Southern region applying practical measures to maintain goods flow to HCMC

19 provinces and cities in the Southern of Vietnam since yesterday have observed the Prime Minister’s Directive 16/CT-TTg to prevent further Covid-19 spreading. Several feasible solutions have been, therefore, carried out in order to supply essential commodities to citizens in these areas, including Ho Chi Minh City.

Produce transport from Tien Giang Province to HCMC via a high-speed boat. (Photo: SGGP)

Tay Ninh Province yesterday formally used the space at Suoi Sau Gas Station (in Trang Bang Town) as its goods transit site between the province and HCMC. The site has been chosen by the HCMC Department of Industry and Trade as well as its counterpart in Tay Ninh Province.

HCMC is also preparing necessary steps to turn the empty space of over 5,000m2 at Hoc Mon Wholesale Produce Market into a buffer zone. Produce trucks from other provinces will be disinfected here before porters are allowed to transfer goods into small trucks for retail sales.

At Rach Mieu Ferry Station in Chau Thanh District of Tien Giang Province, businesses and local cooperatives started the first boat trip to transport around 40 tonnes of produce to HCMC yesterday. The shipping service of this trip is Green Lines DP, which own many high-speed boats. This amount of merchandise came to Bach Dang Terminal in District 1 of HCMC after 2 hours. It is planned that there will be one such trip every two days.

Other provinces like Long An, Ben Tre, and Vinh Long also consider using waterways to carry produce to HCMC. Accordingly, the captain and his crew must be vaccinated and own a negative Covid-19 test result as regulated by the Health Ministry. Only one member of the crew is allowed to disembark for administrative procedures while other declaration ones are done online to avoid direct contact. The ship can only stop at the final destination and must be disinfected before starting a new trip.

Yesterday at Than Trong Nghia Checkpoint (sited on Trung Luong-HCMC Expressway), there was no more traffic congestion. All truck drivers are able to display required documents and strictly observe the 5K rule.

Deputy Head of the Public Security Division of Tan Phuoc District (in Tien Giang Province) reported that on average there are 60 trucks passing the checkpoint each day to transport produce, and the police always support them with detailed instruction so that they can legally and smoothly travel through checkpoints on their way.

Director of the Can Tho City Department of Transport Le Tien Dung shared that the green lane has been successfully established here to maintain goods flow in the city as well as between the city and other regions. As a result, the temporary out-of-stock state in stores has been eliminated and manufacturing activities have come back to normal.

The green lane is also established from inter-provincial to district level in Soc Trang Province and will be to the commune level in the near future to ensure sufficient goods supply for all residents and local businesses in the social distance period.

Southern region applying practical measures to maintain goods flow to HCMC ảnh 2 Activists receiving goods from a high-speed boat from the Mekong Delta to HCMC (Photo: SGGP)

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