The Electricity of Viet Nam will build two hydropower plants on the Se San River’s segment of the Cambodia’s Ratanakiri and K’ra Tre provinces at a cost of US$600 million, local authorities announced yesterday.

According to the Cambodian Ministry of Industry, Mines and Electricity, the two plants will be designed to have a combined capacity of 500MW, generating 2 million MW of electricity annually. A feasibility study on the plants has been completed, and construction will begin soon.

Other than satisfying Cambodia’s growing thirst for power, the two plants will also sell electricity to the southern part of Viet Nam.

Some 20 industrial zones have been built so far in Cambodia, necessitating a stable supply of electricity. Two plants were also expected to provide water for agricultural production and help reduce floods in the areas.

The HCM City Stock Exchange (HOSE) has closed out a successful 2007.

Le Hai Tra, Deputy Director of HOSE, said that the restructuring of the Stock Exchange from the HCM City Securities Trading Centre, along with the operations of continuous order matching, were the biggest achievements which contributed to the success of the exchange during 2007.

According to data from the exchange released yesterday, HOSE held 248 trading sessions worth VND244 trillion (US$15.3 billion) in 2007.

The value represents an almost a three-time increase over 2006.

Le Hai Tra, Deputy Director of HOSE, said that the exchange could achieve this success thanks to the efforts of each member of the exchange in promoting the image and the quality of the bourse during 2007.

"The securities companies also contributed partly to the achievement, as they provided better services to customers and also helped raise the capital pouring into the market," Tra said.

During 2007, the exchange created a capitalisation of VND359 trillion ($22.4 billion), representing 37 per cent of the nation’s gross domestic products (GDP), a 138 per cent increase on the previous year.

Also, the exchange by December 12 had 327,000 accounts from 320,000 local and over 7,000 overseas investors.

The year 2007 marked a success for HOSE in share auctions. Through 78 auctions, the exchange earned a turnover of VND36 trillion ($2.3 billion), including huge initial public offerings from Vietcombank.

Tra said that enterprises realised how much they could earn from the listings and auctions so the number of companies rising to the bourse in 2007 was quite remarkable.

"It also helped expand the scale of the market last year, which may contribute to the plan of the exchange to be the "New York Stock Exchange" of Viet Nam in the near future."

Online trading

According to Tra, the exchange would continue to run trial tests for remote trading in order to have it operating officially as soon as possible.

"We will try to have the most active preparations for online trading, in order to reduce risks in both trial and official runs," Tran Dac Sinh, General Director of HOSE said, noting that online trading could be applied in the second quarter of this year.

Sinh also said that the second trading session (for continuous order matching) may be longer in 2008.

Co-operations with international stock exchanges are still paid a lot of attention from the managers of HOSE this year.

"Overseas co-operation has created good opportunities for local companies to list their shares offshore. Also, the upgrade of management and technology systems has seemed easier. We plan to continue overseas co-operation this year, resulting in more overseas capital flowing into the local market, as well as setting up a position for the Viet Nam Stock Exchange in the global market," Tra said.

According to Sinh, HOSE would organise a conference for CEOs of stock exchanges in ASEAN in March. It would also open forums and road shows overseas to call more foreign investment into the stock market this year.

"During 2007, the exchange found mistakes which effected the investors’ benefits. We did try our best to fix these problems to reduce losses from the mistake as much as possible," Tra said.

He added that the exchange this year would promote the management mechanism to have better management in the market.

"We hope to lessen the mistakes and troubles, as well as protect the investors more and more, in order to have a better image this year," Tra said, noting that the securities companies should work with the exchange to have unified development in 2008.

Last year, HOSE welcomed 41 members, raising the total number of member companies to 62, with a total charter capital of VND9.7 trillion ($606.3 million). 

The highest bonus to be given to a worker during Tet (lunar New Year festival) this year was estimated by the HCM City’s Department of Labour, Invalids, and Social Affairs at about VND240 million ($15,000).

As Tet approaches, employers are calculating their companies’ profits for the year in order to give bonuses to their workers.

According to reports coming from 1,000 enterprises located in the city, some IT workers employed by foreign-invested enterprises will take the lead in bonuses with around VND240 million awarded per person.

Among employees of commercial joint stock banks, the highest bonus will be around VND56.4 million ($3,500)

Workers at industrial parks or export processing zones will receive between VND650,000 – 114 million ($45- $7,100), as bonuses depend on individuals’ contributions to their companies.

These workers are followed by those in the garment and textile industry as well as the leather and shoes industry – both receiving about VND 849,000 ($54).

At the bottom of the list are employees enterprises, with a bonus of VND 50,000 ($3).

On average, the bonus that working people will receive this Tet is about 20 per cent higher compared to last year’s.

In Ha Noi, the highest bonus given to a worker in the FDI sector is about VND 30 million ($1,875), according to the Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs.

The lowest is VND 890,000 ($56).

Across the board, the average is about VND 2 million ($130).

Workers at private entities will enjoy higher bonuses this year compared to last year, particularly those who work in the banking or high tech sectors.

The highest is VND 26 million ($1,625) and the lowest is VND 100,000 ($63). For workers working in the private sector, the bonus is on averageVND 1.5 million per person.

Bonuses for people working in the state sector are much lower than those in the FDI sector.

The highest is VND 9.2 million ($580) and the lowest is VND100,000 ($63). So across the board, the figure is VND 1.16 million ($70).

Last Tet, the Motorola company was the champion giver of bonuses to their employees, with a company average of VND 124 million ($7,750) per person. This was followed by Standard Chartered Bank, the Ha Noi branch, at VND 44 million ($2,700).

A drastic increase in the number of work accidents is alarming and worrying to society, with nearly half blamed on employers who are running off after profiting and ignoring labourer safety.

According to the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs’ Labour Safety Department, there are between 5,000 and 6,000 work accidents each year, killing about 500 people.

Department deputy director Vu Nhu Cuc blamed nearly 50 per cent of work accidents on the faults of employers.

He cited that poor awareness among enterprises, especially small and medium-sized ones, about the importance of protecting their employees from work accidents was one of main reasons causing this year-on-year increase in the number of accidents.

"Their awareness is not good enough," Cuc said. "They’re interested in profits rather than in labourers’ lives."

He said labour safety training would be merely a formality. Many companies were leaving all the work to their labourers without supervising them, Cuc said.

The ministry has issued legal documents on labour safety and inspected enterprises on their execution of these.

But Cuc admitted that the lack of supervisors was a hurdle blocking supervision over the implementation of labour safety standards, especially at small and medium-sized enterprises.

Out of 350 supervisors nationwide, more than 100 people were trained to supervise labour safety.

Though the number of work accidents is increasing, more than 50 enterprises were found not having labour safety rules, and more than 80 per cent of labour accident victims were not trained on these rules as a result.

Worse, more than 70 per cent of the victims did not use labour safety equipment while working.

About the ministry’s forecast on the number of labour accidents in the future, Cuc warned that the figure would soar to 120,000-130,000 cases each year if drastic prevention measures were not taken.

The forecast says the number of deaths would increase to 120,000-130,000 people then, causing a loss of nearly VND1,000 billion (US$62 million).

Major culprit

The number of work accidents which took place in the construction industry set a record, according to Viet Nam-Germany Friendship Hospital director Nguyen Tien Quyet.

On average, the hospital receives between 10 and 12 work-related accident cases each day.

Right now, as the nation prepares for the lunar New Year festival, the number of work accidents had increased by 15-20 cases every day, mainly due to people falling from scaffolds or unsafe equipment, said Quyet.

Under pressure to finish construction projects on time, especially near the end of the year, employers must employ more seasonal workers who are not trained properly or provided rules on labour safety. These workers are prone to work accidents as a result.

A labourer named Nguyen Van Thu (not his real name) was sent to the hospital after his foot was smashed by a brick-making machine, forcing doctors to amputate it.

Thu said he had been recruited by a private brick-making company as a seasonal worker, and had hoped that he would earn some money for the lunar New Year festival.

As he was neither provided labour safety equipment nor trained properly about his occupation, Thu had the accident on his first day.

The Viet Nam-Germany Friendship Hospital receives about 30,000 injury-related accident cases every year. Of these, 20,000 cases are work-related accidents, many of whom die or are disabled for the rest of their lives.

Work accidents mostly happen to young people, between 20 and 24-years-old. Most are their families’ bread winners.

A World Health Organisation report said that work accidents claimed the deaths of 5,000 people each day throughout the world. And work accidents rank third amongst the causes of occupational mortality.

The hospital’s Examination Unit director Cao Doc Lap recommended that the State and private enterprises work out rules on labour safety and that their employees must learn them by heart.

He said it was also essential to arm labourers with labour safety equipment.

The Government has set up a national programme on labour protection, safety and hygiene from now until 2010. The programme aims at reducing the number of work accidents by at least 5 per cent.

Yet according to Labour Safety Department deputy director Vu Nhu Van, 11 out of 64 cities and provinces nationwide have still not worked out plans to implement the programme in their localities.

The Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Minister Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan, therefore, sent documents to these localities, asking them to finish their plans by mid-February.

A shortage of funds is hampering efforts to restore the imperial city of Hue.

"The main reason why we haven’t made a lot of headway with land clearance and resettlement is because of a capital shortage," said Phung Phu, deputy director of the Hue Preservation Centre.

Phu added that most of the budget for the work came from fees paid by tourists to visit the historical site.

Once households in the Ben Me area had been resettled in Kinh Long (four kilometres from the city) in 1995 work began on restoring the front of the imperial city. From 1999-2000, a further 140 households were relocated from Hue to Bai Dau - some seven kilometres away.

And last year, with funds from the Hue Preservation Centre, 52 households were moved from the southern upper citadel. The families received a total of VND11 billion (US$687,500) in compensation.

"Compensation was awarded in accordance with Decree 1997 on land clearance," said Nguyen Tan Chau, Vice Chairman of Hue People’s Committee.

Families without title deeds were offered apartments for around VND100 million ($6,250) – 25 per cent less than the market price.

Of the 52 households relocated last year, 15 did not have title deeds to the houses in which they lived, said Chau, adding that most residents earned a living from labouring work.

Chau said land clearance and resettlement were vital to the restoration of Hue. He said most residents were happy to move to neighbourhoods with better facilities and infrastructure.

In 2003, some 12,000 people (3,252 households) lived in the vicinity of Hue, according to a survey conducted by the city.

A number of these families had been living alongside the city’s moat since 1975. Not only did they create a litter problem, but by cultivating the land, they had also damaged ancient artefacts, said Chau.

Families had also erected houses and levelled land along the banks of the Ngu Ha River.

"There hasn’t been any proper survey conducted to see how many people are still living among the ruins but there must be lots," said Phu, adding that restoring the ancient city was a mammoth task.

"Preserving Hue is the nation’s responsibility. It can’t be funded solely by the city," said Phu.

A new programme has been launched aiming to preserve Indochina’s highest mountain peak, Mt Fansipan, and to boost environmentally friendly tours there.

The programme is co-organised by Hoang Lien Son National Park’s management board and a group of Fansipan climbers and nature lovers who began earlier this month to help rebuild the mountain’s peak, which has been ravaged by bad weather and tourists.

The programme also includes a contest to find the most relevant symbol for the mountain. The winning symbol will be presented as a souvenir to all tourists and climbers who reach the mountain’s peak.

Cash donations are welcomed directly to the Hoang Lien Son National Park management board or through bank account #12010000126414 at the Bank for Investment and Development of Viet Nam (BIDV Bank).

Mount Fansipan, at a height of 3,143m, has been heavily vadalised by tourists and severe weather conditions. The mountain’s peak plaque has been most effected, said Nguyen Quoc Tri, director of the Hoang Lien Son National Park.

The plaque was first set up by a group of Vietnamese and Russian climbers in 1984, and subsequently recognised as a symbol for the mountain. It was rebuilt in 2003 when Sa Pa township celebrated its 100th year of foundation. In 2007, it was rebuilt again by Vietnamese and foreign climbers from the First Fansipan International Climbing Tournament, but has not been able to survive up until now.

Le Hong Quang, a Fansipan climber and chief co-ordinator for the project, said that if successful, the project would build up a new plaque from the original model by the middle of next month.