HA NOI (VNS) – Ha Noi’s pavements should be under the control of one agency, an official from the city’s Department of Transport said yesterday.
Vu Van Vien, head of the department, blamed overlapping management for low quality repair work and inconsistent standards that destroyed pavements and made them dangerous for pedestrians.
Since 2006, people’s committees of districts and townships had been given the job of maintaining pavements in all streets under their control.
However, the task had been assigned to sub-units in wards or the managing board of projects.
The report said that when pavements began to disintegrate, no unit was prepared to take responsibility.
In some areas, those in charge of managing them did not inspect or supervise work, leading to advanced problems.
To address the problem, the department suggested the People’s Committee of Ha Noi name the responsibilities of each units concerned.
“Maintenance tasks needs to be done regularly and assigned to one agency only. That agency should choose a capable contractor to do maintenance work and should be responsible for pavements under its control,” Vien said.
Nguyen Quoc Hung, Vice Chairman of the Ha Noi’s People’s Committee, said the committee agreed with the suggestions by the Department of Transport.
He said it had assigned relevant departments and agencies to improve legal documents on investing, managing and maintaining pavements in the city.
Vien from the transport department said irresponsible drivers were another cause for the quick degradation of pavements in the city.
“Pavements are designed for walking only, but when there are traffic jams or flooding, people often drive on the pavement,” he said.
“In some areas, car and motorbike also leads to degradation,” he added.
He said lack of co-ordination between different sectors was also a main cause.
“The power and water supply agencies also fail to co-ordinate their work. They ask for permission to dig up pavements to install power lines and water pipes at different times, causing the pavements to be dug up over and over again. This is not only a big waste, but also leads to degradation,” Vien said.
The Department of Transport is in charge of managing 13 per cent of the pavements in the city, while people’s committee of districts and townships are in charge of the other 87 per cent. – VNS
Đăng ký: VietNam News
