With their roads and bridges severely damaged by Vietnam National Coal and Mineral Industries Group (Vinacomin)’s overloaded bauxite-carrying trucks travelling through every day, Dong Nai province’s authorities have firmly put their foot down.
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Duong Danh Quy, head of the provincial Traffic Safety Department, said Vinacomin neither discussed nor consulted with the local authorities about having their trucks pass by the province. Vinacomin’s own investigation on the plausibility of using the roads and bridges in Dong Nai was conducted several years ago and its findings were hopelessly outdated, he said.
According to Duong Van Hoa, Vinacomin’s deputy CEO, the company had to transport bauxite by land across Dong Nai while waiting for the construction of Ke Ga Port in the central southern province of Binh Thuan to be completed in 2014, at which point the minerals would be shipped by sea.
Every ten minutes, a 40-ton truck leaves its aluminum plant in Lam Dong, heading for Bao Loc Town, then taking the National Route 20 to Dau Giay T-junction and crossing the Provincial Route 276 and National Route 51 of Dong Nai to Go Dau Port, he said.
Quy said the trucks have created serious traffic and safety problems for Dong Nai province as many bridges on the trucks’ path have a lower capacity than 40 tons and most of the roads are in poor conditions.
“La Nga Bridge, for instance, has the capacity of only 25 tons and it would certainly collapse if a 40-ton truck crosses it every ten minutes,” he emphasized.
Tran Duy Nhan, deputy head of BVEC Company, said his company is in the process of enlarging and upgrading National Route 51, but Vinacomin’s trucks would likely destroy the new road in a short time.
“All the five bridges on this road have the capacity of only 30 tons, which will inevitably fail to withstand the passing of 40-ton trucks at some point,” he said.
No exceptions allowed
In a meeting with the provincial people’s committee on July 27, Vinacomin promised that they would have solutions to the problem.
But Tran Van Vinh, deputy head of the provincial people’s committee, pressed that the mineral company had to stop transporting bauxite across the province until they have found an alternative plan.
Meanwhile, the trucks will be fined if they are overloaded and violate road traffic regulations, as every other violator has to, he said.
“There are no exceptions when it comes to law,” he said.
“If we do not fine overloaded bauxite-carrying trucks, how could we fine other violators?”
For their part, the Ministry of Transport said they have planned to repair and upgrade the part of the National Route 20 from Lam Dong’s Bao Loc Town to Dong Nai’s Dau Giay T-junction for bauxite transportation while waiting for the Ke Ga Port’s completion.
But we are facing difficulties in raising capital for the plan, the ministry said.
(Source: Tuoitrenews)
