"Overhead trash" strewn across the streets.

(Baonghean.vn) - "Sky litter" is how people in Vinh City refer to the tangled mess of electrical wires and telecommunication cables strung haphazardly across the sky, causing urban blight and posing a high risk of fire and explosions, as well as safety hazards. This is an issue that city voters have repeatedly petitioned the People's Councils at all levels to address, but it has yet to be thoroughly resolved.

Walking along central city streets like Dinh Cong Trang, Le Hong Phong, Nguyen Phong Sac, etc., it's easy to spot the tangled mess of all kinds of black and white cables and wires strung across utility poles and streetlights like a spiderweb. This situation is even more widespread and serious in many inner and inter-block roads, making the urban landscape unsightly and posing a potential fire hazard and safety risk during the hot season.

In fact, "sky litter" has existed for many years and has become a persistent problem, with city voters repeatedly petitioning the people's councils at all levels to address it. However, the actions taken by relevant agencies and local authorities to deal with "sky litter" have not been as effective as desired.

Most recently, in mid-March, the Department of Information and Communications, in coordination with the Vinh City People's Committee and Nghe An Power Company, held a meeting with telecommunications, information, and cable television companies to report on the situation of reorganizing telecommunications cables on power poles in 2014 and the plan for 2015. Accordingly, in 2014, Nghe An Power Company and telecommunications cable installation businesses organized the reorganization of cable bundles on four streets: Nguyen Thi Minh Khai, Dinh Cong Trang, Le Loi, and Mai Hac De.

It is expected that in 2015, Nghe An Power Company and telecommunications cable businesses will organize the removal of "overhead clutter" on roads such as Le Hong Phong, Nguyen Van Cu, Ha Huy Tap, Nguyen Trai, Nguyen Thai Hoc, Truong Chinh, Tran Hung Dao, Dang Thai Than, Phan Dinh Phung, Tran Phu, Le Duan, Nguyen Du…

However, even though the second quarter of 2015 has ended, the problem of "sky litter" on the main streets of Vinh city's inner city shows no signs of abating. Voters in many wards and communes where this problem persists say they will continue to raise this issue at subsequent council meetings, hoping to reclaim a civilized and modern urban space.

Here are some images of "sky litter" captured by our reporter on the streets of Vinh City:

A tangled mess of electrical wires on Le Hong Phong street (photo taken at 8:20 AM on June 30th)

Electrical wires and telecommunication cables... are tangled together like a spiderweb on Hermann Gmeiner Street (9:00 AM, June 30).

Loudspeakers in neighborhoods and streets are often subjected to the constant barrage of "overhead litter" (photo taken at 8 AM on Phung Phuc Kieu - Le Mao street, Vinh City).

A "matrix" of wires and cables obscures even the advertising signs of businesses (at 9 am on Nguyen Duy Trinh street on June 30).

Disused telecommunication cables remain in place, making the already tangled "spiderweb" even more unsightly (Photo taken on Nguyen Phong Sac Street at 9 am on June 30).

Many dry, broken branches from previous rainy and stormy seasons still hang precariously amidst the tangled electrical wires, increasing the risk of fire during the hot season. (Photo taken on the morning of June 30th on Phung Phuc Kieu Street)

Images of power lines running parallel to trees like this are commonly seen on many streets and alleys in Vinh City, "suffocating" the ecological environment (Photo taken on Dinh Cong Trang Street - Vinh City).

The utility pole is leaning significantly to one side due to the weight of the electrical wires and cables over a long period of time. The photo was taken on Hermann Gmeiner Street on the morning of June 30th.

Phuoc Anh