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Unlicensed hospital project comes under fire
A proposed VND1.2 trillion (US$70 million) international hospital in HCM City’s Binh Chanh District has come under fire after the media discovered that the "humanitarian" project is unlicensed.
Though a groundbreaking ceremony was held on February 21 in the district, organisers said the hospital would be built at an undisclosed location in Sai Gon South.
Deputy chairwoman of the city People’s Committee Nguyen Thi Thu Ha has called on authorities to stop giving any publicity to Hai Thuong Humanitarian Hospital and rectify the errors committed by Tien Thinh Co., the joint organiser of the groundbreaking.
She wants all suspected offenders to be investigated by the police and punished if guilty.
Documents released at the groundbreaking ceremony by organisers claim the humanitarian hospital will treat 500 in-patients and 2,000 out-patients daily.
Le Thang Long, managing director of Ha Noi-based technology company Innotech, another joint organiser of the groundbreaking, says international charities, organisations and donors have contributed to the project’s $70 million cost.
The hospital was reportedly being built by Hai Thuong Charity Hospital Management Corporation, which has several constituents including prestigious international organisations like the Peace Foundation, a UN inter-religious body that promotes peace, an Australian association of non-governmental organisations, and others.
But Le Minh Hai, a senior city health official, says the city knew nothing about the project.
Ly Ngoc Kinh, who is in charge of general health services at the Ministry of Health, says the ministry too is unaware.
The administration of Sai Gon South, where the hospital was to have come up, denies any hospital is planned in the area.
"It is just a rumour," says Hua Ngoc Thuan, head of the Sai Gon South management board.
No licence, construction permit, or land use certificate has been granted to such a project.
The hospital was reportedly to have a staff of 900 world-class physicians and paramedics.
Ranks of the unemployed
Many economists are wondering about the absurd situation that is developing in Viet Nam – thousands of workers are losing their jobs to the economic downturn but many enterprises cannot find enough workers to man their production lines.
The number of workers employed by enterprises in the Southern Focal Economic Zone is dropping, recent surveys indicate clearly. At many companies it has dropped by 30 to 60 per cent in just three months.
Sai Gon Marketing newspaper says this year many workers decided not to return to their jobs in HCM City after visiting home for the Tet (Lunar new Year) holidays.
According to the HCM City Export Processing Zone and Industrial Park Authority (HEPZA), enterprises laying off the largest number of workers are in the textile and garment, footwear, construction, and electronics sectors. They are followed by real estate, securities, and banking companies.
Labour supply, especially of unskilled workers, remains higher than demand. There is also a mismatch between employers’ requirements and jobseekers’ skill sets.
Vu Thi Kieu Tien, head of personnel at P. Dussman Viet Nam, said the company requires 100 workers but received only five applications at a recent job fair.
The fair organisers said that only 759 of 4,633 jobseekers were hired or called for interviews, mostly skilled labourers.
Tran Anh Tuan, a labour market expert, says many enterprises are irresponsible towards their employees – when they get orders from clients, they recruit large numbers of workers who are later dismissed.
According to market researchers TNS Global and Gallup International Association, Vietnamese workers are more optimistic about their employment opportunities than their counterparts in other ASEAN countries.
Only 31 per cent of those polled were worried about possible job loss though 86 per cent believed that the number of jobless in the country would rise this year.
Water park to remain
The HCM City People’s Committee has rejected a proposal to convert the Sai Gon Water Park in Thu Duc District into a residential area, saying the amusement park cannot go.
The problem possibly began when, according to Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper, the city’s Department of Planning said turning the park along the Sai Gon River into a residential area is "acceptable."
Based on this, the district People’s Committee zoned a residential area also comprising five hectares of the water park.
But after a comprehensive study last November, the city inspection team concluded that the department’s statement was in breach of regulations since the area where the water park is located is zoned (by the city People’s Committee) as land for parks and greenery and can be used only for cultural and sporting activities.
The district’s permission to the owner of the water park to fill the park even before the project was licensed contracdic land management laws.
Sai Gon Marketing newspaper said the Sai Gon Water Park JV Co. spent more than VND10 billion (US$630,000) to fill the park and build embankments along the Sai Gon River and Go Dua Canal in preparation for developing a residential area with 50 luxury villas.
The company, a joint venture between Pegasus Leisure Ltd. of the British Virgin Islands and HCM City-based Thien Tuyen Housing Trading and Investment Consulting Co. Ltd., began operations in 1998.
As the first water park in Viet Nam, business was very good in the first two years. But it then began to face fierce competition from newcomers like Suoi Tien Water Park, District 5 Water Park, Dam Sen Water Park, and Sai Gon Water World.
Sai Gon Water Park struggled to catch up with its rivals, accumulating losses of VND207 billion ($13 million) by April 2006.
In this scenario, the company asked the city for permission to enter the housing market.
In early 2006, it hired construction consulting company Meinhardt Viet Nam to change the purpose of its land-use certificate from a leisure to a housing zone. — VNS
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