On March 24, Trieu Binh Commune People's Committee confirmed that Trieu Do pontoon bridge across the Thach Han River, connecting Trieu Binh commune with the central area, is continuing to "close" while people's travel needs are still very large. Currently, there is no agreement on how to determine the nature of the project and management authority between Quang Tri Provincial Department of Construction and Trieu Binh Commune People's Committee.
Previously, on March 20, the Quang Tri Department of Construction had a document sent to the Trieu Binh Commune People's Committee responding to the content regarding the management of people's pontoon bridge activities across the Thach Han River.
The Department of Construction affirmed that this pontoon bridge has a floating structure made of plastic buoys, linking the steel frame floor with wires, and is identified as a "floating raft" type according to the document of the Vietnam Register. Based on Article 25 of the 2004 Law on Inland Waterway Traffic, this type is not subject to registration or inspection, but must ensure safety conditions.
From there, the Department of Construction believes that Trieu Do pontoon bridge is not subject to registration, and management is mainly through checking safety conditions during operation. At the same time, this agency proposed that the bridge owner develop an operating plan, disaster prevention and control, rescue and relief, along with design documents to be sent to Trieu Binh Commune People's Committee for management organization.
However, Trieu Binh Commune People's Committee has a different view. According to the locality, Trieu Do pontoon bridge is not simply a "floating bridge" but a large-scale traffic project, with technical design approval from before with full items such as hard spans, pontoon spans, bridge abutments, approach spans and anchorage systems.
The locality also cited the 2004 Road Traffic Law, in which "batches" are understood as temporary vehicles, simply combined. Therefore, classifying pontoon bridges into "batches" is not suitable for reality, leading to difficulties in determining management authority. Meanwhile, after reorganizing the apparatus, the commune level currently does not have professional staff in the field of transportation to take on this task.
Faced with differences in understanding, Trieu Binh Commune People's Committee has proposed to Quang Tri Provincial People's Committee to consider and direct the Provincial Police to temporarily allow the bridge to be reopened, and at the same time assign a leading agency to coordinate in inspecting and evaluating technical safety conditions to soon put the project back into operation.
The suspension of the pontoon bridge from March 16 has disrupted people's lives. This is an important traffic route formed in 2002, built by 5 households contributing capital, serving travel needs between the rural area of Trieu Phong (old) and the urban area of Dong Ha. Every day, the bridge serves many passengers, mainly farmers, students and workers. In particular, the bridge reduces fees by 50% for students and is free for patients. When the bridge is stopped, people are forced to go around Dai Loc bridge, about 10km further.
