Minister of Transport Dinh La Thang responded to questions about theoverall picture of infrastructure and the responsibility of the ministryand local authorities for ensuring traffic safety at a NationalAssembly question-and-answer session in Hanoi on November 18.
To ease concern about inappropriate transport tolls, Thang said hisministry is restructuring the sector, with a focus on public investment,State-owned enterprises and public transportation, including road,railway, aviation, inland waterway and navigation.
The aim isto improve the service quality, thereby reducing transport tolls, hesaid, adding that prices of railway services are still the same despitethe rising fuel costs.
In the aviation field, the ministry iscalling for private financing, partly paving the way for equitisation,with Vietnam Airlines as a recent success story. Its prices are lowerthan those offered by regional rivals, he pointed out.
Aboutthe development of transport infrastructure, the ministry has alsoproposed a number of policies that engage domestic and foreign investorsin the process. For the past three years, as many as 160 trillion VND(7.6 billion USD) have been raised from the public, or 60 percent ofinvestment from the official development assistance, State budget andgovernment bonds.
The sector is considering a plan to taskinvestors with fee collection and management after their projects aredone. Beyond that, a comprehensive plan to mobilise all possibleresources for infrastructure upgrading is in the pipeline, Thanginformed.
The minister also noted with delight thatinfrastructure is giving rural areas a new facelift, contributing totheir ongoing new rural construction.
In response to questionsabout the progress of building suspension bridges, Thang said theministry has devised a plan to build them in 50 provinces nationwide,and the government has given nod to the construction of 186 bridgesusing the State budget next year.
With over 7,810 bridges tobe constructed across the country, around 2 trillion VND (94 millionUSD) is needed from different sources, including localities andindividual sponsors.
Sharing concern about the lack ofmotorways in 11 island districts, Thang assured that five of them willreceive investment in the coming time and the ministry is responsiblefor finding financial sources for the others.
Under a ruraltransport strategy until 2020, motorways will lead up to all communaldowntowns.Localities are now paying much attention to developing ruralroads, he said, citing that each year, the northern province ofTuyen Quang builds 700km of road while Phu Yen finishes work on 500km.
Switching to the fight against corruption in the sector, Thangsaid together with the State comprehensive plan, a string of measureshave been in place with specific tasks assigning to senior officials atall levels, from the minister to those at the grassroots, so as toensure transparency in each stage.
Crackdowns on violationsare also underway, but the most important is the personnel management.Entrance exams for leadership positions such as general directorate ordirectorate were recently held in a transparent and proper manner, hesaid.
Thang is due to continue his session on November 19.-VNA
To ease concern about inappropriate transport tolls, Thang said hisministry is restructuring the sector, with a focus on public investment,State-owned enterprises and public transportation, including road,railway, aviation, inland waterway and navigation.
The aim isto improve the service quality, thereby reducing transport tolls, hesaid, adding that prices of railway services are still the same despitethe rising fuel costs.
In the aviation field, the ministry iscalling for private financing, partly paving the way for equitisation,with Vietnam Airlines as a recent success story. Its prices are lowerthan those offered by regional rivals, he pointed out.
Aboutthe development of transport infrastructure, the ministry has alsoproposed a number of policies that engage domestic and foreign investorsin the process. For the past three years, as many as 160 trillion VND(7.6 billion USD) have been raised from the public, or 60 percent ofinvestment from the official development assistance, State budget andgovernment bonds.
The sector is considering a plan to taskinvestors with fee collection and management after their projects aredone. Beyond that, a comprehensive plan to mobilise all possibleresources for infrastructure upgrading is in the pipeline, Thanginformed.
The minister also noted with delight thatinfrastructure is giving rural areas a new facelift, contributing totheir ongoing new rural construction.
In response to questionsabout the progress of building suspension bridges, Thang said theministry has devised a plan to build them in 50 provinces nationwide,and the government has given nod to the construction of 186 bridgesusing the State budget next year.
With over 7,810 bridges tobe constructed across the country, around 2 trillion VND (94 millionUSD) is needed from different sources, including localities andindividual sponsors.
Sharing concern about the lack ofmotorways in 11 island districts, Thang assured that five of them willreceive investment in the coming time and the ministry is responsiblefor finding financial sources for the others.
Under a ruraltransport strategy until 2020, motorways will lead up to all communaldowntowns.Localities are now paying much attention to developing ruralroads, he said, citing that each year, the northern province ofTuyen Quang builds 700km of road while Phu Yen finishes work on 500km.
Switching to the fight against corruption in the sector, Thangsaid together with the State comprehensive plan, a string of measureshave been in place with specific tasks assigning to senior officials atall levels, from the minister to those at the grassroots, so as toensure transparency in each stage.
Crackdowns on violationsare also underway, but the most important is the personnel management.Entrance exams for leadership positions such as general directorate ordirectorate were recently held in a transparent and proper manner, hesaid.
Thang is due to continue his session on November 19.-VNA
