Many sidewalks in Hà Nội were damaged after repaving. — VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI —Hà Nội authorities are working to fix pavements to beautify the city ahead of the New Year and upcoming Tết (Lunar New Year) which will fall in mid-February.

According to a report sent to the municipal People’s Committee, the Hà Nội Construction Department pointed out a series of shortcomings when examining projects to replace pavements by stones.

The paving projects were invested in by district authorities, evaluated and inspected by district urban management departments and carried out by the district project management board, according to Nguyễn Quang Huy, a department official.

Huy said since earlier this year, the department had inspected 21 streets and assessed that the investor and the construction units had basically complied with the design and quality construction management regulations.

However, in some streets in Hai Bà Trưng, Hoàn Kiếm, Đống Đa and Ba Đình districts, the construction process was still slow and construction materials occupied the roadway and pavement causing dust and inconvenience for people living nearby and road users, said Huy.

In Thi Sách Street of Hai Bà Trưng District, the pavements have had old bricks removed to be replaced with green stones advertised as having a durability of 70 years although last year, this street was also dug up and paved again.

Now, the street is a construction site, causing trouble for people in traffic.

In Huỳnh Thúc Kháng Street in Đống Đa District, workers are still rushing to put the paving stones on the sidewalks, meaning the road is dusty during construction.

“Drilling concrete and cutting the pavement stone causes terrible noise and dust for households living nearby," said Nguyễn Phương Trinh, a resident of Huỳnh Thúc Kháng Street.

Regarding quality and progress of pavement projects in Hà Nội, the department issued official letters to district authorities stating that in some projects, the construction process was slow progress and not completed on schedule, construction materials are occupying the roadway causes dirt and the pavement surfaces of some streets were damaged after being paved.

Hoàng Cao Thắng, the department’s vice director, asked districts to urgently review and select stones with a long duration for paving.

Quality must be controlled from the stage of bidding and stone selection, said Thắng.

New Year and Tết are approaching and Hà Nội’s sidewalk repaving was a sound policy to create a spacious, clean and beautiful appearance for the city, Thắng said.

However, the policy should be well carried out to avoid environmental pollution and financial waste, he added. — VNS