Strengthening inspection of work to ensure order and safety of inland waterway traffic

(Baonghean) - The results of the inspection of the work of ensuring order and safety of inland waterway traffic in Nghe An province in 2016 showed that: although this field has received attention, there are still lingering problems...

Pursuant to Decision No. 2572/QD-UBND dated June 6, 2016 of the People's Committee of Nghe An province on inspection of work to ensure order and safety of inland waterway traffic in the province, from June 13 to July 22, 2016, the Interdisciplinary Team completed the inspection at 67 wards, communes and towns in 21/21 districts, cities and towns in the whole province.

The interdisciplinary team, following Decision No. 2572, inspected water vehicles illegally transporting passengers from Cua Lo beach to Ngu island.

According to the report of the Interdisciplinary Delegation, the whole province has 128 inland waterway wharves, including 105 cargo wharves, 5 passenger wharves, and 18 cross-river passenger wharves. Of the 105 cargo wharves that mainly gather sand and gravel minerals, only 33 wharves have wharf opening licenses (accounting for 31.43%); of the 5 cargo wharves that mainly gather sand and gravel minerals, only 3 wharves have wharf opening licenses in Cua Lo town and Que Phong district issued by the Department of Transport and the People's Committee of Que Phong district (2 wharves in Vinh city and Con Cuong district do not have wharf opening licenses); of the 18 cross-river passenger wharves, 13 wharves have wharf opening licenses, but the facilities of the wharves (waiting houses, regulation boards, access roads, etc.) are mostly old and degraded.

Regarding inland waterway vehicles, the interdisciplinary team determined that there are about 950 inland waterway vehicles in the province. However, the number of registered and inspected vehicles only reached nearly 30% of the total number of vehicles. In general, the state management work in the field of inland waterway transport has been directed by the People's Committees of districts, cities and towns to implement. However, the work of inspecting and urging the implementation of the sectors and People's Committees at the commune level has not been carried out regularly and promptly, so the effectiveness is not high.

Caught red-handed a water vehicle illegally transporting passengers from Cua Lo beach to Ngu island.

The interdisciplinary team pointed out a number of localities with complicated inland waterway traffic situations but have not paid due attention to state management. These are Cua Lo Town and Con Cuong District - 2 localities where tourist transport activities have not been strictly managed, leading to the situation of unregistered jet skis and tourist transport vehicles, drivers without licenses, certificates of professional competence, appropriate professional certificates, etc. still occurring (Lan Chau - Hon Ngu route, Cua Lo Town and the upstream area of ​​Pha Lai Dam, Con Cuong District). Or in Hoang Mai Town, an area where many provincial and local interdisciplinary teams have inspected and handled the situation, but there is still a situation where people secretly and arbitrarily build temporary pontoon bridges for passengers to cross the Hoang Mai River; Aquaculture activities and bottom-dwelling fishing activities that violate waterway channels and waterway protection corridors have not been completely prevented (typically, in Mai Hung Ward and Quynh Trang Commune, there are more than 40 households setting bottom-dwelling fishing nets on the Hoang Mai River)...

According to Mr. Phan Huy Chuong - Deputy Chief Inspector of the Department of Transport, Head of the interdisciplinary team under Decision 2572, the reason for the above-mentioned shortcomings is that the coordination between local authorities and provincial functional forces in patrolling and controlling inland waterway traffic activities is not regular and continuous. In addition, violations and re-violations of the provisions of the law on inland waterway traffic have not been detected, handled and prevented thoroughly; the direction of the branches and the District People's Committee has not been implemented regularly and promptly by the commune-level authorities...

To further strengthen the work of ensuring order and safety of waterway traffic in the whole province, the Interdisciplinary Delegation has proposed and recommended to the Provincial People's Committee to direct functional forces to regularly coordinate with the Border Guard Command in patrolling and controlling to promptly detect and strictly handle violations of the law on order and safety of maritime and inland waterway traffic; planning of operating areas and passenger pick-up and drop-off stations, management regulations for business services at sea, on rivers, lakes and dams; urging investors and contractors to speed up the construction of bridges across rivers; in areas where people's travel needs across rivers are high but bridges have not been built, the People's Committees of districts, cities and towns must create favorable conditions in terms of stations, vehicles and drivers to serve people's travel, not allowing people to travel by self-made waterway vehicles, temporary pontoon bridges... which pose a high risk of accidents.

Ha Giang