Vinh City explains why sidewalk construction was "whistled"

In recent days, public opinion has been stirred up about the fact that Vinh city has implemented sidewalk excavation to build a parking lot without permission from the Department of Construction, so the construction has been suspended, and the Department of Construction is setting up a team to inspect the project. The incident has greatly affected the progress of urban renovation to celebrate 10 years of being a class 1 city and 230 years of being the Phoenix Central Capital.

Accordingly, the Department of Construction inspected and concluded: Vinh City's survey and construction design documents still had many errors, the survey was incomplete, the design was unreasonable (electric poles were located in parking lots), no completion drawings were made, construction was behind schedule, the units of the joint venture did not have certificates of construction capacity, the investor had not asked for permission from the Department of Construction....

There are still some different opinions on sidewalk construction in Vinh city. Photo: Document

Regarding this issue, Vinh city explains specifically as follows:

To solve the problem of parking on the road and sidewalks, which is common and causes traffic congestion on main streets and in the city center, the People's Committee of Vinh City has repeatedly proposed to the People's Committee of Nghe An Province to allow the use of part of the sidewalk on some streets as parking spaces; however, there has been no consensus from some departments and branches, so the People's Committee of the Province has not agreed with the main reason being that it is not in accordance with the Law on Road Traffic.

Therefore, based on the provisions of Clause 2, Article 25c, Decree 100/2013/ND-CP dated September 3, 2013 of the Government on amending and supplementing a number of articles of Decree 11/2010/ND-CP dated February 24, 2010 of the Government regulating the management and protection of road traffic infrastructure, Vinh City People's Committee has conducted a survey and proposed a plan to renovate the sidewalk to make parking lots to reduce traffic congestion on some main streets while still ensuring sidewalks for pedestrians, not changing the road width, keeping the roadway intact, the structure of the parking lot ensures the load-bearing capacity when stopping and parking, ensuring traffic safety when vehicles enter and exit the parking lot; at the same time, this is determined to be an urban embellishment project to celebrate the 230th anniversary of Phoenix Trung Do, 10 years of Vinh city becoming a class I urban area.

Pursuant to Decision No. 81/2009/QD-UBND dated September 3, 2009 of the People's Committee of Nghe An province on promulgating a number of specific mechanisms and policies in the management and socio-economic development of Vinh city - a type I urban area under the province, the organization of management and exploitation of urban technical infrastructure works: Roads (except for the national highway system), waterways (except for sea routes, inland waterways managed and entrusted by the Central Government), wharves, yards, parking lots, marinas in the area, water supply and drainage systems, public lighting and urban environmental sanitation are decentralized to the People's Committee of Vinh city for implementation, with the consent of the City's Urban Order Steering Committee, Vinh City People's Council, Vinh City People's Committee has issued a policy on investment in construction of the project (in Decision No. 4145/QD-UBND dated July 5, 2017): Renovation of a number of points on the sidewalks of Le Van Linh Street, Vinh City People's Committee ... Mao, Ho Tung Mau, Le Hong Phong, Nguyen Thi Minh Khai as parking lots.

During the project implementation process, Vinh City People's Committee has repeatedly reported to Nghe An Provincial People's Committee, departments and branches on the investment policy for construction of the project as mentioned above.

Specifically stated in: - Plan No. 62-KH/BCĐ dated March 29, 2017 on clearing violations of traffic safety regulations on roads, railways, and sidewalks in Vinh city and implementing the "Year of Urban Order 2017" sent to Nghe An Provincial People's Committee and the Departments of Construction, Transport, Natural Resources and Environment;

- Document No. 3023/UBND-QLDT dated May 25, 2017 of Vinh City People's Committee on Reporting results to the Interdisciplinary Teams according to Decision No. 1786/QD-UBND dated May 4, 2017 of Nghe An Provincial People's Committee sent to the Interdisciplinary Team according to Decision No. 1786/QD-UBND dated May 4, 2017 and Nghe An Department of Transport;

- Report directly at the working session at the Office of Vinh City People's Committee organized by Nghe An Provincial People's Committee to work with Vinh City People's Committee on a number of contents related to state management of urban areas, clearance of traffic safety and site clearance for a number of key works and projects in Vinh City according to Invitation No. 410/GM-UBND dated June 28, 2017 of Nghe An Provincial People's Committee. The working session was chaired by leaders of Nghe An Provincial People's Committee with the participation of representatives of the following departments: Construction, Planning and Investment, Natural Resources and Environment, Transport, Industry and Trade, Agriculture and Rural Development, Home Affairs, Justice...;

- Presentation of Vinh City People's Committee on solutions that Vinh City People's Committee has been implementing to handle violations of encroachment and re-encroachment of traffic safety at the Conference organized by Nghe An Department of Transport at the Office of Nghe An Department of Transport chaired by leaders of Nghe An Provincial People's Committee;

- Report No. 247/BC-UBND dated October 24, 2017 of Vinh City People's Committee on preliminary assessment of the results of the first phase, Plan No. 136/KH-UBND dated March 17, 2017 of Nghe An Provincial People's Committee on clearing violations of road, railway and sidewalk traffic safety regulations in the province for the period 2017-2020 sent to Nghe An Provincial People's Committee, Nghe An Department of Transport, Nghe An Provincial Traffic Safety Committee;

- Report No. 306/BC-UBND dated December 8, 2017 of Vinh City People's Committee on reporting the results of the task of clearing traffic safety violations in 2017 in Vinh City, Nghe An Province to Nghe An Provincial People's Committee, Department of Transport and Provincial Traffic Safety Committee;

- Presentation of Vinh City People's Committee on the results of traffic organization, solutions to prevent traffic congestion, clear corridors and sidewalks in the city at the Online Conference on Summarizing the work of ensuring traffic order and safety in 2017, deploying tasks in 2018, organized online by the Provincial People's Committee at the Office of Nghe An Provincial People's Committee on January 5, 2018, chaired by Chairman of Nghe An Provincial People's Committee Nguyen Xuan Duong with the participation of representatives of the following departments: Construction, Planning and Investment, Natural Resources and Environment, Transport, Industry and Trade, Agriculture and Rural Development, Home Affairs, Justice; Nghe An Provincial Police and Nghe An Provincial Traffic Safety Committee...;

- Report No. 142/BC.UBND dated June 18, 2018 of Vinh City People's Committee on the implementation of state management of traffic safety, urban information, and environmental sanitation in the first 6 months of 2018 in Vinh City sent to Nghe An Provincial People's Committee and Nghe An Department of Transport.

Regarding the plan to renovate and lower the sidewalk to arrange parking spots on a part of the sidewalk: Pursuant to the provisions of Clause 2, Article 25c, Decree 100/2013/ND-CP dated September 3, 2013 of the Government on amending and supplementing a number of articles of Decree 11/2010/ND-CP dated February 24, 2010 of the Government regulating the management and protection of road traffic infrastructure, Vinh City People's Committee has conducted a survey and proposed a plan to renovate and lower the sidewalk to create parking spots to reduce traffic congestion on some main streets while still ensuring sidewalks for pedestrians, not changing the road width, keeping the roadway intact, the structure of the parking lot ensures the load-bearing capacity when stopping and parking, ensuring traffic safety when vehicles enter and exit the parking lot.

Regarding the scale of construction investment: The project was approved by the Vinh City People's Committee for the Technical Economic Report in Decision No. 7372/QD-UBND dated October 30, 2017 and approved for adjustment in Decision No. 9206/QD-UBND dated December 19, 2017, with the following main contents: Project name: Renovation of some points on the sidewalks of Le Mao, Ho Tung Mau, Le Hong Phong, Nguyen Thi Minh Khai streets as parking lots; Investor: Vinh City People's Committee; Construction location: In Le Mao ward and Hung Binh ward, Vinh city, Nghe An province; Project management form: The investor directly manages the project (assigning the Vinh City Investment and Construction Project Management Board to manage the project)... Total construction investment: 13,719,777,000 VND, Capital source: Vinh City budget.

According to the construction contract, the contract performance period is 90 days from May 30, 2018.

Currently, the project has been basically completed, the construction volume is estimated at 85% of the contract volume and is temporarily suspended to seek direction from the Nghe An Department of Construction and Nghe An Provincial People's Committee.

Regarding project classification: Based on the purpose and nature of the project, comparing with item 1.3.9.3, Table 1.3, Appendix 01 attached to Circular 03/2016/TT-BXD dated March 10, 2016 of the Ministry of Construction, Vinh City People's Committee determined that the project: Renovation of some points on the sidewalks of Le Mao, Ho Tung Mau, Le Hong Phong, Nguyen Thi Minh Khai streets as parking lots is a level IV technical infrastructure project.(Parking lot for vehicles, machinery, equipment (without roof) with area <2.5ha).Therefore, the authority to appraise the Economic and Technical Report on the construction of the above project is assigned to the Vinh City Urban Management Department to implement according to the decentralization in Decision No. 41/2017/QD-UBND dated April 5, 2017 of the People's Committee of Nghe An province.

Also according to this document, Vinh City hopes that the People's Committee of Nghe An Province and the Department of Construction of Nghe An Province will allow the People's Committee of Vinh City to continue completing the remaining items of the project in time to celebrate the 230th anniversary of Phoenix Trung Do and the 10th anniversary of Vinh City becoming a class I urban area. Considering this as a pilot project, during the exploitation process, the People's Committee of Vinh City will organize an assessment to meet the project's objectives and report to the People's Committee of Nghe An Province and relevant departments and branches to allow it to be expanded throughout the city if it achieves good results.

Vinh City Party Committee also sent an official dispatch to the Standing Committee of the Provincial Party Committee on this issue.

Also according to the explanatory document, Vinh City People's Committee committed to directing relevant departments, offices and units to organize a review for errors that occurred during project implementation; at the same time, organize the review, adjustment and correction of errors related to design documents and estimates to ensure compliance with regulations.