1.
GV Hospital under construction & CU Notice boards (4 shots)
0.11

2.
CU Building with company sign
0.14

3.
SV & Workman pouring concrete (2 shots)
0.21

4.
GV Cement mixer TILT UP TO Building
0.29

5.
CU & SV Workmen discussing plans (4 shots)
0.38

6.
SV & CU Women bending steel rods (2 shots)
0.50

7.
SV & SCU Workman cutting steel rods (2 shots)
0.58

8.
SV Workmen tightening up steel rods on concrete (3 shots)
1.07

9.
SV Women & men workers on building (2 shots)
1.18

10.
SV & GV Men working on building (4 shots)
1.31

11.
GV Men working & building (6 shots)
1.46

12.
GV Scaffolding PAN TO Foundations (2 shots)
1.57

13.
SV & CU Workmen pouring concrete & levelling (3 shots)
2.10

14.
GV TILT UP TO Building under construction
2.18



Initials ESP/1519 ESP/1607



Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: The Japanese Government is launching a South Vietnamese aid programme in April, drawn up with United States backing, as part of a massive plan to help rebuild the economic structure of Indo-China.

The Japanese have pledged a 300,000,000 sterling (US $743,000,000 reserve fund for Indo-China, and the Japanese Consul-General in New York, Mr. Masao Sawaki, has estimated that Japan might eventually spend up to 1,000,000,000 pounds (US $2,476,000,000) in South-East Asian aid.

Japanese firms are also moving in to tap the vast pool of cheap, unskilled labour in the area. Three large companies have already built, or are building, factories in and around Saigon to manufacture electrical appliances.

One of the Japanese aid projects which is already well under way is a 1,000-bad hospital at Cho Lon, near Saigon, at an estimated cost of 46,000,000 Yen (US $173,000,000). The hospital, due for completion in March, 1974, is providing work and in-job training for 460 South Vietnamese workers.

A team of 10 Japanese technicians are supervising work on the Cho Rai Hospital, which will also be equipped under the Japanese aid programme. It will be one of the largest hospitals in South-East Asia.

SYNOPSIS: As Peace returns to South Vietnam, the task of rebuilding begins. This 1,000-bed hospital is being built with Japanese aid at Cho Lon, near Saigon.

As part of international efforts to lay the foundations of a new peacetime economy, the Japanese have pledged a seven-hundred and forty-three million dollar reserve fund for aid to Indo-China. The Cho Rai Hospital, which is one of the aid projects, is expected to cost one-hundred and seventy-three thousand dollars. A team of 10 Japanese technicians is supervising the work.

The hospital is providing work for 460 local men and women. It is also enabling them to learn modern construction skills, such as the preparation of reinforced concrete sections. Japanese industrialists -- ???ger to tap the large pool of cheap labour in the region -- are also moving into South Vietnam. Tree companies have built, or are building, factories in the Saigon area to produce electrical appliances.

Cho Rai Hospital is due for completion in March of next year. It will also be equipped under the Japanese aid programme. The aim of the various Japanese projects -- both governmental and commercial -- is to improve social facilities in South Vietnam and to boost the economy by establishing new industries that will provide employment, and eventually raise the country's exports.

The new hospital will be one of the largest in South-East Asia. It will be an invaluable addition to South Vietnam's civilian medical care services, which have been drained of facilities, equipment and staff by the war. Up until the ceasefire, there were only 400 civilian doctors to cover a population of sixteen million people. In contrast, there were 1,600 doctors in the armed forces.

The hospital is part of the "give-away" aid, which Japan is willing to provide in the initial post-war period. But as one Japanese adviser visiting Vietnam commented: "We must be cautious, otherwise it will be said we made a lot of money out of war, and now out of peace."