HCM CITY — With potholes and uncovered manholes causing a series of road accidents in recent weeks, the HCM City People's Committee has decided to closely monitor roadworks and hold relevant individuals and agencies responsible in case of accidents.
Nguyen Thanh Tai, deputy chairman of the People's Committee, admitted the city administration's responsibility for the accidents.
On October 20 Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai ordered the city People's Committee to inspect all roads that are in danger of developing potholes and take measures to repair them, ensuring road users' safety.
His order followed media reports on the road accidents, several of them deadly, caused by improper covering of manholes and re-paving of roads following sewage works.
On October 22 there were 30 deep potholes in city roads, the Department of Transport reported.
Tai said the department was responsible for overseeing the situation and penalising individuals and agencies found responsible for accidents.
But the department said it would be difficult to monitor the situation because there were too many road and other works at the moment, adding if an accident was caused by a pothole created during public works, the contractor and management of that work must bear responsibility.
Truong Trong Nghia, a lawyer, concurred saying the project managers were culpable in case of an accident and should investigate the cause.
If the department denied responsibility, it must inform accident victims who was responsible, he said.
It should order project managers to contact victims or their families and deal with the consequences. — VNS
