The HCMC leadership last Friday had two meetings with the municipal transport department and relevant agencies on the traffic situation and the progress of traffic infrastructure projects citywide.

HCMC Vice Chairman Le Van Khoa told the transport department not to let public passenger transport go down as last year. 

From now until June, the congestion-prone points should be resolved.

To address congestion in Tan Son Nhat airport area, the HCMC Department of Transport in cooperation with aviation authorities should make it possible for passengers to check in somewhere outside the airport terminal. 

When the procedures are done, passengers could be transferred to the airport by bus, thus reducing traffic on Truong Son Street and other nearby roads to the airport.

On the same day, HCMC Chairman Nguyen Thanh Phong chaired a meeting to review traffic safety in 2016 and discuss tasks for 2017. 

He said the responsibility of leaders was important to solving traffic problems in their districts.

Tran Quang Lam, deputy director of the HCMC Department of Transport, reported there were 37 locations still prone to traffic congestion in the city.

In 2017, the department will focus on dealing with these congestion-prone points with multiple solutions. 

However, Lam believed only 18 points would be addressed this year, while the remaining 19 must wait for the completion of the ongoing traffic works.

Huynh Trung Phong, head of the HCMC Road and Railway Traffic Police Department, said that to solve those 37 congestion-prone sites, specific assignments have been given to traffic police, ward police and youth volunteers.

From 2017 onwards, traffic police will boost the application of technology to impose sanctions, especially via surveillance camera systems, Phong said.

Regarding the encroachment on pavements and roadways, after two inspections by the transport department before and after the Lunar New Year, the situation has not improved much. 

Nguyen Ngoc Tuong, deputy head of the HCMC Traffic Safety Committee, said: “Because district authorities are not determined, the 159 streets registered as models (for addressing traffic congestion) in 2012 so far have not been definitely settled.”

At the end of the meeting, Chairman Nguyen Thanh Phong said 2016 data showed 3,962 traffic accidents happened in the city last year, killing 805 people and injuring 3,204 others, up 208 in the number of cases, up 103 in the death toll and down 97 in the number of wounded people from 2015.

He said the HCMC Traffic Safety Committee report had identified the cause but not come up with a solution.