Vietnam Road Administration responds to Nghe An Newspaper

• DNUM_DBZADZCABF 20:01

(Baonghean.vn) - On March 31, 2015, Nghe An Newspaper received Official Dispatch No. 1490/TCDBVN-QLBTDB from the Vietnam Road Administration (Ministry of Transport) in response to Nghe An Newspaper's reflection on damage on National Highway 1A through Nghe An province.

The content of the document is as follows:

“On March 21, 2015, Nghe An newspaper (www.baonghean.vn) published an article “National Highway 1 has just been put into use and is already seriously damaged” and Tuoi Tre online newspaper (www.tuoitre.vn) on March 24, 2015 published an article “The newly completed 5,500 billion VND road has sunk”. Regarding the above content, the Directorate for Roads of Vietnam (DRVN) would like to send the following content to the newspapers:

- Realizing that the road surface of the section Km406+280-Km406+315, National Highway 1 (right of the route) has been damaged since the beginning of March 2015. On March 17, 2015, the Road Management Sub-Department II.2 under the Road Management Department II sent 02 inspectors to work with the Executive Director of the National Highway 1 project under Project Management Board 85. At the meeting, the parties determined that the cause of the damage to the above section was due to the impact of the traffic accident that occurred on December 24, 2014, diesel oil flowing onto the road surface seeped into the asphalt concrete (BTN) over time, denaturing the asphalt concrete, leading to damage to the section Km406+280-Km406+315, National Highway 1 (1/2 of the road surface on the right of the route). At the meeting, the Department of Road Management II.2 requested Project Management Board 85 to direct the contractor to immediately fix the problem to ensure traffic safety. (Please attach a copy of the meeting minutes dated March 17, 2015)

Immediately after that, on March 18, 2015, Project Management Board 85, Supervision Consultant, and Construction Contractor met to agree on the repair measure of cutting off the damaged BTN section to replace it with new BTN. However, at that time, the North Central region had drizzle so it could not be handled (the wet weather did not allow watering and adhesion of BTN), which affected traffic safety as reported by Nghe An Newspaper and Tuoi Tre Online Newspaper. Thus, the handling of the matter was not timely as expected by public opinion and the people. On the other hand, the Road Management Department II.2 worked with Project Management Board 85 but did not promptly report to the General Department of Roads of Vietnam to grasp the information for timely direction. Regarding this matter, the General Department of Roads of Vietnam is directing the Road Management Department II to take measures to temporarily suspend the Head of the Road Management Department II.2 for review.

In recent days, the weather has been favorable, Project Management Board 85 has directed the Contractor to repair the damaged section mentioned above and completed it on the morning of March 29, 2015. Regarding the phenomenon of sagging road surface, the General Department of Roads of Vietnam has issued a document directing all units to regularly monitor. If the sagging phenomenon exceeds the regulations and affects traffic safety, the subjects will be required to repair it.

On this occasion, the General Department of Roads of Vietnam would like to thank Nghe An Newspaper, Tuoi Tre Online Newspaper, Transport Newspaper and press agencies for their attention, monitoring and articles reflecting the positive and negative aspects of the road sector so that the road sector can strive to complete the tasks assigned by the Ministry of Transport, serving the people better and better."

Attached to the official dispatch 1490/TCDBVN-QLBTDB is Decision No. 770/QD-CQLDBII deciding to suspend the work of the cadre for Mr. Nguyen Viet Phuong, Head of the Road Management Sub-Department II.2, Road Management Department II from March 27, 2015, to consider the level of involvement with the content of the article mentioned; Report No. 782/BC-CQLDBII reporting on handling cadres related to the content of the article mentioned; Minutes of working to ensure traffic safety on the road in operation; Minutes of on-site inspection, agreeing on the plan to repair the asphalt surface damaged by diesel oil from Km406+280-Km406+315.

The editorial board of Nghe An Newspaper would like to thank the Vietnam Road Administration (Ministry of Transport) for its attention to monitoring, handling and timely responding to the issues raised by Nghe An Newspaper.