Waterway traffic safety during storm season: Many concerns remain

(Baonghean)Our province currently has 13 rivers with a total riverbank length of over 1,000 km. However, the situation of sand and gravel exploitation on rivers and the current situation of violations of waterway traffic safety at ferry terminals are difficult problems, making the work of ensuring inland waterway traffic safety before this year's rainy and stormy season still have many issues to discuss...

For many years, Nghia Binh has been a rather "prominent" locality in terms of illegal sand and gravel mining on the river in Tan Ky district. The commune has an 8km long riverbank but has up to 4 sand mining gathering points. At the Lach beach point in Hamlet 12, in the intense heat, the sound of sand suction machines resounded loudly and loudly in the middle of the Con River. Not far away is the sand mining point near Nghia Binh suspension bridge of Mr. Nguyen Van H - Hamlet 6. According to our witness, the sand gathering point was built high, embracing the entire cultivated land of the beach and stretching out to the riverbed, obstructing the flow. Outside the beach, there are 2 wooden and bamboo frames about 5m high used to place sand suction hoses brazenly in the middle of the river.



Linh - Lang ferry terminal (Anh Son) has been upgraded but is now seriously degraded.

Discussing this situation, Mr. Nguyen Van Ha - Head of the Department of Industry and Trade of Tan Ky district, said: The whole district has over 60 km of riverbank, 14 sand and gravel trading wharves, 31 sand and gravel mining vehicles along the Con River owned by 30 individuals and mining establishments. However, the mining wharves are not licensed, concentrated in Nghia Dung, Tan Long, Huong Son, Nghia Hanh, Phu Son. More alarming is the sand mining at bridge footings such as Nghia Binh suspension bridge, Sen Nghia Dong bridge, An Ngai bridge... affecting the safety and durability of these works. Over the years, the district has consulted and coordinated with interdisciplinary teams to inspect and punish violations, but the licensing of mining is not under the authority of the district, so the management and assurance of traffic safety on waterways on rivers is also "powerless", and it is very difficult to deploy specific handling and inspection down to the localities.

Leaving Tan Ky, we headed back to Anh Son - the area with the most ferry piers in the province. Currently, due to the operation of some bridges across the river such as Dat bridge (Thanh Son), Cay Chanh bridge (Dinh Son), some piers have been dissolved and merged, so the whole district has 11 ferry piers and 12 passenger vehicles across the river. Most of the piers have been licensed to operate, the vehicles have been inspected for technical safety, the ferrymen have professional certificates... At both ends of the piers, the ferry boats have seriously degraded. Lang Son ferry boat (which the district invested nearly 300 million VND in upgrading) is now broken into pieces and drifting to the shore. To serve the needs of students and passengers crossing the river, the ferry owners here have created manual piers, but the safety is not high. At Linh - Tao Son ferry boat, the demand for travel here is quite large but there are no ferry boats. It is known that the two ferry terminals above have the highest number of students crossing the ferry in the district, over 500 students/day. According to the assessment, currently, most of the ferry terminals in Anh Son still carry more people than the prescribed number, do not comply with the regulations on ferry drivers, do not provide adequate equipment and do not wear life jackets when crossing the ferry.

The above are two typical examples of the current situation and alarming risks of violations of waterway traffic safety that are occurring commonly in most localities along the rivers. The whole province currently has 13 rivers with a total riverbank length of over 1,000 km, of which 243 km have been put into operation, over 660 km have been assigned to districts for administrative management, the rest are being exploited naturally. In particular, the Con and Lam rivers have large flow rates during the rainy season, which can cause unusual accidents for vehicles transporting passengers across the river. According to a report from the Waterway Police Department, up to now, the whole province has 50 ferry piers carrying passengers along and across the river with 296 vehicles transporting passengers across the river, over 400 inland waterway vehicles operating along the river. However, currently only 95 vehicles are registered, 140 vehicles have been inspected. Along with ferry terminals, there are currently hundreds of sand mining sites on the rivers, but only 3-4 sites are licensed for exploitation, concentrated in Hung Nguyen, Nam Dan, and Nghia Dan.

In order to direct the work of ensuring inland waterway traffic safety in the area, in May and June, the province issued Official Dispatch 3689 on restoring order and safety of inland waterway traffic and the plan "traffic culture and river peace" which contributed to directing the People's Committees of urban districts to build safe and model ferry terminals, safe river sections, and peaceful fishing villages. The interdisciplinary team has thoroughly inspected and handled violations in sand mining and encroachment on waterway traffic corridors in Tan Ky, Anh Son, Con Cuong districts... However, based on the current traffic safety situation on rivers, the Department of Natural Resources and Environment needs to promptly intervene in advising the province on issues related to licensing and management of sand mining on rivers to minimize impacts on resources and ensure safe corridors on rivers during the upcoming rainy and stormy season.

It is known that the Provincial People's Committee has approved the planning for inland waterway traffic development in the period of 2012-2020. By 2020, the entire province will maintain the location and number of inland waterway wharves. The establishment of new wharves must be based on the scale and function of the wharves. To serve tourism, the ferry wharves along the Ban Ve hydroelectric reservoir (Yen Na - Tuong Duong), the wharves along the Pha Lai irrigation dam (Mon Son - Con Cuong) will be upgraded, forming the Pu Mat eco-tourism wharf. In this spirit, spontaneous wharves will be eliminated, forming 11 cargo wharves on the Lam River, Vinh Canal, Nha Le Canal, Nam Dan - Vinh, Hoang Mai, and Cam River. In this spirit, some unsafe sand and gravel wharves on the rivers can be converted into tourist wharves or licensed to ensure safety and protect the inland waterway traffic safety corridor in the province.

Luong Mai