Since last week, the junction at which our disgruntled friend sat – the Nguyen Kiem – Nguyen Thai Son – Pham Ngu Lao intersection - has been blocked with bumper-to-bumper traffic every morning and evening due to a new road construction project in the area.

Sadly for Ho Chi Minh City residents, such gridlock is far from abnormal.

“What the @#%&?!” said a foreigner unlucky enough to get stuck in a jam on Nam Ky Khoi Nghia Street in District 1, the city’s main thoroughfare to the airport.

In addition to District 1 and Go Vap, districts 3, Binh Thanh and Tan Binh have also become increasingly clogged with some of the city’s worst traffic.

The Department of Transportation and Public Works has come under fire for its lack of alternatives to current traffic problems, its failure to rearrange city bus routes, and its failure to expedite construction projects.

Vo Van Van, an official with the city traffic police, said the ongoing traffic problems were the inevitable outcome of the growing number of automobiles and motorbikes combined with many new road construction projects.

Around 150 cars and 1,300 motorbikes are newly registered in HCMC every day, he said.

Some 38 streets are set to be dug up in the first quarter of this year, meaning that there will be little alleviation of traffic in the near future.

Van said he hoped the situation would improve later this month as the city dispatched military forces to regulate traffic.

Progress

But despite all complaints, several new infrastructure works have in fact been completed in HCMC.

The completion of the Thu Thiem Bridge, an upgraded international terminal at Tan Son Nhat International Airport, and a 120-meter wide and 18 km long section of the Nguyen Van Linh Boulevard are all major accomplishments on the way to alleviating the city’s traffic problem.

Even the widening of Nam Ky Khoi Nghia and Nguyen Van Troi streets has eased the strain, particularly at the section of road from Vo Thi Sau Street to the airport.

The city government has said it would carry out its 2008 to 2010 infrastructure investment plans while paying special attention to transportation projects.

In a bid to ease the worsening congestion on the country’s roads, the central government has announced a tax increase on imported new automobiles from 60 percent to 70 percent and on used autos by an average 10 percent.

Reported by Minh Duc