National Highway 7 is degraded, who is responsible?

The degraded state of National Highway 7 through Tam Thai commune (Tuong Duong). Photo: Ho Phuong

Being present on this road section on a day at the end of May, we observed that the National Highway 7 section from Km143 to Km175 has many seriously degraded spots. Especially the concrete sections, potholes, deep ditches are present with high density. Traffic participants were upset and said that this road section has been degraded for many years but no unit has come forward to repair it to ensure the safety of people and vehicles traveling through here.

Mr. Pham Thanh Vien - Deputy Head of Cua Rao Road Management Department (the unit in charge of maintenance and repair of National Highway 7, section Km 143 + 00 to Km 182 + 00) said: The damaged and degraded sections in Tam Thai and Thach Giam communes are part of the road managed by the Department, but for the past 4 years, that degraded section of road has not been managed by his department but by Khe Bo Hydropower Plant. "We know that the road is damaged and degraded, but it is not our authority so we have to accept it!..." - Mr. Vien explained.

Cracks and deep grooves appear with high density on National Highway 7. Photo: Ho Phuong

Working directly with Mr. Tran Van Loan - Head of Technical Department of Khe Bo Hydropower Company. Mr. Loan said: The section of National Highway 7 from Km 143 + 150 to Km 149 + 350, has 4 sections at risk of flooding every time Khe Bo Hydropower Plant stores water, forcing the Khe Bo Hydropower Project Management Board, whose investor is Vietnam Electricity Development Joint Stock Company, to upgrade to ensure that National Highway 7 is not flooded; specifically, including the sections from Km 143 + 150 to Km 143 + 772; Km 144 + 127 to Km 144 + 568; Km 146 + 585 to Km 146 + 924; Km 148 + 00 to Km 149 + 350.

These sections and points started construction in 2011, and have not yet been handed over to the Road Management Department... "In fact, we only manage the rerouting section of the National Highway 7 landslide prevention project from Km 148 + 00 to Km 148 + 500, while the other sections belong to one of the compensation and resettlement items of the Khe Bo Hydropower Project. And the entire item has been authorized by the investor to Tuong Duong district, and the Khe Bo Hydropower Project Management Board (in Tuong Duong district) is directly responsible. The selection of contractors for the above sections is selected by Tuong Duong district. The investor and Khe Bo Hydropower Company do not directly manage it," Mr. Loan added.

In addition to the degraded state, this section of the highway is also suffering from serious landslides. Photo: Ho Phuong

Regarding this issue, Mr. Nguyen Van Hai - Chairman of the People's Committee of Tuong Duong district said: "Now that place (the damaged and degraded road sections belonging to the project that Tuong Duong district was authorized to upgrade before - PV) is no longer available, because the warranty has expired. The construction project has been under construction for a long time and has not been handed over, the construction unit has left (?!). We have urged that contractor many times but to no avail!"...

According to the reporter's additional notes, in addition to the serious degradation of the above-mentioned road sections, a crack longer than 48m has appeared on the negative slope of National Highway 7 at Km 147 + 600. Notably, some points of this crack are only 30cm to 40cm from the roadbed of National Highway 7, directly affecting the safety of National Highway 7.

Crack at Km 147 + 600 on National Highway 7. Photo: Ho Phuong

Discussing this issue, Mr. Pham Thanh Vien - Deputy Head of Cua Rao Road Management Department said that the above crack appeared at the end of 2017 and has fluctuated more strongly since the beginning of 2018 due to prolonged heavy rains. "The department has also sent a report and images to the Road Management Department for timely handling" - Mr. Vien continued.

In addition to the above problems, the anti-landslide project on National Highway 7 in the Khe Bo Hydropower Reservoir is also causing a lot of inconvenience to traffic participants, because this project has been under construction since 2014 and has been extended 5 times but is still not completed.

The anti-landslide construction on National Highway 7 has been causing a lot of trouble for road users for more than 3 years now, especially during the rainy season. Photo: Ho Phuong

The question is: When will the above degraded sections of National Highway 7 be repaired and whose responsibility exactly is it?