PVN plans stake cut to 36% in PVD PetroVietnam (PVN) has proposed the Ministry of Industry and Trade approve the reduction of its ownership in PetroVietnam Drilling and Well Services Corporation (PVD) from 50.4 per cent to 36 per cent.– Photo cafef.vn HÀ NỘI – PetroVietnam (PVN) has proposed the Ministry of Industry and Trade approve the reduction of its ownership in PetroVietnam Drilling and Well Services Corporation (PVD) from 50.4 per cent to 36 per cent. The proposal was included in a document PVN sent to the Ministry of Industry and Trade to supplement its restructuring plan, reported cafef.vn. According to PVN, the oil and gas market has been volatile since 2014 due to the ups and downs of the global oil prices, surplus oil supply and protectionist policies overseas. The US benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) between 2014 and 2018 dropped from US$107.26 a barrel recorded in mid-June 2014 to a 12-year low of about $29.40 a barrel in mid-January 2016, then has gained steadily to close last week at $67.63 a barrel. This cut PVD’s earnings in the last few years. Data on cafef.vn showed audited post-tax profit of the company dropped from VNĐ2.54 trillion (nearly $112.9 million) in 2014 to VNĐ1.75 trillion in 2015, VNĐ185.6 billion in 2016 and VNĐ35.5 billion in 2017. In the first half of 2018, PVD posted accumulated losses of VNĐ307 billion. In the second quarter, the company lost VNĐ67 billion. In late February, PVN proposed the Government approve a sale of State capital in PVD to reduce its ownership from 50.4 per cent to 25 per cent so the company would be able to attract private investors. However, as PVD is a business with activities closely watched for national defence and security issues, PVN re-issued the proposal to cut its ownership in the subsidiary from 50.4 per cent to 36 per cent in 2018-20 so PVN will remain on PVD’s management board. Under the plan, PVN will also sell all of its ownership in three other subsidiaries, namely PetroVietnam General Services Corporation (Petrosetco), PetroVietnam Mud Drilling Corp (PVDMC) and PetroVietnam Engineering Corporation (PVE). The State-owned energy conglomerate holds 22.24 per cent of Petrosetco, 29 per cent of PVE and 36 per cent of PVDMC. In addition, PVN hoped to divest from PetroVietnam Gas Corporation (PV Gas) and PetroVietnam Construction Corporation (PVC) after 2020. Seven-month plan exceeded PVN reported its seven-month post-tax profit surpassed the seven-month plan by 32 per cent to VNĐ17.8 trillion. The figure also accomplished 94 per cent of the full-year target. Total oil equivalent production in the period was 14.48 million tonnes, exceeding the plan by 4.6 per cent and accounted for 63.4 per cent of this year’s plan. The figure includes 8.32 million tonnes of oil and 6.17 billion cubic metres of gas. The group paid VNĐ61.8 trillion of tax to the State budget in the first seven months, 83 per cent of its full-year plan. Visitors enjoy summer entertainment on beach of Đà Nẵng A chef cooks for gastronomers and visitors at the East Sea Park in Đà Nẵng. — VNS Photo Công Thành ĐÀ NẴNG — Food courts, an arts space and nightly musical performances are on display at Âu Cơ Park on Mỹ Khê Beach from 4pm till 10.30pm during the Summer Destination Week at the central city’s East Sea Park. Visitors can explore local cuisine and visit beach bazaars through this weekend. Local artists also set up an art space on beach with ocean scenery and nature paintings on coracles. Foodies will have a chance to exchange cooking skills and experience as well as taste food by connoisseur Phạm Tuấn Hải at outdoor stalls. Musical performers will rock on stage every night, playing to booming summer crowds. Mỹ Khê Beach will host water-motor, jet-ski, kite flying and board-surfing in the morning and evening. Visitors can also paraglide from Sơn Trà Mountain on June 23-25. Phú Quý hailed as one of the most beautiful islands in the East Sea BÌNH THUẬN — Phú Quý Island in the southern province of Bình Thuận has been hailed as one of the most beautiful islands in the East Sea by readers of US news site CNN. And there are more good reasons to explain why the island is being crowned as the best seaside retreat by young travellers. Located 120km from the resort town of Phan Thiết, Phú Quý is not big or crowded like its better-known counterparts Phú Quốc and Nam Du islands. There are no tourist traps or anxious tourists here, which helps the secluded island retain the untouched beauty of its long, sandy beaches and turquoise sea. Tourists flock to Đà Nẵng fests ĐÀ NẴNG — The central coastal city of Đà Nẵng has seen robust growth in tourism, thanks to several festivals between May and September like the Đà Nẵng International Fireworks Festival and Đà Nẵng-Summer Destination 2018 programme. According to Trần Chí Cường, deputy director of the city Department of Tourism, 1.6 million tourists came in the past two months, a 26 per cent year-on-year increase. Four million visitors are expected during upcoming festivals like the Đà Nẵng International Marathon. The tourism department said it has collaborated with Hòa Vang District authorities and travel firms to promote farming-tourism services in the district, with tourists visiting Phong Nam Village in Hòa Châu Commune, Gián Bi in Hoa Bắc Commune and Thái Lai in Hòa Nhơn Commune. Đà Nẵng has six organic rice fields with a combined area of nearly 150 hectares, and targets 500ha by 2020. Thus, the next logical step is creating a range of agricultural eco-tourism products. Korea Tourism Organisation launches summer promotions The Korea Tourism Organisation (KTO) has launched numerous promotions for tourists from Việt Nam this summer.— Photo Transviet HCM CITY — The Korea Tourism Organisation (KTO) has launched numerous promotions for tourists from Việt Nam this summer. It is collaborating with 12 major tour operators like Saigontourist, Vietravel and Bến Thành Tourist for its “Don’t miss out on opportunities to visit Korea this marvelous summer” campaign. Under the campaign, the tour operators sell new, quality South Korea tours at reasonable prices. South Korea expects to attract more than 48,000 Vietnamese visitors this month and 254,000 in January-July, up 43 per cent year-on-year. Hà Nội faces difficulties in renovating old apartment buildings HÀ NỘI — The important task of renovating and rebuilding dilapidated apartment buildings in Hà Nội has faced several obstacles related to planning, land clearance, and profits for investors and residents, Hà Nội Mới (New Hà Nội) newspaper has reported. According to the Ministry of Construction, Hà Nội has more than 1,500 old apartment buildings constructed between 1960 and 1990, most of which are located in the city’s inner districts. Ten years after beginning renovation work on old apartment buildings, the city has renovated and put into use 14 of over 1,500 old buildings. Five buildings are being demolished. Residents of four other buildings in an extremely poor condition have been evacuated, however, there are not yet any plans to rebuild or renovate the structures. City authorities are calling for investment from the private sector to reduce pressure on the State budget. The city has called for private investment in 28 buildings. So far, 16 investors have registered to take part in constructing such buildings. However, according to investors, a number of regulations are not suitable with reality. According to Tống Thị Hạnh, head of the Legal Department at the Ministry of Construction, a decree which took effect in 2015 requires that the newly-constructed building’s height and number of tenants must be the same as the old one. On the other hand, investors say that the new building must have an area three times larger than the old one and be 15 to 18 floors higher in order to offset the capital they spend on construction. Deputy minister at the Ministry of Construction, Lê Quang Hùng, said that regulations must create favorable conditions to allow investors to increase the height of buildings in suitable places. Architect Trương Văn Quảng from Việt Nam Urban Planning and Development Association proposed removing the regulation which requires the new building to be the same size as the previous one. The new buildings can be multi-functional to keep up with new urban development trends, he said. To accelerate the work of renovating and rebuilding old apartment buildings in the city, he said that mechanisms related to land compensation, investor selection and resettlement must be further completed. The benefits for each side (investors and residents) should also be clarified, he said. He proposed the city or province-level People’s Committee be granted the right to select investors which are able to mobilise funding themselves besides State investment and projects under the Build-Transfer model. In HCM City, households sell solar power to grid HCM City households have been encouraged to install rooftop solar panels and now there are 475 connected to its grid with total capacity of nearly 5.3MW.-- Photo thanhnien.vn HCM City – The HCM City Electricity Corporation encourages households to instal rooftop solar panels and now there are 475 of them connected to its grid with a total capacity of nearly 5.3MW. Due to its climate and population, HCM City is the biggest electricity consumer in Việt Nam, Phạm Quốc Bảo, deputy general director of the corporation, was quoted as saying by the Government website. In the first half of this year demand increased by 7 per cent year-on-year, he said. The corporation has exhorted consumers to save electricity by turning off all unnecessary devices. To prevent overloading the grid, it has warned them not to use many devices at the same time, especially during peak hours. In 2016 –17 the city saved 800 million kWh, equivalent to VNĐ1.5 trillion (US$66.6 million) under an electricity saving programme. The corporation is also persuading residents to install and use solar energy. “It is renewable, eternal, and environmental friendly energy,” Bảo added. “Solar energy does not create noise or smoke, costs nothing to generate and maintenance costs little. “Besides, people can sell their surplus solar energy.” The corporation therefore connects consumers’ solar energy systems with the electrical grid and instals two-way meters for free. With these meters, electricity company staff can measure both the electricity that consumers draw from the grid and the power they sell to it. It pays them VNĐ2,000 (9.35 cent) per kWh. The corporation has also set up solar panels at its 16 subsidiaries’ headquarters, and plans to expand it by installing them at all its offices. It has urged the Ministries of Industry and Trade and Finance to create a legal framework for signing electricity buying contracts with customers. It has asked the city People’s Committee to instruct industrial parks, processing zones, high-tech parks, schools, hospitals, and all State offices to instal solar panels. Plane believed to have flown into southern Indian Ocean A map shows the search area for the missing Malaysian Airlines plane in the Indian Ocean during a press conference of the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) in Canberra, Australia on March 18. — Photo The Star KUALA LUMPUR — Investigators probing the disappearance of MAS MH370 believe the plane most likely flew into the southern Indian Ocean, a source close to the investigation said on Wednesday. An unprecedented search for the Boeing 777-200ER is under way involving 26 nations in two vast search "corridors", one arcing north overland from Laos towards the Caspian Sea, the other curving south across the Indian Ocean from west of Indonesia to west of Australia. "The working assumption is that it went south, and furthermore that it went to the southern end of that corridor," said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The view is based on the lack of any evidence from countries along the northern corridor that the plane crossed their airspace, and the failure to find any trace of wreckage in searches in the upper part of the southern corridor. China said on Wednesday it had not yet found any sign of the aircraft crossing into its territory. Malaysian and U.S. officials believe the aircraft was deliberately diverted perhaps thousands of miles off course, but an exhaustive background search of the passengers and crew aboard has not yielded anything that might explain why. MAS flight MH370 vanished from civilian air traffic control screens off Malaysia's east coast at 1.21am. local time on March 8, less than an hour after taking off from Kuala Lumpur for Beijing. Investigators piecing together patchy data from military radar and satellites believe that someone turned off vital datalinks and turned west, re-crossing Peninsula Malaysia and following a commercial route towards India. After that, ephemeral pings picked up by one commercial satellite suggest the aircraft flew on for at least six hours, but it is not known for sure if it went north or south. The data from the satellite placed the plane somewhere in one of the two corridors when the final signal was sent at 8.11am. Last week, a source familiar with official U.S. assessments said it was thought most likely the plane flew south, where it presumably would have run out of fuel and crashed into the sea Catastrophic' water shortages for 500,000 in Mosul Internally displaced Iraqi children, who fled the ongoing figthing between Islamic State (IS) group jihadists and government forces around Mosul, fill a jerrican with water on November 28 at al-Khazer refugee camp. — AFP/VNA Photo MOSUL, Iraq — Up to 500,000 civilians in Mosul are facing a "catastrophic" drinking water shortage, the UN warned, as Iraqi forces advance against the Islamic State group in the city. Already suffering from a severe lack of food and electricity, civilians in Iraq’s second city are now also running out of drinkable water, said Lise Grande, UN humanitarian co-ordinator in Iraq. "Nearly half a million civilians, already struggling to feed themselves day to day, are now without access to clean drinking water. The impact on children, women and families will be catastrophic," Grande said on Wednesday. Tens of thousands of Iraqi troops and allied forces launched an offensive last month to retake Mosul, which was seized by IS more than two years ago. Weeks of fighting have seen the Iraqi forces surround the city and break into its eastern neighbourhoods, where there have been heavy street-to-street battles with the jihadists. Inside the city on Wednesday, AFP journalists heard loud explosions and heavy fighting as Iraq’s Counter-Terrorism Service special forces tried to mop up IS pockets and set their sights on the area of Al-Ikhae. But CTS commanders said heavy clouds covering the city could hamper aerial surveillance and slow down operations in the coming two days. A yellow suicide truck bomb, of the type frequently used by IS as a defensive tactic, stood smouldering near homes where CTS forces were deployed. The battle for Mosul has destroyed a major water pipeline, the UN children’s agency UNICEF said, adding that the break was located in an inaccessible part of the city controlled by IS. "Unless running water is restored in the next days, civilians will be forced to resort to unsafe water sources, exposing children to the risk of waterborne diseases such as severe diarrhoea and the threat of malnutrition," it said. Residents in east Mosul say they have resorted to pumping water from wells. "We don’t have water or electricity. We are drinking well water but that’s not enough," said Mosul resident Mohamed Khalil, 25. "Water is the most important thing. We aren’t washing. We are going to catch lice and our homes are filthy," said Iman Baker, a 34-year-old mother of three who lives in an eastern neighbourhood recently retaken from IS. Since the launch of the assault on October 17, more than 70,000 people have fled the fighting, but more than a million people are estimated to remain in the city, including around 600,000 in the eastern neighbourhoods. US’s DoC levies anti-subsidy tax on Vietnamese laminated woven sacks The US Department of Commerce (DoC) has announced anti-dumping and anti-subsidy taxes on laminated woven sacks produced in Việt Nam. — VNA/VNS Photo HÀ NỘI — The US Department of Commerce (DoC) has announced it will impose anti-dumping and anti-subsidy taxes on laminated woven sacks produced in Việt Nam. Bags and packing bags consisting of woven polypropylene strips and/or polyethylene strips, resin or similar materials imported from Việt Nam will be taxed at 3.24-6.15 per cent, much lower than the 29.54-30.44 per cent applied on the same products from China. On March 28, the DoC received petitions from Laminated Woven Sacks Fair Trade Coalition and its individual members Polytex Fibers Corporation and ProAmpac LLC. They alleged that the products imported from Việt Nam are sold in the US at less than “normal value” due to Government subsidies, causing or threatening substantial damage to the US industry. The petitioners alleged dumping margins of 109.95 per cent to 294.57 per cent. As part of an ‘America First’ campaign, President Donald Trump’s government is reviewing its trade policy. On March 8, President Trump imposed a 25-per cent tax on steel and a 10-per cent duty on aluminium imports. Việt Nam is one of the countries affected by this decision. Việt Nam’s first professional boxing tournament The first HBF Boxing Tournament (another name Pro Boxing Tournament), is organised by Hồ Chí Minh City Boxing Federation. — Photo giaoduc.edu.vn HÀ NỘI — For the first time, Việt Nam is holding a first professional boxing tournament. The HBF Boxing Tournament is being organised by Hồ Chí Minh City Boxing Federation. Fighters who are above 18 years-old of any nationality and legally residing in Việt Nam are eligible to enter. Chairman of the federation Nguyễn Đức An Sơn said boxing in HCM City is witnessing fast development, “Therefore, we decided to organise the tournament under the standard of the international boxing federation, with hopes to seek out talents for Việt Nam’s boxing, as well as helping upgrade it to a professional level.” The tournament is scheduled to take place every two months, with 10 fights each time. The prize for winning a fight is US$428, the loser gets $214 and winning by knock-out gets extra $85. The first tournament will be held at Lan Anh Sports Club, District 10 on September 30.
