Breakthrough in clearing traffic corridors
(Baonghean) - During the recent Lunar New Year, in Vinh City, the situation of occupying sidewalks on some streets to make flower markets and sell goods has decreased sharply compared to previous years.However, after the Tet holidays, the situation of encroaching on roadsides and sidewalks for business purposes recurred, affecting urban aesthetics and traffic safety in Vinh City.
Mr. Phan Thanh Son - Deputy Chief Inspector of Vinh City's Urban Area said: "During Tet, together with other functional forces, we have made efforts to restore order and maintain the openness of some main roads, especially on Lenin Avenue, where the Tet flower market did not overflow onto the entire road like every year. The fact that some sidewalks are still encroached upon as business locations is because the city previously had a pilot policy of letting households rent part of the sidewalk. Now, since January 1, 2012, Vinh City no longer maintains the rental, but businesses still follow the "habit" of displaying goods all over the sidewalk. To quickly end this situation, we now have a plan to clear the encroachment of traffic safety corridors on main roads and streets such as: Tran Phu, Minh Khai, Nguyen Van Cu, Ha Huy Tap, Le Loi..."
Another main reason for the recurrence of encroachment on the sidewalk is that the penalties are not realistic. According to Mr. Son, the current minimum penalty for encroachment on the sidewalk according to Decree 34 of the Government is 20 million VND, which is not feasible, because the fine is too high compared to the amount of assets that violators have, so some violators are willing to accept the confiscation of their goods and means of work rather than pay the fine. In addition, many cases of street vendors encroaching on the sidewalk are people without jobs, in difficult circumstances, so it is very difficult to thoroughly handle these cases.
Since January 1, 2012, Vinh City no longer maintains the sidewalk rental pilot program, but businesses still occupy sidewalks for business purposes.
Thus, handling the encroachment of roadsides in Vinh City is still a difficult problem, when people's awareness is not high, and the authorities have not yet found a feasible solution to punish. Therefore, every time the authorities come out, people rush to collect their belongings and goods, but when the authorities pass by, everything goes back to normal.
In order for Vinh City to have "clear streets and sidewalks", worthy of the image of a first-class urban city, it is thought that restoring urban order should not only stop at the campaigns of the functional forces but must be regular and continuous. Besides, Vinh City also needs to find a suitable solution to punish violators, with enough deterrence and effectiveness, so that the situation of "kidnapping and abandoning the plate" for the act of encroaching on the roadway and sidewalk does not occur.
While many other localities assert that it is difficult to handle the situation of encroachment on the road and sidewalk due to the high fines under Decree 34/CP, Mr. Tran Minh Khiem, Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Binh Tan District (HCMC) said that this fine has had an effective deterrent effect. According to Mr. Khiem, recently, the district has painted lines (from the wall of the house to the sidewalk 1.5m) on many sidewalks of the streets to create conditions for households doing business and trading to have a place to park their vehicles, leaving walkways for pedestrians. The district's construction inspection force and construction inspection teams in the wards go to check and fine violators every day. "Initially, we only made a warning note, if the violation is repeated for the third time, we will fine according to Decree 34. The District People's Committee has rejected many requests for consideration of reducing the fine or exempting the fine. Therefore, the work of restoring order on the road and sidewalks on many streets in the district is gradually stabilizing" (According to TNO). |
Duc Chuyen