The widening of Hanoi may seem like the answer to the traffic congestion that the city experiences every day, but the ongoing building constructions in the centre of the city are creating more and more traffic jams.

This is among the issues that voters from Cau Giay and Ba Dinh districts discussed at the meeting with the Nguyen Phu Trong, the National Assembly’s chairman, after the sixth session of the 12th National Assembly.

Delegate Nguyen An Ban opposed the continuous building construction in the centre of the capital, blaming it for an increase in traffic jams.

Delegate Nguyen Kien Hien (Nghia Do Ward, Cau Giay District) complained that it takes 30 minutes to drive only from Cau Giay to Nghia Do. He is of the view that traffic jams have become “a chronic disease,” as the number of cars and motorbikes are increasing while roads are not being expanded.

“If this continues, a journey that now takes thirty minutes may take two hours in the future,” he said.
“If the city’s planning only focuses on the short term, then even though Hanoi is being widened, the centre will get narrower,” added Hien.

On the subject of the electricity plant construction, delegate Pham Dinh Trong (Mai Dich ward, Cau Giay district) alleged that the issue of climate change has not been effectively addressed. He claimed that the recent floods in Central Vietnam were mainly due to the construction of hydroelectric plants, each of which usually requires hundreds of acres of forests to be cut down. He also voiced his concerns about the effect of gas emissions from such a plant, and said that we need to consider the factor of sustainable development.

Nguyen Phu Trong, in support of the voters’ concern, requested that their views are acknowledged by the authority leaders for management amendment.