Vietnam unveils its first pipe coating factory < />
A pipe coating factory, the first of its kind in the country, run by the PetroVietnam Investment and Development Joint Stock Company (PVID) under the National Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam), was officially inaugurated on July 15.
The factory, located in Phu My 1 Industrial Zone in the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau , will help PetroVietnam save on the costs of hiring foreign firms to coat its gas and oil pipelines, and create numerous jobs for locals.
Work on the 517-billion-VND factory started last August.
PVID said that the factory will coat pipelines taking gas from the White Sea Lion, White Rhino and White Tiger oil fields ashore.
Sacombank supports Vietnamese, Cambodian trade
The Saigon Thuong Tin Commercial Joint Stock Bank (Sacombank) announced on July 15 that it has put together a credit package to support Vietnamese exporters to Cambodia and Cambodian businesses that import Vietnamese goods.
The package aims to boost trade between both countries and promote the bank’s role in helping Vietnamese businesses to invest in Cambodia .
The package focuses on businesses that export and those that produce essential goods to improve the competitiveness of their prices as well as step up promotions of Vietnamese goods in the Cambodian market.
Under the package, Vietnamese customers who export to Cambodia will enjoy a preferential VND lending interest rate of at least 12 percent per year and their partners in Cambodia will be provided with preferential USD loans at a minimum interest rate of 8 percent per year. The programme will last until October 12, 2010.
Vietnamese businesses that import goods from Cambodia will also get a 30-percent reduction in the fees for transferring money from Vietnam to Cambodia from now until December 31, 2010.
Vietnam’s tourist sector wastes opportunities
Although tourism is one of the key economic sectors that bring in a large amount of foreign currency to the country, each year, the lack of unique organised tours means the sector is losing out on opportunities to develop.
According to the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT), the tourism sector has developed well over the last few years, with international arrivals to the country reaching 3.8 million in 2009, a 15-fold increase compared to 1990 and peaking 4.3 million in 2008.
Last year, although the number of international visitors to Vietnam fell by 10 percent from the previous year, the amount of foreign currency directly earned from tourism still amounted to almost 4 billion USD, after garments, crude oil, footwear and seafood.
In the first months of 2010, when global tourism was still trying to weather the impact of the world’s economic crisis, many Asia-Pacific countries, including Vietnam , remained attractive to international tourists. With a growth rate of more than 30 percent over this period, the World Tourism Organisation ranked Vietnam fourth in tourism growth in the Asia-Pacific region, after Sri Lanka , Arab Saudi and Israel .
In the 2009 report on Travel & Tourism Competitiveness (TTC) announced by the World Economic Forum, Vietnam ranked 11 th out of 133 countries and territories for having competitive prices. This is why many people from overseas are attracted to Vietnam .
In addition, Vietnam has a lot of potential for developing its tourist industry and has also attracted a lot of foreign investors. In 2009 alone, FDI capital into the tourism sector reached 8.8 billion USD, accounting for 41 percent of the country’s total FDI that year.
Besides its material contributions to the national economy, the development of the sector has helped with the country’s economic restructuring, reduced poverty and generated jobs as well revitalised many traditional craft villages.
According to Vietnam ’s Human Resources Development Programme, the tourism sector annually creates millions of job opportunities for workers. During the 1991-2009 period, the amount of people working directly in the sector increased by nearly 20 times from 21,000 to 370,000.
Despite an average growth of close to 17 percent during the same period, a lack of competitiveness remains the largest obstacle for Vietnamese tourism, especially at a time when ASEAN nations are paying more attention to developing their own tourist industries, considering it a major factor for economic growth.
Among the ASEAN countries surveyed in the TTC report, minus Laos and Myanmar , Vietnam only ranks above Cambodia in tourism development. However, with its specific strategies and effective operations, Cambodia ’s tourism sector is becoming stronger and is likely to overtake Vietnam .
According to experts, low competitiveness comes from the fact that Vietnamese tourism does not concentrate on unique products and its services are simple and low quality. The sector does not have a overall development plan, which has resulted in a low rate of long-stay tourists.
In addition, not having a policy of refunding value added tax (VAT) for international tourists to encourage them to spend, as Thailand and Singapore have done, has also made Vietnamese tourism difficult to promote.
At a recent national seminar entitled “developing Vietnamese tourism in the context of international integration” in Hanoi , a number of measures were discussed with a focus on developing special tourism products, promotions and improving the country’s infrastructure and human resources.
The tourism sector has targeted welcoming 4.5 million international visitors in 2010, up 16 percent against last year.
Parking shortage plagues Ho Chi Minh City
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| HCM City |
There have been many times when Le Van Thanh Tung, a driver working for Bayer Vietnam Company, had to drive around for two or three kilometres to find parking space in downtown HCM City.
After finding space, he said, “I had to sit under the baking sun to keep an eye on the car while waiting for the boss to finish the meeting. Honestly, finding parking space is the biggest worry for drivers.”
The city centre does not have a single parking lot.
The People’s Committee announced last November it would allow parking on 73 streets for a fee, including 32 streets in District 1.
Along downtown streets like Pham Ngu Lao, Nguyen Thi Minh Khai, Nguyen Trai, Nguyen Hue, Le Lai, and Ham Nghi, long lines of parked cars can be seen at most times.
Even on narrow streets like Cao Ba Quat, Bui Thi Xuan, Thi Sach, Suong Nguyet Anh, Tran Cao Van, and Nguyen Van Thu, cars parked along the curbs on both sides take up nearly half the road.
These streets have already run out of space since shops and restaurant park their cars all day long here because of the cheap parking fee. Even taxi drivers park here while waiting for fares.
Ha Le An of the Urban Transport Management Division No 1 admitted the parking fees are too low: 5,000 VND –10,000 VND for cars with up to 16 seats.
As a result, there is no parking space left for shoppers and residents.
HCM City has around 427,000 private cars, and 80 more are registered daily.
Assuming an automobile requires 12 square metres for parking, the city needs to have at least 5.12 million square metres (more than 500ha) for parking.
The city has around 11,000 taxis but their operators only have a cumulative 2.5ha of parking space, according to the Department of Transport. The others park in petrol stations or on roads.
Many private parking lots have sprung up to take advantage of the huge demand for parking space. Ngoc Lam, a driver, said he knows of some parking lots in buildings in District 1.
One of them is in Sai Gon Centre at the corner of Pasteur and Le Loi Streets which collects a rather stiff fee based on time.
But despite this, few outsiders’ cars can be parked there because vehicles belonging to people working in the building take up almost the entire space, a building security guard said. Havana building on Ham Nghi street charges even more than Sai Gon Centre – 20,000 VND for an hour for regular cars.
Some enterprising people even hire space to set up impromptu parking lots.
Tran Thi Kim Hoang, director of Thien Dai Loi private company, has rented 3,000 square metres at 86 Nguyen Thi Minh Khai street , District 1, and created a car park.
She charges 1.2 million VND a month for each car of up to seven seats.
Electronics retailers go begging for customers
Electronics shops and supermarkets in major cities are offering big discounts to boost flagging sales at the end of the World Cup and dry season.
Television sets, refrigerators, fans and air-conditioners are being discounted by 10-56 percent.
At De Nhat Phan Khang electronics stores in HCM City, the price of a Sharp 52A83 LCD TV has been reduced from around 80 million VND (4,210 U SD ) to 35 million VND (1,842 USD ).
Other HCM City shops, like Nguyen Kim, Cho Lon, and Tran The, are offering lucky-draw coupons and freebies.
But southern customers don’t appear to be taking the bait. Phan Khang employee Minh Phuc said electronics stores were not as crowded as expected, which has led to predictions prices might fall further.
In Hanoi , MediaMart has a programme called “Golden hours, shocking prices”, offering an LG LD310 32-inch LCD TV for 5.99 million VND (315 USD), 52.60 USD cheaper than usual, and all Sony LCD TVs at a discount of 1 million VND (52.60 USD).
It is also offering top trade-in prices for used television sets, DVD players, and electric fans on purchases of an LG 37LH20 37-inch LCD TV or the Samsung 5.1TZ225 music system.
“The number of customers coming to our centre every day is up by around 150 percent,” MediaMart marketing spokesman Nguyen Thi Thu Ha said.
Nguyen Kim appliances store on Trang Thi Street is offering discounts of 10-30 percent till next Monday and free Sharp microwave ovens to 3,000 customers buying refrigerators over 300 litres or Electrolux washing machines.
Customers buying a JVC 42-inch television at 15.9 million VND (836.8 USD) will get a free microwave oven worth 590,000 VND (31 USD).
Pico Plaza supermarket has also announced free microwave ovens to customers buying products worth at least 7 million VND (368.4 USD).
Customers need to pay attention to quality and whether models are superseded, particularly with electronic goods. They also need to check the guarantee status. However, some stores said they guaranteed the quality and design of all discounted products.
“Many of our discount products are current series, Ha said. “They are modern products with high technology.
“Discount programmes are of great benefit to our customers,” she said.
VietNamNet/VNA
Tags: Hcm City, Million Vnd, Parking Space, The Country, The Sector, The Tourism, The Tourism Sector, The World, Tourism Sector, Vietnamese Tourism, Physics games
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