State President Nguyen Minh Trietattended a ground-breaking ceremony of a 100 million littre ethanolplant in Minh Hung commune, Bu Dang district, the southern province ofBinh Phuoc, on March 20.

Addressing the function ceremony, the State President hailed theplant’s construction by the Vietnam National Oil and Gas Group, sayingit will help stabilise the life of local people including ethnicminority groups.

He also requests that special attention be paid to environmentprotection during construction and operation of the plant, avoidingadverse impacts on the residents’ living environment.

The 81 million USD Binh Phuoc Ethanol Plant has a designed capacity of100 million littres of ethanol per year, consuming 240,000 tonnes ofdried sliced cassava a year. It is expected to create stable income forabout 15,000 households planting cassava in the province.

On this occasion, the investor and contractors presented 500 millionUSD to help Minh Hung commune build schools and purchase healthequipment.

The same day, President Triet attended a ceremony to unveil a generalplanning for the Hoa Lu international border gate economic zone andinaugurate a check point for the economic zone in Loc Ninh district,Binh Phuoc province.

Under the planning, the 28,300 hectare economic zone, covering the fourcommunes of Loc Thai, Loc Tan, Loc Hoa and Loc Thanh, and Loc Ninhtown, serves as a bridge for economic development between southernVietnam’s key economic regions and Cambodian and Lao provinces.

The check point, one of investment development projects for the Hoa Luinternational border gate economic zone, was built at a cost of 19billion VND and is on National Highway 13, about 1.2 km far from theVietnam-Cambodia border.

The ceremony was also attended by Vietnamese Deputy Prime MinisterTruong Vinh Trong and his Cambodian counterpart, Men Sam On amongsenior officials./.