In the last few weeks dozens of lemon tea franchises have sprung up on major Hanoi streets such as Ta Quang Buu, Nguyen Van Huyen, Van Cao, and O Cho Dua, some even right next to each other.

On a 500 meter strip in Cau Giay District there are two shops with a third being set up, each being hundreds of meters in size. Three tea shops can be found on Ta Quang Buu Street alone.

Many shop owners say they have opted to sell lemon tea because of its attractive profit margins of 25-30 percent, low investment and its popularity due to affordable prices.

Depending on the location and size, a shop costs VND200-500 million ($8,642-21,604) to set up plus VND50-70 million ($2,160-3,025) for the franchise, vendors said.

Some franchisors do not collect licensing fees, but instead opt for 5-8 percent of total revenues or the franchisees to use materials or equipment from them, they said.

Nguyen Huyen Dieu, owner of a lemon tea shop on Xa Dan Street in central Hanoi, said on crowded days her shop gets a turnover of VND15 million ($650).

“On average, with an initial investment of VND450 million ($19,446), a lemon tea shop could break even in two or three months.”

Nguyen Thi Ngan, the owner of another shop in downtown Hanoi, said the peak sales time is from Thursday to Sunday, when daily turnover could be VND8-12 million ($346-519).

Lemon tea shops target school and university students and low-income earners, and so their prices range from VND10,000 to VND50,000 ($0.43- 2.16). They also sell other drinks such as milk tea, coffee, yoghurt, and fried foods and snacks, said shop owners.

Nguyen Mai, CEO of Baobab Trading Service JSC, a restaurant and cafe franchisor, said next few months would see which shops sustain revenues by diversifying their menus, renovating sitting spaces and keeping the quality of drinks and services high, but even that might not be enough because customers tend to continuously crave experiences.

Bubble tea came to Vietnam in 2009, but Vietnamese began going gaga over the product in 2017. There are now around 30 major brands and over 1,500 outlets competing for a slice of the $282-million market, which is slowing down.

The market was growing 20 percent in 2017, according to British research firm Euromonitor International, but the latest report from market research firm Q&Me predicted the growth to reach only 10 percent this year.

But in the last few months several chains such as Ten Ren, which had 23 outlets at the end of 2018, have closed down. TP Tea, an affiliate of the Mon Hue restaurant chain, which closed down suddenly leaving suppliers in the lurch, was another casualty.

A survey on residents’ perception of air pollution in Hanoi and Saigon, done by the Center for Media and Development Initiative (MDI), found 66.4 percent of respondents in Hanoi and 58 percent in Saigon were “dissatisfied” with the current air quality in the two cities.

Just one 1 percent in Hanoi and 2.8 percent in Saigon said they were “satisfied” with local air quality.

Most of the respondents, 76.8 percent in Hanoi and 64.2 in Saigon, said additional measures were necessary to deal with air pollution.

The survey, which questioned over 1,000 residents of both cities from May 14 to August 27, found most respondents, 77 percent in Hanoi and 67.2 percent in Saigon, believe that air quality is poorer today than it was three years ago. They felt traffic, burning of trash and industrial processes were the main causes of worsening air pollution.

49.2 percent of respondents in Hanoi and 50.4 percent in Saigon said the government needs to put in more effort to combat air pollution. The top three solutions identified by the residents were: better emission control, enactment of a clean air act, and higher taxes on activities that pollute the air.

“Air pollution remains controversial as the air pollution measurement systems in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City have not been completed. It is clear in this report, however, that people feel the negative impacts of air pollution,” said Tran Le Thuy, cofounder and director of MDI.

Drastic air pollution control measures should be taken and people should be given a clear and accurate understanding of the levels and sources of air pollution in the two cities, she added.

A recent government report said the PM2.5 particulate level in Hanoi reached a five-year high last month, with officials urging residents to limit outdoor activities. PM2.5 particles, described as superfine particles, are discharged by vehicles, industrial and natural sources like dust and can easily pass through lung tissue and be absorbed into the bloodstream, causing adverse health effects.

Air quality in the capital city was consistently ranked “unhealthy” by air monitoring apps in September and October.

Officials said the low quality of air in Hanoi was caused by construction, a growing number of cars and motorcycles and heavy industry emissions, including steel works, cement factories and coal-fired plants.

Meanwhile, authorities in HCMC admitted at a meeting earlier this month that exhaust from 10 million vehicles, smoke from 1,000 large factories and dust from numerous construction sites are worsening the city’s air pollution.

The joint venture partners said Sunday that the smart city will span 272 hectares in the northern district of Dong Anh, located halfway between Noi Bai International Airport and the city center.

Project construction is set to start next year with 7,000 apartments and houses. When complete, the smart city will adopt 5G, face recognition, blockchain and other advanced technologies.

The project will consist of five phases. In the first phase, the joint venture will build a residential area that up to 25,000 people can occupy in 2022.

Office buildings and commercial facilities will be constructed in the second phase. All five phases are set to be finished in 2028.

The city will tap into a metro line planned between downtown Hanoi and the Noi Bai airport.

Sumitomo operates three industrial parks in the northern Vietnam which host about 190 companies, most of which are Japanese.

BRG is a major operator of golf courses and hotels in Vietnam. It is also involved in the finance and retail sectors.

The daily service is expected to help shorten travel time between the two cities to just an hour and half from the current 15 hours it takes by road, there being no flight connections to date.

The non-stop flights will depart from Kunming at 7:25 p.m. (local time) and the return flights will take off from Cat Bi Airport at 9:50 p.m. (local time), the Chinese carrier stated Wednesday in a release.

Hai Phong, 120 km east of Hanoi, hosts one of the most important ports in the country. It also boasts the popular Do Son Beach and Cat Ba Island, the largest in the Cat Ba Archipelago. The Cat Ba National Park on the island was recognized as a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in 2003, and is home to a number of historical sites.

Kunming, capital of Yunnan Province, is known as ‘the City of Eternal Spring’ for its pleasant climate and flowers that bloom all year long. It has long been known as one of China’s most livable cities.

An aerial view of Yuantong Temple, an ancient Buddhist temple in Kunming City of Yunnan Province, China. Photo by Shutterstock/Anh Khoa.

Le Khac Nam, vice chairman of Hai Phong City, said the direct air route would contribute to boosting trade links and cooperation between Vietnam and China and bring in more Chinese tourists to the country.

China has been Vietnam’s biggest source of tourists in recent years, making up a third of all foreign visitors. Vietnam welcomed 3.97 million Chinese tourist arrivals in the first nine months of this year, up 4.4 percent from a year ago.

A recent Bloomberg report said Chinese tourists could have a significant impact on Vietnam’s economy, claiming a 30 percent increase in spending by Chinese tourists would boost its growth by nearly 1 percentage point.

“Chinese tourism is pretty big for ASEAN now, and all the countries rely on Chinese visitors to keep coming and keep spending,” Edward Lee, an economist at Standard Chartered Bank Singapore, was quoted as saying in the report.

As of last month, Ruili Airlines operated 108 flights daily on 61 domestic routes and 10 international routes to 39 cities in China, Cambodia, Thailand, Myanmar and Vietnam using its fleet of seven B737-700 and 12 B737-800 jets.

C9, the station, should be constructed out of the protected area of Hoan Kiem Lake relics, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has advised Hanoi authorities in a document sent Thursday.

The ministry maintains that the station’s location in the current plan, which is just 36 meters away from the Thap But (Pen Tower) and a meter deep from the ground level, would make construction difficult.

Digging the ground, putting up fences and felling all the existing trees will affect the ecosystem and scenery around the lake, it said.

The ministry advises that the Hanoi administration amends plans for metro lines, stations and other related constructions in ways that the Law on Cultural Heritage is not violated.

The Hanoi People’s Committee had said in a recent report to Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc that the station’s intended location is ideal as it would stand on the widest area near the lake without indentation risk during construction.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism had last year requested that the station be away from the Hoan Kiem Lake, as the lake was a historical and cultural landmark, requiring “a balance between conservation and development.”

However, the Hanoi administration has rejected all proposed alternatives on the grounds that any plan involving areas other than the originally intended location would require the station’s numerous components, including its entrance, exit, tunnels and additional structures, to be moved as well.

The urban metro project would be 11.5 kilometers long, including nine kilometers underground. It would run from the Ciputra Hanoi International City in Tay Ho and Bac Tu Liem Districts to an intersection between Pho Hue and Nguyen Du Streets in Hai Ba Trung District.

Nguyen Hoang Hai, director of the Hanoi Urban Transport Management and Operation Center, told VnExpress: “It would be ideal if the lanes could be earmarked exclusively for buses 100 percent of the time, but I don’t think it’s necessary. We are considering reserving the lanes by the hour and only in certain places.”

Hai was referring to the proposal to create bus-only lanes to increase the rate of commuters using public transport to 25 percent by 2020.

“If traffic is not too heavy, vehicles can share the lane. But buses must get priority during rush hour.”

While public transport is cheap and could carry a large number of passengers, it could interfere with other vehicles on the road, like when buses have to stop at bus stops to pick up passengers, he said.

“When there are exclusive bus lanes, picking up and letting off passengers would cause no interference.”

To determine which lanes would be chosen, the city transport department would need to analyze the infrastructure and vehicle density, Hai said.

Asked about some people’s doubts whether exclusive bus lanes would work since rapid transit buses (BRT) occasionally get stuck in their own exclusive lanes, Hai blamed the BRT problem on poor management and lack of clear regulations.

But BRT is faster and less likely to see accidents, he pointed out.

“I believe that exclusive bus lanes are necessary. The return on investment depends on the transport and other sectors’ management and, especially, the public’s attitude.”

Asked about some people saying it might be hasty to have exclusive bus lanes by 2020 since the city’s infrastructure would be incapable of supporting them, leading to more traffic congestion, Hai said with much analysis still to be done it is too early to make such a claim.

“Hanoi’s traffic [plans are] being completed step by step, and the city will not designate bus lanes indiscriminately. We will only choose roads with high bus density and traffic needs.”

The right time to do so would be after the Cat Linh-Ha Dong railroad begins operation, he said. With exclusive bus lanes, buses would integrate well with railway stations, and users would be pleased, he added.

“If we leave the situation as it is… we would never be able to eliminate traffic congestion in the city.”

Hanoi needs to determine the efficacy of exclusive bus lanes before actually creating them, Ho Quoc Chinh, a transport lecturer of the University of Sydney, has said.

For this, a set of concrete performance indicators needs to be created to determine the effectiveness of a bus system before deploying it, Chinh said.

The city currently has only one lane reserved for public buses, between Long Bien bus station and the intersection of Thanh Nien, Nghi Tam and Yen Phu streets, and a bus rapid transit route between Kim Ma in Ba Dinh District and Yen Nghia in Ha Dong District.

Hanoi’s 2,000 buses carry around 1.2 million passengers every day, accounting for 12 percent of all commuters.

Deputy Minister of Transport Nguyen Ngoc Dong said at a press conference Friday that the ministry doesn’t want set a deadline only to miss it again, as has happened several times already.

When the Chinese contractor reports a deadline, the ministry will inform the public, he said.

The French consulting consortium Apave-Certifier-Tricc, which is responsible for evaluating the safety of the project, has finished six out of 14 reports required, Dong said.

Dong also admitted that the ministry made mistakes in designing, acquiring land and constructing the Cat Linh – Ha Dong elevated railway project as pointed out by state auditors in a recent report, resulting in years of delay and ballooning costs.

The deputy minister said further that the project’s losses are expected as its cost is 3-4 times that of a regular road project, but it still needs to be done for economic development.

The ministry is reviewing the roles of officials responsible for the delays as the State Audit Office has suggested and will hand out due punishments, he added.

Work on the Cat Linh-Ha Dong metro line began in 2011 and was originally scheduled for completion in 2013. But several hurdles, including loan disbursement issues with China that were only resolved in December 2017, stalled it for years.

The metro eventually entered the testing phase in March with all 13 cars carrying out trial runs on both lines. The ministry wanted commercial operations to begin at the end of April, but this deadline too was missed.

Project costs have more than doubled from the original VND8.8 trillion ($377 million) to VND18 trillion ($771 million), according to state auditors.

The line now has one percent work remaining, mainly outlook finishing, it has been reported. When complete, the first metro line will run 13 kilometers from Cat Linh Station in downtown Dong Da District to Yen Nghia Station in southwest Ha Dong District.