[news] Tin ve^` ky` ho.p quo^'c ho^.i mo+'i nha^'t

[AnHai Doan <anhai@cs.washington.edu>]

NA agrees on five major national projects, master land plan

Deputies question Cabinet about banking issues

The National Assembly (NA) agreed with the Government
during the final session last Saturday to proceed with five major
national investment projects and the master land use plan for
1996-2000.

The Government will prepare the Dung Quat oil refinery project in
Quang Ngai Province, the North-South Highway project,
gas-electricity-fertilizer program, flood control program for the
Mekong Delta, and a program for developing five million hectares of
forest.

This is a part of the resolution passed by 90.7% of the deputies. In
addition, 85.6% of the deputies voted for the master land use plan
between now and the turn of the century.

The country, according to the plan, will have 33,104,200 hectares of
land, with 8,992,500 hectares reserved for agriculture, 11,008,900
hectares for forestry, 155,400 hectares for urban development, and
751,100 hectares for rural residential areas.

* After the NA session ended, Mr. Nong Duc Manh, NA chairman and
member of the Party's Politburo, called for Vietnamese people, both
at home and abroad, to boost production, fight corruption, practice
thrift and develop the economy.

All this, he added, will help Vietnamese people take stable steps
into the 21st century. Secretary General of the Vietnam Communist
Party Do Muoi, State President Le Duc Anh, Prime Minister Vo Van
Kiet and other senior officials participated in the closing meeting
of the NA in the 1992-1997 term.

* Major investment projects and losses incurred by the banking
sector were the two main issues about which deputies questioned the
Cabinet last Friday.

When asked about banking issues, Mr. Do Que Luong, Deputy Governor
of the State Bank of Vietnam, said the banking sector will have to
claim some VND2,900 billion of overdue debts, deal with US$1.35
billion of deferred L/Cs and readjust the staff's pay.

At least five deputies proposed that Minister of Planning and
Investment Tran Xuan Gia report on issues concerning nomadic farming
and life, losses in mountainous investment projects, the North-South
Highway and an oil refinery in Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province.

Minister Gia also delivered a report on the trade deficit and
measures for stepping up exports. In the first months of 1997,
exports increased 33.8% and the trade deficit fell 30% from the same
period last year.

The Government has assigned the Ministry of Trade and relevant
bodies to examine the entire export plan.

Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet has decided that rice trading firms will
be given soft loans to buy one million tons of farmers' stockpiled
paddy (unhusked rice), Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development
Nguyen Cong Tan told the NA.
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