 percent in sales as people are still trying to tighten their belts and limit spending during the economic crisis period.

If the National Assembly approves tax exemption . . .

458,000 business households may benefit from tax exemption or reduction If the proposal by the Ministry of Finance is approved, small business households in particular may enjoy tax reduction or exemption. It is estimated that 458,000 business households would be exempted from 1.3 trillion dong of tax, while only 249,100 employees would enjoy a tax exemption totaling 1,100 billion dong

Phuoc, who sells rice and eggs at Nhat Tao Market in HCM City, complained that his sales have dropped by 2/3 compared to 2008. Meanwhile, he has to pay 500,000 dong in tax each month, more than he did 2008. Phuoc said that if the National Assembly does not agree to reduce the tax burden, he and other small business households will be in serious trouble.

Truc, the owner of a convenience store in Go Vap district, HCMC, related that she has had to pay 344,000 dong in tax every month. She was so happy, she said, when she heard that the Ministry of Finance has proposed to waive the personal income tax (PIT) for the first six months of the year and grant a 200,000 dong per month tax reduction from July 1, 2009 until the end of 2010.

Truc said that if the National Assembly approves the suggestion, Truc and small business households like hers will not have to pay PIT. “In fact, 200,000 dong is not really a big sum, but it has big significance,” she added. “As the Vietnamese saying goes, a small piece of bread at the time when you are hungry is as valuable as a whole loaf of bread when you are full.”

Minh, who sells consumer products at Tan Son Nhat Market, said that the proposed PIT exemption for the first six months of the year and 200,000 dong tax reduction until the end of 2010 will help petty merchants a lot. They will have more money to spend on their children’s schooling and their family’s meals.

Phuc, who sells confectionary products at Phu Nhuan Market, said that the purchasing power has decreased by a half

Only 9.5 percent of business households are ‘high income’

According to the HCM City Taxation Agency, there are 126,000 business households in the city, but only 12,000 households, or 9.5 percent, have a monthly income of 11 million dong and higher, and so will be obliged to pay taxes if the 200,000 dong reduction is approved.

Tran Thi Le Nga of the HCM City Tax Agency explained that under the current law, which grants an exemption of 4 million dong per month per taxpayer and a 1.6 million dong exemption for up to two dependent members of the taxpayer’s family), 114,000 households in the metropolis, or 90 percent of the its business households, have a taxable income of less than four million dong per month. The current tax on four million dong is 200,000 dong, so 90 percent of these households will not have to pay PIT until the end of 2010.

Deputy Minister of Finance Nguyen Cong Nghiep also said that nationwide, there are nearly two million business households, but only 458,000 households have an income high enough to be taxed. If the ministry’s exemption proposal is approved, only about nine percent, or less than 100,000, will be liable to any tax for the next eighteen months.

-->đọc tiếp...