Traffic woes

By Son Nguyen in HCMC

The traffic situation in HCMC is going from worse to the worst with rampant jams citywide and chaotic circulation, aggravated by flooding and recently the erection of the so-called blockhouses on most streets you name it. As the year is drawing to a close, which is usually a time for jubilant celebrations including the traditional Lunar New Year, the problem of traffic circulation in the city steals the limelight on the local media. Complaints, frustration, criticism, anger, one and all, are directed at the responsible authorities, who may to no avail have agonized for years about solutions to ease grievances the people are suffering.

In a bitter voice, VnExpress specially highlights the inability – and partly the inaction – of the city’s transport authorities. “Decisions by HCMC relating to the traffic situation for application this year share one thing in common: no success. Traffic circulation in the city is increasingly like a ravel of silk yarn as the year end approaches,” says the news website. It cites numerous measures having been taken by the city to ease traffic congestion, from the staggering working hour and commuter buses to the restriction of new vehicles by means of higher taxes and clearance of pavements. The situation remains an insurmountable challenge.

Lao Dong quotes a report from the HCMC Department of Transport, saying that the average speed of motorcycles in the city is about ten kilometers an hour, or even slower at 8kph on some main streets. What is more worrying, says the paper, is the worsening situation, as the total area for building roads in the city is inadequate, at only 1.7% of the city’s natural area.

In another commentary, Lao Dong mentions the numerous ‘blockhouses’ being erected by contractors on most streets. Giving a definition of the blockhouse as a structure for military defense, the newspaper sarcastically says such blockhouses are erected to fight people in vehicular circulation.

Most blockhouses in the city are erected by contractors of the two major projects under way now, namely the environment sanitation project and the water sanitation project, with an aim to improve water drainage and clean up the basin of the Nhieu Loc-Thi Nghe Canal.

In a recent report, the Transport Department says there are now some 280 such blockhouses of all sizes in the city, more than doubling the number a year ago. Some are removed, but not long enough for the people to rejoice before new ones are erected on the very sites the old ones have come down, according to Tuoi Tre.

Facts and figures cited by Tuoi Tre give a more appalling picture for city dwellers, as the situation now is just the prelude to a more long-lasting ordeal, and a more panicking saga that will ensue soon next year. The paper says contractors until now have dug up only 31.5km of roads out of the total 85.5km to be dressed under the two sanitation projects, while the completion date is set in early 2010. Between now and end-2009, according to the project management units, around 40km of main streets will be dug up, creating huge hardship to the people’s livelihood and plunging the traffic situation into great chaos.

The people’s grievances are being stretched to the limit, needless to say. While Sai Gon Tiep Thi criticizes the city authorities for their inability in traffic management resulting in great disorders, Nguoi Lao Dong blames the public agony caused by traffic congestion on authorities. Depicting a traffic jam on Pham Van Hai Street in Tan Binh District days ago, the paper describes how vehicles are stuffed on the small street on a rainy day, with two sizeable blockhouses stonewalling all movements, with the people soaked in the rainwater and in eye-stinging smoke, and will all quarrels erupting among them due to loss of temper. “It is not quite wrong to blame the people for their lack of compliance (resulting in congestion), but who are to blame when the people in traffic circulation have to suffer from numerous adversities?” ponders the newspaper.

In a commentary, Tuoi Tre shares the point on the agony. “Rain over the head, flooding under their feet, smoke, sweat, foul language, honking sound and quarrels around them. The people’s dignity is eroded under such circumstances,” it says.

Traffic congestion and flooding can be seen in many cities, but such a situation should not last long through the years and getting worse in an increasing tempo and will certainly not be radically addressed in the next couple of years in HCMC, says the paper. Clearly, the city is sliding into an abnormal state.

“Now is the time the people have the right to demand the city government to proclaim a commitment on a specific point in time to end all such grievances. The people fulfill their tax obligations, comply with the law, and accomplish the citizen’s duty, so there is no reason they have to suffer from all such tangible and intangible damages, so much and so long,” says Tuoi Tre.

(From The Saigon Times Daily)

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