In Vietnam's transport sector development strategy up to 2020, development of urban transport system, especially in Ha Noi and HCMC serving passenger transportation, traffic congestion reduction and traffic accident minimization in the cities is one top priority issue and is presently received great attention from Government and Party leaders as well as from MOT. The most critical problem at present is congestion problem in both Ha Noi and HCMC. As we all now, traffic congestion is a global problem and not a problem of Vietnam's big cities only. We all know that in big cities in the world such as Paris, London - those in developed countries, where transport infrastructure is well-developed and transport organization is very scientific, people's level of comprehension is high and the penalties are very strict, traffic congestions still occur. And even Moscow, which used to be seen as a country without traffic congestion, still suffers from traffic congestions in recent years. Seen from this, we understand that traffic congestion in big cities is a global problem, not in Vietnam only and it occurs in both developed and developing countries.

To solve such issues as traffic congestion, traffic safety, transport development to support urban economic development demands, first of all, we must understand their natures. In my opinion, the first cause of traffic congestion is objective. I notice that in a working day, there is a significant difference in passenger density between peak hours and normal hours. During peak hours, traffic density on the streets can be 5 or 6 times higher than that of normal hours. This is a knotty issue to policy makers, strategists and urban transport development planners.

I've discussed with many transport development planners, the situation will fall into 3 cases: if we base on peak hours traffic density to design transport infrastructure, the case would be big waste of infrastructure as there are only about 4 peak hours a day, and the remaining 20 are normal hours; the second case is designing infrastructure basing on normal hours traffic density and the result will be frequent congestion and this is unacceptable; thus planners, strategist and designers must chose a density between that of peak hours and normal hours for infrastructure construction. This means allowing some congestions during peak hours to have infrastructure efficiency.

We know that traffic congestion is global and objective. In mentioned countries, traffic congestion is caused by above reason while in developing countries, apart from this reason, there are many other reasons. For example in Vietnam, especially in Ha Noi and HCMC, the top reason is uncontrollably high growth speed of transport vehicles, secondly, our infrastructure are incapable of satisfying transport demand. The third reason is people's comprehension is still low and their understanding and obedience of traffic regulations is not satisfactorily high. And the last reason is our forms of penalties are not really strict, leading to failure in solving congestion and accident problem. At present, some people argue that a good bus system will solve all problems of congestions, accidents and others. However, in my opinion, buses have its superiority but cannot solve all problems, buses is only capable of producing part effectiveness and solving a part of the problems. While solutions to congestion, traffic accidents and urban residents' traveling demand satisfaction requires comprehensive tackling of all above issues. Particularly to Ha Noi, in the future, when we study the development of transport system for Ha Noi, the first point is to control population growth rate, which also means to control the growth rate of traffic vehicles on roads. This requires not only the efforts of MOT but also the corporation of other sectors and the proposed solutions are firstly development of satellite cities and industrial zones for gradual relocation of schools, some industrial establishments and offices to the suburban. And secondly, surrounding Ha Noi there are many cities such as Ha Noi, Ha Long, Viet Tri, Thai Nguyen, Nam Dinh, etc., so we should develop a very good transport system with trunk roads linking from Ha Noi capital to such cities so that in the future, people may work in Ha Noi during day and then return to their home 100 or 70 km away in the evening. If people reside in other places other than Ha Noi, their families would also be in such places, therefore, population density in the city would be lower. In my opinion, the first thing to be done before and at the same time with addressing transport issues is to develop a strategy, and the city People's Committee, ministries and agencies should use all possible measures to control population growth and density. On such base, with Ha Noi's development, in our opinion, there would be 3 phases: the first phase if from now to after 2005-2006, and shall be focused on firstly, transport system, meaning well organization of the bus system; secondly, infrastructure, meaning upgrade, improvement or construction of some infrastructure systems such as ring roads, centripetal roads, grade separated intersections, static transport systems, and besides, we shall execute transport organization, enhance awareness education for the people and strengthen penalties. These works shall be done in the first phase.

The second phase shall be from after 2005 to around 2015, in which together with the development of road transport system and organization of road transport, we can commence construction of some elevated railway lines. And only from 2015 afterwards can we think of developing a metro system for Ha Noi, apart from elevated railway and road system.

I believe that in this seminar, we shall have a very good chance for the Japanese experts to tell us urban development experiences in Japan and we can listen to many opinions of representatives from various departments and agencies as well as the directions of MOT regarding directions for the city's transport development. I am glad that in this seminar, there has been a very close corporation between MOT and the city People's Committee. I believe that with such a good corporation from initial stage, in the future, during the process of study and development, there will be an even better corporation between the two sides as well as the enthusiastic assistance from Japan Government and other Japanese relevant agencies.

I wish our seminar great success. Thank you.

　

Ladies and Gentlemen,

On behalf of MOT, I would like to extend my warmest welcome to representatives of donors, embassies, diplomatic agencies in Ha Noi, representatives of the agencies attached to Ha Noi People's Committee, representatives of universities and scientists working at research institutions participating in today's seminar.

As you all know, the Government, MOT and People's Committee of Ha Noi and HCMC have been very concerned with urban transport development, many polices have been issued and many measures have been implemented so as to gradually improve urban transport situation in the two cities and traffic congestions situation. However the fast socio-economic development in the last decade has given rise to a significant increase of vehicles and transport demand, while urban transport infrastructure and urban transport management failed to keep pace with socio-economic growth, placing Ha Noi and HCMC in front of the threat of frequent and more and more serious traffic congestion. Facing the situation, MOT, in corporation with People's Committee of Ha Noi and HCMC, has proposed to Japan Government to sponsor a master plan study and feasibility study for urban transport development in the two cities. As scope of the project is very big, JICA has agreed sponsorship for the project to be implemented in HCMC first. So far, agreement on implementation of the project in Ha Noi has been reached. In preparation for the project's implementation in Ha Noi, today, MOT and the city People's Committee has permit the organization of this seminar on Ha Noi urban transport issues sponsored by JTCA and co-organized by TDSI.

Objectives of the seminar are presentations of the speeches on the roles of urban transport, Japan's experiences, and urgent issues regarding urban transport in Vietnam. The seminar will exchange opinions and discussions to lay a foundation for execution of a study for Ha Noi similar to HOUSTRANS in HCMC.

As we know, the 1000 year anniversary of Thang Long - Ha Noi is only 7 years ahead. Basic transport problems cannot be completely solved in such a short period. However, we hope that the problems being discussed today in this seminar shall be the basic contents of a study which will formulate an urban transport development plan for Ha Noi and feasibility study projects with the assistance of Japan Government to largely contribute to significant improvement of Ha Noi's transport situation corresponding to its one thousand year's cultural history.

On behalf of MOT, I would like to take this chance to express my sincere thanks to Japan Government and international donors, who in the past 10 years, have granted a significant loans and non-refundable assistance to Vietnam, contributing greatly to change transport situation in Vietnam in general and sponsor transport projects in the two cities of Ha Noi and HCMC in particular. We would like to sincerely thank Japan Government for sponsoring and sending a Study Team for the implementation of HOUSTRANS in HCMC and certainly, in the near future, a similar study shall be agreed and be implemented soon in Ha Noi. Once again, on behalf of MOT, I would like to welcome all of you and would like to acknowledge opening of today's seminar. I wish the seminar great success. Thank you.

　

Your Excellency, Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is my great pleasure and honor to be here at the opening of the seminar on urban transport development in Ha Noi city and to make a few remarks. As we all know, Vietnam has achieved a significant progress over the past decade under "doi moi" policy. On the other hand, Ha Noi and HCMC are faced with increasing urbanization and rapid modernization, which cause urban transport problems such as congestion, traffic accidents, air pollution and noise problems. At present, urban transport question is one of the matters of the utmost urgency in Ha Noi. This is reflected by the strong voices which call for early and drastic improvement of the urban transport in the city. Against this background, it is necessary to examine seriously such questions as management of transportation demand, development of the public transportation system including urban railway and bus network. This seminar will give us a good opportunity to examine the future orientation to improve and resolve the urban transport problem and future vision for effective transport systems in Ha Noi. I do hope that through the presentations and discussions, the seminar will produce fruitful results on this important subject.

In concluding, I would like to convey my sincere gratitude and appreciation to the organizers of this seminar and to express my sincere wish for the success of this seminar. Thank you very much for your attention.