Third private carrier flies Vietnam's skies

Air Mekong, Vietnam's third private airline, received its Air Operator's Certificate from the Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam (CAAV) in southern Kien Giang Province on Friday.

On the same day, the carrier also launched its first two routes, Hanoi – Phu Quoc and Ho Chi Minh City – Phu Quoc.

"The Vietnamese aviation market is dramatically developing. The aviation demand, especially for domestic flights, will increase considerably in the next few years," said CAAV deputy director Dinh Viet Thang.

"The introduction of Air Mekong is essential to meeting market demand, diversifying aviation services and increasing competitiveness," Thang said.

"The CAAV's certificate will open up a new page for our development", said Air Mekong chairman Doan Quoc Viet.

Air Mekong would start commercial operations since Saturday with eight flights from Hanoi and HCMC to Phu Quoc, Con Dao, Buon Me Thuot, Pleiku, Viet said, adding that they would expand operations to 10 flights from November including destinations of Dalat in the Central Highlands and Danang City.

The airline has launched a promotional offer until November 9 with 1,000 tickets at prices ranging from VND400,000 to VND1.2 million (US$20.50-61.50) for flights on all its domestic routes. Tickets are on sale at travel agents and via Air Mekong's website and customer care centers.

Air Mekong was established in 2009 by Ha Long Investment and Development Co and is based at Phu Quoc Airport. The existing two private carriers operating in Vietnam are Indochina Airlines and VietJet AirAsia.

The CAAV said there were also a number of other organisations and individuals planning to launch airlines. To qualify, private operators must have a charter capital of at least VND500 billion ($26.3 million) to fly internationally and VND200 billion ($10.5 million) to launch domestic flights. They must also meet strict aviation and security standards.

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Concerns rise over 3G network security

Third generation mobile services are widely used in Vietnam but cell phones are becoming the target of hackers.

When mobile phone users connect to 3G networks, it is the equivalent of connecting to a LAN network but without an administrator. With traditional networks, hackers try to gain access through modems, but together with security measures provided by ISPs, they generally block hackers.

LAN networks are usually controlled by IT technicians with firewalls to prevent hackers from stealing information but 3G users do not have this security.

Nguyen Minh Duc, director of BKIS Security says hackers can use regular 3G subscriptions to access other devices via Internet Protocol (IP) and exploit security vulnerabilities.

Duc says the 3G network in Vietnam does not have the standard configuration or safety barriers to limit the risk of intrusion from hackers.

Viettel recommends that their clients should take the initiative themselves by installing antivirus software, antispam and firewall.

Fake phone number annoy cell phone users

Most mobile service providers allow calls from internet based technology. These calls connect through an ISP, sometimes located in a foreign country.

Vietnam's mobile service providers have addressed this problem by filtering calls generated from the internet. In the case of internet calls, telephone number are displayed on the recipient's phone with national codes.

Pham Dinh Truong, deputy general director of Viettel says they have adopted measures to prevent fraudulent calls from abroad. Viettel also launched its Message Plus system in August after a trial period in the Central Region.

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HCMC apartment market beginning to stir: report

In the Ho Chi Minh City property market, the apartment for sale segment saw both supply and demand rise in the third quarter, consultancy Savills Vietnam said in its quarterly report.

The supply of new apartments reached a record 16,600 units by the end of September, nearly triple the number from a year earlier.

Nearly 7,200 came into the market in the third quarter against 3,200 in the second and 2,900 in Q1.

The grade C segment saw the highest number of new projects, with the majority of them located in Tan Phu, Binh Chanh, and Binh Tan Districts.

The third quarter also saw the highest number of apartments sold in the primary market this year -- at approximately 4,400 units, they were equal to the cumulative number in the previous two quarters.

The majority of them, around 80 percent, were grade C units. Demand was mainly in the segment priced below US$1,000 per square meter, which saw sales of nearly 3,300 units.

Rising demand for apartments was fuelled by increasing disposable incomes and growing migration to the city.

The demand is expected to remain strong in the lower-cost segment where units cost VND800 million to VND1.5 billion ($42,000 – $79,000).

A further 26 apartment projects are expected to launch in the next two quarters, offering around 10,000 units.

In the next two years 104,000 new units will be built and put for sale.

Serviced apartments

There were around 2,950 serviced apartments of all grades for lease in the city, up 6 percent quarter on quarter.

Districts 1 and 3 alone accounted for 62 percent of them, with District 1 ranking first with 1,500 units.

With no new projects completed in Q3, the primary market remained unchanged at eight projects and approximately 800 units.

Almost 490 villas and houses were sold. The price of villa land ranged from $1,500 to $2,500 per square meter on average.

The Phu My Hung New Urban Area in District 7 accounted for 70 percent of the villas and houses that came into the secondary market and they sold at an average price of $600,000 –$2.8 million. HCMC’s population growth averages 3.5 percent a year, double the national rate.

With many projects being in the planning stage or awaiting licenses, the market is expected to add at least 9,500 villas and townhouses in the next few years, most in outlying districts like 9, Can Gio, Binh Chanh, Binh Tan, and Hoc Mon.

District 9 is likely to rank first in terms of total area of units and number of projects.

Between 2004 and 2009 around 1.6 million people migrated to the country’s southeastern region, with a million coming to HCMC alone, Savills said.

HCMC downtown still gold mine

Though becoming increasingly congested, District 1 and its neighbors District 7 and District 2 are still attractive to investors.

In the hotel segment, nearly 83 percent of future supply will be in District 1, concentrated in this district near the main tourist and business areas.

More than half of the 100,000 square meters of office space that will come into the market by year-end will be in District 1 buildings like Bitexco Financial Tower (37,000 square meters) and HMTC-Savico building (15,500 sq.m).

In the medium term, around 900,000 sq.m out of 1.2 million square meters will be supply in districts 1, 2 and 7.

In the retail segment, Districts 1 and 7 will account for 54 percent of the 700,000 sq.m of new supply by 2012.

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IFC to buy 10 percent stake in Vietinbank for 190 mln USD

Vietinbank on Oct.10 agreed to sell a 10-percent stake in the firm to
International Finance Corporation (IFC) for 190 million USD. The deal
makes Vietinbank the first partly equitised State-owned bank to become
part-owned by a foreign strategic investor. It made its initial public
offering 22 months ago.

The price was set by the Government, the Ministry of Finance and the State Bank of Vietnam.

IFC will support Vietinbank with technologies, international business development and management.

Vietnam's largest partly-private lender announced on Oct. 10 its total
assets at the end of August had risen nearly 30 percent from the end of
2009 to 320 trillion VND (16.41 billion USD).

In
the first eight months of this year, the Hanoi-based lender raised more
than 290 trillion VND in deposits and lent 199.5 trillion VND. Its bad
debt stood at 1.05 percent of all loans, below an annual target of 2.5
percent for 2010.

The bank plans to pay a dividend
of 20 percent of its shares' face value of 10,000 VND for 2010, higher
than its initial target of around 15 percent, the statement said,
without giving profit figures for the eight-month period.

Vietinbank expects to increase its charter capital to 23 trillion VND
(1.18 billion USD) by the end of the year, and the figure is slated to
reach 35 trillion VND (1.8 billion USD) next year.

"By helping Vietinbank build up its capacity and strengthen its products
and services, IFC will assist the bank in reaching more small – and
medium-sized enterprises through its nationwide network," said Simon
Andrews, IFC regional manager for Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, and Thailand.

"The proposed engagement will help Vietinbank
further develop as a leading SME and underlines IFC's support for the
Government's equitisation programme in the financial and banking
sectors."

The Hanoi-based bank also plans to sell a
stake of 15 percent to Canada's Bank of Nova Scotia to raise its
registered capital by 35 percent to 15.1 trillion VND. The deal is
expected to be finalised in December.

Shares of Vietinbank (coded CTG on the HCM Stock Exchange) closed at 18,700 VND per share on Oct.8.

Vietinbank went public in December 2007, becoming the first State-owned bank to do so.

However, it has struggled to find a foreign strategic investor./.

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Third private carrier flies Vietnam's skies

Air Mekong, Vietnam's third private airline, received its Air Operator's
Certificate from the Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam (CAAV) in
southern Kien Giang province on Oct.8.

On the same day, the carrier also launched its first two routes, Hanoi – Phu Quoc and HCM City – Phu Quoc.

"The Vietnamese aviation market is dramatically developing. The
aviation demand, especially for domestic flights, will increase
considerably in the next few years," said CAAV deputy director Dinh Viet
Thang.

"The introduction of Air Mekong is essential
to meeting market demand, diversifying aviation services and increasing
competitiveness," Thang said.

"The CAAV's certificate will open up a new page for our development", said Air Mekong chairman Doan Quoc Viet.

Air Mekong would start commercial operations since Oct.9 with eight
flights from Ha Noi and HCM City to Phu Quoc, Con Dao, Buon Me Thuot,
Pleiku, Viet said, adding that they would expand operations to 10
flights from November including destinations of Da Lat in the Central
Highlands and Da Nang city.

The airline has launched
a promotional offer until November 9 with 1,000 tickets at prices
ranging from 400,000 VND to 1.2 million VND (20.50-61.50 USD) for
flights on all its domestic routes. Tickets are on sale at travel agents
and via Air Mekong's website and customer care centres.

Air Mekong was establish in 2009 by Ha Long Investment and Development
Company and is based at Phu Quoc Airport. The existing two private
carriers operating in Vietnam are Indochina Airlines and VietJet
AirAsia.

The CAAV said there were also a number of
other organisations and individuals planning to launch airlines. To
qualify, private operators must have a charter capital of at least 500
billion VND (26.3 million USD) to fly internationally and 200 billion
VND (10.5 million USD) to launch domestic flights. They must also meet
strict aviation and security standards./.

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Coal imports to start in 2015

Vietnam is now likely to import coal only from 2015, not 2013 as
earlier forecast since many thermal power plants have fallen behind
schedule.

The steering committee managing coal imports said, however, that firms
should start looking for foreign coal suppliers immediately to ensure
there is no delay.

"Besides Australia and Indonesia,
Vietnam can also source coal from Russia by buying stakes in mines
there or purchasing the right to mine or buy coal," Nguyen Manh Quan, a
member of the committee and the head of the Heavy Industry Department,
said.

But he was unsure if power-plant investors would begin looking for coal sources any time soon.

Tran Chien Thang, deputy general director of the Vietnam National Coal
and Mineral Industries Group (Vinacomin), said the Government had
tasked his firm with importing coal for power plants but no investor had
discussed the issue yet.

"Enterprises, especially
State-owned ones, prefer local sources because costs are partly
subsidised by the Government," Quan said.

A private
firm recently signed an agreement with a foreign supplier to buy coal
for 20 years and was willing to import more to supply other companies,
Ta Van Huong, director of the Energy Department, said.

An Vien Group and VinCom Group informed the Ministry of Industry Trade
that they could help local firms source coal from Russia, Minister of
Industry and Trade Le Duong Quang said.

However,
more companies can enter the coal import business as long as they follow
Government rules, according to the ministry .

The steering committee will draft a legal framework to regulate coal imports.

It is not clear yet but Vietnam may have to import between 3 million
and 15 million tonnes of coal a year by 2015 – and 21 million to 40
million by 2020 – as more and more coal-fired power plants are built,
Vinacomin has said./.

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Coal imports to start in 2015

Vietnam is now likely to import coal only from 2015, not 2013 as earlier forecast since many thermal power plants have fallen behind schedule.

The steering committee managing coal imports said, however, that firms should start looking for foreign coal suppliers immediately to ensure there is no delay.

"Besides Australia and Indonesia, Vietnam can also source coal from Russia by buying stakes in mines there or purchasing the right to mine or buy coal," Nguyen Manh Quan, a member of the committee and the head of the Heavy Industry Department, said.

But he was unsure if power-plant investors would begin looking for coal sources any time soon.

Tran Chien Thang, deputy general director of the Vietnam National Coal and Mineral Industries Group (Vinacomin), said the Government had tasked his firm with importing coal for power plants but no investor had discussed the issue yet.

"Enterprises, especially State-owned ones, prefer local sources because costs are partly subsidised by the Government," Quan said.

A private firm recently signed an agreement with a foreign supplier to buy coal for 20 years and was willing to import more to supply other companies, Ta Van Huong, director of the Energy Department, said.

An Vien Group and VinCom Group informed the Ministry of Industry Trade that they could help local firms source coal from Russia, Minister of Industry and Trade Le Duong Quang said.

However, more companies can enter the coal import business as long as they follow Government rules, according to the ministry .

The steering committee will draft a legal framework to regulate coal imports.

It is not clear yet but Vietnam may have to import between 3 million and 15 million tonnes of coal a year by 2015 – and 21 million to 40 million by 2020 – as more and more coal-fired power plants are built, Vinacomin has said.

 

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