Not yet handed over, National Highway 19 has deteriorated
The Project to Strengthen Transport Connectivity in the Central Highlands Region (also known as the National Highway 19 Upgrade Project, Gia Lai province) is invested by Project Management Board 2 (Ministry of Construction), with a total length of more than 143km and a total investment of more than 3,650 billion VND.
Although completed, the project has not yet been accepted and handed over to local management. After two consecutive natural disasters in November 2025, many locations of National Highway 19 section passing through An Khe pass have appeared damaged and degraded.
Recorded in the first days of February 2026, the surface of National Highway 19 section of An Khe pass appeared many potholes, peeling asphalt concrete; many sections were sunken, forming high crevices along wheel tracks. The drainage ditches, guardrails, and culverts at some locations were also partially damaged but have not been repaired. These damaged locations belong to package XL01, constructed by Bac Trung Nam Joint Stock Company.
Regularly traveling through An Khe Pass, Mr. Ha Tien Tuan (31 years old, residing in Po To commune, Gia Lai province) said that the surface of National Highway 19 has been damaged since storms and floods, but has not been repaired until now. The pass route has many narrow curves, when encountering potholes, vehicles are forced to avoid, it is very easy to encroach on the lane and occur traffic collisions.
In the rainy season, we are worried about landslides, in the sunny season, we are afraid of accidents because there are too many potholes and craters. The road has a large traffic volume, it needs to be repaired soon so that people can travel safely, especially during Tet," Mr. Tuan said.
In order to ensure traffic safety on National Highway 19 during the Binh Ngo Tet holiday 2026, especially the section through An Khe pass, the Department of Construction of Gia Lai province has requested Project Management Board 2 to urgently direct contractors and related units to review, inspect, and assess the current status of the route's operation. In which, focus on handling locations of localized road surface damage, potholes, peeling, especially degraded points on An Khe pass. According to requirements, all repairs must be completed in January 2026. However, so far, the contractor has not completely repaired the damage according to schedule.
Commit to repairing damage before Tet
On February 3, in an exchange with Lao Dong Newspaper, a representative of Project Management Board 2 said that the unit had repeatedly urged, but the construction contractor deployed very slowly, not meeting the required progress, especially the completion milestone of repairs in January 2026. Therefore, the Board continues to issue documents requesting the contractor to urgently fix the damage before February 10.
After this deadline, if the contractor does not complete the repair, Project Management Board 2 will request Tien Phong Commercial Joint Stock Bank - Cuu Long Branch to coordinate in implementing the necessary procedures to implement the guarantee commitments for the contractor, as a basis for implementing the next steps. The contractor must bear full responsibility before the law if there is delay in overcoming existing problems and defects, affecting traffic safety and the progress of project handover.
According to a representative of Project Management Board 2, in recent days, the An Khe pass area has been frequently rainy, causing repair interruptions. Currently, the contractor is fixing local damages such as drainage ditches, guardrails, markers..., and in the next few days, it will proceed to scrape off damaged road surfaces to re-asphalt. "The project is expected to be handed over in the first quarter of 2026. Therefore, road surface damage problems will be thoroughly resolved to ensure conditions for acceptance and project handover according to regulations," this representative said.
