Authorities in Ba Dinh District, Hanoi have suspended Huong Muc frog hotpot restaurant as the diner served customers with leftover hotpot broth.

Two branches of the restaurant at 33 and 44 Chau Long Street in Truc Bach Ward, Ba Dinh District were suspended for signs of violations of food safety regulations, Nguyen Dan Huy, chairman of the People’s Committee of the ward, told Tien Phong (Youth) newspaper on Tuesday.

“We will check the restaurant’s food safety and hygiene and its customer serving process. If violations are detected, we will impose harsh penalties in line with the law,” Huy stressed.

Two eaters came to the restaurant to enjoy frog hotpot last Friday. However, they found abnormalities in the hotpot broth and supposed that employees of the restaurant gave them leftover hotpot broth from other customers.

They later shared the information on Facebook.

Upon receiving the news, Truc Bach authorities on Tuesday established a team to inspect two branches of the restaurant, viewed footage from CCTV cameras at the restaurant, and questioned its manager and some employees.

The case happened on the second floor of the branch at 33 Chau Long Street, the restaurant manager said, claiming that a female employee unintentionally served the two customers with the leftover hotpot broth.

The female employee explained that the restaurant was crowded with customers at the time and she carelessly checked the hotpot broth.

She was frightened of the customers’ complaint, so she did not report the case to the restaurant manager.

The restaurant later fired the female employee and contacted the two customers to directly offer them an apology and cover their healthcare costs.

Like us on Facebook or  follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!

The mushrooming of unauthorized tourism activities surrounding Tri An Hydropower Reservoir in Dong Nai has raised concerns over possible pollution of the water supply to over 10 million residents of the southern Vietnamese province and neighboring Binh Duong Province as well as Ho Chi Minh City.

As observed by Tien Phong (Youth) newspaper reporters, there are currently more than 50 unpermitted tourism sites on agricultural land and floodplain areas around the lake in Dong Nai’s Vinh Cuu District, where the issue has been most rampant, besides other districts such as Thong Nhat, Dinh Quan, and Tan Phu.

These sites offer accommodations, camping, and stand-up paddle board services to travelers who like to appreciate the pristine scenery.

Many temporary houses, restaurants, and parking lots have been constructed there without any approval from local authorities.

Tri An Lake currently supplies water to the Tri An Hydropower Reservoir, which has an installed capacity of 400MW, and to Dong Nai, Ho Chi Minh City, and Binh Duong, meeting about 70 percent of the demand of over 10 million people living in the three southeastern localities, according to Nguyen Quang Phuong, chairman of Vinh Cuu District.

Phuong is concerned that the operation of the aforementioned tourism activities poses a threat to the environment at the lake.

“Unless proper measures are taken, environmental pollution will affect more than 10 million people in the long run,” Phuong said, adding that local authorities have ordered the grassroots levels to take responsibility for any unapproved tourism businesses.

Nguyen Hoang Hao, director of the Dong Nai Nature and Culture Reserve, which manages the Tri An Lake, stated that developing temporary housing for tourism purposes in the lake area is against regulations.

According to Hao, local residents who signed contracts with his reserve to plant forests and long-term crops in the lake area have breached the agreements.

“They are prohibited from building temporary shelters and engaging in any activities that may affect the forest land,” he said.

Many owners of the illegally-built tourism sites have made excuses that developing tourism activities at Tri An Lake both satisfies a genuine demand from the tourists and brings many benefits to local residents, such as increasing employment levels and promoting local agricultural products.

They have called on local authorities to allow the operation of the existing facilities while creating specific mechanisms and policies for their businesses, so that they can avoid violations.

Regarding this request, Hao said that there has been a plan to develop a national tourism project on the lakeside land and islets in the lake.

Once the project is approved, Hao’s reserve will select an investor to collaborate with local residents to operate tourism activities in accordance with the plan.

“The province’s objective is to develop large-scale, high-value tourism activities, rather than the small-scale and unregulated ones currently in operation,” Hao said.

The official added that his reserve will cooperate with local authorities to dismantle unauthorized tourism sites and terminate afforestation contracts with households that violate regulations.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!

The Vietnamese government has approved of the Ministry of Finance’s proposal on a two-percent reduction in the value added tax (VAT) on all goods and services now subject to a 10-percent tax rate.

Deputy Prime Minister Le Minh Khai agreed in principle that the Ministry of Finance send the proposal to the government for submission to the lawmaking National Assembly (NA) and the NA Standing Committee for consideration and issuance of a resolution on the VAT reduction, according to a document issued by the Government Office to the ministry on Monday.

The Ministry of Finance was assigned to coordinate with the Ministry of Justice and other relevant ministries and agencies to draft the resolution and submit it to the national government by April 25.

The Ministry of Finance had earlier proposed revising down the VAT to eight percent for all goods and services currently subject to a 10-percent tax rate.

It suggesed a 20-percent cut in the percentage of goods for VAT calculation for business establishments when issuing invoices for goods and services subject to the tax.

The ministry also suggested cutting 35 kinds of fees and charges for local enterprises and residents in the second half of this year, totaling some VND700 billion (US$29.8 million).

These policies were proposed to be applicable from July 1 to December 31 this year.

The domestic and global markets have shown volatility since October last year, resulting in challenges for enterprises, according to the Ministry of Finance.

This was manifested in a monthly fall in state budget revenue in the first quarter of this year.

The country’s import-export turnover last quarter slid over 16 percent year on year.

The VAT reduction proposal is aimed at stimulating consumption, production, and business.

If the proposal is approved, it will result in a reduction of VND5.8 trillion ($246.9 million) for the state budget revenue per month or VND35 trillion ($1.5 billion) for the second half of this year.

The NA last year issued Resolution 43 including a two-percent VAT reduction for certain goods and services subject to a 10-percent tax rate.

The policy helped reduce the tax burden by VND44 trillion ($1.9 billion) for residents and businesses.

Like us on Facebook or  follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!