Nghe An: Changes on strategic routes

(Baonghean) -The proposal of the Ministry of Transport to upgrade more than 700 km of provincial roads to national highways in Nghe An has attracted a large annual source of capital from the Central Government to invest in road repairs, reducing budget pressure on the province, contributing to traffic connectivity, creating momentum for socio-economic development, and national security and defense.

People benefit

National Highway 48E starts at Km0+00 at Lach Con, Quynh Phuong Commune, Hoang Mai Town, ends at Nghi Thach Commune, Nghi Loc District (Km 4+900/QL.46) with a total length of 213.35 km, is a vital traffic route connecting districts from Nghi Loc District to Hoang Mai Town. In previous years, many sections of this road were seriously degraded, dusty in the sun, and water holes on the road surface when it rained, causing unsafe traffic for people and vehicles. Although the road has been degraded for decades, due to lack of funds for repairs, it has become increasingly damaged.

After the Ministry of Transport decided to upgrade it to National Highway 48E, since the beginning of 2017, this route has received an investment of over VND 82.2 billion from the Central Road Maintenance Fund to repair damage, road surface, and complete the traffic safety system over 49km. Up to now, many sections on National Highway 48E have been upgraded and repaired, creating very convenient conditions for people and vehicles to participate in traffic.

“The road is severely damaged, making it difficult to travel, affecting the lives, activities and economic development of the people. People have petitioned authorities for many years, especially through voter meetings, but nothing has been resolved due to lack of investment capital. Now the “suffering” road has been upgraded to ensure safe traffic and transportation of goods, especially during the rainy season, promoting local socio-economic development. People are very excited.” - Mr. Tran Van Hai, Hoa Thanh commune (Yen Thanh) said.

To Nghia Khanh and Nghia An communes of Nghia Dan district, the road for transporting sugarcane and pineapple materials has been seriously degraded, but has now been upgraded and expanded, the road surface is paved with asphalt and a traffic safety system has been completely installed. Also, before 2016, this road was seriously degraded because of the frequent passage of large trucks transporting raw materials, and many sections were built since 1998: The gravel road surface was peeling off, the roadbed was sagging, sinking, bumpy, and bumpy, greatly affecting people's traffic.

Provincial Road 538 through Yen Thanh District was converted into National Highway 7B. Photo: Document

Although the route management unit has proposed to all levels many times to supplement capital for investment in repair and upgrading, it has been very difficult due to lack of funding. And, the difficulties of decades have been overcome when this route was upgraded to National Highway 48E at the end of 2016. Initially, the 7km section through Nghia Khanh and Nghia An communes has been widened from 3.5 to 6.5m, the damaged road surface and roadbed have been repaired, the traffic safety system has been completed, and drainage ditches have been repaired and reinforced...

Mr. Phan Van Ty - Deputy Director of Nghe An Bridge and Road Management and Construction Joint Stock Company, the unit managing this route, said: “The conversion from a provincial road to a national highway has a great impact on the management and upgrading of the routes. When upgrading to a national highway, there is an annual capital allocation source to carry out maintenance work, repair programs and plans with increased capital, especially investment in periodic repairs. Some sections managed by the unit have been upgraded from gravel road surface to asphalt road surface. This is convenient for the maintenance management unit, as well as ensuring traffic safety for the people”.

Mr. Le Hong Son - Chairman of Nghia Dan District People's Committee said that the roads through Nghia Dan district were upgraded to national highways and were repaired and put into use, meeting the expectations of local people, resolving the concerns of local voters for many years. At the same time, it is an important driving force to promote the socio-economic development of the communes on the route as well as Nghia Dan district.

One of the successes of the Department of Transport in 2016 was to focus on reviewing, routing and planning many new routes. At the same time, the Department advised the Ministry of Transport to approve and upgrade provincial roads to national highways, including: National Highways 16, 48D, 48E, 7B, 46C with a total length of nearly 700 km.

After being upgraded to National Highway, the routes have been upgraded and repaired simultaneously. In 2017 alone, Nghe An received 176 billion VND from the Central Government to repair 64 km of national highways. The routes were all repaired from February 2017 and have now been basically completed and handed over to the management unit for use.

Efficient use of capital

The above results show that, in the context of capital difficulties, the Department of Transport has been proactive and creative in seizing opportunities to annually attract 300-400 billion VND of central capital to the locality to invest in upgrading, maintaining and regularly repairing these traffic routes.

These are long-term strategic routes, connecting growth axes, creating momentum to promote investment attraction, exploiting potential advantages, and at the same time contributing to ensuring national defense and security in the area. Moreover, upgrading nearly 700 km of provincial roads to national highways is the biggest advantage in attracting capital from the Central Government to invest in periodic repairs, road surface upgrades, regular maintenance... which could not be done before with the provincial budget. Along with that, the industry has advised the Provincial People's Committee to convert a number of district roads (with a total length of 470 km) to provincial roads, "resolving difficulties" in capital sources for localities.

National Highway 48E section through Nghia Dan district is being upgraded. Photo: Thanh Le

According to Mr. Phan Hai Chau - Deputy Director of the Department of Transport Economic Career Capital Management (Department of Transport): After converting provincial roads into national highways, the Ministry of Transport assigned the Nghe An Department of Transport to manage them. Accordingly, these routes have regular management and maintenance units. With the assigned functions and tasks, the Department of Transport Economic Career Capital Management regularly assigns staff to stay on site, directs management units to develop plans, propose plans to repair routes to submit to the Directorate for Roads of Vietnam to arrange capital for investment in upgrading, ensuring safe traffic.

The Department has directed the unit to strictly manage capital sources, invest in locations that must be effective and have high social value, so that the project when put into use must achieve quality, technique and aesthetics. At the same time, the Department also regularly directs, urges, inspects and guides the maintenance of the district road system, and directs and coordinates in ensuring traffic on routes managed by the Central Government in the province.

The creative approach in attracting central capital through upgrading national highways will create conditions for capital to repair road works in the province. This is an effort of Nghe An to reduce the pressure on the provincial budget for traffic maintenance costs. This work has brought great efficiency, directly affecting socio-economic development, opening up new development directions for all regions in the coming time in a sustainable and highly effective direction.

Thanh Le