YÊN BÁI — The Ministry of Transport (MoT) on Wednesday, decided to allocate more than VNĐ23 billion (US$989,000) to help the northern province of Yên Bái restore its road systems damaged by floods last month.

At the meeting with the MoT delegation led by minister Nguyễn Văn Thể, Đỗ Đức Huy, head of the provincial People’s Committee said that the disaster caused enormous casualties and property loss.

Therefore, the province asked the MoT to support it financially to maintain normal traffic flows on damaged roads and simultaneously to increase the annual assistance allocated from the Central Road Maintenance Fund for the province.

Regarding the project of upgrading the National highway No 32C connecting Hiền Lương Commune, Hạ Hoà District in Phú Thọ Province and Yên Bái City, which needs additional capital of VNĐ440 billion ($18.9 million), local authorities asked to receive funding from the MoT to complete it in the shortest possible time.

The project of connecting Nghĩa Lộ Town with the Nội Bài – Lào Cai Highway was also proposed given its potential to accelerate the northern mountainous area’s economy.

Responding to those demands, Thể asked related agencies to provide Yên Bái Province with the requested number of gabions and Bailey bridges as soon as possible. He also tasked the Việt Nam Directorate of Roads with managing the roads’ repair process especially on National Highways No 32C, No 37 and No 2D.

In the third quarter of 2018, the province will be funded with VNĐ23 billion to maintain its traffic system.

The minister agreed to generate capital to complete the two projects and asked the Prime Minister to feature them in the 2015-20 medium-term capital plan.

The flood in July caused total losses of VNĐ912 billion ($39.2 million); damage to traffic construction accounted for VNĐ256 billion ($11 million). Eight hundred landslide spots were recorded with total volume of displaced rock and soil reaching as much as 1.6 million cu.m. — VNS