The figure was made public in the first and biggest conference on the city’s investment and development vision held on Saturday.

The conference attracted some 600 participants including government officials, domestic and foreign enterprise representatives as well as heads of international organisations and economic experts.

The conference was held barely three months after new top leaders in Hanoi came into office.

Such a large figure of investment will largely depend on the private and the FDI sectors – as much as |80 per cent – while the city budget will only focus on frame infrastructure projects or projects in fields |that are exclusively under state control like security or national defence, said Hanoi’s People’s Committee Chairman Nguyen Duc Chung.

“The city especially appreciates and calls on investment from the private sector under multiple models,” Chung said.

Infrastructure – one of the 1000-year-old capital’s key investment directions – will get a gigantic amount of money poured into various fields ranging from roads and the drainage network to the power grid and telecommunications in the next five years and is expected to continue on at least until 2050, according to the Hanoi urban master plan.

Urban master plan

Hanoi, for the first time, has had its most detailed urban master plan to 2030 with a vision stretching to 2050, in which a city centre and five satellite towns will be fully connected and provide support to each other for collective growth and development.

The city has so far listed 52 projects under the public-private partnership (PPP) model calling out for investment in the next five years and another 43 projects to be funded by the private sector.

They were estimated at 338.7 trillion dong ($15 billion) and 372.2 trillion dong ($16.5 billion) respectively. “There have been 70 investors lined up to invest in those projects,” Chung said.

Hanoi is setting its eyes on transforming itself into a global financial hub like Hong Kong and Singapore after 2030, said Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung at the conference.

Dung also predicted the capital to become a mega city in less than 20 years due to the current high urbanisation speed and a constant increase of the city population.

The number of city inhabitants was projected to hit about nine |million by 2030, a 40 per cent increase from 6.5 million back in 2009.

Such urban population den-|sity has forced Hanoi to divert its development focus from the city centre to its edges in order to reduce traffic jams and alleviate pressures on the centre’s infrastructure, he said.

“Edge-oriented development with five satellite towns will also open the door for investors in infrastructure, transport and real estate sectors,” he said.

Yet the minister called on the capital to act more on administrative and investment reforms so that it could “pump the financial blood to Hanoi’s enterprises as well as the whole country”.

“We have to make Hanoi a financial hub shoulder-to-shoulder with Hong Kong and Singapore,” he said.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc supported the rising role |of the private sector in the mar-|ket, showing more determination |in minimising the state-owned enterprises’ economic involve-|ment. “What the market does better, let the market do,” he said at the conference.

Government role

” The government instead should focus more on building institutions and restrict intervention into the economic activities by administrative means.”

As Vietnam approaches the status of a middle-income country, its access to grants and official development assistance (ODA) loans are gradually declining, said the ADB Country Director for Vietnam Eric Sidgwick.

“Borrowing pressures have begun to mount and public debt has been approaching the limits of sustainability,” he said.

Median expenditure level for a traveller in Laos is about US$65 a day, while in neighbouring Aseancountries average visitors paid only US$45, President of the Lao Association of Travel Agents, Mr Somphong Deviengxay told Vientiane Times yesterday.

“Until now we cannot decide what the reasons behind the service costs are or why,” he commented.

Some tour companies answered that importing construction materials for hotels and guesthouses as well as foods can inflate the cost, Mr Somphong reported.

He believed that if those tour companies have sufficient products such as vans, hotels or guesthouses and restaurants of their own, they would be able to lower their costs.

Some companies are only agencies to bring tourists but have no products so the cost of service may be high, he observed.

To develop the Lao tourism business sector to progress sustainably and be able to compete within the region, he advised Lao tour agencies to invest further in their products and services.

Investors don’t need to pay large amounts of money for expensive materials as Laos is not a developed country and does not have a large population, he said. Companies only need to provide good services and accommodation to be successful.

“Laos still has a lot of rich natural resources. If we develop and use them properly it will benefit local people and national revenue for socio-economic development,” Mr Somphong said.

The number of hotels, guesthouses, restaurants and entertainment shops as well as tourism companies is continuing to increase but service costs are still high as is the importation of some foods.

One Thai visitor commented 200 baht will buy him two meals in Thailand but in Laos it will buy him only one.

However, the numbers of foreign tourists visiting Laos has increased each year as has service investment according to the information, culture and tourism sector.

In 2014, the service sector covered about 44.2 percent of the country’s GDP and that was expected to further increase, according to a government report.

The number of foreign visitor arrivals in Laos for 2015 reached more than 4 million; large numbers were from China followed by Thailand as well as Korea, Japan, Vietnam and European countries.

The most popular destinations were Vientiane, Luang Prabang, Champassak and Vangvieng, a district in Vientiane province.

The Bill, to be passed this year, is a combination of the Foreign Investment Law and the Myanmar Citizens Investment Law. In addition, the Myanmar Investment Commission (MIC) will be reformed this month.

The MIC can scrutinise and allow tax exemption or relief to investors in order to support equitable development.

Aung Naing Oo, secretary of the MIC and director-general of the Directorate of Investment and Company Administration, said: “Now we are planning to attract a massive inflow of investment. The Bill includes that provision. Investors in less-developed regions shall enjoy tax reductions rather than those in more developed regions. They can get tax relief based on the region and sector. The MIC will fix the rates after seeking the approval from the government and the enactment of the law.”

The MIC will designate less-developed areas as Zone One, moderately developed regions as Zone Two and Zone Three for the areas least in need.

The MIC can give income tax exemptions to investors.

Zone One investors can get tax exemption for seven years, Zone Two for five years and Zone Three for three years.

Leaders from the European Union (EU) have congratulated Duterte for his electoral victory while conveying optimism that the relationship between the EU and the Philippines would prosper under the new administration.

In a congratulatory letter, European Council President Donald Tusk and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said that the partnership between the EU and the Philippines is grounded “in a long history and strong mutual interests.”

“We are encouraged by the dynamic development of our relations and look forward to working with you on further strengthening our political, economic, trade and development cooperation,” Tusk and Juncker said.

The EU leaders enumerated various milestones that will involve the Duterte presidency such as the enforcement of the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement, the first round of negotiation on a Free Trade Agreement, and the granting of better access to EU markets through the EU Generalised Scheme of Preferences.

Tusk and Juncker said that they also support the Mindanao Peace Process and asked the country to support EU’s bid to join the East Asia Summit when it assumes the chairmanship of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) in 2017.

Incoming peace adviser Jesus Dureza said that the Duterte administration will “continue with the gains” of the outgoing government on the Mindanao peace process.

This year marks the 25th year of the EU delegation in the Philippines.

Along street after street in Chau Thanh, a rural district in Long An Province, the unbroken green of dragon fruit farms has replaced the yellow of ripe paddy fields.

The place usually buzzes with activity as lorries, container trucks and tricycles loaded with dragon fruit hurry back and forth between the farms and the slew of fruit processing plants in Tam Vu, a nearby town.

Almost 80 per cent of the fruit harvested here are exported to China, the US, Japan, the EU and other markets.

As people break out into easy smiles, it is not hard to guess that local farmers make a great deal of money for their toil.

It is not yet the peak harvest season, which is a couple of weeks from now.

To outsiders, the talk here seems to be solely about the fruit: on farms, in markets, at coffee shops, and even the party table.

But it should come as no surprise since it has been a source of prosperity for most people here for years. Some even think the fruit has wrought a miracle, turning a poor district with tired, dry soil into a wealthy agricultural area.

There has been a palpable improvement in the economic situation of virtually every household and ward since farmers stopped cultivating paddy a few decades ago and switched to the fruit.

People made the switch since it is not a well irrigated area and rice needs a lot of water whereas dragon fruit plants are more resilient to drought as well as more lucrative. Household followed successful household and the area under the fruit kept expanding until it was dubbed the ‘dragon fruit kingdom’.

The district has around 8,000 hectares of agricultural land, and almost 7,000ha are under dragon fruit. Less than 1,500ha of paddy are left, but clearly their days are numbered.

Across the district, almost everyone is involved with the fruit. This includes migrant workers from other provinces who came here to work on the farms, help package and transport the fruit, sell farm inputs or trade in the fruit.

Chau Thanh used to rank among the poorest districts in Long An, but is now among the wealthiest.

Using traditional poverty measures, only 1 per cent of its population is poor, and this rises to 3.7 per cent if the recent multi-dimensional poverty standards are adopted. But the rate is much lower than that of neighbouring districts, according to the local administration.

Nguyen Van Thinh, the chairman of the Chau Thanh District People’s Committee, recalls that a decade ago authorities had to invest much effort in poverty reduction, offering vocational training courses and creating job opportunities. But now the living conditions of most people have improved, he says.

“The affluence means it is easy for the local government to mobilise funds [from the public] for building infrastructure such as water supply system, roads and others.”

It is fairly common in Vietnam for the people to contribute money and labour for public works, especially in the countryside.

Lives turned upside down

Standing in his three-hectare dragon fruit farm in Phuoc Tan Hung Commune, Nguyen Cong Danh (not his real name), who just earned 1 billion dong (US$45,000) from selling his crop.

Like several other wealthy farmers there, the 45-year-old was afraid of being robbed or even killed if portrayed as rich in the media.

Reluctantly, he agreed to speak, but still insisted that Viet Nam News should take no photos.

After depositing a lot of cash over the years in various banks, “I have to buy gold and hide in my house,” he said.

Nguyen Tien Linh, 27, who persuaded his parents to plant dragon fruit instead of paddy five years ago on their 1ha farm, cannot forget what happened after the first harvest.

“I could not control my hands from shaking while counting 500 million dong (over $22,700) given by a trader who bought out dragon fruit. With paddy, my family earned at most 30 million dong if it was a bumper crop.

“My family is not alone. Now most people in this district live without worrying about money.”

Linh’s mother, Pham Thi Hai, had similar feelings when they got the large amount of money: “My heart was racing the first time. But later it became normal.”

Sitting in her house in An Luc Long Commune, with a smile never far away, she recalled her family’s economic situation was not good before 2010 when they were growing paddy.

The money they got from the harvest would only be enough to meet farming expenses. Her house used to be empty. Little did she dream that one day she would buy a lot of things for the house and have a large sum of money in the bank.

Pointing to new lavish houses in the neighbourhood, Hai said all their owners also grow dragon fruit. There are barely any thatched houses left in her commune, she said.

“I plan to buy more land since I am aware the soil here is highly suitable for dragon fruit. With paddy, the district used to be the poorest in the province.”

Le Nguyen Dang, 36, of the same commune is happy to talk about the good fortune that the fruit bestowed upon his family and the fortuitous manner of his switch from rice farming.

“When all neighbouring farms switched to dragon fruit, I could not grow paddy any more since ploughing and harvesting machines had no way to reach my farm.”

He decided to grow the fruit himself.

He said: “I was shocked when I held a hundred million dong after selling my first harvest. Now, I feel it is normal to get a few hundred millions.”

Some 20 years ago many locals began to grow dragon fruit since paddy was not profitable. But their income was nothing to boast about since the fruit was not exported and was mostly consumed domestically.

In a region that was not the wettest, the hardy fruit became popular and gradually more than 90 per cent of farmlands in the district were brought under it.

Farmers said half-jokingly that the recent drought has brought tears to farmers in other parts of the country, but good fortune to them.

In Binh Thuan Province in the central region, another major dragon fruit-growing area, the crop has been very poor.

Also luckily, Chau Thanh has a river and canals, though this year the saltwater intrusion in them has been unusually intense.

As a result of the poor crop in other places, red dragon fruit prices have skyrocketed to 60,000 dong per kilogram.

Since 2010 the district government has encouraged farmers to grow the fruit, Thinh said.

It plans by 2020 to have all 8,000ha under the fruit, he added.

Large farm

Chau Thanh produces 250,000 tonnes of dragon fruit annually and exports mostly to China, though some portion is also shipped to South Korea, Japan, the US and other markets. The Trans-Pacific Partnership and several other free trade agreements that Vietnam has signed are likely to help expand the market for them.

But exporting to demanding markets like the US, Japan and EU would require an improvement in quality. For this purpose, the district has persuaded farmers to pool together 2,000ha to achieve economies of scale and apply modern technologies.

“In order to better manage the 2,000ha farm, we have decided to establish 20 co-operatives, with each taking responsibility for 100ha,” Thinh said, adding that VietGap quality standards would be adopted.

The project has received strong support from local farmers, who realise it will help them reduce costs and improve quality.

The matter was discussed at a bilateral meeting between Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak and his Cambodian counterpart Hun Sen yesterday.

“Cambodia has expressed interest in allowing Cambodians to work here. We have accepted the offer, particularly for domestic maids.

“We will engage with the Cambodian government soon to allow more of its people to work here as maids,” Najib told a joint press conference with Hun Sen after the meeting.

Hun Sen and his wife Bun Rany were on a four-day official visit to Malaysia.

Cambodia stopped sending domestic workers to Malaysia in 2011 following allegations that some maids had been tortured and abused by their employers.

During the meeting, Najib said it was agreed that economic co-operation and trade volume should be increased “as this has been flat in recent years”.

“There are opportunities for us to increase trade and we have agreed for the joint commission to meet soon,” he added.

Najib commended the Cambodian government for being a good host to Malaysian investors, adding that he has received positive feedback on the treatment and service provided to them.

Investments by Malaysian companies in Cambodia totalled about US$4.3billion.

Phnom Penh was also seeking Putrajaya’s co-operation for investments to be made in the agriculture sector, namely in the production and marketing of rice, and in construction and infrastructure development.

“We are also working to conclude negotiations on an agreement to tackle human trafficking, and have tasked Cambodia’s Ministry of Women Affairs and our Home Ministry to expedite this,” Najib added.

Hun Sen said he wanted to see more Cambodians employed in Malaysia, besides increasing investments, trade and scholarships for his people.

“I would also like to thank Malaysia for providing the opportunity for Cambodians who fled the war to live here.

“I hope they will get training and jobs, and (be able to) bring their experience and knowledge back to our homeland later,” he said.

The instruction was issued at the government’s monthly meeting for May held on May 24-25 at the Prime Minister’s Office and chaired by Thongloun.

Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Dr Lien Thikeo told local media last week that logging under all approved quotas, including trees that needed to be felled to allow for the construction of infrastructure, must end by June 1.

The halt on logging will allow the government to review the implementation of the logging quota, which was previously approved by the government.

“The prime minister has instructed that no party be allowed to remove wood in Sanam I areas as this will create a loophole for illegal logging,” Lien told a press conference held shortly after the government’s meeting.

The authorities were asked to inspect felled wood in collecting yards known locally as Sanam II to ensure that all the wood had been cut in accordance with the government’s approved quota. All wood must be processed domestically.

Initial information suggests there are more than 68,000 cubic metres of timber in Sanam II in six provinces, according to the minister.

Lien said his ministry will work with the relevant bodies to carry out inspections to determine who owns the logs in the Sanam II and whether the owners have paid the related taxes and fees to the government.

Once the inspections are complete, the authorities are required to report the findings to the government. The government will consider whether to allow further logging in areas where previously approved logging quotas have not been fully met.

Consideration will be given to reopening forests for logging in October, Dr Lien said, referring to the Law on Forests.

The instruction came after Thongloun issued a Prime Ministerial Order banning the export of all types of logs and timber.

The ban aimed to encourage the processing of wood in Laos to add value to wood products and close loopholes for illegal logging.

The order, which was issued on May 13, also bans the export of partially-processed wood, tree roots, root balls, tree branches, dried trees and ornamental plants. State bodies are also prohibited from using timber to finance infrastructure development.

Dr Lien pledged to take strict action to implement the prime minister’s order and penalise anyone found to be violating the order.

Nature tourism is fast growing in the industry, said Alicia Seah, Dynasty Travel’s director of public relations and communications, and the “bundle of nature parks and zoological gardens” in Mandai could help boost visitorship to Singapore.

“Many tourists tend to go to our neighbours for trekking, diving and climbing, so the Mandai development could help Singapore better compete in the area of eco-tourism,” she added.

Seah was responding to news of Mandai being turned into a 126ha eco-tourism attraction, complete with five wildlife parks. The plans were announced yesterday by developer Mandai Safari Park Holdings.

The Mandai area is now home to the Singapore Zoo, River Safari and Night Safari. They will be joined by two new attractions – the Bird Park, which will be relocated from Jurong, and the Rainforest Park, as part of efforts to turn Mandai into a nature precinct.

Dr Michael Chiam, Ngee Ann Polytechnic’s senior tourism lecturer, said it made sense to locate the five parks near one another.

“For example, one admission ticket could allow visitors to visit any of the five parks. Visitors could spend the whole day there, boosting visitorship to all the five parks,” he said.

Seah agreed. She pointed out that the current location of the Bird Park in Jurong made it less accessible.

Every year, Jurong Bird Park welcomes about 800,000 visitors, about half of the 1.7 million that go to the zoo each year. The figure also pales beside the 1.1 million visitors to the Night Safari and one million to the River Safari.

“Many visitors will choose to visit the bundle of attractions in Mandai over the Bird Park in view of time constraints. With the addition of the Rainforest Park and the Bird Park to Mandai, we foresee a synergy among the five parks ,” she said.

Allan Chia, head of the Master of Business Administration Programme at SIM University, said the move will increase the popularity of the Bird Park. The Jurong area has evolved since 1971, when the Bird Park commenced operations, and is now an industrial neighbourhood, he said. “The contrast with a nature attraction is too stark for an effective coexistence.”

Experts told The Straits Times that the move will be good not just for tourists but also for residents.

Dr Chiam said: “If the area has facilities that are relevant to the local residents, it will definitely attract them, especially since there is an upward trend of locals engaging in outdoor activities such as cycling, jogging and camping outdoors.”

At the media briefing yesterday, Mike Barclay, group chief executive of the Mandai Safari Park Holdings, said public spaces, such as boardwalks and playgrounds, will also be built to give visitors the chance to enjoy the greenery in the area without having to pay admission fees.

But while the new attractions have the potential to bring in the crowds, it is important to ensure that the impact on the environment is carefully managed.

Chia said: “More visitors will change the character of the place significantly. These changes will affect the wildlife. Among other negative environmental impacts are pollution, congestion and deforestation.”

The developers have sought to allay these concerns, saying development will take place on previously occupied and already impacted land. An environmental impact assessment was also undertaken and the results will be announced in the coming weeks.

But everything else was different about this “summer class.” For one, it was held not on a typical campus—but in a neighbourhood of tombs.

Maria was one of the children whose families live among the dead at Manila North Cemetery (MNC), where a series of reading and writing sessions was recently conducted by a nongovernment organisation that offers a basic literacy programme for shantytown kids.

“I’m actually a graduate by now,” the girl said when the Inquirer saw her last week in a class held at the Familia Torres mausoleum, which was spacious enough to accommodate 30 pupils.

The volunteer teachers and the learning materials were courtesy of All Together in Dignity (ATD) Fourth World Philippines, a member of an international NGO network devoted to helping grassroots communities overcome poverty. Its local headquarters was established in Pandacan, Manila in 1989.

With roots traceable to 1950s Paris and currently active in 34 countries, ATD Fourth World chooses to work in areas “where other NGOs don’t usually go,” according to Guy Malfait, the group’s Belgian director who has been living in country for the last two years.

First classes

Under its Ang Galing literacy programme for Filipino children, the first classes were conducted for indigents kids in Paco in 2011. Two years later, the project targeted youngsters who were taking shelter under Quirino Bridge also in Manila.

This year, the programme came to MNC, a sprawling public cemetery managed by the city government. According to the administration office, about a thousand people are currently taking up spaces amid the graves, many of them employed as caretakers by relatives of the deceased.

In the first four years, Ang Galing classes were held on Saturdays, from June to March, to supplement the children’s schooling. This year, Malfait said, they decided to start a two-week, six-session summer program to help boost the kids’ confidence to enrol again in school.

Many of the students’ mothers and grandmothers have since been enticed to help in the programme, some as instructors. At the MNC, one of the 15 volunteers for the summer class was Lillian Tiglao, 59, whose two granddaughters were in the batch.

“I was taking up education in what was then Philippine Normal College but reached only the second year,” Tiglao said. “It feels good to be able to help the children this way.”

Another grateful volunteer is 67-year-old Tita Villarosa, who for the last 20 years has looked after around 60 graves at Manila North. She learned about ATD long before the NGO brought its literacy project to the cemetery.

“At first I didn’t even want to get involved. But my daughter, who was only 11 at the time, got interested—and soon I was, too,” said Villarosa who, like Tiglao, described herself as a “frustrated teacher.”

Villarosa got so involved in the ATD activities that she achieved something probably beyond the wildest dreams of a cemetery dweller: She became part of a Philippine delegation that went to New York City for the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty in 2005 and met with then UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.

With the graves serving as their chairs and tables, the pupils are also given puzzles, simple math problems and white boards for drawing. “Sometimes we have to go through another process to guide them to what we want them to learn, which is really to read and write. Puzzles, for example, exercise their patience, which they need so they can learn,” Malfait said.

“It’s important that we engage them enough to encourage them to come back,” Ang Galing coordinator Mae Ann Reginaldo further explained.

All the instructional materials are in Filipino since “it’s the language the children use at home,” said Malfait, who can also converse in the local tongue. “We want them to be able to learn faster, and it would be difficult to do that with English since it’s not what they normally use.”

Asked if they have received any complaints from relatives of the dead on whose graves they hold classes, Reginaldo said “they are actually supportive of what we do since it’s about the kids’ education”.

“The Duterte administration will not spend money for spending’s sake. The economy is deficient in all types of infrastructure – highways and bridges, ports and airports,” incoming Budget Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno told the Inquirer.

Specific infrastructure projects to be pursued by the Duterte government would include “small-, medium- and large-scale projects [that] will be done in all regions – [both] highly developed and lagging – simultaneously, not sequentially,” Diokno said.

The University of the Philippines economics professor and former budget chief during the Estrada administration also said they would address the problem of underspending on public goods and services that prevailed during the past two years.

“First of all, I will put a lot of effort in budget preparation. I know that underspending is partly due to poor budget preparation. Many programs and projects are included in the annual budget, yet they are not ready to implement. Some departments ask for a budget that they are unable to implement: They bite more than what they can chew,” Diokno said.

“Second reason for the underspending is the ineptness or incompetence of some department chiefs. I propose to correct this by giving an executive briefing for secretaries and undersecretaries in charge of finance separately on the budget process. I will strengthen the project monitoring system,” he added.

Also, Diokno noted that “in the past, the budget planners provide slacks in the budget in the hope that they can play around with the slacks to finance projects not authorised by Congress,” which he said was what the controversial disbursement acceleration program (DAP) that the Aquino administration had put in place was all about.