Continuing the question-and-answer session of the National Assembly deputies, on the afternoon of June 7, the Minister of Transport Nguyen Van Thang answered, providing information on the management of training, testing, and renewal of driver's licenses; on the situation of traffic accidents caused by transport business vehicles and current problems with investment projects to upgrade road transport infrastructure in the form of BOT (build - operate - transfer).
Need to innovate driving training and testing
Regarding traffic accidents caused by transport business vehicles, delegate Nguyen Thi Hue (Bac Kan) cited a report of the Ministry of Transport, statistics, accidents caused by transport business vehicles account for about 50% of particularly serious traffic accidents. The reason is that many transport business units have not strictly complied with regulations such as delivering vehicles to people who have not been examined for health; forcing the delivery time or increasing the trip when the truck driver is overtime, speeding, running day and night, leading to drowsiness, causing an accident. Delegate Nguyen Thi Hue questioned the Minister about solutions to tighten this situation.
In addition, the delegate raised the issue that in some localities, the management of training, testing, and renewal of driver's licenses still has many limitations such as: training exceeds the number of licenses, inspection and supervision work in some places has not been implemented. The work of school supervision and testing is still formal, while the status of driving licenses for drug addicts and people with behavioral incompetence and unfitness. Delegate Nguyen Thi Hue asked the Minister for solutions to end this situation in order to improve the quality of this work.
Member of the National Assembly of Bac Kan province Nguyen Thi Hue asked questions. Photo: Minh Duc/VNA
Responding to the issue of driver's licenses, Minister Nguyen Van Thang said that recently, the Ministry has carried out a comprehensive inspection in 63 provinces and cities on the quality of training, organizing theory tests and driving tests.
In which, when it was discovered that the training and granting of licenses for addicts were not enough, the Minister said that he had directed the Inspectorate of the Ministry to strictly handle them; at the same time, transfer 6 sets of dossiers to the police agency for handling.
The Ministry of Transport has urgently directed to amend circulars, tighten management, and definitely prevent the situation of training and granting licenses for drug addicts. The Minister affirmed that the upcoming solutions will be clearly reflected in the guiding documents and circulars.
According to the Minister, currently, the work of training, testing, granting degrees, inspection and examination has been decentralized and delegated to the locality. The Ministry of Transport is solely responsible for the State management function. The Ministry has directed all Departments of Transport to focus on leading, directing and strictly handling violations.
As for the phenomenon of transport business owners forcing drivers to run through the night, causing accidents, the Minister said this is a fact reflected by public opinion and the press. In Directive No. 10 dated April 19, 4 on strengthening road traffic order and safety in the new situation, the Prime Minister requested that, with traffic accidents causing serious impacts, the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee should chair the assessment, determine the causes and solutions to overcome, learn from experience, and personalize the responsibilities of the concerned collectives and individuals.
The Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Public Security have carefully studied to make reasonable provisions in the draft law related to traffic order and safety to be submitted to the National Assembly.
Debating the issue of driver training, delegate Dieu Huynh Sang (Binh Phuoc) pointed out the current problems and inadequacies that waste resources and time for society and make digital transformation difficult. In particular, the traditional regulations on teaching theory, students have to attend class, etc., are no longer suitable for the majority of learners, going against the trend and achievements of science and technology. According to delegates, driver training and testing is a professional activity, according to regulations, there is a form of regular and regular training, but the legal system is still inconsistent, causing difficulties for voters and people.
Responding to delegate Dieu Huynh Sang, Minister of Transport said that through the recent review, the Ministry identified the above limitations and problems. The ministry's solution is to adjust issues that are no longer relevant in the circular, in order to improve the quality of training, ensure convenience, avoid waste, etc.
Overcoming financial mechanism problems in BOT projects
Member of the National Assembly of Gia Lai province Le Hoang Anh. Photo: Doan Tan/VNA
Addressing the question, delegate Le Hoang Anh (Gia Lai) raised the issue, implementing the policy of the Party, State and the transport sector, many businesses have joined hands to invest in upgrading road traffic infrastructure in the form of BOT. However, up to now, a number of enterprises have not been able to return the investment capital invested by the Ministry of Transport with the state budget on parallel lines or bypass routes, disrupting the financial plan of the project.
Delegates cited evidence, investors in Gia Lai invested in upgrading and expanding Ho Chi Minh Road, National Highway 14, section Dak Lak in the form of BOT. Less than a year after being put into use, the Ministry of Transport invested from the state budget in the bypass of Buon Ho town, causing serious damage to businesses and businesses that were on the verge of bankruptcy. Delegate Le Hoang Anh asked the Minister to tell the plan to solve the above problem.
Answering questions from delegates, Minister Nguyen Van Thang said that there were businesses and investors investing in BOT projects, but then the state opened parallel branch lines, affecting the efficiency of these. However, the Minister said that, in the process of developing the country, the transport infrastructure development strategy sometimes fails to fully anticipate the possibilities.
The minister said that 10, 15 years ago, the demand for transportation infrastructure development was great, with limited resources, we created all conditions to invite investors. Until the socio-economic development, we develop plans and strategies, along with practical development, when reviewing, we see the need to continue investing in transport infrastructure. Therefore, many projects are affected. The minister said, when completing the entire North-South East Expressway, many businesses will be affected, sharing traffic.
Even in the Law on Investment in the form of public-private partnership (PPP Law) also stipulates that, when a BOT investment project of an enterprise, if the revenue exceeds 125% of the estimate, the investor must share it back to the state. If the revenue is less than 75% of the estimate, the State must share it with the enterprise. With the project mentioned above, when building the Buon Ho bypass, the Quang Duc BOT project was affected. The minister said this is an existing, limited. In the near future, the Ministry will advise the Government to submit to the National Assembly a mechanism to collect state capital invested on expressways, and a mechanism to deal with BOT routes affected by the State's investment in expressways and bypass routes.
According to VNA/Newspapers
