The total length of the expressway reaches more than 1.700km

Speaking at the opening of the question-and-answer content on a group of issues in the field of transportation, Minister of Transport Nguyen Van Thang said that despite many difficulties and challenges, the transport sector has not yet responded. Transport has united, determined, made efforts, renewed thinking, organized implementation, promptly removed difficulties and obstacles, promoted decentralization and decentralization.

Thereby, it has basically effectively and promptly implemented the proposed tasks, typically: Public investment disbursement in 2022 reached 96,5% of the plan, the first 5 months of 2023 reached more than 30%. plan, creating a premise for the industry to strive to fulfill the targets assigned by the National Assembly and the Government.

Minister Nguyen Van Thang answered questions from members of the National Assembly. Photo: Tuan Huy

Implementation progress of projects, especially projects of national importance and key transport sector have been basically guaranteed, completed and put into operation 566km of expressway from the beginning of the term until now. , increasing the length of the expressway and putting it into use is 1.729 km. The preparation for investment in expressway projects in the program of socio-economic recovery and development has been drastically implemented by the Ministry of Transport and localities, closely following the assigned schedule and will commence in the next few days. end of June 6 as planned.

Traffic accidents continued to decrease in all 3 criteria (number of cases, number of deaths, number of injured). Institutional improvement, administrative reform, and reduction of business conditions achieved many positive results; The construction of e-Government and digital transformation in the transportation industry continued to be strongly implemented.

However, besides the achieved results, there are still some shortcomings and limitations that need to be focused, dealt with and removed, such as traffic accidents, which have been reduced but still at a high level; violations in the field of registration; The work of training, testing, granting, revoking and managing licenses to drive road and inland waterway vehicles still reveals limitations and potential negative events.

Can the locality invest in upgrading national highways and highways?

Responding to a question from delegate Nguyen Van Manh (Doan Vinh Phuc) about the mechanism that allows localities to invest in upgrading national highways to meet people's travel needs and socio-economic development, the Ministry Minister Nguyen Van Thang said that according to the provisions of the State Budget Law and the Road Traffic Law, highways and national highways are under the investment responsibility of the Ministry of Transport. Provincial roads and below are the responsibility of the locality. In the context of limited budget resources, the central budget only meets 66% of investment in transport infrastructure, so it cannot meet all roads, especially national highways.

According to Minister Nguyen Van Thang, if localities work together to invest with the Central Government, it is a very necessary and appropriate job. The Ministry of Transport will consult ministries and branches, advise the Government and submit it to the National Assembly and the National Assembly Standing Committee to allow the pilot implementation of the mechanism while the law has not been corrected, from which the local authorities allocate budget to join the Central Government for investment and construction of national highways and expressways. In addition, this content is also included in the upcoming draft Road Law to be submitted to the National Assembly.

Regarding the issue of some expressways with small scale, only 2 lanes, which need to be fully upgraded and expanded, Minister Nguyen Van Thang affirmed that the investment in highways with 4 lanes or 6-8 lanes. complete lane is the right and urgent need. The Prime Minister has directed to invest in any expressway that needs to be completed. However, recently, investment resources are limited, some expressways only have 2 lanes budget, not to mention the initial time the traffic is not large. Currently, there are 5 2-lane expressways. In the coming time, the Ministry of Transport will coordinate with the Ministry of Planning and Investment and other ministries and sectors to advise the Government to prioritize investment budget into 4 complete lanes.

It is necessary to renew the financial mechanism for the registration sector

With some urgent solutions such as extending the registration cycle for personal cars to 9 seats, exempting registration for first-time cars, registration congestion has been overcome, however, delegate Nguyen Truong Giang (the delegation) Dak Nong) raised the issue, 75% of registration centers are currently implemented by non-state enterprises, with the current financial mechanism, it is difficult for the registration center to maintain operations. For example, the registration cycle is extended, so the registration center has few jobs, the registrar goes to find another job, and businesses face difficulties. Therefore, in the coming time, it is necessary to renew the financial mechanism of the registry because this is a public service, when the society can do it, the State will create conditions for enterprises to do it.

Delegates of the National Assembly attended the question-and-answer session on June 7. Photo: TUAN HUY 

Responding to the concerns of the delegates, Minister Nguyen Van Thang assessed that the incidents that occurred in the registration activities in the past time were very serious, causing great consequences, people and businesses had to wait and struggle. fig. Up to 600 people who are cadres, civil servants, public employees and registrars were prosecuted, and more than 100 registration centers had to close.

According to Minister Nguyen Van Thang, as soon as he took a job at the Ministry of Transport, the Minister actively researched and adjusted the registration regulations to be in line with international practices, saving time and effort for customers. people and businesses. The Ministry of Transport has implemented two tasks at the same time, which is to overcome registration congestion and review all registration activities to ensure strict but modern and airy. The Ministry has issued regulations on registration exemption for vehicles registered for the first time, extending the inspection cycle, in accordance with regulations of countries in the region, reducing time and costs for people and businesses. 

Along with that, there are solutions to return to normal registration activities, including financial mechanism problems, taking the registration price out of the list of prices being managed by the State, so that the market can decide by the current state. Now more than 75% of registration centers are managed by enterprises. Thereby, ensuring income for the registrar. In addition, it is focusing strongly on recruiting and training registration officers, having a force to arrange for the registration center, and bringing the registration lines back to normal operation. Along with that, promoting the application of information technology, minimizing manual inspection, online registration, online payment, on time and on time, the vehicle owner brings the vehicle, without having to queue as before.

MAN HUNG