It took Vinh City nearly a month to replace a sign that had expired for half a year.

(Baonghean.vn) - Signs that have expired for more than half a year will be removed and replaced with new signs according to Decision 70 at a cost of about 1.5 billion VND.

» Vinh City: Sign expired for half a year but still not re-installed

On July 2, Mr. Bui Duc Loc - Director of Vinh Urban Infrastructure Management and Development Joint Stock Company said that this unit is removing a series of signs on more than 70 routes to replace them with new signs. "We have been removing them for more than a week, and it is expected to be completed on July 20," said Mr. Loc.

According to an urban officer of Vinh City, this round of sign replacement will cost the city about 1.5 billion VND. The new signs will take effect immediately after being installed.

Old signs were removed. Photo: Tien Hung

Previously, on December 6, 2016, Nghe An Provincial People's Committee issued Decision No. 70/QD - UBND, replacing Decision No. 10, adjusting the ban on trucks with a permitted cargo weight (according to the certificate of technical safety inspection and environmental protection of road motor vehicles), from 1.8 tons or more (the old decision banned trucks with a total weight of 4 tons or more) and passenger cars with 16 seats or more from operating from 6:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. on 50 main roads.

On the remaining 19 routes, trucks with a permitted cargo weight of 4 tons or more and passenger cars with 16 seats or more are prohibited from operating from 6:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. every day. Decision 70 signed by Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Huynh Thanh Dien also prohibits trucks and passenger cars from traveling on drainage ditch No. 1 (connecting Nguyen Thai Hoc Street to Ho Thanh Street) and drainage ditch No. 3.

Workers install a new replacement sign on Minh Khai Street. Photo: Tien Hung.

In addition, trucks that do not deliver or receive goods in Vinh city with a permitted cargo weight of 4 tons or more and passenger vans running on fixed routes that do not have approval to pick up or drop off passengers at Vinh Bus Station or Vinh Market Bus Station are prohibited from entering Vinh city from 5:00 a.m. to midnight every day.

Particularly, the routes: Truong Thi, Ho Tung Mau, Le Mao (section from the provincial Post Office intersection to the intersection with Tran Phu street) prohibit the above vehicles and passenger transport vehicles under contract from operating 24/24 hours a day.

This Decision takes effect from December 20, 2016, abolishing Decision No. 43/2014/QD-UBND dated July 28, 2014 promulgating Regulations on routes and restricted travel times for vehicles participating in traffic in Vinh city and Decision No. 10/2016/QD-UBND dated January 18, 2016, adjusting Regulations on routes and restricted travel times for vehicles participating in traffic in Vinh city.

Installing the new sign took nearly a month and cost about 1.5 billion VND. Photo: Tien Hung.

From the date the Decision was widely promulgated until it took effect, Vinh City had nearly half a month to replace the signs. However, half a year has passed, hundreds of expired signs have not been removed, and new signs according to Decision 70 have not been installed, causing difficulties in the inspection and handling of violating vehicles because "we do not know whether to inspect and punish according to the effective Decision or according to the signs".

Previously, signs that had expired for half a year had not been removed, making it difficult for traffic police to impose fines. Photo: Tien Hung.

“After the decision was made, the company proposed it during Tet, and should have done it on time, but there was no capital at that time. After that, the Vinh City People's Council included the installation of new signs in the 2017 maintenance and repair budget. When there was capital, the company made a plan to survey all the roads and signs to design and prepare a dossier to submit to the Construction Department, but it was not approved. They asked to restore the current status and redo the dossier,” said Mr. Loc, admitting that the installation of signs was “clearly late,” but “it was required by the process.”

Tien Hung