Workers sew products at a company in HCM City. (Photo: VNA)HCM City (VNS/VNA) - Private sector investment in socialinfrastructure is needed to raise the quality of life for workers in exportprocessing zones and industrial parks, Tran Cong Khanh, chief of thesecretariat of the Export Processing Zone and Industrial Park Authority.
Social infrastructure includes apartment buildings, kindergartens, sport andcultural centres, and general health clinics, he said.
He spoke at a conference on workers' quality of life held by the Ho Chi Minh CityInstitute for Development Studies on October 10.
He said the municipal People’s Committee, for example, could hand over publicland without taking bids so that land could be freed up for workers' housing.
“Apartment buildings at export processing zones and industrial parks are vitalfor workers. However, the city has failed to meet the demand,” he said.
Most workers rent rooms built around the zones and parks, but the quality ofthe rooms is poor, and there are few incentives for landlords to improve themand rent at preferential prices, Khanh said.
The city has 17 export processing zones and industrial parks with 290,000workers, 70 percent of whom are from provinces.
Besides housing, the city’s workers, including those at EPZs and IPs, haveproblems finding kindergartens for their children. The city has 18 publickindergartens to serve workers' children.
Workers also have poor access to entertainment and other basic services, headded.
Le Van Thanh, former head of the social and cultural research division at theHCM City Institute for Development Studies, said: “The city will see anincrease in the number of workers because it is becoming a large industrialcentre in the country.”
Workers’ meals should also follow food safety and hygiene standards and benutritious.
Social, health and unemployment insurance and other incentives as well asincome for workers should also be given more attention.
Dr Nguyen Ngoc Hai, Director of the Institute of Occupational Safety and HealthScience HCM City, said that enterprises must ensure labour safety in theworkplace.
“Good labour safety practices among workers would also help reduce the numberof accidents and improve their quality of life," he said.
According to the city's Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs,there were 1,267 labour accidents with 1,319 people injured, including 101deaths last year./.
VNA
