The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Construction has just issued a document requesting the City Police, People's Committees of wards, communes, special zones and related units to strengthen the rectification of road and sidewalk order to ensure traffic safety in the city.
According to the Department of Construction, through inspections in recent times, many roads in the city are still often encroached upon for business purposes, parking in violation of regulations, organizing inappropriate activities such as weddings, funerals, gathering construction materials, waste, using hand-carts and homemade vehicles.
These acts not only disrupt traffic but also pose many potential risks of accidents, causing unsafety and urban aesthetics.
In order to rectify the above situation, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Construction assigned the Road Traffic Infrastructure Management Center and the Urban Traffic Management Center to strengthen the review and assessment of the current status of sidewalk order in the entire area.
On routes with frequent violations, it is necessary to propose appropriate infrastructure solutions, including installing additional surveillance cameras and warning signs at complex locations, supporting inspection and handling of violations more effectively.
At the same time, infrastructure management units are required to strengthen coordination with localities to ensure smooth traffic, especially in areas at high risk of congestion, to prevent the recurrence of gathering, encroachment on roads and sidewalks causing disorder in traffic safety.
The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Construction also requested the City Police to direct the Traffic Police and the Police of wards and communes to increase patrols, inspections and strictly punish cases of stopping and parking on the road and sidewalk to buy goods, especially at spontaneous trading points. At the same time, it is necessary to coordinate with local authorities to organize surprise inspections, maintain regular and long-term handling to ensure urban order.
The People's Committees of wards and communes are also required to direct functional forces to strengthen inspection and strictly handle encroachment on roadsides and sidewalks, especially in spontaneous trading areas around traditional markets, unit markets, in front of school gates, hospitals, export processing zones - industrial parks, bus waiting houses, stops and key intersections.
From January 1, 2024, Ho Chi Minh City will officially collect temporary fees for use of sidewalks and roads according to Resolution 15/2023/NQ-HDND.
The fee ranges from 50,000 - 350,000 VND/m2/month for parking activities and from 20,000 - 100,000 VND/m2/month for other purposes such as trading, service business, organizing cultural events, etc.
According to the Department of Construction, the fee collection helps legalize the use of part of the sidewalk, while preserving urban aesthetics. However, the implementation is not yet synchronous, many localities have not implemented it thoroughly, leading to illegal traffic and vehicle parking still occurring, affecting order and raising doubts about the transparency of the policy.
In order to improve management, the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee has approved the policy of assigning the Department of Construction to coordinate with the City Development Research Institute to develop a Project on management, exploitation and use of roadways and sidewalks according to the Law on Management and Use of Public Assets.
The project will collect relevant information and experience in Binh Duong and Ba Ria - Vung Tau provinces (old) to serve as a basis for application throughout Ho Chi Minh City (new).
If approved, the Department of Construction will coordinate with relevant units to complete the project within 12 months and organize a pilot in some central wards, roads with wide enough sidewalks, suitable for reality, traffic needs, economic development, tourism, etc., before expanding the implementation widely.
