Van Phong port gets new lease on life

HCM City (VNA) – With the country’s first international transit port in the central province of Khanh Hoa back on track after almost being abandoned last year, the Government is scouting for foreign investors.

Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai has told the Ministries of Transport, Finance, Investment and Planning to make a comprehensive plan for the port to come up in Van Phong Bay.

The project’s major investor, Vietnam National Shipping Lines (Vinalines), would work with the foreign partner on the details and secure the required licenses, he added.

The project, approved in 2007, was almost mothballed early last year, with its groundbreaking ceremony cancelled, after Posco of the Republic of Korea and Khanh Hoa province proposed a 10 billion USD steel plant and a 1,100 MW power plant in Dam Mon on part of the land earmarked for the port.

But at the end of last year, the Government disallowed their proposed projects on environmental grounds, effectively reviving the port project.

A study has found the 45,000-ha bay’s average water depth of 22-27 m ideal for large vessels. It also has a natural barrier from the weather and tides in the form of Hon Gom island.

Economists have opined that if Van Phong becomes an international transit port, it would not only benefit Khanh Hoa immensely but also cause a major change to the Southeast Asian region’s marine services industry.

“We now pay foreigners at least 3 billion USD in transshipment fees every year,” former Vinalines director Chu Quang Thu said.

The fees add 10 to 15 percent to the cost of goods.

He said that the terminal would enable Vietnam to stop depending on Hong Kong and Singapore for transshipping containers bound for Europe and North America , saving 101-231 USD per container.

Once ready, Van Phong would do the job now done by Hong Kong and Singapore – transship goods for other countries.

Domestic shipping services handle a mere 20 percent of Vietnam ’s total foreign trade with the rest done by foreign agencies.

Vinalines said transshipment is a crucial link in the logistics chain that is becoming increasingly popular internationally.-

Vietnam stresses remedies to world humanitarian issues

New York (VNA) – C onflict solution and prevention, eradication of hunger, reduction of poverty, and the improvement of living conditions for populations in conflict zones, are crucial remedies to the root causes of humanitarian issues, said a Vietnamese diplomat.

Ambassador Bui The Giang, Vietnamese Deputy Representative to the United Nations Security Council, made the statement at a council debate on the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)’s report in New York on January 8.

The Vietnamese representative suggested that greater focus should be reserved for repatriation and reintegration, which require combined efforts from multi-stakeholders, including UN agencies, the World Bank, and regional and international NGOs and civil society groups.

He said that Vietnam recognised the efforts made so far, and the resulting initial progress in repatriating refugees, and reintegrating them into their own communities.

The ambassador, however, expressed deep concerns about the increasing displacement in many parts of the world, as well as challenges in protecting refugees in conflict areas and ensuring humanitarian access for them.

“We are dismayed that refugees in conflict areas, first of all women and children, continue to fall victims to killings, maimings and all sorts of gender-based violence,” he said.

The current situation in Afghanistan , in some countries in South Asia and Africa, and most notably in Gaza , where 1.5 million inhabitants are terribly victimized by the humanitarian crisis, calls for greater humanitarian efforts, he added.

While again confirming the primary responsibility of states in meeting the humanitarian needs of their respective civilian populations, the Vietnamese diplomat emphasised UNHCR’s role, and the need for its coordination with other relevant UN bodies, such as the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO), and the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Children and Armed Conflict and UN field missions.

“In order for humanitarian activities to be effective and efficient, humanitarian access must not be politicised, but must instead be strictly adherent to the principle of neutrality, impartiality and independence, and in conformity with national and international laws,” Giang said in conclusion.-

Van Phong Port gets new lease on life

HCM CITY — With the country’s first international transit port in the central province of Khanh Hoa back on track after almost being abandoned last year, the Government is scouting for foreign investors.

Deputy Primer Minister Hoang Trung Hai has told the Ministries of Transport, Finance, Investment and Planning to make a comprehensive plan for the port to come up in Van Phong Bay.

The project’s major investor, Viet Nam National Shipping Lines (Vinalines), would work with the foreign partner on the details and secure the required licences, he added.

The project, approved in 2007, was almost mothballed early last year, with its groundbreaking ceremony cancelled, after South Korea’s Posco and Khanh Hoa Province proposed a US$10 billion steel plant and a 1,100MW power plant in Dam Mon on part of the land earmarked for the port.

But at the end of last year, the Government disallowed their proposed projects on environmental grounds, effectively reviving the port project.

Ideal location

A study has found the 45,000-ha bay’s average water depth of 22-27m ideal for large vessels. It also has a natural barrier from the weather and tides in the form of Hon Gom island.

Economists have opined that if Van Phong becomes an international transit port, it would not only benefit Khanh Hoa immensely but also cause a major change to the Southeast Asian region’s marine services industry.

“We now pay foreigners at least US$3 billion in transshipment fees every year,” former Vinalines director Chu Quang Thu said.

The fees add 10 to 15 per cent to the cost of goods.

He said that the terminal would enable Viet Nam to stop depending on Hong Kong and Singapore for transshipping containers bound for Europe and North America, saving $101-231 per container.

Once ready, Van Phong would do the job now done by Hong Kong and Singapore – transship goods for other countries.

Domestic shipping services handle a mere 20 per cent of Viet Nam’s total foreign trade with the rest done by foreign agencies.

Vinalines said transshipment is a crucial link in the logistics chain that is becoming increasingly popular internationally. —

Ha Noi disciplines more than 900 Party members last year

HA NOI — Ha Noi Municipal Communist Party Committee penalised 913 Party members last year in a move to raise its members’ work quality, a city official said on Wednesday.

Most of the members were penalised for being “irresponsible” and “bureaucratic” in their work, or for “immoral conduct” and getting “deliberately involved in malpractice,” said deputy head of the Committee’s Inspection Commission, Tran Trong Duc.

Seventy-seven were handed criminal sentences, 31 fined and 53 dismissed. The number of those disciplined was 30 per cent higher than 2007, and accounted for almost 0.3 per cent of total municipal Party members.

Duc said the inspectors followed up four letters of denunciation and exposed wrongdoings in each case.

They involved the head of the former Ha Tay Province Party Committee’s Education and Information Commission and three leaders of Son Tay City, who wrongly granted land to local people.

The land was later revoked.

The official also said that this year, the Ha Noi Party Committee would focus its inspection on administrative reform, the socialisation of public services, urban construction management and anti-corruption.

The committee would also intensify its supervision of Party members who engage in land, finance, construction management and human resource activities, particularly after the city’s expansion. —