Authorities defend road expansion project

Ha Noi's expanded Truong Chinh Road project plan was implemented lawfully, consented by authorities, and the Truong Chinh-Vong Intersection route followed original plan as publicly reflected, stated a senior official.

Speaking at a press conference on the expanded Truong Chinh Road project on Tuesday, Duong Duc Tuan, the deputy director of the Department of Planning and Architecture stated that the city authority had assigned the department and the Ha Noi Construction Planning Institute the task of locating the red line boundary of the project.


Since 2008, the implementation of the project assured the urban detail planning of the region, which was approved by the city authority.

With regard to the 800 metre-long road, which passes through the Air Defence and Air Force area, Tuan noted that the red line boundary did not impact the national defence works, and the defence land could be used for the project.

It also got the approval of the Ministry of Defence, he added.

The project, which was implemented following the current red line boundary, was believed to be an economical approach and assured that all the technical requirements of the route were met, he added.

The local press had earlier reported that the nearly 2-kilometre long expansion road was bent instead of being straight as per the original design. The reason was to avoid intrusion on the properties of government officials.

This caused outrage among the local residents who claimed that they had lost their houses to the project.

Nguyen Van Thinh, the deputy chief of the municipal People's Committee asserted that the city conducted extensive research and sought public opinion before expanding the road.

He reported that this was the first phase of implementing the project. Thus, the city will consider re-planning the project in case its current planning was inappropriate.

The construction on the expanded Truong Chinh Road project began in October, 2013, with a total cost of VND2.5 trillion (US$118 million). The project is expected to be open to the public by 2015.