ODA funds one third of road building costs

A road is being built in mountainous Quy Chau District in central Nghe An Province to prevent erosion during the flood season. The country needs VND12 trillion to upgrade its road system. —VNA/VNS Photo Le Ba Lieu

HA NOI — Almost VND12 trillion (US$600 million) will be needed for road building next year, estimates the Transport Ministry's Roads Directorate.

More than VND3.7 trillion ($188 million) would be drawn from Government bonds and more than VND1.8 trillion ($90 million) from official development assistance (ODA), said Deputy Transport Minister and Roads Directorate director Ngo Thinh Duc.

The focus - as this year - would be road maintenance.

"We will ask the Government to establish a fund for road maintenance to ensure a stable supply of capital for the work," he said.

The directorate has also proposed the installation of 23 standard weighing stations to protect roads from damage.

"The work will be expanded after the directorate completes two pilot weighing stations in northern-coastal Quang Ninh and southern Dong Nai provinces by the end of this year," said deputy minister Duc.

The directorate had completed 11 projects with total funds of VND4.6 trillion ($230 million) this year, he said.

As much as VND2.7 trillion ($135 million) had been spent on maintenance.

"Although it was the highest amount so far, it met only 60 per cent of demand," the deputy minister said.

The cause had been four tropical lows and three bouts of heavy rain between September and November that destroyed more than 70 roads in the central provinces.

Flash-floods had also seriously damaged roads in both the central and highland provinces.

The deputy minister said the directorate would co-operate with relevant agencies in the use of the capital it was provided and seek the money from both domestic and international sources.

It would also seek capital via build-operate-transfer and build-transfer projects.

Projects such as the upgrading of Highway 1A linking central Thanh Hoa and Ha Tinh provinces and Highway 49A linking Hue City and its A Luoi highland district that could be completed in 2011 – 12 would be given priority.

"The increasing number of vehicles had seriously damaged both highways," said deputy minister Duc.

The directorate has 20 projects planned, if it can raise the necessary funds.

These include widening Highway 18 in northern Quang Ninh Province and upgrading Highway 20 in central-highland Lam Dong province.

Directorate figures show that Viet Nam's road system extends more than 279,927km and includes 39,800 bridges. — VNS

Related Articles

• Remote North gets new classrooms, toilets
• Call for ‘green' universities
• Ethnic minorities, poor to receive free legal aid
• Banks to face stricter rule on real estate loans
• Mothers share sorrow of war

Landslides cut off parts of central VN

Torrential rains have caused a series of landslides in the mountainous central region, blocking many highways and roads for the last several days.

In Quang Nam province, a wall of earth and rock slid down Soi Mu Mountain in Nui Thanh district on Nov. 10, cutting off Ky Ha Port (Chu Lai) from National Highway 1A.

A 100-metre stretch of Road 618 is buried under 2 to 10 metres of rock and soil.

A minor landslide occurred in mountainous Son Tay Commune in Quang Ngai province on Nov. 11, cutting off the Tra Trung – Di Lang road.

On provincial road 622B, soil and rock cover a third of the road's width following a landslide, slowing down transport to Tay Tra district in Quang Ngai.

Also in Quang Ngai, a massive landslide blocked traffic on the road connecting Tra Bong and Tra Thanh districts as well as roads in Tay Tra district.

In Binh Dinh province, the floodwaters have been receding gradually since Nov. 11, but several stretches of Road 640 from Tuy Phuoc town to the eastern communes and Phu Cat District remain under up to a metre of water.

In the province's Van Canh district, soil and rocks on the Dai slope slid on to the newly built road below, covering 3km of it.

Seven people have been killed and two injured so far in the floods while one person is missing. Besides, 85 houses have collapsed and 117 are severely damaged.

The total damage is estimated at 513 billion VND (26 million USD).

The Binh Dinh People's Committee has asked the Government for 150 billion VND (7.7 million USD) besides 3,000 tonnes of rice, 400,000 doses of foot-and-mouth disease vaccines, 500,000 doses of cholera vaccines for pigs, and 20 tonnes of disinfectants./.

Related Articles

• Landslides hit central Vietnam hard, Phu Yen declares emergency
• Landslides cut off mountainous district
• Timeout with a good book
• Banks to face stricter rule on real estate loans
• Food promotions at Grand and First hotels

Highway dubbed a ‘death trap'

A roundabout on Highway 5 which links Ha Noi with Hai Phong, two biggest cities in the north. Risks of traffic accidents are high on this road. — VNS Photo Truong Vi

HA NOI — Highway No 5 connecting Hai Phong Port and Ha Noi has been dubbed a death trap following a spate of traffic accidents over the last two years.

In the first half of this year, 47 people were killed and 27 injured in 59 traffic accidents on the highway. In the same period last year, there were 48 accidents, 45 deaths and 20 injuries, according to the Nga Ba Hang Traffic Control Station under Hai Duong Police.

Lieutenant colonel Pham Van Luu, head of the Nga Ba Hang Traffic Control Station, said every year, hundreds of people died or were injured on the road. About 80 per cent involved lorries and motorbike drivers who were speeding or driving in the wrong lane.

He said there were four major hot spots where most of the accidents happened.

"Vehicles are allowed to travel at a maximum speed of 80km per hour, but the road quality is not good enough for them to drive that fast. If lorries travel at that speed they can easily have an accident," Luu said.

Furthermore, he said lorries often dropped gravel and building materials on the road, making driving even more hazardous.

He also said vendors had encroached on the sides of the road, making it too narrow for heavy traffic.

"Half of the highway's length has been encroached on by smallholders, especially in the territories of Hung Yen and Hai Duong Provinces and Hai Phong City," Luu said.

He also said residents had extended their homes onto the edges of the highway.

"At first the highway width was 15 metres, which met the standards of the Viet Nam Road Administration. But now it is just seven metres for much of its length," he said.

Local residents have also made gaps in the central reservation barrier so that they can cross the road – another major cause of accidents, he said.

He added that because of the poor condition of the road it was downgraded 12 years after opening to a minor highway.

Nguyen Ngoc Cuong, deputy director of Road Management and Repair Company No 240, said in 2008 the company invested hundreds of billion dong erecting iron barriers along the central reservation, but that local residents were continuing to cross the road where they shouldn't.

He said 30 of the firms' workers were on round-the-clock standby to repair the barrier when pedestrians break through.

Cuong said local authorities should explain to residents why they should only cross the road at designated areas.

He also said local authorities should impose stricter fines on those that damaged the central barrier.

Meanwhile, Quach Dac Giao, head of Traffic Police Team No 1 at Hung Yen Police, said officers had stepped up patrols along the road and had begun to photograph those breaking road rules or who were caught destroying the central reservation.

"The photographs will be sent to schools or offices where they study or work," he said.

Students and employees in the province have signed a pledge not to damage the central barrier, he added.

On June 28, four people were killed and two injured in a lorry crash on the highway. The lorry driver was speeding.— VNS

ADB to help Vietnam improve road transport

The Asian Development Bank will help increase efficiency in road transport administration and attract investment in Vietnam’s transport network with a US$1 million grant, it said Monday.

The technical assistance grant, sourced from the Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction, will provide the Transport Ministry and its support agencies with guidelines to “strengthen institutional and financial arrangements, operation and maintenance, and governance”, the Manila-based bank said in a statement.

It said the assistance will also including improved funding for road projects in Vietnam, including the $17.9 billion North-South Expressway Project.

ADB said Vietnam’s swift pace of economic growth is estimated to require as much as $16 billion annually in new infrastructure investments from 2011 to 2020, or 20 percent of projected gross domestic product (GDP).

Investments have been growing rapidly, accounting for 4.5 percent of GDP last year. However, inefficiencies need to be addressed if the country wants to meet infrastructure demand, the bank said.

“Vietnam needs to attract more investments into the road transport subsector,” said Masahiro Nishimura, Transport Specialist in ADB’s Southeast Asia Department. “Private sector participation, which is still developing, is crucial for bridging the huge financial gap between infrastructure demand and available budget.”

Related Articles

• ADB to help Vietnam improve road transport
• Highway dubbed a ‘death trap'
• Two billion people use internet
• IFC: Vietnam needs to increase PPP to support economy
• Poor rural children blaze education trail

Road safety group calls for zero tolerance for drunk driving

Alcohol impairment is a major risk factor in Vietnam that cannot be tolerated, said the Global Road Safety Partnership, an organization working towards improving road safety.

“A zero-tolerance approach to enforcing legislation that gets alcohol-impaired drivers and riders off the road before someone is injured or killed is one of the most effective of road safety interventions,” Gayle DiPietro, a GRSP official, said in a statement released Monday.

The organization is coordinating with the Vietnam National and Provincial Traffic Safety Committees and the World Health Organization to organize a road safety workshop in the northern provice of Ha Nam from October 18-20.

It is part of a global program to improve road safety for ten countries with the highest burdens of traffic injury.

Last month, the group held a training workshop at the People’s Police Academy in Hanoi, focusing on enhanced enforcement strategies, tactics and procedures for the effective prevention of drinking and driving, including the use of alcohol breathalyzers.

Related Articles

• Road safety group calls for zero tolerance for drunk driving
• Regulations require toys to display safety stamps
• Int’l seminar focuses on Asian ethnic groups
• Energy group asks for 50% price hike
• Workshop calls for longer-term plans to audit State entities

Road safety group calls for zero tolerance for drunk driving

Alcohol impairment is a major risk factor in Vietnam that cannot be tolerated, said the Global Road Safety Partnership, an organization working towards improving road safety.

“A zero-tolerance approach to enforcing legislation that gets alcohol-impaired drivers and riders off the road before someone is injured or killed is one of the most effective of road safety interventions,” Gayle DiPietro, a GRSP official, said in a statement released Monday.

The organization is coordinating with the Vietnam National and Provincial Traffic Safety Committees and the World Health Organization to organize a road safety workshop in the northern provice of Ha Nam from October 18-20.

It is part of a global program to improve road safety for ten countries with the highest burdens of traffic injury.

Last month, the group held a training workshop at the People’s Police Academy in Hanoi, focusing on enhanced enforcement strategies, tactics and procedures for the effective prevention of drinking and driving, including the use of alcohol breathalyzers.

Related Articles

• Road safety group calls for zero tolerance for drunk driving
• Regulations require toys to display safety stamps
• Int’l seminar focuses on Asian ethnic groups
• Energy group asks for 50% price hike
• Workshop calls for longer-term plans to audit State entities

Manhole death puts focus on agencies

HCM CITY — The responsibility of road management agencies has come under critical scrutiny after the death of a woman in a traffic accident in Thu Duc District last Saturday.

Local media have echoed residents' demands that authorities identify those responsible after a woman on a motorbike was toppled by a manhole and fatally run over by a truck that was behind her

Ha Thi Tuyet Mai, a 44-year-old employee of the HCM City EPZ Authority (HEPZA), had run over a manhole, fallen off her motorbike and was hit by the light truck on Kha Van Can Street.

Nguyen Men, a resident of the street, said the narrow road was very dangerous for passengers and motorcyclists because all kinds of vehicles including trucks and trailers were allowed to use it.

The Thu Duc District police have said they are investigating the accident.

Lawyer Le Dinh Phat of HCM City said the deaths caused by poor-quality roads in the past months should prompt authorities to clearly identify the reponsibility of road management agencies.

He said the laws state that the State-owned management agencies are responsible for maintenance and protection of the structure and quality of the city's roads.The agency managing Kha Van Can Street must be held responsible for Mai's death, said Phat.

Le Ngoc Hung, deputy director of Urban Transportation Management Unit No2 said the HCM City Sewage Company that built the sewage system on Kha Van Can Street, had transferred management of the road to the Urban Transportation Management Unit No2, and the management of the sewage system to the city's flood control and prevention programme two years ago.

Hung said Unit No2 would also ask relevant authorities to restrict operations of trucks on the narrow street. — VNS

Related Articles

• Another death trap found on HCMC street
• Intellectual honesty needed to tell truth
• VN asks China to coordinate in search for missing vessel
• Party reports come in from provinces
• Workshop calls for longer-term plans to audit State entities