Developing road infrastructure system to meet modernization requirements

According to the program of the 6th Session of the 15th National Assembly, on the morning of November 10, the National Assembly listened to the Presentation and Report on the review of the Road Law project.

Minister of Transport Nguyen Van Thang presents the Proposal on the Road Law project. Photo: Doan Tan/VNA

Supplementing development policies for road operations

Presenting the Report on the Road Law project, Minister of Transport Nguyen Van Thang said that the drafting of the Road Law aims to institutionalize the Party's guidelines and the State's policies on developing the road infrastructure system and road transport to meet the requirements of industrialization and modernization of the country, ensuring smooth and safe traffic; creating a breakthrough mechanism to build a synchronous and modernized infrastructure system; prioritizing the development of a number of key national transport projects, adapting to climate change according to the Resolution of the 13th National Party Congress.

In addition, the 2008 Road Traffic Law has revealed a number of problems that need to be amended and supplemented, especially the provisions on mechanisms to mobilize social resources in the construction of road infrastructure; application and development of information technology in the management and operation of road activities; adjustment of types of automobile transport business to suit the reality. Therefore, the development of the Road Law project is necessary.

The draft Road Law consists of 6 chapters and 92 articles. Compared to the draft Road Traffic Law of 2008, 3 chapters have been transferred to the Law on Road Traffic Order and Safety.

Regarding the main content of the draft Law, Chapter I "General Provisions" includes 9 articles. Compared with the 2008 Road Traffic Law, the draft Law has a number of new points such as: Changing the scope of regulation of the draft Law (Article 1); supplementing development policies for road activities based on the policies of the Party and State (Article 5); regulations on intelligent traffic systems (Article 7), road databases (Article 8).

Chapter II "Road Infrastructure" consists of 37 articles (from Article 10 to Article 46). Compared to the 2008 Road Traffic Law, the draft Law adds village roads to the road network (Article 10); classifies roads (Articles 11, 12); regulates the ratio of urban traffic land to urban construction land for newly built urban areas and for urban areas in remote, border, island areas, and urban areas that are UNESCO-recognized heritage sites (Article 15); adds regulations on land for road infrastructure (Article 16); road safety corridors (Articles 18, 19)...

Chapter III "Expressways" includes 14 Articles (from Article 47 to Article 60) with new points such as: Supplementing regulations to clarify expressways (Article 47); standards, regulations and application of science and technology in design, construction, management, operation and exploitation of expressways (Article 48); policies on development, investment and construction of expressways (Article 49, Article 50); supplementing regulations on expansion, renovation, upgrading and modernization of expressway projects (Article 51)...

Ensuring consistency and feasibility

Chairman of the National Assembly's Defense and Security Committee Le Tan Toi presented the Report on the review of the Road Law project. Photo: Van Diep/VNA

The report on the review of the Road Law project presented by Chairman of the National Assembly's Committee on National Defense and Security Le Tan Toi stated that the Committee on National Defense and Security agreed with the necessity of promulgating the Road Law to continue institutionalizing the Party's guidelines and policies; concretizing the provisions of the 2013 Constitution; and internalizing relevant international treaties to which Vietnam is a member.

At the same time, the promulgation of the Road Law will contribute to overcoming the shortcomings and limitations of the 2008 Road Traffic Law, creating a complete legal basis for road transport activities, promoting the development of road traffic and better ensuring citizens' freedom of movement; continuing to reform administrative procedures, ensuring convenience and transparency in procedures, enhancing the effectiveness and efficiency of state management of roads and road traffic order and safety.

Considering that the draft Basic Law is consistent with the Party's policies and the provisions of the 2013 Constitution, ensuring consistency in the legal system, compatibility with relevant international treaties to which Vietnam is a member and ensuring feasibility, however, the National Defense and Security Committee proposes to continue reviewing a number of specific provisions of the draft Law to ensure consistency with the provisions in the draft Law on Road Traffic Order and Safety and relevant legal provisions; compatibility with international treaties; and supplementing impact assessments for a number of new provisions added to the draft Law to ensure feasibility.

According to Chairman of the National Assembly's Committee on National Defense and Security Le Tan Toi, the draft Law has been carefully and meticulously prepared by the Government, ensuring strictness and completeness in accordance with the provisions of the Law on Promulgation of Legal Documents; and is qualified to be submitted to the National Assembly for comments.

Regarding the scope of regulation, the National Defense and Security Committee basically agrees with the scope of regulation of the draft Law to focus on in-depth regulations on road infrastructure and road transport activities, but suggests continuing to study and clarify the scope of regulation as well as some contents of the draft Law with the draft Law on Road Traffic Order and Safety to ensure consistency, avoid overlap, and ensure consistency and feasibility.

Going into some specific contents of the draft Law, regarding the development policy for road activities (Article 5), some opinions suggested adding the content of developing modern road infrastructure in sync with the development of road vehicles. There were opinions suggesting adding the content of prioritizing the development of public passenger transport associated with the roadmap to limit personal vehicles participating in traffic in large cities in Clause 2 to be consistent with the Party's policy and practical requirements. Regarding this content, the National Defense and Security Committee suggested studying and revising the draft Law to be complete, ensuring consistency in the legal system, consistent with practice and the Party's directives.

Regarding the land fund for road infrastructure (Article 15), the National Defense and Security Committee basically agrees with the provisions of the draft Law because it believes that the drafting agency has classified and regulated the land fund ratio for urban road infrastructure in accordance with the urban classification. Regulating the land fund ratio in existing urban areas is not feasible because this regulation only applies to urban areas built after the Law takes effect. Applying it to existing urban areas will lead to major disruptions in planning and construction, affecting people's lives and requiring particularly large financial resources to implement.

According to Baotintuc.vn

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