Ho Chi Minh City metro underground section bid approved
The management board of Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City urban railway projects held a groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of an underground segment from Ben Thanh station to the municipal Opera House of the metro route No 1.
The joint venture by Sumitomo Mitsui and Cienco 4 won the bid with an offer of 4.85 trillion Vietnamese dong (Bt7.5 billion).
According to Le Nguyen Minh Quang, head of the management board, the package will build the four-basement Ben Thanh central station and a 515-metre tunnel from Ben Thanh station to the municipal Opera House station under Le Loi Street.
Le Van Khoa, vice chairman of the HCM City People’s Committee, emphasised the significance of the kicking off of the bidding package, as it is the last package of metro route No 1.
Completing the package means completion of the project to put the whole route into operation by 2020, he said.
Metro route No 1 is 19.7km long and has a total investment of $2.49 billion funded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency. – Viet Nam News

Indonesia promotes financial inclusion with new strategy
Indonesian President Joko Widodo expected the new financial inclusion strategy would help the country increase the proportion of its citizens who have bank accounts from 36 per cent to 75 per cent by 2019.
The Indonesian government introduced a coordinated national strategy to promote financial inclusion in an effort to open up access to banking services for more people.
The so-called National Strategy for Financial Inclusion (SNKI) will focus on six pillars: financial education, public financing facilities, financial information mapping, supportive regulations, distribution networks and intermediation facilities and consumer protection.
President “Joko” Jokowi Widodo said he expects the strategy would help Indonesia, home to more than 250 million people, increase the proportion of its citizens who have bank accounts from the current 36 per cent to 75 per cent by 2019.
“There are many citizens who have no bank accounts. This makes it |difficult for them to get access to loans from banks or financial institutions,” the president said at the State Palace during the ceremony to launch the |SNKI.
The success of the implementation of SNKI, which was jointly prepared by Bank Indonesia, the Finance Ministry and the National Team for the Acceleration of Poverty Alleviation, will also help the government to channel the money from its social assistance programmes to the public more effectively, Jokowi said. – The Jakarta Post

Indonesia urges Vietnam to have same wage standard
Indonesia used the occasion of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) Summit in Lima, which kicked off on Saturday, to meet with its main industrial rival in Southeast Asia, Vietnam, to discuss the possibility of the two countries having the same wage standard for workers.
The initiative comes in the wake of many investors having left Indonesia |in the past year after learning that Vietnam offers cheaper labour for |industry.
Accompanying Kalla during the meeting, Industry Minister Airlangga Hartarto said that “having the same wage standard for workers would support the development of human resources in the two countries”.
“We proposed an initiative to establish a joint platform with regard to a wage standard in the industrial sector so that both Indonesia and Vietnam will not be confronted by investors with regard to which country offers cheaper wage for workers,” Airlangga said in Lima on Friday.
The minister said that the same wage standard for workers would support Apec’s goal of encouraging its 21 member countries to support human development in the Asia Pacific region, adding that Vietnam would consider Indonesia’s proposal.
It is expected that representatives from both countries after the Apec concludes yesterday will conduct meetings in the future to discuss the Indonesian proposal in detail. – The Jakarta Post