An agreement between the two governments to provide ODA for the Development of a Management Information System for the Forestry Sector project - Phase 2 (FORMIS II) was signed in Ha Noi yesterday.

The signing is part of the activities to mark the 40th anniversary of diplomatic ties between Viet Nam and Finland.

FORMIS II will be implemented nationwide over five years starting from April 2013 with a total investment of over 10.1 million euros.

Addressing the signing ceremony, Finnish Ambassador to Viet Nam Kimmo Lahdevirta expressed his hope that the project would support the sustainable development of the Vietnamese forestry sector, minimise the impacts of climate change, and help people in remote areas gain access to information sources in the field.

Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Ha Cong Tuan spoke highly of the outcomes of FORMIS I (2009-12), saying that it had made a significant contribution to the country's forestry sector and served as an important premise for the Finnish government to continue its aid for the second phase.

Tuan affirmed that his ministry would do its utmost to ensure the efficiency of the project at the highest level, thus promoting the sustainable management of forestry resources and contributing to Viet Nam's poverty reduction and socio-economic development.

The summer-autumn rice crop, which lasts until September, is the main rice crop of the central region. However, the region faces a water shortage for this crop because of the ongoing drought.

The agricultural ministry's Plant Cultivation Department estimates that the Tay Nguyen (Central Highlands) and central provinces will plant about 400,000ha of rice for the summer-autumn crop.

Bui Minh Tang, director of the National Centre for Hydro-meteorological Forecasting, said the current drought in the central region is still severe, especially in south-central provinces.

Water flow in most rivers in the central region has reduced by 65 per cent compared to previous years, he said.

As a result, most irrigation reservoirs in central provinces stretching from Thanh Hoa to Quang Ngai only have about half their capacity filled.

Some provinces like Quang Nam and Ninh Thuan are likely to reduce their rice cultivation area by 2,000-4,400ha for the summer-autumn crop because of the water shortage.

The situation of drought in Binh Dinh Province is said to be more severe.

Officials say the water in Binh Dinh's reservoirs, rivers and canals can only irrigate about 31,500ha of the province's 49,000ha of rice fields.

The Binh Dinh People's Committee has supported each farming household with VND1-6 million to drill a well and irrigate their crops. They estimate that one well can help irrigate 4ha to 10ha of rice fields.

Binh Dinh has also provided financial support for rice farmers switching to other crops that are more drought resistant.

The National Centre for Hydro-meteorological Forecasting expects the central region to have heavy rains at the end of July or early August.

To deal with the situation, the ministry's Irrigation Department has requested provinces to review water volumes at irrigation facilities and plan "reasonable" releases.

The department has also advised provinces to dredge rivers and canals and ensure thrifty use of water.

Dang Duy Hien, deputy head of the agriculture ministry's Irrigation Works Management Department, said the ministry is working with Electricity of Viet Nam on releasing water from hydro-power plants' reservoirs in the central region.

The quantity of water released from the reservoirs is now meeting demand for sowing rice in some central provinces, he said.

"However, if there is no rain in June and July, the central region will face severe shortage of irrigation water for the summer-autumn crop," he said.

To mitigate losses caused by the drought, the Plant Cultivation Department has asked provinces to restructure their rice cultivation areas.

Areas that do not have enough water to irrigate rice, should see if they can cultivate cash crops like corn, peanuts or red chilli, it said.

In areas suffering severe drought where other crops cannot be planted, farmers should not plant the summer-autumn crop, the department has advised.

It has asked the provinces of Nghe An, Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Tri, Thua Thien – Hue, which usually experience flooding at the end of August, to rearrange cultivation schedule so that their summer-autumn crop can be harvested by September 5.

HA NOI (VNS)— Viet Nam is seeking further international support in its continued attempt to overcome the consequences of post-war bombs and mines that still litter the country. This is among the many actions to be taken under a national programme to deal with post-war ordnance from now until 2015.

The plan, which was outlined in a Prime Ministerial decision dated May 13, was revealed at a meeting of the State Steering Board in charge of implementing the programme - dubbed Programme 504 - held in Ha Noi yesterday.

Speaking at the meeting, Vietnamese Defence Minister, General Phung Quang Thanh emphasised that the Prime Ministerial decision indicated the strong commitment of the Party, State and Government towards this issue.

He said a large number of bombs and mines from several wars over the last century had wrought havoc across the country.

"Even though the war ended several decades ago, 20 per cent of our land is still contaminated with bombs and mines and more than 100,000 people have been killed or injured due to post-war bombs and mines," he said.

The programme aims to mobilise domestic and international resources to minimise the consequences of bombs and mines, ensure public safety and help victims continue with their lives.

At the meeting, participants agreed on a set of concrete actions that will be implemented in the upcoming time.

These included setting up a contamination map, establishing a national level database centre and training centre as well a trust fund.

Projects to support victims will also be continued, as will an information campaign on mine accident prevention.

HCM CITY (VNS)— A draft decree prepared by the Ministry of Science and Technology seeks to tighten controls over the import of machinery, equipment and production lines by State-owned enterprises (SOEs).

The decree aims to stop the inflow of obsolete technologies into the country, Dau Tu (Vietnam Investment Review) newspaper report said on Thursday.

It said the decree would require SOEs to import machinery, equipment and production lines that are "quite new."

The SOEs are also required to give priority to the import of modern and advanced technological products that suit the needs of approved projects.

In special instances where SOEs have to import used machinery, the equipment and technology would have to comply with current regulations and guidelines of the ministry.

The ministry, for its part, will co-ordinate with relevant ministries and agencies to strictly control the import of the used technical products, the decree says.

SOEs will also not be allowed to import machinery, equipment and technology that have technical standards similar to those made in the country.

Before working on the draft, the ministry carried out inspections of equipment and machinery imported by State-owned corporations and groups.

These showed that many companies had imported machinery and equipment dating back to the 1960s or 1970s, causing losses of thousands of billions of dong because they are fuel inefficient and require a lot of maintenance.

Worse still, they badly affected the environment with their emissions.

Nguyen Phu Cuong, deputy head of the ministry's Department of Science and Technology, said the import of outdated machinery and equipment would turn the country into a landfill for discarded technologies. This has to be prevented, he said.

In an online conversation with the public, Nguyen Quan, Minister of Science and Technology, said enterprises would be given incentives to effect advanced technology transfers.

Workers of the Power Transmission Company No4 clear trees along power lines in southern Dong Nai Province. Concerns over the security of the national power grid were raised after a massive blackout in 22 southern provinces on Wednesday. — VNA/VNS Photo Ngoc Ha

The two-hour blackout occurred when a truck driver was moving a tall tree from the garden of a new urban area in southern Binh Duong Province. The tree accidentally collided with a 500kV transmission line linked to the national power grid.

Representatives from Electricity of Viet Nam confirmed the outage was the result of violating distance regulations pertaining to safety corridors near power lines.

It was not the first such incident on the 500kV transmission line, which transmits electricity from the north to the south and vice versa.

Figures from the National Power Transmission Corporation revealed there had been seven cases of safety corridor violations along power lines that affected the national grid. They were chiefly caused by activities such as kite flying or use of vehicles which were taller than permitted levels.

The 2005 Government decree on protecting the safety corridor along power lines requires local authorities to inspect and handle violations.

However, Deputy Director General of Electricity of Viet Nam Dang Hoang An told Lao Dong (Labour) newspaper that in some localities, protective measures were not effective.

There were 342 guard stations with 1,500 security guards along the 500kV line. However, security guards at many stations were found to be leaving their posts, while firefighting equipment had been stolen from some stations, An said.

Meanwhile, many local authorities complained that they should not be held responsible for protecting the electricity works.

Three men who caused the massive blackout in the south on Wednesday are expected to be prosecuted, according to Binh Duong Province's Police.

The suspects are a truck driver, his assistant and a farmer working at a nursery for young dau (Dipterocarpus alatus) trees in the province.

Police said the incident caused severe economic damage and negatively affected the national security.

Police said that while the suspects were on low incomes and it was hard for them to pay damages, it was still necessary to prosecute them.

"Under regulations, the nursery garden must be seven metres far from the 500kV transmission line," said Trinh Dinh Chinh, deputy director of the Mien Dong Power Transmission Department.

In reality, it was about 14 metres away from the line, he said, but the tree being moved was about 17 metres in length.