Deteriorating Transport Infrastructure: Current Situation and Solutions

(Baonghean) - Imagine, on the map of Nghe An's traffic network development, there are 9 bold red lines symbolizing National Highways - the province's vital traffic system; interwoven with them are hundreds of blue lines representing provincial roads; brown lines representing district roads, commune roads... With the investment efforts of all levels, sectors and people, every year those colorful lines continue to be extended... However, compared to actual requirements, Nghe An's traffic system still does not ensure synchronization, and does not promptly meet the socio-economic development needs of the province.

Lesson 1: The Big Picture

There are currently no exact statistics on investment resources for the construction of rural infrastructure in Nghe An, but to have a road traffic system in the province of up to 17,726 km, the capital is very large. Although it has not met the actual requirements, but with the results achieved from the efforts of all levels, sectors, international organizations, and people in developing the traffic system, this is clearly a bright color in the picture of traffic in Nghe An province.

Route 7B from Muong Xen Town to Muong Ai is seriously degraded. Photo: Nhat Lan

There are 9 national highways in Nghe An. The Ministry of Transport has assigned the Road Administration Department II to manage 6 routes including national highways: 1, 7, 46, 46B, 48C, Ho Chi Minh road with a total length of 680.6 km; the Department of Transport manages 3 routes including national highways: 15A, 48 and 48B with a total length of 330 km. The total length of national highways passing through the province is 1,080 km. These routes have a fairly good road surface structure, mainly asphalt, only on National Highway 15A, Dong Hieu - Tan Ky Town section, there is nearly 22 km of dirt and gravel roads. Contributing to enriching the traffic system in our province are 244 urban roads (managed by cities, towns, wards, and enterprises). These roads are mostly paved with asphalt, cement concrete, graded roads, and 47 specialized roads with a length of 423 km serving the transportation of raw materials such as sugarcane, tea, pineapple, etc.

Regarding 23 provincial roads with a total length of 758 km (including 110 km of asphalt concrete roads, 370 km of paved roads, 278 km of crushed stone and aggregate roads) that have been opened to all districts, cities and towns in the province, contributing significantly to the socio-economic development of localities, however, they have not been invested in synchronously. And the most difficult and complicated situation is still the investment situation in developing the district and commune road system. Currently, in our province, there are 403 district roads with a total length of 4,169 km, but of which only 5.8 km are asphalt concrete roads (accounting for 0.1%); 1,336 km of asphalt macadam roads (accounting for 32%); 70 km of cement concrete roads (accounting for 1.7%); 967 km of aggregate roads (accounting for 23.2%) and 1,790 km of dirt roads (accounting for 43%). The worrying reality is that the district-managed traffic system is deteriorating rapidly and is slow to be repaired; the reasons are budget difficulties, lack of investment capital, lack of specialized staff, lack of machinery and equipment, large area management, complex weather, oversized and overloaded vehicles operating frequently... The traffic system of 480 communes in the whole province has up to 451 routes with a total length of up to 10,206 km, of which 65.5% are dirt roads... Not to mention, there are currently 3 communes without car roads to the commune center, namely Nhon Mai, Mai Son, Huu Khuong in Tuong Duong district; and 10 communes in Tuong Duong, Ky Son, Que Phong districts... have roads to the commune center, but can only be used during the dry season; especially there are still 65 remote villages and hamlets that only have walking trails.

In the investment of transport infrastructure, the national highway system is always given the highest priority. In recent times, in our province, important national highways have been regularly invested in, managed and upgraded. In particular, the project to renovate, upgrade and expand National Highway 1A passing through the province is being implemented with a large investment scale. However, for other national highways in the area, investment in repair and upgrading still has many shortcomings. National Highway 48, is assigned by the Department of Transport to Nghe An Bridge and Road Construction and Management Joint Stock Company for management. This route is 170km long (starting from Km 0 in Dien Yen commune, Dien Chau district, ending at Km 160 of the Vietnam-Laos border in Thong Thu commune, Que Phong district) passing through 7 mountainous districts and towns in the Northwest region of the province.

National Highway 48 plays an important role in socio-economic development, national defense, security, trade and transport of goods between the lowlands and mountainous districts (including Que Phong district in the 30a area) and strengthening the defense of the Vietnam - Laos border, along with the section Km 0 - Km 28 serving traffic diversion to Ho Chi Minh road to reduce the load on National Highway 1A. From 1996 - 2000, National Highway 48 was invested in a project to upgrade from dirt road surface to asphalt road surface (section Km 64 - Km 122) and upgrade from asphalt road surface to asphalt concrete road surface (section Km 0 - Km 33). Before the project was accepted, many sections of the road surface had "rubber subsidence", buffalo ridges, potholes, etc. The construction unit had to handle it many times, causing public outrage. Currently, through surveys, it shows that the road surface along National Highway 48 is deteriorating.

Clearing drainage ditches on Highway 48. Photo: HV

Mr. Truong Dinh Gia, a resident of Hamlet 6, Nghia My Commune (Thai Hoa Town) reported: “We built a house near Doc Lui - National Highway 48. In recent years, the lives and activities of the people here have been greatly affected by the serious deterioration of the road. The road is narrow, steep, and intersected by a railway, and the roadbed is weak and has not been repaired in time. Therefore, in the dry season, it is dusty; in the rainy season, it is muddy and muddy. Especially recently, due to the tightening of control oversized and overloaded vehicles, these vehicles have switched to running at night, causing a lot of noise.”

Explaining this situation, Mr. Pham Hong Suu - Director of Nghe An Bridge and Road Construction and Management Joint Stock Company said: "Because this road has been built for a long time, the road surface structure is not suitable for exploitation needs, and the traffic volume of heavy trucks is high, while the capital for management and regular maintenance does not meet the actual requirements as well as the regular maintenance standards issued by the Ministry of Transport and the Vietnam Road Administration, leading to rapid deterioration of the road surface. In recent years, the company has tried to invest funds, machinery, and human resources to carry out a number of items and tasks not included in the plan to ensure traffic safety". It is known that to meet the actual regular maintenance work on the national highway is from 75 - 80 million VND/km/year, but in 2013 only more than 54.36 million VND was granted and in 2014 it was cut by 50%, so only 28.37 million VND remained.

The investment budget for regular management and maintenance has not met the actual needs, which is also a common situation on many roads at all levels. At the Road Management Department II, the budget for management and maintenance of 6 national highways with a length of 680.6 km in 2013 was 116 billion 274 million VND; in 2014 it was 184 billion 63 million VND, of which the average regular maintenance budget was 33.4 million VND/km/year, down 44% compared to 2013... On the national highway and provincial road system managed by the Department of Transport, the budget for maintenance and repair also faces many difficulties. Mr. Hoang Van Hue - Deputy Director of the Department of Transport said: "In 2013, the total budget for management and maintenance of the road system was 92 billion 495 million VND and in 2014 it was 122 billion 32 million VND; in which the regular maintenance budget of national highways was more than 27 million VND/km/year, down more than 48% compared to 2013 and provincial roads was nearly 25 million VND/km/year, down 5.5%... Only the periodic repair budget of national highways increased by 64% and provincial roads by 204% (due to road usage fees collected from cars, the Central Road Maintenance Fund allocated 35% to localities, which is 19 billion 600 million VND).

For district and commune roads, since the establishment of the Road Maintenance Fund, 72.8 billion VND has been supported for management and maintenance; along with investment and support of tens of billions of VND for some districts for regular maintenance, repairing roadbeds and surfaces... But compared to actual needs, that is just a drop in the bucket. The investment capital from the district budget for road management and maintenance is still not suitable. Currently, only 10 districts and towns in the province have allocated from 700 million VND to 2 billion VND for regular maintenance and from 300 - 500 million VND for commune roads. Thus, the regular maintenance investment capital for the national highway system has been greatly reduced and provincial roads have also encountered difficulties because the provincial budget only meets about 20 - 30% of the requirements... so the management, maintenance and regular maintenance work is very difficult".

Thus, the budget for regular maintenance and repair of the transport infrastructure system in Nghe An, especially the road system managed by the locality, which is already lacking, is now increasingly "shrinking"; meanwhile, every day, many roads in our province still have to "bear" the burden of oversized and overloaded vehicles, causing the road condition to deteriorate more seriously...

(continued)

Hoang Vinh -Van Truong