HCM City (VNA) – The HCM City's Transport Department has asked its inspectors to enhance traffic inspection and stiffen punishments of violating vehicles in the city in order to ensure traffic safety during the upcoming Tet (Lunar New Year) holiday. Le Hoang Nam, chief of the Traffic Inspection Division 5, which managed the traffic at the city's eastern gateway, said the inspection team would be on duty 24/24 during the holiday to ensure smooth traffic and punish any violating vehicles, especially at the congested eastern gateway. The team will enhance traffic inspection at hot spots such as Hanoi Highway, Cat Lai T-junction, Thu Duc intersection, Suoi Tien theme park area, Tan Van T-junction and National Road 13 (at Binh Trieu bridge and Hue Thien 2 petrol station). The team will also oversee traffic on National Road 1 (Hiep Binh Phuoc flyover) and Hue Thien 3 petrol station, Linh Trung and Song Than flyovers, and roads near Linh Trung Export Processing Zone. The inspectors … [Read more...]
Transport Ministry decides to keep rail station in HCM City
Transport Ministry decides to keep rail station in HCM City (27-03-2008) HCM CITY — The Transport Ministry has said Hoa Hung railway station in downtown HCM City, which serves as a transit point for travelling to other provinces, should not be moved to a neighbouring province as part of a plan to upgrade the national railway network. The relocation of the station to Di An in Binh Duong would cause difficulties because it served as a major link for inter-provincial routes, urban railways, and suburban railroads, it said. Officials explained that the new location would not meet the primary requirements of an urban terminal – like being located on key routes and in a densely populated area. A study by the Japan International Co-operation Agency for developing the city’s transport system by 2020 envisages connecting Hoa Hung with the city’s proposed subway system, and said it would serve as a convenient connection point on the north-south route. But the city … [Read more...]
Inspectors monitor train ticket sales in HCM City
VietNamNet Bridge – Ministry of Transport inspectors and the Ministry of Public Security began monitoring train ticket sales and public order at railway stations in HCM City on Monday. Inspections are scheduled to end by mid-February next year. Train ticket agents found in violation of the rules will receive administrative punishment of up to VND70 million (US$3,300) or be suspended from selling tickets, according to Le Van Doan, deputy head of the Inspection Division One under the Ministry of Transport's Inspection Department. Inspectors will monitor public order at train ticket sale locations during the Lunar New Year (Tet) holiday, checking tickets on trains, preventing station employees from buying and re-selling tickets at higher prices, and monitoring the ticket sale system on the www.vetau.com.vn website. This wave of inspections was announced after a meeting with Ministry of Transport inspectors, the Ministry of Public … [Read more...]
All petrol stations in HCM City to be inspected
VietNamNet Bridge – According to the Ho Chi Minh City Fire-fighting Police Department, all petrol stations in the city will be checked from now to the end of July 2013. Under this plan, inspectors will consider the legality and anti-fire plans of all 514 filling stations in the city. 13 people injured in Hanoi’s petrol station fire A petrol station in fire in Tan Binh District, HCM City last December. Earlier, Mr. Le Tan Buu, deputy director of the Fire-fighting Police Department, stated that petrol stations found flouting fire safety laws could be shut down by the end of this year. According to Buu, 93 petrol stations had been closed for safety reasons since 2007 when a plan to relocate them took effect. Of the 514 left in the city, 107, some opened before 1975, do not meet safety regulations issued last year. To mitigate the threat of fire at petrol stations, the Fire-fighting Police Department has recommended that the city authorities should … [Read more...]
Old petrol stations in city forced to upgrade
Old petrol stations in city forced to upgrade By Van Nam - The Saigon Times Daily HCMC – Owners of filling stations aged slightly over five years must repair and upgrade their premises in line with new standards within one year or will be forced to stop business, said a new decision issued by HCMC authorities last week. As per the new decision, owners of those gas stations which had been constructed and begun operating prior to March 16, 2007 must move facilities at least five meters from the street limitation lines. Those filling stations located near intersections have to relocate their entrances away from the intersection point and the width of the entrances must ensure convenient fuel supply. If gas stations are near to certain bridges, they must be relocated out of the bridges’ protection areas as well as from the approach road by at least 50 meters. Meanwhile, the city government allows local gas stations to operate as well as to upgrade their premises on the … [Read more...]
New eastern bus station to be built in HCM City
HCM CITY - A new bus station in HCM City's eastern Long Bình Ward in District 9 will be built next year with a total investment of VNĐ4 trillion (US$179.3 million). The first phase of construction will focus on the bus station and infrastructure around it in order to ease the load at the existing station in Bình Thạnh District, according to the city's People's Committee. The second phase will complete other project elements. Lê Văn Pha, deputy general director of the Sài Gòn Transportation Mechanical Corporation (SAMCO), said construction will take place at the same time as that of the Metro Line No.1 subway. Expected to be completed in 2018, the project will connect to the new Metro Line No.1, linking District 1's Bến Thành Market with the Thủ Đức District's Suối Tiên entertainment site. - VNS … [Read more...]
Bio-fuel available at 58 filling stations in city next month
Bio-fuel available at 58 filling stations in city next month Chi Thinh By Chi Thinh - The Saigon Times Daily HCMC – Bio-fuel E5 RON 92 will be available at 58 gas stations in HCMC from the beginning of next month, said the municipal Department of Industry and Trade at a meeting on a Government-approved road map of supplying the fuel in the city. Le Ngoc Dao, deputy director of the department, said the city government pledge to supply E5 petrol to consumers on schedule from December 1 with support from major fuel wholesalers like PV Oil, Saigon Petro and Comeco. The city is expected to sell E5 bio-fuel at 115 pumping stations by June next year, and the fuel is projected to be sold at all 500 stations in the city in the end of next year. Previously, five filling stations of Petrolimex Saigon, a member of Vietnam National Petroleum Group, in districts 2, 3, 5, Go Vap and Tan Binh sold 5,000 liters of E5 bio-fuel on Wednesday morning alone, said Dang Duy Quan, deputy director of … [Read more...]
Urbanization brings people next door to garbage stations in Vietnam city
People clutch their noses as they pass a waste transfer station in Ho Chi Minh City, where the rubbish is dumped on the ground instead of in containers, leaving a permanent stink lingering there. A worker said the site is sprayed three times a day but it does not seem to help. The site, in Tan Hoa Street, District 11, is the city's biggest transfer point for household waste, receiving around 400 tons a day. Unplanned urbanization is pushing people closer and closer to 47 transfer stations, city authorities admitted. They said 70 percent of the stations are not of ideal size or in ideal locations, and cause people to suffer. The city generates more than 8,000 tons of waste a day, not to mention toilet waste, and more than 2.2 million cubic meters of household and industrial sewage, according to the Department of Natural Resources and Environment. One transfer station is a small piece of land near Kha Van Can Street in Thu Duc District, which forces any vehicles drivers to drive with one … [Read more...]
Bribery rampant at bus stations in HCM City
VietNamNet Bridge – Nine officials from a public transport operation centre in HCM City were suspended for 15 days after a report published on Thanh Nien (Young people) newspaper on Wednesday claimed they were corrupt.In an urgent meeting the same day, Bui Xuan Cuong, director of the city’s Department of Transport, decided to open an investigation into the allegations. The result must be reported to leaders of the department by the end of the month.The nine officials from the Centre for Management and Operation of Public Passenger Transport included Nguyen Lam Hai, the centre’s deputy director, and Pham Vuong Bao, head of the centre’s operation office.According to an investigation by Thanh Nien reporters, bribery has been happening on a daily basis at major bus terminals in the southern city, including Cho Lon Bus Station, Mien Dong Bus Station, and Mien Tay Bus Station.The report said that before running its first journey each day, every bus must undergo a … [Read more...]
Black market tobacco ‘booming’ in HCM City
Black market tobacco ‘booming’ in HCM City Illicit tobacco products are readily available in Ho Chi Minh City, causing numerous challenges as the booming black market reaches record levels. In the first half of the year, nearly 1,300 cases of illegal tobacco smuggling and trading were detected in the city, mostly involving the brand names of Zet and Hero. Functional agencies report that as many as 277 smugglers have been arrested and assessed more than VND3 billion in fines and other compensatory penalties. However, the number arrested represents just the tip of the iceberg, as many other smuggling rings have not yet been uncovered, authorities report. A significant portion of the tobacco seized by authorities during the arrests originated in Cambodia and was transported illegally across the border into the south-eastern provinces. Smugglers can earn huge profits from their trade as tobacco prices in the Cambodian market have been hovering around VND4,000 – … [Read more...]