Watchdog proposes housing fund probe

A slum in Ho Chi Minh City’s District 8. The local Housing Development Fund may come under scrutiny for not fulfilling its duty.
Ho Chi Minh City’s anticorruption watchdog Sunday proposed that the city’s People’s Committee should investigate their Housing Development Fund.
The city’s Anti-Corruption Steering Committee said they suspected misconduct in the fund because it was performing poorly despite a VND300 billion (US$17.70 million) investment.
The fund was not fulfilling its’ duty, the committee said, adding that it had only loaned money to a limited number of city residents to buy houses.
The HCMC Housing Development Fund was founded as part of the administration’s affordable housing policy.
Initiated by the HCMC People’s Committee two years ago, the city’s affordable housing project aims to provide 30,000 apartments by 2010 to low-income people falling under three categories: government employees, residents displaced by investment projects, and those living in substandard accommodations.
Low income housing, however, is still out of reach for many city residents as they have to meet many conditions.
Meanwhile, around 500,000 out of the metro’s eight million inhabitants desperately need affordable housing, estimates show.
The Ministry of Construction in September submitted to the government for approval a “less conditions” plan to build 184,000 apartments for sale and lease from next year until 2015 to meet the housing needs of 30 percent of poor households in urban areas.
Reported by Minh Nam

Central villagers fear losing homes to floods

Recent floods have isolated hundreds of families in Binh Dinh Province’s Phu Cat and Tuy Phuoc districts and destroyed homes and property.
Every year in November the flood season in Vietnam’s central region fills residents with fear of hunger and homelessness.
One local Cao Thi Thu Thao was forced to stay at a neighbor’s house with her five-month-old baby when her house collapsed into the Kon River a week ago.
Her fisherman husband Vo Trong An only earns VND20,000 (US$1.18) a day ruling out any chance of owning another house soon.
Nguyen Thi Huong, 75, in Phuoc Son Commune, Tuy Phuoc District lost the house she had been living in by herself for several years. Huong collected her rice seed by seed after her rice barrel broke open in the rising waters.
The floods wrecked 43 houses in Phuoc Son Commune and 42 houses in Phuoc Hoa Commune in the district, the head commune officials said.
Most of those families are poor and “unable to rebuild their houses,” said Ton Ky Hai of Phuoc Son Commune.
Hai said the commune could only offer some food and temporary refuge for victims and is asking the province and state authorities to help.
Around 600 families in Phuoc Hoa Commune are threatened by floods every rainy season, according to the commune head Nguyen Ngoc Xuan.
The damage bill from the recent floods in Binh Dinh Province came to at least VND48 billion ($2.84 million).
One hundred and twenty private houses were destroyed, prompting authorities to ask for VND18 billion ($1.06 million) support from the state budget.
In the meantime, many in Tuy Phuoc District work by transporting people around on boats despite the dangerous currents.
Le Van Ngot of Phuoc Nghia Commune said he transported workers, students and sellers, charging VND5,000 (30 cents) a person and VND5,000 a motorbike.
He earns VND200,000 ($11.80) a day but rowing in the cold makes him “too tired to eat” at the end of the day, Ngot said.
Most boat owners including Ngot don’t carry lifebuoys and there have been some tragic accidents over the years.
“I just work for a few days. It’s not permanent so I don’t need to buy lifebuoys,” Nguyen Van Tam said.
Others said it was the authority’s responsibility to buy lifebuoys not theirs.
Rising sea
In Quang Nam Province, more than 100 families along the coast in Duy Hai Commune, Duy Xuyen District have been watching with trepidation as the sea moves closer to their homes.
Cua Dai Sea has encroached 50 meters into the mainland since Friday’s heavy rains.
Commune head Vo Van Toan said the problem had worsened every year since the 2006 floods.
Local man Nguyen Tan Truc, lives only 20 meters from the water edge. He said can’t sleep at night and wakes up every time he feels big waves. “It’s so frightening!”
Truc said he needs to move but has “no money.”
There are 18 families in the commune who have been offered safer places but they couldn’t afford new houses, the commune head said.
Truc’s neighbor Bui Van Minh said he had no idea what he would do if the sea took his home.
The National Center for Hydro-meteorological Forecasting Sunday said heavy rains today will raise river levels from Quang Binh to Quang Tri provinces and from Khanh Hoa to Phu Yen provinces.
Provinces from Quang Binh to Phu Yen should be prepared for more floods and landslides, according to the center.
Reported by Thanh Nien staff

Work starts on $9.8 billion steel mill in central Vietnam

The construction of the US$9.8 billion Ca Na Steel Mill Complex in the central province of Ninh Thuan began Sunday.
The four-stage steel project, being developed by Malaysia’s Lion Corporation and the Vietnam Shipbuilding Industry Corporation (Vinashin), is due for completion in 2025.
The complex will be built on 1,650 hectares and will include coal and steel processing plants, two thermal power plants and a seaport.
The investment for the first phase, from 2008 to 2010, is estimated at nearly $2.75 billion.
When it becomes fully operational, the Ca Na Steel Mill Complex will have an annual capacity of 14.42 million tons and a workforce of 50,000.
Reported by Thien Nhan

VN-Index to test a new low, analysts predict

Vietnam’s major stock market in Ho Chi Minh City is on a downward trajectory to 300 points, stock experts have predicted, saying the extension of its plunge would give investors the chance to snap up some bargains.
The VN-Index fell on every trading day last week to close at 318.96 points last Friday, its lowest level in almost three years. Trading volume was fairly low, averaging 13 million trades each day, compared with an average of 16 million a day the previous week.
The benchmark index, a gauge of 166 leading companies and four closed-end funds, has lost 65 percent of its value this year.
“The market is now in need of positive news on the economy,” said HCMC-based investment fund An Phuc investment director Le Van Thanh Long, adding he expected the economy to remain gloomy over the next six months.
“The market is set to test a new low. I expect the VN-Index will fall below 300 points,” Long told Thanh Nien Daily.
He said the slightly stronger buying in the last two trading days of last week was a positive sign. “However, many investors are still standing on the sideline, waiting for share prices to drop more.”
Trading volume was a mere 10.8 million shares last Monday, 12 million last Tuesday and 10 million last Wednesday before rising to 15.7 million shares last Thursday and 17.6 million last Friday.
But Long said the level of 300 points or a little bit lower would offer investors a golden opportunity to buy shares at attractive prices.
FPT Securities Co.’s broker Nguyen Hai Son said last week’s stock market performance was dull because institutional investors weren’t buying. “They are worried about the capital gains tax, which will take effect in January next year,” Son said.
Under the Personal Income Tax Law, stock investors will have to pay tax of either 0.1 percent on every sale of securities or 20 percent on the whole year’s net profit.
Analysts from Kim Eng Securities Co. said domestic stock markets had tracked the US markets closely over the last three months. The company’s analysts predicted the VN-Index will slump to 250 points and the Hanoi exchange’s HaSTC-Index will hit 65 points if the US’s Dow Jones Industrial Average falls to 7,300.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average and Nasdaq in the US hit their lowest levels in more than five years last week and the broad-market Standard & Poor's 500 fell to its weakest since 1997.
Although the market ended Friday on a high note, with a big rally inspired by the news that president-elect Barack Obama had chosen New York Federal Reserve chief Timothy Geithner as Treasury Secretary, the losses for the week were still staggering.
In the week to Friday, Dow index tumbled 5.31 percent to 8,046.42.
Sell PPC, buy low-price shares
Pha Lai Thermal Power Joint Stock Company (PPC)’s announcement that it will delay a dividend payment this year triggered concerns about the company’s health.
The company, Vietnam’s largest listed power supplier, said on the exchange’s website last Wednesday it would struggle to pay dividend this year as its official-development assistance debts from the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) had expanded as the Japanese yen strengthened against the dong.
JBIC loaned Pha Lai 36.2 billion yen at the end of last year, according to the Kim Eng Securities Co. The debt was then equal to VND5,153 billion (US$304 million) and the dong was only 142.34 per yen. The dong weakened to 174.84 per yen last Thursday.
“Pha Lai may suffer a loss of VND60.5 billion ($3.6 million) by repaying 1.86 billion yen in this quarter and may have to book a contingent liability of VND1.12 trillion ($66 million) for the remainder of the outstanding debt. The firm’s net profit in the first nine months of the year is a mere VND793.3 billion ($47 million), so its net profit for the year may be a minus figure,” said analyst Ngo Thuc Vu from Kim Eng Securities last Thursday. The dong reached VND178 per yen last Friday.
Stock website Vietstock, in which IDG Venture holds a 10 percent stake, has also predicted the VN-Index will fall to a new low this week.
Reported by Tuong Chau

Phu Quoc International Airport breaks ground

Construction of an international airport was started Sunday on Phu Quoc Island in southern Kien Giang Province.
The VND12,000-billion (US$704- million) Phu Quoc International Airport is located in Duong To Commune, more than 10 kilometers away from the current Phu Quoc Airport.
Phu Quoc International Airport is expected to serve about 2.65 million passengers and handle 8,600 tons of international goods and 5,700 tons of domestic goods annually by 2020.
When it becomes fully operational in 2030, the airport will be able to serve 7 million passengers and handle 27,600 tons of goods every year. It is expected to receive as much as 20 planes at peak hours.
The existing Phu Quoc Airport can only receive 248,000 passengers per year.
Speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony Sunday, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung said Phu Quoc International Airport will expedite the development of Phu Quoc District, Kien Giang Province, the southern region and the whole country.
The project seeks to improve traffic infrastructure in the locality, enabling it to become a center for tourism and services and connect with other regions in Vietnam as well as other foreign countries for trade activities, Dung said.
Vietnam currently has three international airports based in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang City, along with 13 domestic airports.
Reported by Mai Vong

President flags food security commitment at APEC summit

Vietnam is willing to cooperate with other APEC members on food security through technical assistance and sharing of agricultural production experience and techniques.
President Nguyen Minh Triet delivered the message at the first APEC Leaders’ Retreat, which opened in the Peruvian capital of Lima November 22 (local time).
The meeting, chaired by Peruvian President Alan Garcia Perez, focused on the global financial crisis, the fluctuation of food and goods prices, and the Doha round of the World Trade Organization (WTO) trade talks.
Triet called on major economies of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum to open their markets, restore confidence, combat all forms of subsidy, accelerate the Doha Round of WTO talks, and continue giving priority to challenges related to poverty, diseases and the environment.
To assist developing economies implement the Millennium Development Goals, Vietnam and the Republic of Korea proposed that developed APEC economies should continue providing them with official development assistance (ODA).
At the meeting, APEC leaders adopted the Lima declaration on the global economy, with resolve to speed up financial reform in member economies, reform the international financial system, combat subsidy moves and push for the signing of a WTO agreement on tax reduction next month.
Earlier in the day, Triet held talks with representatives of the US Business Alliance at APEC, which was set up in 1993 to handle the US business operations with regional economic groups.
Triet affirmed that Vietnam always welcomes US businesses to the country.
Representatives of US businesses said they considered Vietnam a dynamic economy in APEC with a transparent investment environment.
Source: VNA

Private notary offices see sparse clientele

Gia Dinh Private Notary Office is visited by few clients
Poor promotion, lack of customer trust and rigid rules have hampered the operations of new notary offices in HCMC.
Sitting with a heap of documents on her lap, Ha Tuyet Mai awaited her turn to have paperwork authenticated at the state-run Notary Department No. 1 in Ho Chi Minh City’s District 1.
Mai told Thanh Nien she had to get up very early to join the long queue at the department which was overwhelmed with droves of customers. As she spoke, Mai pointed to the notary officers who were working at breakneck speed to handle the enormous piles of papers.
When asked why she didn’t go to a private notary office to expedite the authentication process, Mai said she was unfamiliar with the availability of such a service in the city.
“I have heard of [private notary offices] located in outlying districts, but my house is in District 1 so I opted to have the documents notarized here,” she said.
Unbeknownst to Mai, the private Saigon Notary Office and Gia Dinh Notary Office had both opened up in District 1 in early November.
The debut of a third private notary office in District 1 is also in the offing after it was recently granted permission by the HCMC government.
Of the eight private notary offices licensed in HCMC, five have already started operating since August.
But like Mai, many customers remain in the dark about the existence of such private branches.
“I suppose private notary offices would charge higher fees than state-owned ones,” said Phan Nhu Thanh, a client at the public Notary Department No. 4 in Tan Binh District.
In September, the Ministry of Justice had issued a dispatch requiring private and public notary offices nationwide to charge the same notary fees.
The Notary Law also said that private and public notary offices are organizations entitled to practice notary services in Vietnam equal under the law.
But since their debut, private notary offices have averaged fewer than 100 customers a day compared to the huge clientele at state-run departments.
The poor turnouts occur despite private notary offices taking great strides to improve their services across the board.
Heads of private notary offices admit they have not done the best job in promoting their services, but they also blame lack of trust from the general public for their sparse clientele.
Tran Quoc Phong, chief of Gia Dinh Notary Office, said one time a bank official had expressed doubt over the validity of documents notarized for a client under his watch.
“Private notary? It sounds strange. I wonder if this work is legitimate enough,” the official had said to the client.
“When such a state official is not convinced about the [private] authentication of documents, how can other people trust it?” Phong said.
Inflexible regulations
Private notary officers also have decried several rigid regulations which have hindered their daily operations.
An article attached to the Notary Law requires the working hours of private notary offices to be similar to those of public departments, meaning a private notary office is only allowed to be open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
“Such a regulation constrains private notary offices from working overtime to expedite paperwork for clients,” the head of a private notary office in HCMC said.
“The authentication of a will can be made at anytime upon the request of customers,”
Phan Van Cheo, the former head of the state-run Notary Department No. 1, said. “But if the notarization is made outside of the official working hours, would it be considered illegal and declared null and void?”
Cheo has urged the Ministry of Justice to issue specific guidelines to help private notary offices out in this regard.
Le Hong Son, head of the Saigon Private Notary Office said bank regulations only approve mortgage documents notarized by state departments. These rules haven’t changed even with the debut of private notary offices.
“Several banks have insisted on rejecting documents authenticated by private notary offices,” Son said. “This policy scares away a large clientele for private notary offices.”
The Notary Law had come into effect last July. The move to privatize notary work came amidst fears that the 140 notary offices around the country, particularly those in large cities like Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, and Da Nang, were being overwhelmed by their workload.
Since July 25, the Hanoi municipal administration has granted licenses to 16 private notary offices in eight districts.
Private notary offices in Vietnam adopt the organizational models of European and American notary agencies.
To protect the public, private notary offices found violating regulations would be fined, asked to compensate clients, and be subjected to criminal charges.
Reported by Le Nga