LONG AN — The safe corridor along HCM City-Trung Lương Expressway has been seriously infringed, reported the Vietnam News Agency.

The fence along the highway was set up with steel nets and barbed wires to separate the highway from the residential areas to ensure traffic safety.

However, many sections of the fence, from Bến Lức District’s Thạnh Đức Commune to Tân An City of Long An Province, have been cut off and destroyed, increasing the risk of accidents, the agency reported.

Without the fence, the safe corridor is being freely trespassed by cattle and poultry and is turning into a garbage dump.

Meanwhile, local people in some communes of Bến Lức District took off the fence in the safe corridor to raise cattle and poultry; while some have placed construction material and garbage in the area, others have even opened cafes and restaurants.

A large part of the fence along the 28km-expressway passing through Long An Province has been destroyed

Nguyễn Đăng Lâm, a resident living near the safe corridor in Nhị Thành Commune, said “Many sections of the fence were destroyed and taken off a long time ago”.

“Many coaches and buses stop here for picking up passengers and loading cargo”, Đăng said.

According to Nguyễn Xuân Trường, a driver, “Local people getting into buses on the highway is dangerous for them as well as the drivers”.

The destruction of the fence on the safe corridor on the highway was reported to the local government a long time ago, but the situation has not improved.

Deputy head of Long An Province’s Traffic Safety Steering Committee, Phùng Văn Ơn, asked the provincial government to co-operate with the highway management department to secure the fence as well as raise awareness among the local people to not destroy it.

Local authorised agencies should strictly sanction the act of destroying the fence on the safe corridor, causing danger on the highway, he said. — VNS