DEPARTMENT OF TRANSLATION AND INTERPRETING

ADVANCED TRANSLATION WEEK 2 – PRACTICE

Efficient planning lays groundwork for investors to come: PM
Efficient planning that helps realize the unique strength and competitive edge of each province/city would lay the
necessary groundwork for quality projects and investors to come.
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh gave the remarks at a national online conference on master planning held today
[August 19], noting such works are essential to realizing public investment targets for sustainable socio-economic
development.
“Every step would need planning in advance, which should be done holistically and serve as guidance,” Chinh said.
While planning is routine, Chinh added this time, it should be done simultaneously at the national, regional, and local
levels under the Law on Planning.
In this regard, Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung said to ensure an efficient planning process,
each ministry or locality must put national interests first in working on their respective planning while keeping close
communication with other provinces/cities and the central government during the process.
According to Dung, in 2021, the Government would complete 19 out of 38 national plans, one regional plan, and 26
out of 63 local plans, with the remainder being finalized in 2022.
Dung noted since the Law on Planning became effective in early 2019, ministries and government agencies have
removed planning on specific goods, products, and services, which are replaced with conditions and criteria as a way
to simplify business conditions for enterprises and investors.
“The quality of planning has been gradually improved by a more flexible approach and the application of advanced
technologies that help prevent overlapping and incompatibility between different planning processes,” Dung said.
Acknowledging the current slow planning process for the 2021-2030 period with the current Covid-19 outbreak as
one of the main issues, Dung called for government agencies to speed up the review of the existing legal framework
to ensure their compatibility with the Law on Planning, along with the setup of a national database on planning.
“Each agency should draft a specific roadmap to work out plans and consult with the government on any
difficulties,” Dung noted.
“The most important issue is the commitment and awareness of leaders of each province/city and ministry in the
planning process, while a strategic vision is needed to ensure the feasibility of planning in the long run,” Dung
concluded.

Scaling up relief programs to better support businesses in need: Experts

As local businesses are facing unprecedented challenges from the pandemic, which led many to bankruptcy, experts
called on the Government to scale up relief programs to better support those in need.
In the first seven months of this year, nearly 80,000 enterprises were forced to temporarily suspend operation, file for
dissolution, or be dissolved, which represented a surge of 25% year-on-year. This resulted in an average of nearly
12,000 enterprises exiting the market every month, which also included medium- and large-scale ones.
To support businesses and aid economic recovery, the Government has put in place various supporting policies and
programs, including freezing and waiving fees and taxes, restructuring debt payment, or providing preferential loans
for firms to pay workers’ salaries.
While these programs have no doubt alleviate some hardship for businesses, the prolonged pandemic has put many in
a more vulnerable position than ever.
Vice-Chairman of the Hanoi Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (Hanoisme) Mac Quoc Anh told The
Hanoi Times that common issues for firms are the difficulties in reaching customers due to the disruption in the
distribution process and hiking prices of input materials.
“The inability to access bank loans and rising expenses for Covid-19 restriction measures are making it hard for
firms to ensure long-term income for their workers,” Anh added.
Another issue, according to Anh, is the fact that not many are qualified for banks loan with a 0% lending rate to pay
salaries for workers, mainly due to the requirements of not having bad debt at the moment of applying for the
program.
Meanwhile, the majority of supporting programs is to delay payment of taxes and fees, so eventually, they still have
to fulfill their financial obligation, he noted.
As part of measures, Anh called on the Government to lower land rental fees for enterprises in 2021. In long term,
the Government should continue to improve the business environment, especially in land management, for
businesses to expand operations. “Current policies of waiving and freezing interest rates for loans incurred in 2020-
2021 should be extended until late 2021,” he added.
CEO of Economica Vietnam Le Duy Binh urged support should vary depending on the severity of the Covid-19
impacts. Binh said businesses in the pandemic epicenter where all activities are frozen, should be entitled to 100%
tax exemption, and around 50% for those in other provinces/cities. “This would provide them with financial means to
recover once the pandemic subsides,” Binh noted, but adding time is essential for every policy to be efficient.
Cutting direct costs for businesses
Economist Can Van Luc also suggested the extension of support programs lasts until at least Vietnam is expected to
achieve herd immunity by late 2021 or early 2022. Luc expected other support programs in form of subsidiaries for
electricity and telecommunication bills to be more substantial.
“The Vietnam Electricity should expand the group of beneficiaries of lowering electricity bill, foregoing at least
VND6.8 trillion ($300 million), the same amount as last year,” Luc added.
The VND10 trillion ($435 million) support package for telecom subscribers, as Luc said is only to provide additional
benefits for customers and not lowering telecom bills, noting the impacts, therefore, are limited.
Luc said mobile carriers could consider lowering telecom bills by 20-30% for the next three months.
In long term, the Chairman of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) Vu Tien Loc noted the
Government should take steps to help enterprises lower costs of credit, transportation, logistics, land, and compliance
with administrative procedures.
In the latest move, the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) proposed a new resolution to aid enterprises,
focusing on helping enterprises keeping their business running with flexible restriction measures; ensuring value
chains intact; lowering business costs, and simplifying procedures on quarantine of workers and foreign experts.

Hanoi takes steps to ensure public satisfaction with public services

The city makes sure that the pandemic and subsequent restriction measures would have a minimum impact on
people’s lives.
With public satisfaction with the quality of public services seen as a key metric in assessing efficiency in the
operation of local apparatus, Hanoi has been taking steps to ensure at least 85% of local people are satisfied with
municipal public services in 2021 despite the current pandemic outbreak.
Nguyen Ngoc Quang, a resident in Yen Phu Ward, Tay Ho District, did not expect to receive his son’s birth
certificate after just one working day via postal delivery.
“I received a text message from the Yen Phu Ward's People’s Committee that the document would be sent via post
due to current Covid-19 situation, but did not think it would arrive so quickly,” Quang told The Hanoi Times.
Tran Thi Tuyen Mai, 65, from Tan Mai Ward, Hai Ba Trung District, told The Hanoi Times that she had been
contacted by a public official to process her application for a land-use rights’ certificate.
“The current Covid-19 situation means I could not submit the application in person at the local office, but I was
often kept up-to-date on the progress of the processing by phone or message,” Mai added.
Since July 27, Hai Ba Trung District's People’s Committee and other administrative units in Hanoi temporarily stop
receiving citizens coming to the office as under social distancing rules are applied citywide, but still processing
applications online.
For documents submitted prior to the timeline, public servants would notify the citizen on how the results would be
delivered. In an urgent situation, citizens are instructed on ways to contact officials and process their requests but still
ensure safety measures. “Containing the Covid-19 pandemic remains the utmost priority at the moment, but we are
still working on urgent tasks including issuing birth or death certificates related to foreigners, or verification for
health treatment,” Vice-Chairman of the Office of Hai Ba Trung District People’s Committee Tran Tuan Anh told
The Hanoi Times, noting all the processes should be in compliance with Covid-19 restriction measures.
Vice-Chairman of the Office of the Thanh Tri Ward People’s Committee Chu Manh Thang said the locality has
switched operations to online since the distancing order became effective.
“Upon receiving application by mail, we would notify the citizen on the expected processing timeline as the result
would be delivered back by post,” Thang said.
At a time when the city is putting all efforts into the Covid-19 fight, Hanoi People’s Committee has issued a directive
No.2542 on August 5 urging all localities to put in efforts and enhance efficiency in public services. The move shows
the local authorities’ commitment to carrying on the administrative reform, but more importantly, to make sure that
people’s lives would not be significantly affected by the pandemic and subsequent restriction measures.
Last year, Hanoi climbed up 19 ranks in the 2020 Satisfaction Index of Public Administration Services (SIPAS) with
a score of 85%, a significant improvement from 80% recorded in 2019.
With such a score, Hanoi is now ranked 33rd out of 63 provinces/cities, a significant improvement from 52nd in
2019. This is also the city’s highest score since the first SIPAS edition in 2017 and the third consecutive year the city
has attained a score of over 80%.
However, the SIPAS, conducted by the Ministry of Home Affairs, also pointed out shortcomings that the city needs
to address as it aims to assess the performance of localities in public services based on five criteria including “access
to service”, “administrative procedures”, “civil servants”, “service outcome” and “compliant settlement”.
The Hanoi’s Department of Internal Affairs in a recent report acknowledged there remains a large gap of 10.01% for
the city to reach the top of the ranking, requiring significant endeavor to close it, while the improvement in the
“access to service” category has not lived up to expectation as the score in this respect was only 1.71%.
Regarding the expectation from the citizen and organizations, the SIPAS pointed out 56% of 2,520 respondents in
Hanoi look for more simplification of administrative procedures, 44% expect shorter processing time, 42% for
delivery of service results via post, and 41% call for greater promotion of online public services at advanced stages
of 3 and 4.
Under directive No.2542, the city expected all districts and wards to continue applying IT in processing
administrative works during the pandemic, while further expanding information channels for people and businesses
to better access public services.
“All instructions and results are published online for the public to review,” it noted, considering it an important step
to ensure public engagement despite the Covid-19 situation.
As part of measures to improve public services, Hanoi puts a strong focus on ensuring transparency in the
policymaking and explanation to the public, while raising the people’s awareness of their rights and responsibilities
as citizens.
With the authorities at grassroots levels playing a key role in ensuring higher public satisfaction with public services,
the directive noted there would be more supervision efforts and strict punishment for public servants’ offenses in
fields seen as sensitive, including issuing of construction permits, land use rights certificates or other certifications
for the people.
Among the five central-level cities, Hanoi is the second-highest scoring city only after Haiphong in second place out
of 63 provinces/cities (scoring 93.57%), and above Cantho (38/63 or 84%), Ho Chi Minh City (43/63 or 84%), and
Danang (47/63 or 83%).

The future of cash

As a result of the pandemic, fewer people are using cash and more have moved to a variety of digital payment
options. But don’t count cash out yet.
Banknotes and coins have been very visible casualties of the Covid-19 pandemic. Even in India, where cash is still
king, ATM use dropped by about half in April. Since the pandemic began, nearly half (46%) of respondents in Asia
and the Pacific say they are using cash less often according to a Mastercard survey, a trend that has been replicated
throughout the world.
The pandemic has proved to be a trigger event accelerating an already inexorable trend. Cash was used for 87% of
payments in the United Kingdom in 1985, but for only 23% in 2019. In urban parts of the People’s Republic of
China, use of the two most popular payment services, Alipay and WeChat Pay, was already rocketing before the
virus struck. A 2018 study found that 98% of people with smartphones in cities used their devices for mobile
payments.
Non-cash payments are still dominated by credit and debit cards issued by banks and other large financial
institutions, but there are plenty of disrupter technologies looking to challenge the dominance of Visa (849 million
cardholders worldwide) and Mastercard (767 million). If a shopper in Shanghai is likely to reach for WeChat, a
Manila diner might buy her meal using GCash, and a New Yorker might buy his coffee by waving his Apple watch
at a card reader.
Some of these technologies do more than simply replicate in-store transactions. In the United States, Venmo operates
like a digital wallet as well as a social media feed, making peer-to-peer transfers simple – like settling a shared
restaurant bill with friends. The app now boasts more than 50 million user accounts, with a net payment volume of
US$31 billion in the first quarter of 2020 alone.
The move away from cash has been bolstered by two other powerful trends: the rise of online shopping and a striking
willingness to trust gadgets. The People’s Republic of China dominates global revenues from online shopping with a
projected market volume of $1 trillion in 2020, far higher than the combined total of the next four countries (USA,
Japan, UK, and Germany, in that order). Meanwhile, although smartphone sales have levelled off in recent years,
there are still more than 3 billion smartphone users worldwide.
Asia is leading the way: the three countries with the most smartphones are the People’s Republic of China, India, and
the US, each of which has well over 100 million users. For anyone born this century, performing any sort of action,
financial or otherwise, it is likely to seem much more natural using a phone or card than a clumsy, dirty analogue
equivalent, such as bills or coins stuffed into a wallet or purse.
Should we worry? Any trend that seems to privilege wealthy city-dwellers at the expense of poor, elderly, or
otherwise disadvantaged populations has to be a concern. While headline data from the People’s Republic of China
seem to indicate a country that has fully embraced the digital future, 30% of the country’s population does not own a
smart phone and is therefore excluded from most forms of electronic payment. Similar groups exist in all countries:
8.4 million US households had no bank account of any kind in 2017.
One of the groups with the most to lose from a cash-less economy is the criminal class. Unfortunately, a move to
electronic payment may just end up replacing a more traditional type of criminal, who hides high denomination
banknotes under the mattress, with a new technically savvy felon who can hack into an account and siphon out the
unfortunate owner’s funds. Here it is worth pointing out that money held in most apps is not insured by such
agencies as the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation in the US or protected by many banking regulations.
Is this the end for cash? After the pandemic, many recently acquired habits will remain, including electronic
payments. Even farmers’ markets, usually a cash environment, have increasingly begun to accept electronic
payments. New fintech products come to market every month, and poor and marginalized populations will use them
if they see an advantage in doing so.
Think of remittances: domestic helpers in Singapore and construction workers in the Persian Gulf have been sending
money home electronically using cell phones for over a decade because they find the apps simple and cheap
compared with traditional remittance channels charging higher transfer fees.
If cash is on its way out, its departure will be staggered. Some countries, including Finland and the Republic of
Korea, have already turned their backs on banknotes (more than half of the Republic of Korea’s 1,600 bank branches
no longer accept cash deposits or withdrawals).
In others, a lingering death seems more likely. For cultural, demographic, and economic reasons, cash is deeply
embedded in the daily life of some countries. For farmers in Indonesia, vendors in Cambodia or pedicab drivers in
Bangladesh, the concept of using an app over cash is still far-fetched. But it is a lot more plausible now than it was
before the pandemic.

Fighting traffic gridlocks: Hanoi needs more than one hero

Expertise from both Vietnamese and Norwegian specialists helps find solutions for Hanoi’s urban mobility
challenges, which has been labelled self-evidently complex.
It was 6:30 p.m. at Nguyen Trai-Khuat Duy Tien intersection – coined as the most ‘modern’ 4-level intersection in
Hanoi, thousands of vehicles of all kinds were fighting for their rights of way. The noise of vehicles’ engines, the
relentless honking sounds, the overwhelming smell of exhaust fume, and the intolerable heat and humidity of the
early summer day in July could easily discourage the bravest souls from driving through this area during rush hours.
Yet, this traffic nightmare is the daily experience of millions of urban residents who often commute via major
thoroughfares connecting the city’s central and the rapidly expanding urban fringes of Hanoi.
The mantra ‘Can’t rush in Hanoi’ could help some daily commuters to maintain their calm and sanity while plying
through the crowded streets. Nevertheless, with the rapid growth of the capital city, numerous megaprojects aiming
to expand road networks and upgrade the public transit system have failed to deliver any transformative changes.
Finding solutions for Hanoi’s urban mobility challenges is self-evidently complex. However, we believe that the
starting point to think about the recipe for the city’s transport and mobility system should incorporate a
multidimensional perspective. Such an approach should focus on not only improving the efficiency and accessibility
to transport services but also maintaining the social coherence and long-term livability of the city. With this premise
in mind, we provide some suggestions to solve one of the most pressing challenges in Hanoi today.
Public transport as the backbone
For a city of nine million inhabitants, Hanoi’s public transit network is gravely inadequate. Public transit in the
capital city relies on a fleet of only 1,546 public buses and one BRT lane, and only accounted for 8-9% of the total
trip demand in Hanoi.
The lack of reliability, safety, accessibility, comfort, and convenience are among the reasons deterring people from
relying on public transit for their journeys. Continuing investments in buses and metros should be a top priority to
keep public transit growing on par with increasingly higher and more diversified mobility demands. Making public
transport more accessible and convenient for population groups that often have lower levels of mobility and higher
reliance on public transport, such as the elder, the poor, the disabled, children, women, and students, should also be a
priority. This requires changes in the planning and design of public transit facilities and changes in policies and
incentives targeting these groups.
Furthermore, the lack of first-mile and last-mile mobility options is among the main factors that discourage higher
public transit patronage. This is most evident in new urban areas, where public transit coverage is often lower than
the urban core. Using private motorbikes and cars is more convenient and often the only choice for people living in
these new urban areas to move around. A range of solutions can be introduced to address these problems, from
improving walking facilities to investing in new bike or e-bike stations around terminals for public transit users.
Additionally, taking advantage of the existing network of motorbike taxis is also a feasible option. Traditional
motorbike taxis and the new ride-hailing motorbike taxis can help people reach their destinations in areas located far
away from the main streets and inaccessible by bus or metros. Other Southeast Asian cities can serve as good
examples for Hanoi here. In Bangkok or Jakarta, motorbike taxi fleets are often run and organized by both the
drivers’ organizations and local transport authorities and play an essential role in the intermodal transport systems. In
Vietnam, however, transport authorities have been reluctant to work with the motorbike taxi due to its long-standing
informal status. We urge a change of mindset and recommend transport authorities and agencies to work with
motorbike taxi drivers to improve their valuable services for public transit users.
Car is not the future for urban transport
In recent years, with rapid growth in personal income and declines in automobile import tariffs, cars have become
more affordable and available for the upper and middle classes in Vietnam. While research and studies often
highlight the adverse social and environmental problems associated with heavy car usage, the uncritical reception
and adoption of cars in Vietnam are problematic.
Besides providing a safer and more convenient means of transport, cars are considered as a status and wealth symbol.
However, on a more practical level, the car today represents the most significant threat for traffic in Hanoi. Cars
occupy significantly more space than motorbikes and even encroach upon sidewalks due to the lack of parking
facilities. On many narrow streets, a single SUV can cause hour-long traffic jams. In the long run, transport planning
centered around automobiles often causes more problems than benefits, ranging from increasing noise and air
pollution through traffic-related injuries to declining general well-being and social connection within urban
communities. Expanding road networks and building new urban expressways to accommodate automobility also
incur hefty costs and dry up public investments into public transport, walking, or bicycling facilities.
Thus, stricter restrictions on car use must be thoroughly considered. As Vietnam enters more free trade agreements,
tariffs for cars are expected to drop dramatically, and more people can afford cars for private use in the future. The
city’s government needs to stay ahead of this trend and introduce measures and organize infrastructure in ways that
limit car use, such as creating car-free zones, especially in areas where narrow roads and streets cannot accommodate
cars’ movements.
Embracing the motorbike and bicycle
Another recommendation we propose is to stop blaming the motorbike and instead embrace this two-wheeled
vehicle. As a city that grows organically for most of its history, many districts in Hanoi are connected by a labyrinth
of narrow and winding streets, accessible only by motorbikes, bicycles, or on foot. With its flexibility and high
maneuverability, the motorbike is a champion in this condition and becomes the primary vehicle that enables the
daily movements of people and goods. This system of ‘motor-mobility’ is also an essential catalyst for socially and
economically conducive interactions, from going shopping at local markets, picking up kids from schools to meeting
with friends and families. Furthermore, the motorbike is crucial for many other urbanites, such as street vendors,
market merchants, motorbike taxi drivers or delivery persons, who rely on motorbikes to earn a living and provide
essential services for the functioning of the city. Therefore, an abruption to motorbike’s mobility will hit the poor and
the less privileged the hardest and risk upsetting Hanoi's existing social fabric and vibrant street life.
We try to avoid romanticizing the motorbikes here as the motorbikes are still among the top CO2 emitters on the
streets. However, erasing the motorbikes and two-wheeled mobility options from the future is not what we will
recommend. Other solutions, such as introducing incentives to replace old and polluting motorbikes or to drive up e-
scooter usages, are more suitable for Hanoi. E-scooters that can compete with the traditional petrol-driven motorbike
are suitable low-carbon transport solutions for Hanoi. Furthermore, the e-scooter industry can also be a potential
industry for Vietnam to pursue, instead of the automobile industry, which has failed to take off despite numerous
government efforts.
Furthermore, making Hanoi bicycle-friendly again is our final recommendation. The bicycle is a clear winner in
terms of CO2 emission, even compared to public transports. Hanoi has a long and proud history of bicycling.
Bicycling today remains a favorite way of exercising, especially during the pandemic when other forms of
entertainment and exercise were inaccessible. However, making a bicycle renaissance come true requires a
significant shift in mentality and serious consideration of the role of bicycles in the planning and design of the city.
Reallocation and redirection of funding from automobile-friendly infrastructure to bicycle-friendly infrastructure
should also be implemented to build roads and facilities that invite people to bike more regularly.
Conclusion
While carrying out all of these solutions is not a simple job, we believe that they are feasible considering the
successes in other cities across the world and Asia with similar initiatives. Furthermore, as these solutions are
sensitive to Hanoi's context, we believe that if implemented correctly, they will solve the city’s mobility challenges
and help preserve the aesthetic, history, social fabric, and environmental landscapes of the capital city. What is also
clear is that these initiatives require close collaborations between governments, businesses, and people. It is only
through this multi-stakeholder process that Hanoi can hope to build a future mobility system that works for every
citizen. Still, the question remains whether or not the government and people of Hanoi are ready to make these
changes.