To help Vinh City celebrate Tet and the Spring Festival in a cleaner and more beautiful way...

(Baonghean) - In the days leading up to the Lunar New Year, when each family begins cleaning and decorating their homes in preparation for the holiday, urban beautification work in Vinh City is also at its busiest. Baonghean newspaper had a conversation with Mr. Nguyen Quoc Thang, Head of the Urban Management Department of Vinh City, about this work.

- Hello sir! We understand that in preparation for the Lunar New Year of the Goat, the Vinh City People's Committee has directed the implementation of many urban beautification and security and order maintenance activities on the streets. Could you please elaborate on this work and its results?

To ensure traffic safety, urban order, and environmental sanitation during the Lunar New Year and Spring Festival of 2015, starting from January 10th, Vinh City organized a concentrated campaign to clear traffic safety corridors and urban sidewalks with the coordination of forces including: urban order management, regulations enforcement teams from wards and communes, and the Vinh City Police; with 5 clearing teams, they re-established traffic safety corridors on 31 main streets throughout the city. In addition, they also focused on other complex areas such as the Quan Banh - Nghi Phu market area, Ben Thuy market, Vinh market, etc. As a result, 81 administrative violations were recorded, 41 cases were fined a total of nearly 20 million VND, and thousands of temporary shelters, poles, and stalls violating traffic safety corridors and urban sidewalks were confiscated. Currently, the main roads in the city have been largely cleared and maintained in an orderly manner. However, encroachment on roadbeds, sidewalks, and pavements for trading, production, business, and the stockpiling of construction materials still occurs in some areas, especially at makeshift stalls and kiosks; the work of clearing traffic safety corridors has not gone hand in hand with the work of preventing re-encroachment…

Mr. Nguyen Quoc Thang speaks with reporters.

- Yes, the fundamental reason has already been identified as the lack of decisive leadership from some Party committees and authorities, and the fact that some agencies and units were too formalistic when launching the campaign... Could you please elaborate? Flower streets are one of the highlights of Vinh City every time Tet (Lunar New Year) comes around. However, this is also one of the reasons why ensuring security and order on these streets is the most difficult. This year, what solutions does the city have to both ensure order and preserve this new cultural feature?

Undeniably, the formation of flower streets and flower markets has brought the Tet atmosphere to Vinh City earlier, and it has now become a cultural feature. In principle, the city always supports people's business activities; however, it still requires ensuring safety, adherence to designated locations, and preventing encroachment. To facilitate people, in 2015 the city allocated several locations for Tet flower and ornamental plant markets in areas with fairly large open spaces, convenient for businesses to display their goods and easy for people to move around. This avoids the situation where, after one location is closed, people simply move elsewhere, as was the case before. In addition, the City People's Committee has assigned each ward and relevant unit to manage and organize the Spring flower market within their jurisdiction; to conduct propaganda, explanation, and guidance for people on buying and selling flowers and ornamental plants, ensuring they are in the correct locations and that business spaces are arranged appropriately. The city police force, the city's urban order management team, and the wards and communes will resolutely handle cases of trading and selling flowers and ornamental plants on roads and sidewalks in unauthorized locations. After the closing of the 2015 Lunar New Year flower market, the units assigned to manage the area are responsible for restoring the business premises to their original condition, ensuring cleanliness and beauty for the people to enjoy the Spring Festival and celebrate Tet.

- The 2015 Spring Festival in Vinh City will have many interesting highlights. How has the city prepared for this event, sir?

- Up to this point, the city's 2015 Spring Festival program is basically complete, with the highlight being the New Year's Eve celebration at Ho Chi Minh Square featuring many exciting activities such as: Lion dance and dragon dance competitions, a competition for presenting the traditional New Year's fruit platter; organizing the "Our Neighborhood Celebrates Tet" game; performances of folk songs and traditional music and dance; performances of new dances, ballroom dancing, hip-hop, and sports games for the city's youth. In addition, there will be recreational activities at Nguyen Tat Thanh Park, Central Park, Quyet Mountain Forest Park, Hong Son Temple, the Vietnam-Germany Children's Cultural House, and in various wards and communes; organizing Vietnam Poetry Day at Hong Son Temple on the 15th day of the first lunar month; distributing "Quang Trung Linh Tu" commemorative cards associated with the commemoration of the Ngoc Hoi - Dong Da victory and the prayer for national peace and prosperity at the Quang Trung Emperor's Temple on the 5th day of Tet…

In the wards and communes, there will also be cultural exchange activities, club activities, sports competitions, folk games, and exchanges between folk song clubs... To create a new atmosphere for Vinh during the Spring season, the city of Vinh has made many efforts in urban beautification. These include upgrading the street lighting system with many unique and impressive images on Le Mao, Ho Tung Mau, Truong Thi, Nguyen Thi Minh Khai streets, and traffic islands; directing general cleaning and removal of illegal advertisements; decorating offices, agencies, the People's Committee headquarters, and cultural centers in residential areas; encouraging people to display the national flag at home; and displaying flags on assigned streets…

- Thank you, Mr. Nguyen Quoc Thang, for this conversation! And it can be said that, with such thorough preparation and frequent and extensive dissemination of information to the people, we believe that during this Year of the Goat, the people of Vinh City will have a warm and joyful Tet holiday and participate in many beneficial spring activities!

My Ha(Perform)