Poor students get free tickets, gifts for Tet

HCM City's Student Support Centre yesterday provided 3,375 bus tickets to poor students to return to their home provinces and cities across the country to celebrate Tet (Lunar New Year) holiday which falls on February 14.

The centre plans to spend VND240 million (US$13,300) to hold a party at the Youth Cultural House on February 9 for students who will spend Tet away from their families. Participants will take part in traditional games, talks with celebrities, a New Year's buffet and receive gifts.

NGUOI LAO DONG (THE LABOURER)

No phone rate decrease before Tet

The Ministry of Information and Communications on Thursday has disapproved phone fee decrease prior to Tet (Lunar New Year) proposed by Viettel. The telecom company announced late last month an average fall of 15 per cent from February 1 leading up to the February 14 holiday, on its mobile phone charges at the same time it applied to the ministry for permission to grant the discount.

Similar proposals by VinaPhone and MobiFone were also rejected, as the ministry feared a price war that would impact badly on small businesses, new in the market.

SAI GON GIAI PHONG (LIBERATED SAI GON)

Eight hydropower projects may be cancelled

Eight hydropower projects in the central province of Quang Nam may face cancellation if the Quang Nam People's Committee approves a proposal by a provincial working team.

The team including representatives from the provincial departments of trade and industry, agriculture and rural development, forest rangers, project owners and others, inspected 60 such projects and found eight of them unfeasible. They were planned for development in the upper segment of Vu Gia – Thu Bon rivers. If developed, they would encroach on two natural preserve parks, several residential resettlement areas or other projects.

THANH NIEN (YOUNG PEOPLE)

Local content in garment products rises 44%

The locally made proportion of materials in exported garment products rose to 44 per cent last year from 38 per cent in 2008, among members of the Viet Nam National Textile and Garment Group (Vinatex), said Le Trung Hai, deputy general director of the group. Locally made auxiliary materials such as buttons and zippers accounted for 80 per cent.

TUOI TRE (YOUTH)

VietTrade supports poor craft families

Poor craft households in the provinces of Nghe An, Thanh Hoa, Hoa Binh and Phu Tho will benefit from a project by Viet Nam Trade Promotion Agency (VietTrade) in co-ordination with international organisations.

The three-year Green Production and Trade will teach handicraft makers to improve their skills, develop sustainable materials, apply green technologies and reach new markets. The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation and UN Industrial Development Organisation will provide most of the project's US$4.1 million budget.

THE SAIGON TIMES DAILY