Congressmen lay high hope on Minister of Transport

Traffic situation and Minister of Transport Dinh La Thang were the highlights at the National Assembly meeting on the supervision program for 2012.

 Deputy Le Thi Nga.

Speaking at the meeting, Transport Minister Dinh La Thang proposed that the NA’s supervision program should include comprehensive supervision in the field of traffic and transport.

Le Thi Nga, Vice Chair of the NA’s Committee for Justice, impressed attendants by the speech focusing on “accidents and gridlocks.”

Minister of Transport Dinh La Thang.

 “Based on the criteria for a state of emergency as stipulated in the Ordinance on State of Emergency, the current traffic situation has met those criteria,” Nga said.

The traffic situation needs to be improved immediately through the execution of appropriate measures, especially administrative ones - since if the government declares a state of emergency, it will have to take many measures that restrict some of the rights of citizens and organizations.

For example, the citizens have the right to travel and the right to purchase assets like vehicles, but in a state of emergency, those rights will be restricted, she said.

She also pointed out major reasons for this situation. Firstly, it is the people’s poor awareness of traffic rules. Up to 80 percent of traffic accidents were caused by drivers’ mistakes. Secondly, it is the weakness in state management in this field.

“The government has issued many traffic regulations but nobody observes them and nobody has to take responsibility or is punished for it. In the last three NA terms, more than 150,000 were killed in traffic accidents but no official has resigned and no official has been punished for this. The NA has never dismissed any minister for this reason,” Nga stressed.

She added that in this situation, most employees of agencies in charge of traffic safety are praised to be good employees annually. If personal responsibility is not highlighted and the regulations on NA’s confidence vote is not implemented, this situation cannot be solved thoroughly.

Thirdly, it is the serious imbalance between transport infrastructure and the robust development of means of transport in Vietnam. This originates from the government’s policy, which has not controlled the development of personal vehicles in the last ten years.

According to Nga, many key roads have downgraded very quickly, posing threats of accident. Many policies of the Ministry of Transport have been carried out successfully though they were protested widely at the beginning, for instance the helmet wearing and three-wheeled vehicle ban. However, goals on restricting personal vehicles and combating bribe to traffic policemen are not achieved.

“We cannot fight traffic jams by organizing month or year for traffic jams. This task must be implemented unceasingly and drastically,” Nga said.

Other reasons include slack management of driving license grant and corruption associated with transport officials. Nga said that the Ministry of Transport and Ministry of Public Security have to annually report to the NA about the task of purifying their staffs.

The complex traffic situation need to be tackled by new and forceful solutions, which should be discussed and approved by the National Assembly, Nga said.

“The Government needs the NA to take part in addressing traffic problems by its supreme supervision. The Transport Minister has also proposed that the NA fulfill its supervisory role,” she said.

The NA’s Defense and Security Committee is more than capable of assisting the NA in carrying out its supervisory role in the field of traffic and transport, she added.

Nguyen Anh Son, a deputy from Nam Dinh Province, said that the people consider traffic situation as a pressing issue. If the NA fails to supervise compliance with traffic safety regulations, it will have failed to serve the people properly.

Deputy Dinh Bo Linh, from An Giang Province, said that the poor traffic infrastructure is the main cause of traffic congestion and accidents. He suggested the NA supervise the implementation of policies on infrastructure development.

Many deputies showed their support to newly-elected Minister of Transport Dinh La Thang’s drastic measures to deal with the traffic situation.

Deputy Nguyen Thai Hoc, from Phu Yen province, said that one of the problems of the transport sector is the snail’s pace of transport projects. “But Minister Dinh La Thang has taken tough measures, for example banning transport officials to play golf during their free time to focus their mind on the job. This action is highly appreciated by voters,” Hoc said.

Hoc asked the NA to support Minister Thang to “have Ministers with such drastic attitude.”

Deputy To Van Tam from Kon Tum province said: “Constituents hope that the new Minister of Transport can solve these problems.”

Vietnamnet/ Le Nhung

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