Breaking the newly renovated sidewalk: Who is responsible?

TP - The sidewalk of Bach Mai Street (Hai Ba Trung District, Hanoi ), which was recently renovated and paved with fake stone tiles a few years ago, has been broken up and dug up for repairs and underground water pipes. This situation not only causes loss of urban beauty and affects traffic, but also wastes investment resources.

The sidewalk of Bach Mai Street (Hai Ba Trung, Hanoi) was dug up to put underground water pipes, even though the renovation was completed not long ago. Photo: Truong Phong

In late May 2024, many groups of workers used drilling machines to break the sidewalks that were laid uniformly on Bach Mai Street (Hai Ba Trung District, Hanoi) to put underground water pipes. Many sections of the sidewalks were deformed, and rocks and soil were dug up, seriously affecting people's lives and traffic.

According to Hanoi city regulations, only streets that have been synchronously underground can be renovated and have their sidewalks repaved. It is known that Bach Mai Street was recently renovated and had its sidewalks repaved a few years ago. This has raised concerns among the public about the synchronization in investment coordination to avoid waste.

Regarding this issue, in a response to Tien Phong reporter, a representative of the Urban Management Department of Hai Ba Trung district said that the district has granted permission to Hanoi Clean Water Company Limited to dig the sidewalk on Bach Mai street. This sidewalk digging, according to the permit, is to repair water pipes, prevent water loss and revenue loss, ensure essential needs of people, and provide enough water for daily life for people in the hot season of 2024 in Bach Mai ward.

According to the granted license, Hanoi Clean Water Company Limited conducted technical inspection of the network, pressure tested the pipeline and replaced and repaired the pipeline locations that did not meet technical standards... The Department of Urban Management of Hai Ba Trung District said, "Bach Mai Street has been renovated and beautified after synchronously burying the telecommunications and electricity systems", but "in reality, during the operation process, especially the water supply system invested in many stages, it is inevitable that there will be incidents that need to be fixed, leading to the need to dig up the sidewalk".

More notably, according to the Department of Urban Management of Hai Ba Trung District, "the district requests that units managing technical infrastructure systems such as telecommunications, electricity, water supply, drainage... in the area review the plan to renovate and repair technical infrastructure systems in 2024-2025 and develop a 5-year long-term plan from 2025 - 2030 to send to the District People's Committee for information and coordination". This, according to Hai Ba Trung District, is to minimize the digging of sidewalks and alleys, in order to protect newly invested and renovated works and alleys, saving the budget (?).

Talking to Tien Phong reporter, Ms. Bui Thi An - Member of the 13th National Assembly said that Hanoi city has directed to only invest in renovating sidewalks and roads when the electricity, telecommunication cable, clean water systems have been buried synchronously... This is to limit the situation of digging up completed projects, causing waste of investment resources. However, according to Ms. An, for a long time, Hanoi has been digging up and filling up sidewalks and roads, causing loss of urban beauty, affecting traffic, and wasting investment resources.

“This problem shows that the work process is not carried out in accordance with the city's direction, and at the same time lacks timely supervision to detect and handle the problem,” Ms. An stated her opinion, at the same time saying that it is necessary to clarify responsibilities in places where this situation occurs.