Local leaders have not been bold enough to deal with sidewalk encroachment.

On the morning of September 15, the Standing Committee of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Council held a session to explain "Work to ensure order and safety of road traffic in the area".

At the explanation session, delegate Le Minh Duc, Deputy Head of the Legal Committee of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Council, pointed out the fact that the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee directed districts to strengthen inspection and handling of violations of road and sidewalk order that affect traffic safety. However, in reality, a few days later, everything was back to normal.

"That shows that Ho Chi Minh City and localities do not have a strategic, comprehensive, long-term solution," Mr. Duc acknowledged and suggested that Ho Chi Minh City leaders propose strategies and policies to completely resolve this situation.

Some other delegates pointed out the current situation of roads in Cu Chi and Binh Chanh being mostly narrow, with only enough space for one car lane, thus posing many potential traffic accident risks. Meanwhile, investment procedures are lengthy, with some projects taking 2-3 years from the time the Ho Chi Minh City People's Council approved the project investment policy until construction.

Overview of the explanation session on ensuring traffic order and safety organized by the Standing Committee of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Council on the morning of September 15

Speaking to delegates, Vice Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee Bui Xuan Cuong said that the city is interested in investing in traffic infrastructure, but the current situation has not yet met the requirements. Specifically, the whole city has more than 4,900 km of roads, with a traffic density of 2.34 km/ ^km2 , equivalent to 25% of the standard. Similarly, the land area for traffic is only 13%, equivalent to 54% of the standard.

Not to mention, the urban development process has seen trading, encroachment, and use of roads and sidewalks. Localities have directed and mobilized, but the effectiveness is not high and not sustainable.

Mr. Cuong explained that the encroachment of sidewalks and roads has both objective and subjective causes, such as the city has a large population, people still encroach for their livelihoods, or subjective reasons such as sidewalks are not uniform, and many places are not strictly managed.

"Local leaders have not been bold enough to thoroughly handle the situation of encroachment on sidewalks and roads," Mr. Cuong assessed.

Mr. Bui Xuan Cuong, Vice Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee, answered questions about encroachment on sidewalks and roads.

To propose a solution to this situation, Mr. Bui Xuan Cuong requested the Traffic Safety Committee to propose a number of areas to handle to clarify the responsibilities of the heads and deputy heads assigned to the task of allowing violations of roadside use leading to traffic accidents.

Accordingly, if there are consequences, the maximum classification is that the task has been completed well, and in serious cases, the task has been classified as not completed.

Regarding traffic safety in general, Mr. Cuong said the city will focus on improving the capacity to manage, sanction and coordinate traffic; handle behaviors that are the main causes of traffic congestion, especially strictly handle behaviors of not obeying signals, riding on sidewalks, and encroaching on the road.

Ho Chi Minh City leaders also requested to arrange enough traffic police to regulate traffic during rush hours at complex intersections, especially 24 traffic jams, Tan Son Nhat airport area and Cat Lai - Phu Huu port. Outside of rush hours, youth volunteers, militia and volunteer forces can be mobilized.

According to the report of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee, from January 2022 to June 2023, the traffic accident situation is still complicated, with many potential risks if there are no drastic and positive solutions.

In 2022, there were 2,011 traffic accidents in Ho Chi Minh City, killing 630 people and injuring 1,321 people. In the first 6 months of 2023, there were 779 accidents, killing 294 people. By the end of 2022, Ho Chi Minh City still had 9 traffic accident black spots.

During this period, traffic police and traffic inspectors also fined hundreds of thousands of violations with a total fine of nearly VND1,000 billion. Specifically, Ho Chi Minh City traffic police fined nearly 604,000 cases with a total fine of more than VND902 billion; at the same time, they fined nearly 72,000 cases without making a record with a total fine of more than VND10 billion.

Meanwhile, the HCM City Department of Transport Inspectorate focused on handling bus transfer stations, disguised buses, pick-up and drop-off points that do not ensure security and order, and overloaded cargo. In total, in 1.5 years, traffic inspectors have fined more than 11,000 cases with a total fine of 59 billion VND.

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