The District 1 People’s Committee in Ho Chi Minh City has publicized a list of 100 restaurants and coffee shops that offer free toilet service to residents and tourists.

The district also selected five venues to build public restrooms, which was announced at a meeting between Nguyen Van Nen, secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee, and the District 1 People’s Committee on public bathroom systems on Sunday.

Speaking at the meeting, District 1 chairman Le Duc Thanh said that the district has 18 public restroom points at 13 public places, including four markets, seven parks, one bus stop, and a residential area.

The district is home to multiple restaurants, hotels, and shopping centers, making life easier to call on these facilities to offer free-of-charge toilet services to residents and tourists, Thanh said, adding that the district finds it hard to build new public bathrooms as the land bank in District 1 is now running out.

Though the district has prodded businesses and service providers to allow free access to their bathrooms since 2017, many toilets fail to meet safe sanitation standards. Furthermore, people remain hesitant to use free restrooms.

As many as 100 restaurants and coffee shops have put up ‘free-of-charge toilet’ signs, said Thanh.

The District 1 People’s Committee has proposed the Ho Chi Minh People’s Committee give the nod for its plan to build five makeshift bathrooms funded by the city’s budget.

The five projected public restrooms will lie on Nguyen Hue, Le Duan, Hai Ba Trung, and Nguyen Trung Truc Streets.

It is a big headache to find a site for new public toilets. 

The district has proposed the city allow it to use part of some land lots set aside for projects but the plans to construct public bathrooms remain on paper, said vice-chairman of District 1 Vu Nguyen Quang Vinh.

Funding is the next challenge.

Each public toilet is expected to cost some VND550 million (US$23,330), while the monthly operation cost for it will be at least VND36 million ($1,520).

As such, the district needs to earmark some VND2.5 billion ($106,000) in total for building the five new restrooms. 

When working with many investors who are keen on bathroom construction, they expect the district authorities to pledge the capital recoupment period, aside from their advertising and business operations.

Ho Chi Minh City is facing a severe shortage of public restrooms, as the city has a mere 200 public restrooms.

The city is ranked 67th among 69 tourism cities in the world with poor public toilets, Nikkei Asia cited rankings by QS Supplies, a toilet trading company, in a report released in early February.

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The police and customs forces in Hai Phong City, northern Vietnam on Monday morning confiscated around seven metric tons of ivory smuggled from Africa.

The tusks were hidden in shipping containers that had been declared to contain peanuts. 

These containers arrived at Nam Dinh Vu Port in Hai Phong from Angola, transiting in Singapore, the General Department of Vietnam Customs said on the same day.

The name of the cargo was described in an uncommon language, adding that the information linked to the recipient was found to be incorrect. 

This is a new and sophisticated illegal practice being adopted in order to evade authorities’ detection, the forces said.

Also, this is the largest seizure of smuggled wildlife items in Hai Phong so far.

The seized tusks are included in CITES’ Appendix I, which lists the world’s most endangered flora and fauna. 

CITES, or the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, is a global agreement among governments to regulate or ban international trade in species under threat, according to the World Wildlife Fund.

The General Department of Vietnam Customs is working with relevant agencies to further investigate the case.

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Vietnam will amend regulations to simplify work permit applications for foreign workers so that work permits will be issued in the shortest possible time, said Minister of Labor, War Invalids, and Social Affairs Dao Ngoc Dung.

At the 25th Vietnam Business Forum 2023 held in Hanoi on Sunday, Minister Dung said the national government had already assigned his ministry to amend and supplement Decree 152 on foreign workers in Vietnam in the third quarter of this year.

Following the amendment and supplementation, work permit issuance regulations are expected to be loosened with the enhanced decentralization for agencies.

However, foreign experts and managers will receive priority, the minister added. 

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh said his government will simplify visa regulations for foreigners.

Regulations will be amended to support foreign laborers, the government chief said, adding that local regulations will not be strict due to several violators.

Gabor Fluit, chairman of the European Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam (Eurocham Vietnam), earlier proposed Vietnam should simplify work permit issuance procedures to attract and retain talents.

It is unreasonable if foreigners who have been living, working, and investing in Vietnam for years and have repeatedly received work permits fail to have their work permits renewed due to minor procedure-related issues, Fluit noted. 

According to Hong Sun, chairman of the Korea Chamber of Business in Vietnam, it takes two to three months to get a work permit.

Some people have to spend six months as they have to complete supplemental procedures.

Therefore, the related agencies should give accurate and consistent instructions on needed dossiers, Hong added.

Hong also mentioned the minimum global corporate tax, saying that if the tax is applied in Vietnam, it should be included in laws soon.

In addition, solutions to support investors should be worked out.

Many countries may start imposing the minimum global corporate tax of 15 percent next year. 

In response, Dang Ngoc Minh, deputy head of the General Department of Taxation, said Vietnam has kept a close watch on other countries’ moves and the Vietnamese government has established a working team including representatives of ministries, agencies, and enterprises to support companies.

First, Vietnam will levy the minimum global corporate tax on firms based on the framework of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

In the middle term, the Ministry of Finance will propose issuing preferential tax policies by funding labor training courses, and supporting green growth and environmental protection. 

PM Chinh said the government will issue appropriate policies this year based on reality and lessons from other countries’ experience, paving the way for foreign enterprises to operate in Vietnam and contribute more to the country without affecting their benefits.

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