Vietnam needs US$36.7 million for waterway safety
Vietnam needs nearly VND825 billion (US$36.7 million) to ensure waterway traffic safety and upgrade waterway infrastructure by 2018, the latest report of the Vietnam Inland Waterways Administration (VIWA) has said.
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VIWA statistics show that the country has more than 646 bridges, of which 251 do not follow technical norms for inland waterway traffic safety.
Tran Van Tho, Deputy Director of VIWA, said on July 25 the bridges did not have any remote warning system, and many of the structures were weak and degraded. The country did not have any plan to upgrade them or build new bridges to replace the old ones.
The waterway traffic route through whirling currents is especially dangerous during the flood season, posing a high risk of accidents and causing damage to the bridges.
The VIWA checked 72 bridges and proposed measures for 67 of them. It suggests installing remote warning devices and searching for measures to prevent bridge piles from being damaged with the help of VND72.6 billion (US$3.2 million).
The VIWA said 54 bridges needed to be upgraded with funds of VND317 billion (US$14.1 million) next year. In 2018, about 62 bridges will need to be upgraded with funding of VND434.7 billion (US$19.3 million).
In the 2018-20 period and later, the VIWA suggested the Ministry of Transport should ask the Directorate for Vietnam Roads and Railways to check all weak bridges to replace or fix them or to build new ones.
Concerned organisations must closely watch waterway traffic where bridges face a high risk of drifting and accidents.
