Decision No. 985/TTg on addressing the aftermath of Typhoon No. 5, restoring and developing production for coastal provinces in Southern Vietnam and South Central Coast.

 

Pursuant to …;

Regarding the remediation of the aftermath of Typhoon No. 5, restoration, and development of production for coastal provinces in southern Vietnam and South Central Vietnam

PRIME MINISTER

Pursuant to the Government Organization Law dated September 30, 1992;

Based on the damage caused by Typhoon No. 5 and the recommendations of relevant ministries, sectors, and provincial People's Committees to address the consequences, stabilize people's lives, restore, and develop the economy and society in severely affected provinces.

DECISION:

Article 1. The People's Committees of provinces directly affected by Typhoon No. 5 shall immediately organize inspection teams comprising functional agencies, including finance and banking, to investigate and statistically record the losses suffered by each household. Statistical data must be very specific regarding each type of loss such as vessels, equipment (slight damage, severe damage, lost,...), houses, farmland, etc. At the same time, it is necessary to assess the remaining labor force, capital, and production tools of each household, and recommend appropriate levels of support needed for households to quickly stabilize their lives, restore, and develop production (including regular assistance for families who have lost their main labor force and are destitute after the typhoon).

The investigation must be completed in November 1997; the results of the investigation, confirmed by members of the inspection team and the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, will serve as the basis for decisions on tax exemptions and reductions, financial support (debt cancellation, debt suspension, additional loans), and other forms of assistance, serving as collateral for loans.

Article 2. The People's Committees of the affected provinces and related ministries and sectors are responsible for:

- Continuing to urgently search for missing persons and vessels without news, including seeking assistance from neighboring countries.

- Mobilizing all salvage and rescue forces of the Ministry of Transport, Ministry of Fisheries, Naval Zone 5, Military Region 9, and local vessel forces to search and salvage sunken vessels:

+ Guide fishermen with vessels currently at sea to continue participating in searching for and reporting sunken vessels to local authorities or salvage forces.

+ Along the coast, at docks: Provinces should mobilize all towing, crane, jacking, and other equipment to tow sunken vessels onto beaches for on-site repairs or transport them to repair facilities. If the province lacks equipment, clearly report the location to the nearest central-level salvage force for support.

+ In deep waters: Salvage forces of the Ministry of Transport, Naval Zone 5, and Military Region 9 should organize salvage operations.

- All localities and salvage forces, upon discovering sunken vessels regardless of ownership, must organize salvage and bring them to repair docks. The state budget will ensure funding for salvaging sunken vessels. The Ministry of Finance will provide guidance on implementation.

Article 3. At all levels of People's Committees in provinces directly affected by the typhoon, under the leadership of Party committees, in coordination with the United Front and mass organizations at the local level, mobilize everyone and every household not affected by losses to share, help with labor, provide goods, and assist in various ways to families heavily affected and facing many difficulties. It must be recognized that this is the primary responsibility of the locality; the assistance from the central government, other localities, international organizations, and other countries only contributes to faster recovery.

- Each commune and district must urgently organize assistance to the people to repair and rebuild houses, schools, health clinics to quickly stabilize the daily life and study of the people. Where conditions permit, efforts should be made to repair and rebuild higher and more solid than before the typhoon. Organize good environmental sanitation work to prevent common diseases after the typhoon.

Article 4. The People's Committees of provinces directly affected by the typhoon, under the guidance of relevant central ministries and sectors, inspect and determine tasks and projects related to flood control, saltwater flushing, saltwater prevention, and the restoration of fish ponds, orchards, protective forests, dykes, and infrastructure. Implement urgent tasks and projects for 1997, and include remaining projects in the 1998 plan and subsequent years' plans.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Ministry of Fisheries should guide and support localities to simultaneously restore coastal aquaculture areas while making appropriate adjustments for effectiveness: shifting from extensive and spontaneous aquaculture to intensive and semi-intensive aquaculture with organization. Balance and stabilize the area of aquaculture with rice cultivation and other crops. Avoid uncontrolled expansion of aquaculture which may cause damage to protective forests and the environment.

Article 5. The central budget allocates 100 billion VND to help provinces address urgent issues, including:

1. Allocate 50 billion VND for social relief: funeral expenses for the deceased; assistance for seriously injured individuals; famine relief; support for households with severely damaged housing; transportation costs for victims returning home, etc., and allocate to the following locations:

- Ca Mau: 15 billion

- Kien Giang: 12 billion

- Bac Lieu: 5 billion

- Ba Ria-Vung Tau: 4 billion

- Soc Trang: 3 billion

- Can Gio District (Ho Chi Minh City): 1 billion

- Ben Tre: 2 billion

- Tien Giang: 2 billion

- Tra Vinh: 2 billion

- Binh Thuan: 1 billion

- Binh Dinh: 3 billion

The Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs and the Ministry of Finance will guide localities in using this fund.

2. Allocate 44 billion VND for repairing collapsed and damaged schools and health stations; 6 billion VND for repairing administrative offices. The Ministry of Finance will allocate these funds to each locality based on the investigation reports of the provinces (as stipulated in Article 1).

3. The Ministry of Finance and the People's Committees of the provinces will direct the use of the above funds for their intended purposes. Under no circumstances should they be used for other purposes.

Article 6. The State will allocate 20,000 billion VND for people to borrow to repair and build new fishing vessels and purchase fishing gear.

The interest rate for short-term loans (repayment period less than 12 months) is 0.5% per month, and for medium-term loans (repayment period less than 5 years) is 0.6% per month.

Based on the investigation reports of the provinces (as stipulated in Article 1), the Ministry of Planning and Investment will allocate targets to the localities.

The Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee shall examine and approve the list of beneficiaries and specific loan amounts for each cooperative group and individual with sunken or damaged vessels who require loans; direct relevant provincial agencies and local banks to implement the lending process and closely monitor the effective use of borrowed funds. The Ministries of Planning and Investment, Fisheries, and the State Bank shall inspect the implementation.

The State Bank shall guide local banks to base their lending procedures on the investigation reports from provinces (as stipulated in Article 1) and the approval opinions of the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee (as stipulated in Section 2, Clause 6 of this Decision) to facilitate quick and convenient lending. If collateral is required, the vessel itself shall be considered the collateral to enable the vessel owner to immediately repair, restore, and upgrade lightly damaged vessels, repair severely damaged vessels, and construct new ones starting from December 1, 1997.

The Ministry of Fisheries and the Provincial People's Committees shall introduce design models and safety parameters for vessels and guide shipbuilding facilities within their jurisdictions to allow residents to choose shipbuilding facilities and sign contracts. They shall also guide and encourage fishermen to construct new vessels with a capacity of 90 CV or more for distant-water fishing.

The Ministry of Fisheries shall guide fishermen in selecting suitable vessel engines, particularly those with high power; coordinate with the Ministry of Commerce to guide enterprises in importing engines to ensure timely supply in accordance with the shipbuilding schedule.

Article 7. The Ministries of Planning and Investment, Finance, Agriculture and Rural Development, Fisheries, and the State Bank shall continue to seek and prioritize allocation of financial assistance and loans from countries and international financial organizations to provide additional investment capital for recovery and development of production in provinces directly affected by the typhoon.

Article 8. Sources of wood for repairing and constructing new vessels:

1. Based on the investigation reports from provinces (as stipulated in Article 1), the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development shall allocate 44,000 cubic meters of wood currently stored in warehouses to provinces with sunken or damaged vessels for redistribution to repair facilities.

2. The Ministries of Agriculture and Rural Development and Planning and Investment shall submit to the Prime Minister a plan for logging in areas with favorable conditions to provide additional roundwood for provinces to serve the program of repairing and constructing new fishing vessels.

3. Urgently import between 100,000 to 150,000 cubic meters of wood for vessel construction. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development shall immediately contact the competent authorities of Cambodia and Laos to complete necessary procedures for the importation and designate state-owned enterprises to import this quantity of wood.

- Enterprises assigned to import this quantity of wood shall promptly expedite the execution of signed import contracts.

- The Chairmen of the People's Committees of Kien Giang and Ca Mau Provinces shall designate one enterprise in their province to import wood from Cambodia to meet the needs of repairing and constructing new vessels, student desks and chairs, school buildings, and health clinics.

The execution of wood import contracts must strictly comply with current government regulations. No personnel or means of transportation shall be sent to Cambodian territory for logging or transporting wood.

- The State Bank shall instruct commercial banks to provide working capital loans to enterprises permitted to import wood, ensuring sufficient funds for the importation.

- The Director-General of the General Customs Department shall instruct customs offices at border gates to expedite and facilitate the processing of necessary procedures, adhering to principles without causing undue harassment or inconvenience.

- The Ministries of Agriculture and Rural Development, Interior, Transport, and the General Customs Department shall cooperate with provincial people's committees to guide forest rangers, traffic police, and transport inspectors to create favorable conditions for transporting imported wood from Cambodia and Laos to locations where new and repaired vessels will be constructed for fishermen in provinces directly affected by the typhoon. At the same time, they shall rigorously inspect and strictly handle cases of illegal activities exploiting this policy.

Article 9. For vessels that were insured and subsequently damaged or sunk, the Ministry of Finance shall instruct:

- Insurance agencies shall immediately pay full insurance compensation to the vessel owners for repairs or construction of new vessels.

- Banks shall suspend debt collection for these vessel owners.

- If the vessel owners still lack funds, banks shall continue to provide loans to fully repair or construct new vessels.

Article 10. The State Bank shall provide detailed guidance for People's Credit Funds to suspend debt collection for households borrowing from People's Credit Funds but unable to repay due to typhoon damage.

Article 11. The Ministries of Fisheries, Agriculture and Rural Development, the Land Administration General Bureau, the Ministry of Science, Technology, and Environment shall collaborate with provincial people's committees to organize research on planning the development of agriculture, forestry, and fisheries in coastal alluvial areas, aiming to effectively develop crops and aquaculture while preserving and developing protective forests and protecting the ecological environment.

- The Ministry of Science, Technology, and Environment shall guide localities in formulating plans to address environmental pollution caused by the typhoon, especially in anchorage areas and sea regions with many sunken vessels.

- The Ministries of Agriculture and Rural Development and Science, Technology, and Environment shall cooperate with localities to investigate the impact of the typhoon on primary forests in Con Dao, formulate plans to deal with fallen and broken trees, and work with the Ministry of Interior to take urgent measures to prevent and control forest fires in Con Dao.

Article 12. The Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam shall instruct commercial banks and investment development banks to base their actions on provincial investigation reports (as stipulated in Article 1) regarding damage to deep-sea fishing nets and shrimp ponds, suspending debt collection, extending repayment periods, and continuing to provide new loans with an interest rate of 0.5% per month and a repayment period of less than 12 months.

For paddy fields, sugarcane, and other crops damaged by the typhoon, debt suspension, extension, and continued provision of new loans according to current policies shall be provided to restore and develop production.

For households with losses and inability to repay debts, based on the recommendations of the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, the bank shall consider and report to the Prime Minister for decision-making.

Article 13. On the basis of the actual volume and data on damage to sea dikes and fresh water retention dikes in the provinces, the Ministries of Planning and Investment, Finance, Agriculture and Rural Development shall process interim funding for basic construction projects in the 1998 plan for localities. If there is no plan, they shall supplement the plan to ensure sufficient funds for dike repairs in November and December 1997.

Article 14. The Ministry of Finance shall fully cover the revenue shortfall compared to the approved plan for the provinces affected by Typhoon No. 5.

Article 15. Chairmen of Provincial People's Committees:

- Examine and decide on tax exemptions and reductions for agricultural taxes for people in areas affected by the typhoon according to current State regulations.

- Direct provincial competent agencies to strengthen market management, prevent speculation and price hikes for essential goods such as rice, medicine, building materials... It is necessary to control and cap the prices of wood, fishing gear, labor costs for repairing ships, not higher than the prices before November 2, 1997.

- Organize strict management of relief reception from various sources (domestic and foreign), report to the People's Council and publicly announce the use thereof for the people to know, check, and supervise (regarding beneficiaries, assistance levels, total amount of money and materials...); Use funds for their intended purposes, for the correct beneficiaries, without waste or corruption.

Article 16. The General Meteorological and Hydrological Service shall cooperate with relevant ministries, sectors, and provincial People's Committees to organize a summary and draw lessons from the organization of the storm forecasting and warning system, especially for marine operating equipment.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Ministry of Fisheries, and the Central Steering Committee for Flood and Storm Prevention and Control shall cooperate with relevant ministries, sectors, and provincial People's Committees to summarize and draw lessons from the prevention and response to Typhoon No. 5, conduct a thorough review of the implementation of current regulations on protective equipment and rescue organization to develop specific measures for the future. Immediately, provincial People's Committees must establish regulations and inspect protective floats for fishing vessels currently operating at sea.

Article 17. This Decision takes effect from the date of signature. Ministers, heads of ministerial-level agencies, heads of government-affiliated agencies, and chairmen of provincial People's Committees affected by Typhoon No. 5 are responsible for implementing this Decision./.