City government should set example

It’s not only the citizenry’s responsibility to live consciously and compassionately. Our official leaders and agencies must do the same.

Such were the arguments made by participants at a meeting held recently by the city’s Fatherland Front Committee.

The meeting focused on work being done to promote healthy urban living as well as discussions of each district’s drug prevention programs.

HCMC People’s Council representative Doan Thi Thuy Tien said her District 1 community had received no commitment from the government that road construction projects currently plaguing the district would be completed in a timely manner.

Anyone who drives through District 1 can see delayed public works and roadblocks clogging some of the city’s busiest streets.

In addition to the traffic jams that the construction has caused, the roadblocks have created popular “public toilets,” where weary travelers relieve themselves for all to see.

Is this what we have in mind when we say that HCMC should be an example for other urban developments in Vietnam to follow?

Director of the city’s Department of Transport Tran Quang Phuong said the roadblocks are an unavoidable nuisance as the city plans to install 1,000 km of underground pipelines in an area that includes 5,000 km road. That means roughly a fifth of the roads we drive on will be dug up.

Phuong said that the department would make sure the roadblocks pose no danger to residents and that the projects would be finished on time, without mentioning a specific deadline.

Of course, updating our sewer system is the right thing to. And of course, we’ll all have to share the burden as the city’s roads are dug up because as the old axiom goes: you have to break eggs to make an omelet.

But our leaders should consider both the short and long term affects of their work on the everyday citizen and prove to us their commitment to the city by at least giving a frank and concrete statement about how long these projects will take.

By Nguyen Thuy