City to build monorail system in 2012

The Management Board of Urban Railways signed a cooperation and investment contract on March 26 with Italian-Thai Development (ITD) to build a monorail system in Ho Chi Minh City.

According to Nguyen Do Luong, head of the city management board of Urban Railways, ITD plans to invest in two monorail systems, namely monorail No2 and monorail No3 under a BOT plan (build-operate-transfer) and keep monorail No4 under ODA, EPC (engineering-procurement-construction) or another form.

ITD will implement the project at a capital of US$4.55 billion via the Standard Chartered Bank.

The 13.75 kilometre monorail No2 will have an expected capacity of 90-125 passengers with speeds of 80-90 kilometres per hour. Monorail No2 will link metro No5 between Sai Gon Bridge in District 2 and Can Giuoc bus station in District 8 with metro No4 from Nga Sau Junction in Go Vap District and Khanh Hoi Street in District 4 and with metro No1 between Ben Thanh Market and Suoi Tien Park in District 9.

The 6.65 kilometre monorail No3 will start from Go Vap Roundabout to Quang Trung Software Park - Tan Thoi Hiep.

Speaking at the ceremony, Le Hoang Quan asked ITD to ensure high technical standards to meet all requirements including earthquake resistant. He also asked ITD to be prepared to start construction of the project by 2012.

The monorail system will help create an integrated public transport system by linking the proposed strategic underground routes.

Vietnamese students to compete in ISEF 2011 in USA

Intel Vietnam Co. Ltd and the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training (DOET) organized on March 26, an affiliate International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) to select two of the best research projects for ISEF 2011 in Los Angeles.

This Intel science talent search encourages pre-college students to explore new and innovative ideas and develop solutions for many global challenges.

Forty six research projects were submitted for the affiliate ISEF in Hochiminh City this year. Projects came from Tran Dai Nghia High School, Le Hong Phong High School, Nguyen Thi Minh Khai High School, Practice High School of Pedagogic University, Ngoi Sao High School and Binh Tri Dong A Secondary School.

About 30 projects were chosen as exhibits from the Tran Dai Nghia High School. These projects covered a wide range of disciplines from mathematics, physics and biology to astronomy, computer science, social and behavioral science.

In addition to the affiliate ISEF in Ho Chi Minh City, Intel Vietnam also collaborated with DOET in Hue city and Quang Tri to organize similar events there. Ha Thuc Tien and Pham Phuoc Long, students from the Hue High School have already won tickets for ISEF 2011 in Los Angeles for their project “Measuring height and angle in space with flat mirror system”.

Once the students are selected in Ho Chi Minh City, they will join Tien and Long from Hue, to participate in the forthcoming pre-college research competition in America at the Intel Science and Engineering Fair where over 1,500 young people will be taking part from 50 countries around the world.

As the world’s largest and most prestigious pre-college science fair, and the only global science competition for students of grades 9-12, the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, a program of the Society for Science & the Public, encourages students to tackle challenging scientific questions and solve the problems of tomorrow.

In 2010, the competition comprised of 1,610 young scientists from 59 countries. In addition to the three top prizes, the Intel Foundation awarded $8,000 to each of the 19 “Best Category” winners and also provided $1,000 grants to the winners’ respective schools and the affiliated fairs they represented.

More than 600 additional awards and prizes were provided by dozens of other corporate, academic, government and science-based sponsors for their groundbreaking work. Four Vietnamese students are attending ISEF, with projects in areas of environment, biochemistry and mathematics. Their projects were appreciated for their high feasibility and creativity.

Intel International Science and Engineering Fair finalists are selected annually from more than 550 affiliated fairs around the world. Each affiliated fair can send its top two individual projects and one team project to the competition. Finalists’ projects tackle challenging scientific questions that address some of today’s most pressing global issues.

Language school closes branch, refuses to return tuition

Over 20 students studying at a branch in Go Vap District of Hoan Hao language center (Excellence Language School) have filed a complaint with local authorities that the school has illegally appropriated their tuition fees after shutting down the branch.

They had earlier refused to move as suggested by the school to other branches which are pretty far from Go Vap and demanded their tuition back. The school turned the demand down.

The branch in Go Vap District has been closed since late December last year as a result of a disagreement on the rent of the premises between the school and the landlord, said Nguyen Thi Thu Tran, managing director of Excellence Language School.

She told Tuoi Tre the school will, in 15 or 20 days, move the students to other branches in Tan Phu District, District 10, or Binh Thanh District for learning at discounted fees or transfer the learning rights to their relatives instead.

They can also reserve their places at the school for another year, she added.

For students who may insist on claiming their money back, Trang noted, the school will refund them on receiving their valid receipts.

Truck slams into shops outside market, kills 5

A large truck crashed into some sidewalk shops outside Nga Bay town’s Hiep Thanh market in the southern province of Hau Giang at 4:45 this morning, crushing five people to death and severely injuring three others.

Eyewitnesses said prior to the incident when many shopkeepers were making preparations for their early market day, the truck bearing number plate 54S –6643 from Can Tho southern province crossed the newly-built Phung Hiep Bridge and directly hit many people including small traders at the foot of the bridge.

The three injured people were taken to the Can Tho General Hospital for treatment.

Ut Nhon, a shopkeeper, said he heard a scream as he was preparing to open his shop.

He went outside and saw some people lying dead and others injured.

He and some others rushed to the scene, he said.

None of the victims have been identified yet, Lieutenant Colonel Vo Thai Hong, the town’s police deputy chief, said.

The driver abandoned his truck and fled the scene but, according to newswire VnExpress, later turned himself in.

Da Nang police try to bring dump trucks in line

The Da Nang traffic police are continuing to crack down on traffic violations by heavy trucks, yesterday checking and slapping penalties on more than 300 dump trucks.

More than 200 were found to be speeding, overloaded, allowing construction materials to fall off on to the street, or driven by drivers without licenses.

The campaign began on March 24 with several police teams setting up check points on some busy streets like Hoa Cam, Hoa Khanh, Hoa Nhon, Hoa Hai, Cach Mang Thang 8, Au Co, and 2-9.

Many dump-truck drivers were also penalized for flouting rules related to license plates and bodies.

Dump trucks are a nightmare to other vehicles as well residents living on streets through which they travel, said Senior Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Den, head of the city Traffic Police.

So far this year they have caused four serious accidents, killing three people and injuring three others, he added.

Marathon raises money Agent Orange victims

A marathon that gathered 500 locals and foreigners in the central city of Danang Saturday raised VND50 million for Agent Orange victims.

The money will be sent to Da Nang City’s Agent Orange Fund. Nathan Lauer, an American working in Da Nang said he had taken part in the run with joy as he was told about its noble purporse.

There are reportedly over 4 millions Agent Orange victims in Vietnam. Of these, 150.000 are children with birth defects.

Between 1962 and 1970, the US sprayed about 80 million liters of Agent Orange on 1.4 billion hectares, or 12 percent percent of Vietnam’s total land area.

Radioactive cloud flies past, spares Vietnam

A radioactive cloud from Japan’s Fukushima I plant is moving southwest over the Pacific, Vietnam’s Ministry of Science and Technology announced Friday.

The radioactive cloud is forecast to cross the south of the Philippines on March 26, and then head to Indonesia and Malaysia in the coming days.

For Vietnam, the dangerous cloud Friday flew near the southernmost province of Ca Mau but didn’t enter the country’s mainland. It is moving to Malaysia.

The radioactive cloud won’t pose any dangers to Vietnam unlike predictions released by Norwegian meteorological station some days ago.

“Radiation leak was not reported to affect Vietnam on March 25,” the Ministry claimed.

According to AFP, Tokyo Wednesday warned that radioactive iodine over twice the safe level for infants had been detected in its tap water due to the disaster at the stricken nuclear plant.

In one Tokyo ward, a water sample contained 210 becquerels of iodine per kilogram, more than double the legal limit.

Meanwhile radioactive caesium at 82,000 becquerels — 164 times the legal limit — was detected in one type of leaf vegetable, Japanese’s Health Ministry said.

HCM City donates over US$400,000 to Truong Sa

Ho Chi Minh City authorities have offered VND8.8 billion ($422,000) to central Khanh Hoa Province’s Truong Sa (Spartly) Islands District during a trip of its delegation to the archipelago that ended yesterday.

The delegation was led by Nguyen Thi Thu Ha, a member of the Central Party Committee and the deputy secretary of the city Party Committee.

Along with the cash, the city gives a lot of donation in kind to the island district.

During the 8-day trip, the delegation, including 20 scientists, visited such islands as Song Tu Tay, Da Nam, Sinh Ton, Da Tay and Truong Sa Lon.

The scientists examined a number of environment-related works previously set up on several islands of Truong Sa. They also collected samples of soil and rock and environmental data that are necessary for their research related to vegetation development, clean energy production, and living environment improvement for Truong Sa.

Vice Admiral Tran Thanh Huyen, the Political Commissar of the Vietnamese Navy, told the guests that the district’s social and economic situation has increasingly developed over the past few years.

Last year, Da Tay Island became the supplier of fresh water and oil to and the buyer of seacooking from more than 300 fishing boats of fishermen, the official said. “The island now purchases seafood from fishermen at the market prices.”

The model of breeding fish in cages using a Norwegian technology on Da Tay has been very successful and the technology will be transferred to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, he said.