Connect with us

Sci-tech-environment

Hà Nội needs to combine green growth with urban development

Published

on

 

Bảy Mẫu Lake and Thống Nhất Park in Hai Bà Trưng District, Hà Nội. — VNA/ Photo Thành Đạt

HÀ NỘI — The capital Hà Nội is focusing on urban development towards green and sustainable growth and building a smart and modern city.

According to the Hà Nội Construction Department, the city has paid attention to implementing environmental protection and improvement toward green and sustainable urban development.

The city has also invested in and completed the environment monitoring system in polluted areas and publicised monitoring results in the media to improve the capacity and efficiency of management, forecasting and control of environmental pollution.

Accordingly, the city has put 10 automatic air monitoring stations, one mobile monitoring vehicle, one wastewater and air monitoring station at the Nam Sơn Waste Treatment Complex, and six automatic water surface monitoring stations.

The station data is transmitted to management centres for monitoring and processing.

The work of undergrounding the electric and communication cables, planting trees, and embellishing the street pavement have been done synchronously. Thanks to that, the face of the city is getting greener, cleaner and more beautiful.

Besides, the development of public green outdoor spaces has been gradually meeting the needs of urban residents. From 2015-to 2020, the city has built 382 works of public spaces.

In recent years, the municipal authority has paid special attention to renovating and upgrading the flower gardens and parks system in the central urban area to create typical architectural and landscape spaces of the capital.

The current large parks such as Thủ Lệ and Bách Thảo parks in Ba Đình District, Thống Nhất and Tuổi Trẻ parks in Hai Bà Trưng District have an area of ​​10-50ha each along with natural lakes and flower gardens make the city’s landscape beautiful and improve the microclimate for the areas.

Along with the projected investment by the State budget, many public works such as parks, flower gardens, squares and lakes in new residential areas are invested in and built by the investors.

Five water supply projects have been completed, bringing the total capacity of the water supply of water plants in the city to about 1.5 million cu.m per day. This means 100 per cent of the city’s population can have access to clean water.

Currently, the rate of public green land area in inner cities reaches 7.87 sq.m per person, and the average rate of garbage collection in urban areas is over 97.6 per cent. The city’s waste is treated by landfilling and incineration.

The amount of domestic wastewater collected and treated meets 28.8 per cent of the total generated volume.

Currently, waste and wastewater discharge and treatment of almost 100 per cent of industrial parks and large-scale production facilities are well monitored.

Shortcomings

Although green growth indicators are improving, there are many limitations and shortcomings, according to the Hà Nội Construction Department.

Specifically, the land fund for green areas is still limited.

The city-managed parks and flower gardens in four inner-city districts of Hoàn Kiếm, Ba Đình, Hai Bà Trưng and Đống Đa are public works that were built for a long time and have started degrading while there is lack of land fund for building new parks in densely populated areas such as Cầu Giấy and Hoàng Mai districts.

Another feature is that Hà Nội has many lakes, especially a very large lake – the West Lake, but the lakes often have to receive a large amount of untreated wastewater that make them gradually become shallower over time, accumulating a thick layer of mud of 0.5 – 1m.

Most of the lakes are not embanked, so it is difficult to control illegal encroachment and garbage dumping into the lakes.

According to the Hà Nội Natural Resources and Environment Department, the city’s urban natural water surface area decreased by 11.11ha in 2015 and 192.52ha by 2020.

Thus, from 2015-to 2020, the total urban natural water surface area dropped by 203.63ha.

In general, the water surface and agricultural land areas are gradually shrinking due to the fast urbanisation rate in the city. Many ponds and lakes have been filled to make the land for urban residential and technical infrastructure development, let alone the situation of people illegally encroaching on the water surface areas for doing business.

The city still lacks specific and appropriate mechanisms and policies to encourage all economic sectors and people to participate in growing green trees.

Financial resources for investment in upgrading and building clean water supply infrastructure are limited, and many clean water supply plants have not invested in modern technology.

Regarding the waste treatment, the waste separation at the source has not been implemented synchronously, and the waste collection and recycling are entirely spontaneous.

The construction progress of waste treatment plants is still slow due to difficulty choosing investors and the lack of regulations on waste treatment.

Fund mobilisation for green growth

To reach the targets of urban construction towards green growth for 2021-25, the Construction Department has proposed the city mobilise and arrange resources for the implementation and acceleration of related projects.

The city also needs to make a plan to mobilise resources for applying science and technology to green growth in urban areas, improving urban-rural connectivity, and investing in urban waste and wastewater treatment.

The city also needs to further invest in the construction and renovation of low-income residential areas and building more public spaces.

In addition, it is necessary to complete legal documents and promulgate mechanisms and policies to mobilise domestic and international resources for urban development towards green growth and climate change response. —

 

 

Source: https://vietnamnews.vn/environment/1193560/ha-noi-needs-to-combine-green-growth-with-urban-development.html

Sci-tech-environment

Vietnam’s mobile money trial program to be extended till 2024

Mobile phone accounts can now be used to pay for low-value goods and services until the end of next year.

Published

on

Authorities told the State Bank of Vietnam to review and report to higher ups before May 2024 the release of legal papers related to Mobile Money services. 

They were to work with the Ministry of Information and Communications, the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Justice, and other relevant agencies.

To make the government work better, Deputy Prime Minister Le Minh Khai asked these ministries and other related groups to take steps to make sure that the pilot use of the service follows the rules that are already in place.

The head of the Vietnamese government had earlier said that the Mobile Money service could be tested across the whole country for two years, starting on March 9, 2021.

Customers of this service can use their cell phone accounts to do a variety of things, like pay for low-value goods and services, send money, top up their phones, withdraw money, and more, all without a bank account, a smartphone, or an Internet link.

According to statistics from the Ministry of Information and Communications, more than 3.9 million people used Mobile Money in the first five months of the year. This is three times as many as used the service during the same time last year.

Source: https://e.nhipcaudautu.vn/tech/vietnams-mobile-money-trial-program-to-be-extended-till-2024-3356336/

Continue Reading

Sci-tech-environment

Chinese low-cost e-commerce battle lands in Vietnam

Global online shopping activity is being disrupted by the massive “discharge” of items from Chinese factories onto e-commerce platforms.

Published

on

The “online Silk Road” in China has the same high-quality goods that these Southeast Asian countries can buy, but the prices are much lower and the shipping costs are surprisingly low.

THE DOMINATION OF THE ONLINE SILK ROAD 

Within a week, the four phone cases that Kieu Nam (Phu Nhuan district, Ho Chi Minh City) had ordered on Shopee as cross-border goods finally arrived. Including the shipping fee, the total value of the order is VND110,000, calculating that each case costs 25,000 VND, nearly half less than if purchased at the store.
 
Quynh Nhu (District 2, Ho Chi Minh City) said that in the past 2 years, cross-border stores have begun to be popular on Shopee and Lazada, but most are still low-value products.

For higher-value products, such as fashion, Quynh Nhu said she would order directly through Taobao in China. The recipient of the order will be a Vietnamese living near the border gates.

Even though they charge a fee for picking up the goods, taking them across China to the border gate, and then taking them to where the order is placed, as in the case of Quynh Nhu in Ho Chi Minh City, the total cost is still less than the price of the product.

Same fabric quality, about 30% design in Vietnam. One bad thing about cross-border goods is that they take 7–10 days to deliver. “That’s not a big obstacle. I will schedule a reservation,” Ms. Quynh Nhu said.
 
In the future, Chinese sellers will cooperate more with e-commerce platforms in their home country. There is an incentive for Chinese traders to step up such cooperation.

Mckinsey’s research predicts that 80% of GMV will be imported from outside Southeast Asia by 2021, with China playing a significant role. Momentum Works predicts e-commerce development in Southeast Asia to reach $232 billion in 2028, with Temu, Alibaba, and TikTok contributing to the worst scenario at $175 billion.

 

Chinese traders plan to expand into regional markets like Vietnam to maximize profits. Directly shipping from Chinese platforms to Vietnam yields a 10% profit, but combining with popular Vietnamese e-commerce platforms can increase it by 5%. The key to this strategy lies in low delivery costs, as domestic packages in China cost less than VND10,000, despite longer transportation distances.

The Chinese government made this plan 10 years ago. Economic Information Daily says that China’s logistics costs made up 18% of its GDP in 2013, which is more than twice as much as other OECD countries.

Experts point out that the cost of transporting goods in urban areas accounts for 30% of the total logistics costs of the entire industry. This has been a consequence since 1991, when China’s average logistics cost growth rate was 14.8% while GDP increased only 10.7%.

Urban expansion in Shanghai leads to increased transportation demand, but the lack of public supply and demand information-sharing platforms hinders truck operators’ capacity. Empty trucks accounted for 37% of the city’s total trucks in 2011, three times higher than in Europe and America. High logistics costs include tolls and fines.

The Chinese government implemented policies to reduce transportation costs, standardize logistics facilities, and reduce tax rates for the logistics industry. These included standardizing pallets, replacing business tax with value-added tax, compensating road tolls, and encouraging land use. The Ministry of Trade also promoted information technology applications in the industry.

 

In 2016, logistics costs per GDP decreased by nearly 4 percentage points, largely due to NDRC policies reducing taxes and fees for companies, enabling easier capital access.

China aims to reduce the logistics cost/GDP ratio to 12% by 2025, saving industries over 900 billion yuan ($135 billion) annually.

China is optimizing domestic logistics costs and promoting cross-border sales in Southeast Asia. Vietnam’s Ministry of Industry and Trade plans 53 warehouses in six provinces by 2025 to 2035, covering over 1.2 million m2. With a global factory position and 2/3 of popular e-commerce platforms, China’s goods are increasing, making it easier to penetrate regional countries.

The country has long been a global exporter of many consumer products and is now expanding this influence faster and more widely through its e-commerce platforms, even shaking up shopping activities. online globally.
 
“CLEARING GOODS” AT THE LOWEST PRICES

Chinese manufacturers are reducing prices and attempting to penetrate foreign markets due to weak domestic demand. Local governments are subsidizing overseas trips and urging banks to lend to companies expanding in countries participating in China’s “Belt and Road” initiative.

Indonesia’s government has banned e-commerce transactions on social media platforms and regulated foreign goods to have a minimum price of $100, aiming to protect domestic businesses from cross-border goods and ensure fair competition while protecting user data.

With the largest e-commerce market size in Southeast Asia (more than $50 billion in 2022, according to Momentum Works), Indonesia’s actions are intended to prevent new e-commerce platforms such as TikTok, according to comments.

According to market research company BMI, there is an opportunity for growth in this country. The competition between GoTo, a “homegrown” e-commerce platform formed from the merger between two other domestic businesses, Tokopedia and Gojek, with Shopee and Alibaba is more than enough in the current context.

The Indonesian Government proposes a domestic ban to safeguard 64 million micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises, despite mixed reactions from small businesses, aiming to protect them.

TikTok business owners are profiting but need to cut human resources. Traditional traders are improving but not reaching the same level. E-commerce platforms like Tokopedia and Shopee disrupt traditional market activities due to transparent prices. 

Meanwhile, others are concerned that importing goods at competitive prices from world factories will affect the domestic manufacturing sector, which is supporting many working families. The growth in the commercial sector is there, but its consequences for the production sector are immeasurable.
 
A McKinsey report suggests that trade agreements like the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement will boost production and supply chains, particularly in the garment, consumer electronics, and food sectors.

CHANGE IN RESPONSE

Southeast Asia’s e-commerce growth and lower labor costs are attracting foreign investors, prompting the Indonesian Government to create protective barriers against cross-border e-commerce. This can teach other countries, including Vietnam, to optimize operations and adapt to new business paces, as returning to pre-e-commerce times is impossible.

The low-cost e-commerce market, characterized by stagnant incomes and economic instability, is causing concern for Vietnamese businesses and small businesses, as low-cost platforms struggle to develop strongly.

Competitive prices and easy ordering are benefits that cross-border goods bring to Vietnamese consumers but put great pressure on domestic businesses. “The fashion industry is changing profoundly,” said Mr. Dao The Vinh, founder of 8-year-old fashion brand Midori.

E-commerce and cross-border goods have significantly impacted domestic fashion brands’ production capabilities and cost optimization. Midori must adapt to new trends by focusing on design teams, optimizing materials, and changing production processes to meet small but continuous orders. This allows customers to place orders on e-commerce platforms within 2 hours. 

Midori, a Vietnamese company, has reduced its retail chain size by 2/3, reducing revenue contribution from over 20 stores. The fast-changing fashion industry has put pressure on costs and efficiency. Julyhouse, a natural essential oil business, continues to optimize costs in a competitive context, despite not yet having a strong domestic customer base.

Julyhouse, a Vietnamese FMCG startup, is aiming to maintain competitive raw material costs by partnering with farm-based suppliers and supplying product bottles themselves.

The company is distributing goods through retail channels and e-commerce platforms. Julyhouse is also investing in brand retention and social commerce technology to make it easier for consumers to forget brands. The company’s revenue ratio is approaching 70% online and 30% offline.

Regardless, shoppers like Kieu Nam and Quynh Nhu are still benefiting from hunting for cheap items from anywhere. Consumption habits associated with cheap goods and the current macro environment are paving the way for a price race, which will create notable changes for shoppers as well as e-commerce platforms. representative of a Vietnamese e-commerce platform comments.

Source: https://e.nhipcaudautu.vn/tech/chinese-low-cost-e-commerce-battle-lands-in-vietnam-3356348/

Continue Reading

Sci-tech-environment

Winning at e-commerce, TikTok enters the delivery market

It wouldn’t be surprising when TikTok entered the e-commerce delivery space.

Published

on

Ms. Ngoc Phuong placed an electronic order from TikTok Shop in Ho Chi Minh City, expecting a delivery time of 4 days. However, she switched to another e-commerce platform and received the product two days later.

Mandatory delivery is always a problem for e-commerce platforms with a large number of orders, especially TikTok Shop (part of the short video social network TikTok), which has surpassed Lazada to become the e-commerce platform with the largest market share in Vietnam in the second quarter of 2023, according to Metric.

Looking at the region, according to Momentum Works, TikTok Shop could account for 13.2% of the Southeast Asia market share by the end of this year, closely following Tokopedia (forecast to account for 13.9% market share), not too far away from Lazada (estimated to be 13.9% market share). accounting for 17.7%), even though it has only been in the market for 1 year.

It can be seen that most of TikTok Shop’s competitors have invested in affiliated delivery companies such as Shopee with Shopee Express and Lazada with Lazada Logistics. Even the competitor ranked at the bottom of Vietnam’s e-commerce rankings in terms of market share, Tiki, has its delivery team, TikiNOW. Meanwhile, TikTok Shop currently only uses J&T Express as its sole delivery partner, handling up to 90% of TikTok Shop’s orders in Southeast Asia.

There are many reasons why e-commerce platforms are forced to own delivery companies because, in addition to optimizing costs, they also reduce order cancellation rates by improving service quality.

Statista reported on the reasons affecting the ability to “close orders” in Vietnam in 2021: delivery service price and delivery service quality, accounting for 40% and 30% of survey respondents’ reasons, respectively. The report also shows that the return rate as a percentage of online orders in Vietnam in 2023 will be 6.4%, down nearly 2 percentage points compared to 2021 and more than 3 percentage points compared to the peak of this year.

Note that this survey was taken from units that account for the majority of Vietnam’s e-commerce market share, and most of them have delivery units. The refund rate of the livestream group, the branch where TikTok Shop is leading the market, does not yet have specific statistics because it is too new and the number may not be accurate due to the influence of price subsidy policies that change buying habits. customer shopping.

But in the end, the ability to close an order still depends on delivery time and service. Therefore, investing in delivery units to improve is a predictable step for TikTok, especially when rapid growth in China and Southeast Asia is putting pressure on the company’s shipping process. Responding to Tech In Asia, Mr. Roshan Raj, partner at Redseer Strategy Consultants, said: “Any serious e-commerce effort needs in-house logistics capabilities.”

Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, has invested in Jisuda since 2020 to offer delivery within and outside the city in two days. This move is due to the company’s logistics services being far behind those of JD.com and Alibaba. The rapid growth rate in a short period is a strength but also a weakness for TikTok Shop, as the time to invest in large delivery units is limited. Strategic investments could provide an advantage.

TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, has invested $40 million in iMile Delivery in 2021 to serve the Middle East delivery market. Rumors suggest TikTok may invest in a struggling food delivery unit in the Vietnamese market. The Chinese market is concentrated with clear potential and pressure, with Douyin’s food delivery revenue reaching 13.8 billion USD in the first six months of 2023. However, this is less than half that of Meituan, which owns 6.4 million food delivery people and 9.3 million sellers on its platform as of April 2023.

Meituan is expanding into livestream sales to compete with Douyin and protect its market share in the Chinese market. To compete with Southeast Asian competitors like Lazada and Shopee, TikTok needs a regional-scale commercial delivery unit to compete with companies serving the fragmented food delivery market, which is less attractive than China.

Looking back over the past 3 years, the Southeast Asian market has witnessed delivery companies that always aim to expand into the region, such as Best, Ninja Van, and J&T Express. 

In 2021, J&T Express acquired Best’s operations in China to expand its influence in this market. In addition, among them, only J&T Express has expanded its services to the US market since the end of last year. 

Citing Reuters, TikTok also started a sales program for Chinese merchants in the US market a few months ago. Therefore, it is not surprising if one day TikTok announces its entry into the delivery market. But a representative from TikTok Vietnam refused to say anything about this.

Source: https://e.nhipcaudautu.vn/tech/winning-at-e-commerce-tiktok-enters-the-delivery-market-3356085/

Continue Reading

Trending