DRVN calls for better road maintenance

Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - The Directorate for Roads of Vietnam (DRVN) has called on various agencies to fulfill their responsibility for maintaining transport projects on national highways and expressways at the end of the year.

The move comes as several transport works have been damaged and degraded soon after they were put into use.

According to the DRVN, many investors had urged contractors to repair damaged road sections during the maintenance period.

However, some departments did not pay much attention to their task. There are many works that have been damaged or degraded during the maintenance period, but investors have not been able to get contractors to promptly repair them. In many cases, repairs were delayed for a long time, affecting traffic safety and causing public annoyance.

The DRVN asked the Road Administration and the Department of Transport to intensify inspections, detect defects of the works and request concerned agencies to repair them.

The directorate also highlighted the need to evaluate the repairing work of the investor, project management board and enterprise and strictly handle violations, it said.

Regarding BOT (Build-Operate-Transfer) investors who fail to take responsibility for maintenance work, the DRVN asked the departments of transport and the Road Administration to propose fines, cut maintenance costs, stop collecting fees, and handle contractual violations, depending on the seriousness of the violation.

For public investment projects, BT (Build-Transfer) projects and other projects, contractors would see their project guarantees revoked or be banned from participating in bidding for a period of time.

For projects using State funds, the units must report truthfully on the quality of the project when maintenance expires and take responsibility for project quality.

For projects that the Ministry of Transport, DRVN and local departments of transport are assigned to act as investors, the DRVN requested units to urgently ask contractors to repair damage or defects during the maintenance period and strictly supervise the repair performance./.