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Students participate in planting to spread the habit of cherishing green life. — Photo thanhnien.vn

HÀ NỘI — A group of young people are helping each other to live a greener lifestyle, and hope their actions will spread into the wider community.

At Đà Nẵng University of Economics, green living activities have become familiar to students, with the project “Green University DUE”, creating an environment and motivation to gradually change living habits.

This effort not only brings the image of green living closer to the staff, lecturers and students in the school but also spreads the spirit of green living in the community.

Nguyễn Thị Cẩm Trinh, a student of the international business faculty, chose to participate in the “14-day Green Living Challenge” with a seemingly simple challenge: not using plastic straws.

“To me, it was a very small challenge, but it was really impressive and meaningful,” Trinh told the Thanh Niên (Young People) newspaper.

“These challenges will contribute to a big change in the green living habits of each individual.”

Nhật Linh, a student of e-commerce, has participated in the challenge since it was launched. Linh chooses simple challenges that can be applied every day.

“I say no to plastic, refuse to go plastic when I go to the shop and share my habit of carrying boxes and glasses,” she said.

For Linh, not using plastic is no longer a challenge, but it becomes a habit for her and her relatives.

Trinh and Linh are proud to be members of the community with more than 1,000 “Green Living Warriors” after spending more than 14 days living green. They share that habit with their friends via social media.

Joining the community “Live greener every day” with the activities “Opening day”, Đoàn Thị Bảo Vy, also a student of the university experienced the activities of planting trees, exchanging scrap paper and batteries for potted plants.

Vy enjoys being in the green living atmosphere, hoping to create a community of young people living green and meaningfully.

“I hope to have more access to green living activities, living for the environment, and moving towards a greener lifestyle every day,” Vy said.

Nguyễn Thành Đạt, secretary of the university’s Youth Union, said “Living greener every day” has really become a brand. Students have helped spread the message of green living, with a sense of environmental protection in the community by simple actions in daily life. — VNS

Members of Go Green Việt Nam clean up an area in the outskirts of Vinh City. — Photo zingnews.vn

HÀ NỘI — Lê Minh Tân, a lecturer of Vinh University, central Nghệ An Province, not only follows a green-living lifestyle but also encourages people around him to take a leaf out of his book and follow in his footsteps.

Over the past three years, he has initiated a series of campaigns encouraging young people in his community to categorise garbage at source, recycle old items and raise their awareness about plastic waste.

“We can all protect the environment with the smallest action,” said Tân, a 31-year-old teacher at the Foreign Language Education Faculty of Vinh University.

One of his projects that attracts the participation of young people is Go Green Việt Nam ơi – a green journey with activities aiming at creating sustainable, environmental values.

He hopes the project will encourage everyone to live green and make it a habit, not just a short-term campaign.

Tân started green living three years ago when he got married.

The amount of waste he and his wife discharged everyday surprised him.

“The waste amount increased when we bought items for our baby. Items we buy at the supermarket are wrapped with plastic,” he told zingnews.vn .

People living in suburbs are suffering from waste overload more than those living in the cities due to the growing of unmanaged waste dumps.

“Empty roads have become places to dump waste or construction materials. Solutions of local authorities are short-term. We really need to change public awareness to tackle the root of the problem,” he said.

Go Green Việt Nam set challenges like cleaning waste and shopping without using plastic bags. A lot of young people in Vinh City accepted the challenges, recorded videos, photos and posted them on social networks to spread the word.

Shopping without single-use plastic bags. — Photo zingnews.vn

Tân’s projects also changed his wife’s habit of taking plastic bags while shopping. Instead, she takes her own bags to go to the market, sorts out garbage at home and makes compost from waste.

Go Green-Go Sharing, a campaign of Go Green Việt Nam, was recently launched sending the message of sharing utensils, reducing shopping and reducing waste. The project has created a network of nearly 200 people trying to live green and are always ready to take part in environmental activities.

Tân said videos clips of environmental protection activities of Go Green Việt Nam had been widely shared. An English teacher in Indonesia used the videos to spread the environmental spirit to his students.

Go Green Việt Nam has the ambition to create a network of people interested in making compost from waste in Vinh City. The compost will be used to grow vegetables and plants.

If the project is maintained regularly in households, a huge amount of domestic waste discharged into the environment each day would be significantly reduced, Tân believes.

He also wants to find a young team with a large amount of time, creative ideas, and enthusiasm for environmental issues to continue the mission.

He added: “Environmental protection is not the responsibility of just the government, company or organisation, but the responsibility of everyone. Every little action has a direct impact on the environment.” — VNS

Families living along the Đôi Canal in HCM City’s District 8 wait for a relocation project proposed to be carried out in 2021-25. Photo thanhnien.vn

HCM CITY — HCM City plans to clean up more of its canals in 2021-25 and relocate people living in utter poverty along them.

It has set a target of moving out 10,000 families from near canals in Bình Thạnh, Bình Tân, 4, 7, and 8 districts.

Its plans include cleaning the Xuyên Tâm Canal passing through Bình Thạnh and Gò Vấp districts and building an underground drainage system in the Tham Lương and Bến Cát areas.

The works will be funded by both public and private resources.

The canals’ banks will be widened by 20 per cent to attract investment and offer to investors to set up malls and other commercial establishments.

According to the president of the HCM Real Estate Association (HoREA), Lê Hoàng Châu, the investment could be used to develop the banks.

Relocation of the families living along the canals is one of five projects to improve people’s quality of living that the city had drawn up for 2016-20.

It had hoped to move all 21,851 households by 2020 at a cost of VNĐ44 trillion (US$1.9 billion) but only managed to resettle 2,479 of them.

The biggest hurdle was the lack of funds to pay compensation and build resettlement housing.

Lê Trần Kiên, deputy head of the Department of Construction’s urban development department, said the task had required VNĐ10 trillion but only VNĐ2.1 trillion was available.

The canals targeted for a clean-up are minor and so failed to attract investors.

The city has a solid record in cleaning up canals as evidenced by its successful revival of the Nhiêu Lộc – Thị Nghè and Tân Hóa – Lò Gốm canals.

Trần Vĩnh Nam, an architect, is all praise for the present living conditions along the Tân Hóa – Lò Gốm Canal: “This place used to be too polluted and foul-smelling for any creature to live.

“Now [after its clean-up], property prices along it are rising thanks to a complete transformation.”

The city has also completed various sanitation projects such as improving its drainage system, dredging 81.2km of canals, and cleaning up 60km of canals to improve the environment and people’s quality of life.

In the next few years it plans to clean more canals to prevent floods and improve the environment. VNS

Nguyen Thi Thanh, 54, wears a helmet every time she leaves her house.

She is not preparing for road traffic. She is afraid that chunks of the ceiling along the corridors could fall off any time.

Thanh lives in the Truc Giang residential quarters in Ho Chi Minh City’s District 4, a complex built before 1975.

These days, the ceiling along corridors of most blocks has peeled off, revealing rusted, dark brown metal bars. There are cracks everywhere. Electric wires and cables are intricately wound and the electric boxes badly damaged.

The balcony on a corridor of the dilapidated Truc Giang apartment complex in District 4, HCMC, January 2021. Photo by VnExpress/Ha An.

Apartments on the highest floor in this complex suffer water leaks every time it rains.

Thanh, 33, who lives in one of the top apartments, said every rainy season, he has to apply cement on the roof to prevent the water leak. But even this layer of protection cannot prevent water from seeping in if it rains heavily. When this happens, the entire family has to take shelter at their parents’ house.

“I don’t need a beautiful house. I just need a safe one,” he said.

In 2018, municipal authorities found a private investor to rebuild the Truc Giang complex.

The investor suggested that residents move back into the complex after it has been rebuilt, with the conversion rate of changing every one square meter of the old apartment for 1.1 m2 in the new apartment.

Those not okay with this conversion rate can sell their apartments to the investor at VND27.5 million ($1,193) per square meter.

However, several residents did not accept the exchange rate, saying it was too low compared to the market price of VND40-50 million per square meter.

With such disagreements yet to be settled, the investor was caught up in legal procedures that could create difficulties in the site clearing process. The investor quit.

The city changed its tactic then to resettling all residents of the Truc Giang complex to another condo project in District 11, around 8 km (5 miles) away.

So far, 119 families have agreed to move along with compensation that has not been revealed, but four families who live on the ground floor are refusing to move.

This prevents the authorities from setting up barriers around the buildings for demolishing them, or cutting water and power supply even as they continue the search for a new investor.

Nguyen Thi Bao Trinh, chairman of District 4’s Ward 13, where the Truc Giang complex is located, said that just in one week in late January, the ward invited the four families at five different times to try and persuade them, but have failed to do so.

Around one kilometer from Truc Giang, the Vinh Hoi residential complex in District 4’s Ward 6 is facing similar problems.

The district has been able to attract several investors to demolish the project for rebuilding, but so far, only 18 of 244 families have agreed to the plan.

The city had at first arranged new residences for Vinh Hoi families at the Vinh Loc B condo project in Binh Chanh District, around 20 km away. Most residents said the new location was too far away from their schools and places of work.

The district authorities then came up with a new resettlement plan that would move the residents to the Tan My condo, just 5 km away. While more residents are amenable to this plan, there are those who are reluctant to leave Vinh Hoi.

The ceiling of a house at Vinh Hoi apartment building in HCMC’s District 4, Janauary 2021. Photo by VnExpress/Ha An.

Valid reasons to stay put

Dao Duy Dat, 69, who lives with his family at one of the four houses at the ground floor in the Truc Giang complex, said he has encountered administrative problems related to the ownership of the house.

“The government sold me this house five years ago at a preferential price because I was a war veteran, but until today, all the related paperwork to transfer the house’s ownership to me has not been completed.

“I’m worried that if we decide to move out without an official ownership certificate, we will not be provided with another place to live in,” he said, adding that he will agree to move once the authorities make sure that his family will have proper ownership at the resettlement location.

Nguyen Ngoc Tien, chairman of Ward 6, said the biggest reason preventing residents from moving is that they do not want to leave a place and a neighborhood that they have spent almost a lifetime in.

In some cases, residents want to hold on to the downgraded apartments to wait for an investor who can offer a better compensation and relocation deal.

“These are all reasonable wishes of the people, but yet in a situation when these buildings are seriously degraded, moving is the only way to ensure safety for their lives and assets and we truly hope for cooperation from all residents,” Tien said.

He said that the Vinh Hoi complex hosts many cracks, the balcony along corridors are broken and pose significant danger, especially for children who play in the area.

New law proposed

The city now has as many as 474 condo projects built before 1975 that are seriously downgraded and need to be rebuilt.

However, due to several factors, including disagreements over compensation and obstacles in site clearance, the city has been able to demolish and rebuild just two of them – one at 192 Nam Ky Khoi Nghia Street in District 3 and the Nguyen Kim project in District 10.

City authorities have suggested that the Ministry of Construction makes changes to a degree on

Instead, the agreement of just 50 percent of the residents should be enough for authorities to carry out demolitions, they have proposed.

Le Hoang Chau, chairman of the HCMC Real Estate Association, said the city’s proposal was necessary. The association itself has suggested the same thing to the Standing Committee of the National Assembly, he added.

It was not clear how this rule would protect the rights of the other 50 percent of the residents.

Vietnam now has around 2,500 old and downgraded apartment buildings and a majority of them are in Hanoi and HCMC. By the end of last year, just 1 percent had been renovated, Deputy Minister of Construction Nguyen Van Sinh said at a meeting with HCMC last November.

Đỗ Thị Băng Ngân, doctor at Quảng Ninh Lungs Hospital, talks online to her future husband after work. Photos nhandan.com.vn

QUẢNG NINH — Đỗ Thị Băng Ngân had no other choice but to delay her wedding earlier this year.

This is the third time she has made the decision. Ngân and her fiance have no idea when their wedding will take place.

Both of them are doctors. Ngân works for Quảng Ninh Lungs Hospital and her husband works for Quảng Ninh General Hospital in northern Quảng Ninh Province.

When the COVID-19 pandemic broke out for the first time in the province in early last February, Ngân was among many volunteer doctors transferred to the centralised quarantine area to help treat infected patients.

The outbreak was more complicated than the couple had expected. The wedding, which was scheduled to take place in mid-February, was postponed.

As a frontline doctor, Ngân worked hard in the quarantine area and only returned home three months later.

The couple planned to hold the wedding last August when the second wave of the pandemic broke out in her future husband’s hometown in northern Hải Dương Province.

Due to the social distancing measures applied in the province, their wedding had to be delayed again. Ngân decided to volunteer to join the virus fight in the province.

The third delay was when the latest outbreak was reported in Hải Dương and Quảng Ninh provinces before the Tết (Lunar New Year) holiday. The hospital where Ngân was working has become a treatment facility for COVID-19 patients.

The wedding has been delayed and the couple can’t be together on the wedding day, but they decided to be together in another way: they have volunteered to work in field hospital No2.

“The pandemic has been so complicated here. We’ve decided to put aside our personal plans and focus on stamping out the pandemic,” she said.

Special Tết

Dr Nguyễn Thị Ánh is busy testing samples of patients in northern Hải Dương Province, the hotspot of the COVID-19 pandemic in Việt Nam.

In the COVID-19 epicentre in Chí Linh City, Hải Dương Province, Dr Vũ Quy Bắc, husband, and Dr Nguyễn Thị Ánh, wife, said they had a very special Tết this year.

They have been frontline doctors at the hotspot for the past two weeks since the first locally-transmitted case was confirmed in the city. Sending their two kids to relatives, the couple have joined the fight against the disease. The husband works as a doctor of the Medical Examination Department directly involved in patient treatment and the wife is among five team members conducting testing for COVID-19 patients.

The number of COVID-19 patients increases day by day, leaving frontline doctors overworked. They seldom take a rest and always have a full workload, especially when the hotspot at Poyun Company was recorded.

Ánh said this was the most challenging time for them in 14 years of marriage as two of their relatives passed away and they could not return home for the funerals.

“I was sitting in the lab and stunned for a while after hearing the news. At that moment I thought the medical profession was really arduous,” she said.

Ánh said during 20 days of working in the same hospital, they worked in different units and spoke only by messages.

New Year’s Eve was unforgettable for the couple when they were quarantined in two different rooms and could only look at each other from afar.

“We’ve been together since we were students. We’ve got love and courage from each other, so we’ll strive our best to fight the pandemic,” she said. — VNS