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Ngo plans to make tropical motorbike helmets in Vietnam

HANOI - The Asia Injury Prevention Foundation has announced plans to build a 'tropical' motorbike helmet factory in Vietnam within the next year. The foundation, a non-profit organisation set up by a group of US companies for promoting injury prevention and safety awareness, said that the factory would produce international-standard helmets designed with Vietnam's tropical climate in mind.

"Many imported helmets now flooding the domestic market are not up to standard," said Greig Craft, managing director at Ha Nai-based Craft Corporation, a member of the Asia Injury Prevention Foundation [AIPF]. The factory, to be established as a 100-per-cent foreign-owned entity with US$2.5 million investment, will employ modern US technology and equipment and aim to provide the market with light-weight, or 'tropical,' helmets at affordable prices. AIPF officials did not elaborate on the plant's scheduled location and capacity, but they said that prototype helmet models were already being trial tested along with several safety awareness programs as part of the so-called Safe Vietnam Initiative. Craft said that AIPF intends to launch a pilot program later this month in different provinces of Vietnam, where research will be conducted on how helmets should be made and worn effectively by locals.

"We thought of producing the lighter 'tropical' helmets because Western style helmets do not seem appropriate to conditions here." "Too many Vietnamese are afraid of wearing heavy helmets, which they call cookers, on hot days," he added, anticipating that the tropical design can capture 25 to 30 per cent of the market. Greig added that Craft Corporation would soon begin distributing 15,000 US-made children's helmets in Ha Noi and HCM City free of charge to mothers on the streets. Children in rural and remote areas could be beneficiaries in the near future, he said. "These helmets are being imported until our Vietnam production can be established and are selling for approximately VND280,000 including value-added tax," Greig said. Craft Corporation says it has been co-ordinating with AIPF members in providing their staff with about 15,000 of the helmets free of charge, along with a program where their family members may also purchase the helmets at a 50 per cent subsidy from the company.

The idea has been welcomed by companies like Ford Vietnam Limited. Ford Vietnam, also an AIPF member, gave 300 free helmets to its employees on Friday and it promises to give more helmets to their family members. "We hope all companies in Vietnam will offer a similar program to provide free helmets to their employees, with some forms of subsidy for their family members," says Deb Aronson, Ford Vietnam's managing director. "We applaud the Government's pan to establish the helmet law and the AIPF for taking a leadership role in creating a 'tropical' lightweight helmet that Vietnamese will wear on a regular basis." She added that it will help Vietnam reduce road fatalities, currently ranked as one of the highest in the world.

Vietnam News Agency - September 8, 2000.