Circular No. 37/2018/TT-BGTVT dated June 07, 2018 of the Ministry of Transport on regulations of management, operation and maintenance of road construction works

THE MINISTRY OF TRANSPORT

CircularNo. 37/2018/TT-BGTVT dated June 07, 2018 of the Ministry of Transport onregulations of management, operation and maintenance of road construction works

Pursuant to the Law on Road Traffic No.23/2008/QH12;

Pursuant to the Law on Construction No.50/2014/QH13;

Pursuant to Decree No.12/2017/ND-CP dated February 19, 2017of the Government on functions, duties, rights and organizational structure of the Ministry of Transport;

Pursuant to Decree No.46/2015/ND-CP dated May 12, 2015 of the Government on quality control and maintenance of construction works;

Pursuant to Decree No.11/2010/ND-CP dated February 24, 2010 of the Government on management and protection of infrastructure of road construction works; Decree No.100/2013/ND-CP dated September 03, 2013 of the Government which amends the former Decree;

Pursuant to Decree No.32/2014/ND-CP dated April 22. 2014 of the Government on management, operation and maintenance of expressway facilities;

At the request of Director General of Department of Transport Infrastructure and Director General of Directorate for Roads of Vietnam;

The Minister of Transport promulgates a Circular regulating management, operation and maintenance of road construction works.

Chapter 1

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1.Scope of adjustment and Subjects of application

1. This Circular regulates the management, operation and maintenance of road construction works.

2. This Circular applies to organizations and individuals engaged in the management, operation and maintenance of road construction works across the territory of Vietnam.

Article 2. Definition

1.“Road work maintenance” means a collection of tasks aimed at ensuring normal and safe operation of the works as designed during the operation period.The maintenance shall include at least one of the following tasks: inspecting, monitoring, maintaining and repairing the works as well as testing their quality but not changing functions and scale of such works.

2.“Process of road work maintenance”means regulations on orders, subject matters and guidelines for implementation of road work maintenance.

3. “Central road network”includes national highways and other road routes under management of the Ministry of Transport.

4.“Local road network"includes provincial roads, district roads, commune roads, urban roads and other roads under management of People s Committees of centrally-affiliated provinces and cities (hereinafter referred to as People s Committees of provinces), People s Committees of provincial-affiliated districts and cities (hereinafter referred to as People s Committees of districts), People s Committees of wards, communes (hereinafter referred to as People’s Committees of communes).

5.“Road management agencies" includeDirectorate for Roads of Vietnam, Road Management Department, Department of Transport, professional agencies affiliated with People’s Committees of districts, People’s Committees of communes; agencies authorized to manage road routes by ministries, ministerial agencies and decentralized People s Committees of provinces (hereinafter referred to as entities authorized to manage road routes).

6.“Road work investor and operator” means PPP project management enterprises and enterprises assigned by the State to invest in and operate the road work.

7.“Owner of road works”means any organization or individuals having the right to own road works in accordance with provisions of laws.

8.“Road work maintenance contractors"mean organizations or individuals managing, operating and maintaining road works under the contract signed with the road work management agency or agency authorized to manage the road work maintenance project by the State.Road work maintenance contractors include road work management, regular maintenance and operation contractors; construction and repair contractors and other contractors engaged in the maintenance of road works.

9.“Road work user and manager”means the road work owner if the owner directly manage and use the road works; the organization or individual authorized by the owner to manage and use the road works by the owner in case such road works are not directly managed by their owner.

State-managed road work managers and users mean agencies directly managing the road works or agencies assigned to manage road works by Ministries, central government authorities or People’s Committees of provinces; enterprises assigned by the State to engage in investment, construction, management and operation of road works; project management enterprises in charge of management and operation of road works under the contract for PPP projects; dedicated road work managers mean organization or individuals owning the dedicated roads.

Article 3. Requirements for management, operation and maintenance of road works

1. Any road work that is put into construction must be managed, operated and maintained in accordance with provisions of the law on quality control and maintenance of construction works, the law on road traffic and regulations hereof.

2. Road work maintenance must be carried out in compliance with regulations of maintenance process, technical standards for road work maintenance published for application by competent authorities.

3. The process for management, operation and maintenance of road works must be established in conformity with works components, equipments installed to works, type of works (roads, bridges, tunnels, ferries, pontoon bridges and other works), grades of works and purpose of use.

4. Management, operation and maintenance of road works must ensure the lifespan of such works and safety to traffic, people, properties, construction works, fire preventing and fighting and environmental protection.

5. Management, operation and maintenance of the following works must be done in accordance of regulations hereof and relevant law provisions, to be specific:

a) For civil works, urban technical infrastructure works: implemented in accordance with the law on maintenance of civil works, building material industrial works and urban technical infrastructure works;

b) For power and lighting supply works: implemented in accordance with regulations of Decree No.46/2015/ND-CP on quality control and maintenance of construction works (hereinafter referred to as Decree No.46/2015/ND-CP);

c) For traffic lights and equipment installed to the works: implemented in accordance with regulations of Decree No.46/2015/ND-CP and the maintenance process provided by the supplier or installer of those equipment.

d) For construction of vehicle load testing stations, transaction stations for vehicles using roads within road investment and construction projects for business purpose, traffic supervision and management system and other auxiliary road works, management, operation and maintenance of construction works must suitable for the type and grade of those construction works.

Article 4. Subject matters of road work maintenance

1. Road work inspection

a) Road work inspection shall be conducted by using dedicated equipments or through observation.

b) Road work inspection includes the inspection based on technical standards and regulations; approved maintenance process; regular, periodic and irregular inspections for the purpose of discovering signs of degradation or damage of construction works and equipment installed as the basis for construction work maintenance.

2. Road work monitoring

a) Road work monitoring means supervising, measuring and recording the geometric change, transformation, transposition and other technical specifications of the works and surrounding environment by the time.

b) Road work monitoring that aims at serving the compulsory maintenance must be done in the following cases: road work incidents that cause catastrophe as prescribed in Appendix I issued thereto; construction works or works components showing signs of subsidence, crack or tilt and other abnormal signs that may lead to collapse and loss of safety during the operation or requirement of the investor, owner or manager or user of construction works.

c) Works’ components to be monitored include main bearing structure of the works which once get damage may lead to the collapse of such construction works (span structure, high abutment and intermediate support; towers; segment);

d) Monitoring matters of construction works prescribed in Appendix I issued thereto are stipulated in the maintenance process including monitoring positions, monitoring specifications and limit value of these specifications (subsidence, tilt, crack, transposition, and sag), monitoring time, measuring cycles and other necessary matters.

dd) The monitoring contractor must conduct a survey, prepare a plan for monitoring and volume and monitoring matters to achieve the purpose and meet requirements of monitoring before construction work monitoring. The monitoring plan must be suitable for monitoring matters which specifies the measurement method, measurement equipment, allocation and structure of monitoring landmark, implementation, method for processing data and other necessary matters.

The monitoring contractor must monitor construction works depending on the approved monitoring plan and send a report on monitoring results to the user or manager of road works, the monitoring data must be compared to limit value regulated by the design and construction contractor or in technical regulations and applicable standards.

For the case in which the monitoring data exceeds the allowable limit value or shows abnormal signs, the manager or user of road works must carry out assessment of bearing and operating safety during the operation and work out solution for timely handling the problem. 3. Road construction work inspection includes the inspection and assessment of quality, damage causes, value, duration of use and other technical specifications of the construction products, road work s components or road construction works through monitoring, experiment in combination with calculation and analysis. Quality assessment that serves maintenance works shall be carried out in the following cases:

a) Periodic assessment depending on the maintenance process approved in accordance with regulations in point a in clause 5 in Article 40 of Decree No.46/2015/ND-CP;

b) Damage of work’s components, the works showing signs of danger or safety hazard for the operation as prescribed in point b in clause 5 in Article 40 of Decree No.46/2015/ND-CP; monitoring results of road works excess the limit value or showing other abnormal signs of bearing safety and operating safety;

c) Request for quality assessment of the work which serves the making of maintenance process of works that is put into operation but not subject to any maintenance process as prescribed in point c in clause 5 in Article 40 of Decree No.46/2015/ND-CP;

d) Demand for base for the extension of operation of construction works out of their design life or the basis for reform and improvement of construction works as prescribed in point d in clause 5 in Article 40 of Decree No.46/2015/ND-CP;

dd) Request for construction by state management authorities as prescribed in point dd in clause 5 in Article 40 of Decree No.46/2015/ND-CP.

4. Road work maintenance must be carried out depending on the annual maintenance plan and approved maintenance process.

5. Road work repair means repairing works’ damage discovered during the operation for the purpose of ensuring the normal operation and safety of such road works. Road work repair includes:

a) Periodic repair of road works including periodically repairing damage or replacing work s components, equipment installed to such works that are damaged in consistent with the maintenance process;

b) irregular repair of road works that shall be done when the work or work s components get damaged or suffers unexpected effects from the wind, storm, flood, earthquake, fire or being hit and other effects; or when the works, work s component shows signs of degradation which poses a risk to the safety of work operation. Irregular repair due to storm or flood must be done in accordance with regulations issued by the Ministry of Transport on preventing, fighting against and recovering from effects of storm and floods in road sector.

Article 5. Responsibilities for management, operation and maintenance of road works

1. Directorate for Roads of Vietnam shall take responsibility to:

a) Manage, operate and maintain the central road network managed by the Ministry of Transport.

b) Inspect and instruct road management department and entities authorized to manage road works, road work enterprises to manage, operate and maintain road works under their management; ensure traffic safety, regulations in maintenance process, operation process, technical regulations and standards as well as assigned maintenance plan;

c) Decide and employ emergency methods for ensuring traffic on roads in the central road network in the following cases: taking the first step in ensuring traffic safety in accordance with regulations issued by the Minister of Transport on preventing and fighting against storm and flood in road sector; handling landslide on national highways and traffic congestion on roads( congestion at the transaction stations for vehicles using roads within road investment and construction projects for business purpose, at ferries and other places of traffic congestion); incidents that lead to the loss of traffic safety; fire or explosion in tunnels or bridges;

d) Impose penalties, as authorized or request regulatory agencies to impose penalties on organizations and individuals violating management, operation and maintenance of road works in the central road network.

Suspend the fee collection of the enterprise engaged in the investment, construction, management and operation of road works in the central road network as agreed in the project contract until it repairs all damage and degradation of the road works which are caused by lack of road work management and maintenance.

dd) Exercise other rights and fulfill other obligations regarding management, operation and maintenance of road works in accordance with relevant law provisions.

2. Road Management Department and entities authorized to manage road work engaged in management, operation and maintenance of central road network under management are required to:

a) Directly manage, operate and maintain road works on roads under their managements as well as ensure traffic safety;

b) Fulfill their duties of road management agencies as prescribed in clause 1 in Article 14 hereof and implement the assigned maintenance plan as prescribed in Article 18 and 19 hereof;

c) notify the investor of the project or construction works on the road under management for them to request the construction contractor and equipment supply contractor to guarantee road works in warranty period.

d) Impose penalties as authorized or request competent regulatory agencies to impose penalties on organizations and individuals violating regulations on management, operation and maintenance of road works;

dd) Exercise other rights and fulfill other obligations of road work users or managers regarding management, operation and maintenance of road works as regulated.

3. The Department of Transport shall take responsibility for local road network as follows:

a) Manage, operate and maintain roads under management;

b) Exercise other rights and fulfill other obligations regarding management, operation and maintenance of road works in local road network in accordance with law provisions.

4. Professional agencies affiliated with People s Committees of districts, People s Committees of communes shall manage, operate and maintain roads in localities in accordance with regulations issued by People s Committees of provinces.

5. Contractors engaged in management, operation and maintenance of road works and other activities relating to road work maintenance shall take responsibility to manage, operate and maintain road work assigned in accordance with regulations hereof, technical regulations and standards, work maintenance process, operation process and provisions of the signed contract.

6. Road work enterprises are required to:

a) Directly manage, operate and maintain road works on roads under managements as well as ensure traffic safety and effectiveness as well as environmental protection;

b) Take responsibility to road management agencies and competent authority for management, operation and maintenance of road works under management as well as ensure traffic safety in accordance with provisions of laws.

The owner or manager, user of dedicated road works is required to implement regulations in point a and b in clause 6 in this Article.

8. The investor, construction contractors of projects for building, reforming, expanding and repairing road works shall take responsibility for maintenance of road segments that is put into use while being constructed as follows:

a) During the implementation of the project, such investor and contractor must employ methods for maintaining the roads that is put into operation while being constructed and methods for ensuring traffic safety and watch keeping as prescribed in point a in clause 1 and point c in clause 2 in Article 16 hereof;

b) Where construction works are completed but not transferred, the investor and contractor must prepare a plan for maintenance and carry out such maintenance of road works until transferring to road management agencies, the owner or manager or user of those road works;

c) When transferring the completed works, the investor must transfer the maintenance documents as prescribed in Article 11 hereof, the list of spare supplies, accessories and other essential relevant documents to road management agencies; the owner or manager of road works;

d) During maintenance of works, the investor and construction contractor, equipment supply contractor must maintain the works in accordance with provisions of the law on quality control and maintenance of construction works; and

dd) be subject to inspection and settlement of road management agencies and competent regulatory agencies regarding their compliance with regulations hereof.

Chapter 2

ROAD WORK MAINTENANCE PROCESS AND OPERATION PROCESS

Article 6. Responsibilities for making road work maintenance process

1. With regard to projects for new construction and reform of road works

a) The engineering design contractor (for works requiring 3-step-design), construction drawing contractor (for works requiring 1 or 2-step-design) must make and transfer to the investor the maintenance process of works or works’ components with design dossier; update new maintenance process suitable for changes in design during the construction (if any) before acceptance of construction items or construction works put in to use;

b) Contractors supplying equipments installed to the works including transaction station for vehicles using roads within road investment and construction projects for business purpose, vehicle load testing stations, traffic supervision and control system, and works with other equipments must transfer the investor the maintenance process of equipments provided before the installation of those equipments;

c) Where the design contractor and equipment supply contractor prescribed in point a and b in this clause fail to establish the maintenance process, the investor may employ eligible consultancy in accordance with provisions of laws to make the maintenance process and take responsibility to pay the consultancy charge.

2. With regard to works that is put into use but not subject to any maintenance process, the owner or manager or user of such works shall take responsibility to establish a maintenance process.

3. It is not required to establish separate maintenance process applied to grade III construction works or lower and temporary works. The owner, manager or user of works must still carry out the maintenance of road works in accordance with regulations hereof and provisions of the law on quality control and maintenance of construction works.

4. If there exists technical standards for maintenance or maintenance process prepared for equivalent works, the owner and manager o user may apply such technical standard or process in their works without making a separate maintenance process.

Article 7. Contents of the process and bases for preparing road work maintenance process

1. The maintenance process of road works must be made as prescribed in clause 1 in Article 38 of Decree No.46/2015/ND-CP.

2. Bases for preparing a maintenance process include:

a) Technical standards and regulations applied to the work;

b) Maintenance process of equivalent works (if any);

c) Design documents including the document of revised design (if any), engineering construction instructions;

d) Guidelines of the producer, supplier and installer of works equipments;

dd) Natural conditions of the place of construction;

e) Other important documents

3. With regard to works transferred to be put into use but not subject to any maintenance process, the maintenance process must be made based on both regulations in clause 2 in this Article and the documents of construction completion, as-built drawings and service capacity of those works.

Article 8. Approval for road work maintenance process

1. With regard to projects for new construction, reform and expansion of road works, the approval for maintenance process shall be given as follows:

a) Where the investor is the Ministry of Transport: the Ministry of Transport shall grant approval for maintenance process applied to graded-I works, specially-graded works and other construction works which is then submitted to Directorate for Roads of Vietnam for permission;  

b) For cases not prescribed in point a in clause 1 in this Article, the investor must make and approve the work maintenance process as prescribed in point d in clause 2 in Article 38 of Decree No.46/2015/ND-CP.

2. With regard to works put into operation prescribed in clause 2 in Article 6, the following agency will hold the authority to grant approval for the maintenance process:

a) For central road network receiving funding from the Funds for maintenance of central roads, funding derived from state budget: the Ministry of Transport shall grant approval for maintenance process applied to graded-I works, specially-graded works and other works which is then submitted to Directorate for Roads of Vietnam for permission.

b) For local road network, the approval or decentralized approval for road work maintenance process shall be given as decided by People s Committees of provinces.

c) For cases not prescribed in point a and b in this clause, the owner or manager o user of road works shall take responsibility to grant approval for the maintenance process.

3. The organization in charge of approving the maintenance process may employ a consultancy to appraise a part or all of such maintenance process before granting approval. Funding for hiring appraisal consultancy will be provided in accordance with provisions of the law on quality control and maintenance of construction works.

Article 9. Adjusting maintenance process during operation

1. The maintenance process of road works during their operation shall be adjusted as follows:

a) The owner, manager or user may adjust the maintenance process when discovering any illogical factor that could affect the quality and operation of construction works.

b) The contractor who establishes the maintenance process is obliged to amend or change inappropriate contents in such maintenance process caused by his/her fault and may refuse the unreasonable demand for adjusting maintenance process from the owner or manager or user of the construction work.

c) The owner, manager or user may employ another contractor eligible to amend or adjust maintenance process to make the adjustment if the contractor establishing such maintenance process fails to perform such task. The contractor amending the maintenance process must be responsible for the quality of the adjustment made.

d) For construction works subject to technical standards for maintenance, the maintenance shall be carried out complying with the amended regulations if that technical standard is amended or replaced.

2. Approval for amended or replaced maintenance process shall be given as prescribed in Article 8 hereof.

Article 10. Road work operation process

1. Road work operation process shall be described as follows:

a) Road works operation process means instructions, guidelines of the designing consultancy, equipment supplier, technologies prescribing the mode, order and matters of management and operation of construction works, equipments installed into the works including transaction stations for vehicles using roads in road investment and construction projects for business purpose, vehicle load testing stations, traffic supervision and control system for the purpose of ensuring operation of works in consistent with the designed capacity and function; ensuring the safety, maintaining the design life of construction works and works’ equipments.

b) The operation process must include regulations on traffic organization, operating load, speed and components of motor vehicles, lane arrangement; regulations on location of vehicles arranged on the ferry, order of arriving and leaving the ferry; order of operating equipments installed into the works, regulations on safety, saving, preventing and fighting against fire and explosion and other relevant matters. With regard to transaction stations for vehicles using roads in road investment and construction projects for business purpose, vehicle load testing stations, traffic supervision and control system: the operation process must include regulations on number of manager, operator and equivalent grade, equipments, supplies, fuels and energy consumed in pursuit of ensuring normal operation as regulated.

2. Construction works requiring operation process include:

a) Swing bridges, movable bridges, bascule bridges;

b) Road ferries, road pontoon bridges;

c) Road tunnels using ventilation equipments and operating equipments;

d) Transaction stations for vehicles using roads in road investment and construction projects for business purpose;

dd) Fixed vehicle load testing stations;

e) Traffic supervision and control system;

g) Other construction works in accordance with regulations issued competent regulatory agencies, person holding the authority to make investment, investor, owner or manager or user of road works.

3. Responsibilities for making, approving and adjusting road work operation process shall be allocated as prescribed in Article 6, 8 and 9 hereof which applied for maintenance process.

4. Bases for making road work operation process include:

a) Designing documents;

b) Function, capacity, characteristics and nature of equipments installed into the works;

c) Guiding annual and documents of equipment and construction work operation;

d) Regulations on traffic assurance, traffic safety, labor safety and environmental protection;

dd) Other important matters.

5. Road work operation process shall be adjusted as prescribed in Article 9 hereof.

Article 11. Documents serving management, operation and maintenance of road works

1. Documents serving the management, operation and maintenance of road construction works include:

a) A decision on project approval and report of research on investment and construction possibility or report of economic-technical investment and construction, approval for engineering design and construction drawing design; announcement about the results of acceptance inspection by competent authorities in accordance with the law on construction, acceptance minutes relating to investment and construction projects and acceptance minutes of completion of construction works put into operation; works transfer minutes; survey and report of construction survey results; results of monitoring, measuring and quality assessment, experiments of bearing structure capacity (if any) during the construction and the list of spare equipments, accessories and supplies

b) The construction drawing design certified by the investor (enclosure) and changes in the design during the construction;

c) As-built drawing s (enclosure); markers of height and coordinates (if any); electronic retained documents (if any);

d) Profiles of equipments and technological equipments; user manuals and operator manuals for equipments and technology line installed to the construction works (if any);

dd) Site clearance benchmark documents; land use right certificate of infrastructure constructions serving management of road works (if any); safety corridor benchmark system;

e) Inspection and appraisal of traffic safety documents (if any);

g) Work maintenance process and operation process;

h) Documents of traffic arrangement (if any) and dealing with construction incidents (if any);

i) Documents of primitive status of bridge or tunnel construction works (if any);

k) Road patrol journals, profiles of bridges or tunnels, road registration documents, topographical maps; statistical report on operation of road works; magnetic tapes, discs or pictures of work condition;

l) Records and documents concerning handling of safety corridor violations and road transport infrastructure violations (if any);

m) Documents regarding inspection, assessment, monitoring, repair and other activities relating to management, operation and maintenance of road works;

n) Road, ferry and pontoon bridges vehicle count data.

2. Responsibilities for preparing, providing and receiving documents during the construction for serving operation and maintenance of road works shall be allocated as follows:

a) For road works under new construction, reform and expansion, road work repair projects, the investor shall prepare and transfer documents prescribed in point a, b, c, d, dd, e, g, h and i in clause 1 in this Article to the owner or manager, user of those road works before they are put into operation. When transferring, the transferor and transferee must verify the condition of the transferred documents and make a list of those documents;

b) For road works currently in operation, the maintenance contractor, management and operation contractor shall take responsibility to prepare documents prescribed in point k, l, m and n in clause 1 in this Article and be subject to inspection conducted by road work owner, manager or user.

Chapter 3

MANAGEMENT AND OPERATION OF ROAD WORKS

Article 12. Management and use of as-built drawings, maintenance and operation process and other documents serving management, operation and maintenance of road works

1. The owner, manager or user of road work shall take responsibility to:

a) Retain the original as-built drawings, maintenance and operation process as well as other documents serving management, operation and maintenance of road works;

b) Provide documents serving management, operation and maintenance of road works for the contractor performing above-mentioned tasks;

c) Inspect the contractor performing tasks prescribed in clause 2 in this Article.

2. Contractors managing, operating and maintaining road works shall take responsibility to retain and use provided documents to perform their duties.

Article 13. Preparing, managing and using documents during road work maintenance and operation

1. The owner, manager or user of road work shall take responsibility to:

c) Inspect the contractor performing tasks prescribed in clause 2 and 3 in this Article;

b) Store and use documents prescribed in clause 1 in Article 11 hereof.

2. Management, operation and maintenance contractors shall take responsibility to:

a) Establish, manage and update profiles of bridges and tunnels, road registration documents; update the condition of tunnel, bridges and roads;

b) Establish topographical maps; statistical report of geometric factors, road works, signboard location and changes during the operation; safety road corridors; on a three-month basis, update violations, sanctions, site clearance, removal of works that violate road safety corridors and road lands; establish management documents of connecting positions and essential works within road safety corridors;

c) Record road patrol in journal (for roads, bridges and sewers); take note of daily operation of tunnels, ferries, pontoon bridges, swing bridges, movable bridges and other specific bridges;

d) Make a report on management, operation and maintenance of road works;

dd) prepare, manage and use other documents in accordance with regulations in technical standards for maintenance and approved maintenance process;

e) Establish and update a database of roads, bridges, maintenance history such as periodic repair, irregular repair, replacement of components, items, structure, equipments and other activities;

g) Retain both the written form of documents prescribed in point a through e and their electronic files, and send those documents to road management agencies, the owner or manager, user of road work

3. Responsibilities of other contractors:

a) Design surveying contractor and construction and repair contractor shall be responsible to establish documents concerning survey, design, as-built drawings and implement regulations in the law on management of work investment, construction and quality;

b) Appraisal, inspection and monitoring contractor shall be responsible to perform tasks prescribed in clause 1, 2 and 3 in Article 4 hereof the law on management of work investment, construction and quality.

Article 14. Management during road work maintenance and operation process

1. Road management agencies shall take responsibility to:

a) Patrol roads under management as assigned in accordance with regulations issued by the Minister of Transport;

b) Implement regulations on management and protection of road transport infrastructure;

c) prepare and submit the maintenance plan funded by state budget in accordance with provisions of laws; make and submit a economic-technical report or road work repair projects in compliance with the law provisions; make and submit the cost estimate for regular road work maintenance and cost estimate for inspection, monitoring and quality assessment serving maintenance of road works offered in the bidding, order and enter into a contract with management and maintenance contractors, operation contractors; assess the bearing safety, operation safety during the operation; handle works showing signs of danger that fails to ensure safe operation and handle work expired for operation but requiring further use;

d) Inspect and supervise maintenance contractors and other contractors executing the signed contracts;

dd) inspect and supervise project management enterprises in management and operation of works within the project in conformity with the law provisions

2. Road work management, operation and maintenance contractors shall be responsible to:

a) Patrol, inspect and protect road transport infrastructure as regulated by the Minister of Transport;

b) Implement other regulations on management and protection of road transport infrastructure;

c) Perform tasks regarding management, maintenance and operation of road works in accordance with technical standards and regulations, road work maintenance and operation process and provisions of the signed contract.

3. Road works enterprises, the owner or manager, user of dedicated road works shall implement regulations in point b, c and d in clause 1 in this Article with regard to road works under their management. For the case in which the above-mentioned enterprises manage, operate and maintain road works themselves, they shall comply with regulations in clause 2 in this Article.

Article 15. Monitoring and updating condition of damage and degradation of road works

1. The owner, manager or user of road works shall take responsibility to:

a) Conduct regular, periodic and irregular inspection of road works in pursuit of timely discovering signs of degradation or damage of those works or equipments installed as the basis for carrying out road work repair, maintenance or other activities; assess bearing safety and operation safety in accordance with provisions of the law in quality control and maintenance of construction works;

b) Check, supervise and urge the work management, operation and maintenance contractor to perform tasks prescribed in clause 2 in this Article;

c) Update and make a consolidated report on damage condition of works under management for the purpose of preparing a maintenance plan and send such report to competent authorities as well as repair damage to ensure traffic safety.

2. Road work management, operation and maintenance contractors shall be responsible to:

a) Regularly monitor and update quality condition of works under management as assigned, timely discover damage and degradation of those works and equipments installed;

b) Make a seasonal report on quality condition of road works under their management and maintenance; immediately make an irregular report when discovering damage that pose a risk to traffic safety and road work safety;

c) For the case in which road works enterprises manage, operate and maintain road works themselves, they shall comply with regulations in point a and b in this clause.

Article 16. Traffic arrangement, watch keeping, vehicle count, operation and handling of accidents and incidents

1. Traffic arrangement

a) With regard to road works put into operation while being constructed, the investor and construction contractor shall responsible for adopting traffic safety methods in consistent with provisions of the law on road traffic.

b) Road work management, operation and maintenance contractors shall be responsible for arranging traffic in accordance with regulations in the maintenance and operation process, relevant technical standards and regulations and provisions of the signed contract

c) Road works enterprises shall take responsibility to arrange traffic on the roads under their own management under the guidance of road management agency.

d) Competent regulatory agencies and road management agency shall take responsibility to inspect organizations performing duties prescribed in point a, b and c in this clause and handle violations (if any) in consistent with provisions of laws.

2. Watch keeping

a) Watch keeping must be carried out in the following cases: incidents, landslide, damage of works and other abnormal signs that could lead to safety hazard for traffic and operation of works; traffic congestion; construction and repair on roads currently in operation.

b) The owner or manager, user of road works shall be responsible for arranging watch keeping; inspect traffic assurance duty performed by road work management and maintenance contractor.

c) With regard to road works that is put into operation while being constructed, the investor and construction contractor must not only adopt traffic assurance methods prescribed in point a in clause 1 in this Article but they also have to carry out watch keeping on roads beings constructed whose surface is narrowed; roads using bypass, temporary bridges, overflow and underground routes; dangerous positions and traffic congestion positions.

d) Competent regulatory agencies and road management agency shall take responsibility to inspect watch keeping duty performed by relevant organizations and individuals prescribed in point b and c in this clause.

3. Vehicle count

a) The vehicles must be annually counted in consistent with technical standards, approved maintenance process and annual maintenance plans or when required by the Ministry of Transport with regard to central road network or local authorities with regard to local roads. The vehicles must be counted at least once every six months and must be classified for count in consistent with road design standard.

b) The owner, manager or user of roads must be responsible for inspecting and supervising the contractor performing task in point c in this clause; aggregate and store counting data of vehicles on roads under their management and send a report on vehicle count directly to the superior authority.

c) Road work management, operation and maintenance contractors shall responsible for counting vehicles on roads; making a book monitoring number of vehicles on each ferry, number of daily, monthly, quarterly and annually ferry and sending a report on vehicle count to the owner, manager or user of roads.

d) Road works enterprises shall take responsibility to count vehicles on roads under their own management as assigned in accordance with regulations in point c in this clause and send a report on vehicle count to regulatory agencies entering into the project contract and road management agency.

4. The operation of ferries, pontoon bridges, tunnels, swing bridges, auxiliary works and equipments installed into the works including transaction stations for vehicles using roads within the road investment and construction project for business purpose, vehicle load testing stations and traffic supervision and control system must comply with technical standards, operation and maintenance process as well as guidance of equipment producer or supplier.

5. When traffic accidents occur, the owner, manager or user of road works, maintenance contractor and organizations and individuals relating to management, operation and maintenance of road works must perform the following tasks:

a) Protect the scene and timely help the victim; notify the public security agency, health agency or the nearest People s Committee, protect victim s properties and provide accurate information on the accident as required by competent authorities;

b) Timely notify the traffic police in the nearest locality and road management agency of the traffic accident and condition of damage of road works caused by such accident (if any); instruct people and vehicles in traffic to pass through the accident place or prevent such accident place in case road works get severe damage which cause safety hazard for operation.

6. Handling of road work incidents during operation

a) The classification, reporting, handling and finding causes of incidents shall comply with regulations in Article 46, 47, 48, 49 and 50 of Decree No.46/2015/ND-CP;

b) The owner, manager or user of road works, maintenance contractor and relevant organizations and individuals shall be responsible for handling incidents and adopting traffic safety assurance methods;

c) Where incidents occur on central road network, road management agency, owner, manager or user of road works must not only report incidents as prescribed in Article 47 of Decree No.46/2015/ND-CP but they also have to immediately notify the Ministry of Transport and Directorate for Roads of Vietnam.

Chapter 4

ROAD WORK MAINTENANCE

Article 17. Preparing, approving and adjusting the road work maintenance plan

1. The road work maintenance plan funded by state budget must provide the following information: construction items and lists, primary volume, funding, scale and technical solutions for repairing and maintaining; time and mode of implementation and priority level. The road work maintenance plan shall be prepared in consistent with the Form prescribed in Appendix II issued thereto.

2. Tasks within the road work maintenance plan

a) With regard to road works funded by the Fund for road maintenance, tasks within the maintenance plan include:

Regular maintenance including tasks performed in consistent with technical standard for regular maintenance of road works and maintenance process; power for light, power for tunnel operation and equipments installed into road works.

Periodic repair of road works including roadside reinforcement for traffic assurance.

Irregular repair including handling risks of traffic accidents by adopting technical methods such as using overpass, tunnels or ensuring the width of overpass equal to that of road or finding other abnormal causes for accidents, clear site (if any) for traffic safety assurance.

Other activities such as equipments repair and testing, repair of fixed and movable vehicle load testing stations; assistance in ferry service; inspection and monitoring of road works currently in operation subject to specific requirements; repair of means and equipments serving state management with respect to road work maintenance; patrol costume; repair of road work management department; patrol and inspection of road transport infrastructure, assistance provided for local traffic inspectors in performing their duties on national highways as authorized (if any); assistance in vehicle load testing for Directorate for Roads of Vietnam; application of technologies for management and maintenance of road works; supervision and maintenance of road works in specific events;

b) The maintenance plan receiving other funding sources includes tasks prescribed in point a as mentioned above except patrol costume; inspection of road transport infrastructure; assistance provided for local traffic inspector in performing their duties on national highways as authorized (if any) and assistance in vehicle load inspection by Directorate for Roads of Vietnam;

c) With regard to central road network, when preparing the maintenance plan, it is required to select tasks and the list of roads subject to priority policy for funding allocation.

Priority tasks include regular maintenance of road works, operation of ferry or tunnel using operating equipments; project volume transferred from previous years to following one; work incidents; repair of traffic safety assurance works, handling of traffic accident risks; repair of poor-condition bridges, narrow bridges; repair of damaged roads causing traffic safety hazard; periodic repair of surface of roads in operation but expired for design for recovering technical criteria (crack level, rough index, rugged index) in consistent with design standard; develop standards and regulations on management, maintenance, assessment of bearing capacity of bridge works showing signs of degradation which fails to ensure safety operation and other necessary tasks.

Priority roads include high-speed roads; national highways with considerable transport capacity as the main axis connecting key regions for socio-economic development, ensuring national defense and security of the whole country and key economic regions.

With regard to local road network, the person holding authority to grant approval for the maintenance plan shall decide priority tasks within annual maintenance plans.

3. Preparing, appraising and approving annual maintenance plans with regard to central road network funded by state budget

a) According to road work condition, information on works’ scale and structure, history of repair and maintenance, other data on roads, road works, technical standards and maintenance process, economic-technical restrictions, priority tasks and roads prescribed in point c in clause 2 in this Article, Directorate for Roads of Vietnam shall preside over and cooperate with road management agencies and entities authorized to manage road works in making and submitting the management and maintenance requirements in the following year with regard to the central road network funded by state budget to the Ministry of Transport before May 30 each year.

b) The Ministry of Transport shall approve the management and maintenance requirements for the following year; grant approval for priority tasks and list of priority roads permitted for investment preparation before June 30 reach year.

c) According to the priority tasks and list of priority roads permitted for investment preparation approved by the Ministry of Transport, the Directorate for Roads of Vietnam shall prepare, appraise and approve the project for or economic-technical report on work repair; approve the cost estimate for funding and other tasks completed before October 31 each year.

During the preparation, appraisal and approval for the project or economic-technical report on road work repair, the Directorate for Roads of Vietnam may adjust the scope such as length and chain age of the road undergoing repair, technical methods, provide additional traffic safety construction items but not excess funding granted to the approved items. Where it is required to ensure the bearing safety and operation safety, funding for the additional items shall not exceed 20% of funding granted for bearing structure repair (beam, abutment and intermediate support).

d) According to tasks approved in point c in this clause and essential additional tasks and list of roads not in the list prescribed in point b in this clause, the Directorate for Roads of Vietnam shall make a consolidated report on maintenance plan for the following year and submit it to the Ministry of Transport before November 15 each year. The Ministry of Transport shall appraise and approve such plan during 15 days from the day authorized by competent authorities or receiving a notification of state budget cost estimate.

4. Maintenance requirements depending on financial budget planning period must be consistent with provisions of the law on state budget.

5. The plan for maintenance of local road network funded by local budget shall be prepared, appraised and approved as prescribed in clause 1 in this Article.

6. Adjusting the road work maintenance plan funded by state budget

a) For the case in which the works requiring repair not include in the approved maintenance plan, the Directorate for Roads of Vietnam shall submit the additional list of works subject to tasks prescribed in point c in clause 3 in this Article and a consolidated report on adjusted maintenance plan to the Ministry of Transport for approval;

b) The plan for maintenance of road works funded by state budget not prescribed in point a in this clause may be adjusted during implementation as prescribed in clause 3 in Article 39 of Decree No.46/2015/ND-CP.

7. The plan for maintenance of road works that are invested, constructed, managed and operated not in the form of PPP by the state-owned enterprise affiliated with the Ministry of Transport shall be prepared, appraised and approved as follows: as for road works receiving funding derived from state budget, the enterprise shall prepare the maintenance plan then submit it to the Ministry of Transport for appraisal and approval; and for works funded by the enterprise itself, the maintenance plan shall be prepared, appraised and approved by such enterprise.

8. With regard to road works within the PPP project

a) The maintenance and cost must be stated in the project contract. The project management enterprise shall prepare and approve the maintenance plan based on approved maintenance process and current status of the road works as prescribed in clause 1 in Article 39 of Decree No.46/2015/ND-CP; and send approved maintenance plan to competent regulatory agencies for supervision before December 31 of the preceding year.

b) Where it is required to adjust the volume and cost of maintenance due to force majeure events or where there are maintenance tasks not agreed in the signed project contract, the project management enterprise shall request regulatory agency that enter into the contract to consider and come to an agreement on the adjustment in accordance with provisions of the project contract.

9. The plan for maintenance of road works not prescribed in clause 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 in this Article shall be prepared, approved and adjusted in accordance with provisions of the law on quality control and maintenance of construction works.

Article 18. Implementation of road work maintenance plan

1. With regard to central road network managed by the Ministry of Transport, the maintenance plan shall be implemented as follows:

a) According to annual road work maintenance plan approved, technical standards and regulations on maintenance and approved maintenance process, the Directorate for Roads of Vietnam, road management agency, entities authorized or assigned to directly managed the road works shall implement the maintenance plan;

b) Where road works are invested, constructed, managed and operated by the Ministry of Transport, the enterprise shall implement the plan for maintenance of works under its own management according to the approved maintenance plan, technical standards and regulations on maintenance as well as maintenance process.

2. The plan for maintenance of local road network shall be implemented in accordance with regulations issued by People’s Committees of provinces.

3. Maintenance of road works within the PPP project

a) The project management enterprise shall maintain road works according to technical standards and regulations on maintenance, maintenance process, project contract, maintenance plan and cost for the purpose of ensuring traffic safety and quality of works;

b) Before implementing the maintenance plan in the year, the project management enterprise must notify the regulatory agency entering into the contract of maintained construction items, maintenance time, maintenance cost, and methods for traffic arrangement, traffic assurance and other necessary information.

Such enterprise must notify the regulatory agency entering into the project contract of periodic repair and replacement of equipments 15 days before the repair.

In case of emergency repair, incident handling or repair for preventing collapse, the enterprise shall carry out the maintenance in accordance with provisions of the law on construction and send a report to the regulatory agency entering into the project contract after maintenance.

c) The regulatory agency entering into the project contract shall take responsibility to supervise and inspect the project management enterprise carrying out maintenance as agreed in the project contract, in consistent with technical standards and approved maintenance process; impose penalties on such enterprise for violating management and maintenance of works in accordance with provisions of laws and the signed contract.

4. With regard to dedicated road works, the owner shall maintain dedicated road works under his/her investment and be subject to inspection and supervision by state management authority as regulated.

5. The agency or organization assigned to implement maintenance plan prescribed in clause 1 and 2 in this Article, project management enterprise prescribed in Article 3 in this Article shall take responsibility to implement the maintenance plan in pursuit of ensuring the progress, quality, effectiveness of use of funding for such plan in consistent with provisions of laws.

6. Inspection of maintenance plan implementation

a) The Ministry of Transport shall conduct periodic and irregular inspection of maintenance plan implementation with regard to cases prescribed in clause 1 in this Article;

b) The agency approving and assigning maintenance plan with regard to cases prescribed in clause 2 in this Article to other entities shall take responsibility to inspect those entities to make sure they meet requirements prescribed in clause 5 in this Article.

c) The regulatory agency entering into the PPP project contract shall be responsible for inspecting the project management enterprise in charge of implementing the maintenance plan in accordance with regulations hereof and provisions of the project contract.

Article 19. Inspection, monitoring, quality assessment, regular maintenance, repair, assessment of bearing safety and operation safety during road work operation

1. The owner, manager or operator of road works shall responsible for inspecting, monitoring, assessing the quality, regularly maintaining and repairing works in consistent with approved maintenance process and technical standards for maintenance if he/she is eligible to perform the above-mentioned tasks or employ another organization eligible for those tasks.

2. Inspecting, monitoring and assessing the quality of road works

a) Road works shall be inspected in consistent with the maintenance plan and regulations in clause 1 in Article 4 hereof;

b) Road works shall be monitored in consistent with the maintenance plan and regulations in clause 2 in Article 4 hereof. The organization or individual in charge of work monitoring must make a report on monitoring results;

c) The quality of road work shall be assessed in consistent with the maintenance plan and regulations in clause 3 in Article 4 hereof. The organization or individual in charge of quality assessment must make a report on assessment results;

3. Road works shall be maintained in consistent with regulations in clause 4 in Article 4 hereof; the maintenance results must be recorded in a document. The owner, manager or operator of road works shall be responsible for conducting an inspection, supervision and acceptance of maintenance completion, quality of performance of maintenance duty and managing road work maintenance document.

4. Periodic and irregular repair of road works

a) Road works shall be repaired periodically in consistent with regulations in point a in clause 5 in Article 4 hereof; It is required to prepare, appraise and approve the plan for periodic repair of road works funded by state budget that costs VND 500 million or higher as well as make a economic-technical report and perform other tasks in accordance with provisions of laws on investment and construction of works; in case periodic repair costs less than VND 500 million, the owner, manager or operator or road works shall prepare a repair plan including the name of work s components or equipments to be repaired or replaced; reasons and objectives of repair or replacement; workload, cost estimate for repair expenses; time for performance and completion.

b) Road works shall be repaired irregularly in consistent with regulations in point b in clause 5 in Article 4 hereof.

With regard to road works within the central road network funded by state budget: where the construction works, works’ components get damaged due to effects from wind, flood, earthquake, fire, explosion, being hit or other unexpected effects that leads to the risk of collapse, traffic congestion, risk of traffic accidents which results in emergency repair not included in the approved maintenance plan, the Directorate for Roads of Vietnam shall issue a decision approving and carrying out irregular repair for the purpose of ensuring traffic safety and safety of construction works. The Directorate for Roads of Vietnam shall be responsible for the use of funding, methods for repairing and completing the document as regulated with regard to irregular repair mentioned above and notify the Ministry of Transport for adjustments to annual maintenance plan.

With regard to works, works’ components and construction items showing signs of degradation which poses a risk to operation and causes traffic accidents, the Directorate for Roads of Vietnam shall notify the Ministry of Transport for inspection to amend annual maintenance plan as prescribed in clause 6 in Article 17 hereof.

c) With regard to road works within the PPP project, the project management enterprise shall notify regulatory agencies for approval before repairing damage not stated in the project contract; except for emergency repair, handling of incidents or repair for preventing collapse.

5. Life of road works and duration for periodic repair

a) The duration of use subject to design of road works (hereinafter referred to as design life) means the period in which road works are expected to be used meeting requirements for safety and function. The design life shall be stipulated in applicable technical standards and regulations, duties of construction and design of works and design duty.

For the case in which standards and regulations on design of road works fail to regulate the design life as the basis for determining the duration for periodic repair of road surface, the design life shall be identified as prescribed in Appendix IV issued thereto or according to the number of standard axle accumulated in design compared to that of standard axle accumulated during operation; the duration for periodic repair or replacement of equipments installed into road works and other construction items shall be consistent with design regulations, regulations within relevant technical standards and regulations on time for fixed asset depreciation;

b) The duration for use of road works in real life (hereinafter referred to as service life) means the period in which road works are put in operation meeting requirements for safety and function.

The service life of road works may be changed compared to design life due to the following causes: operation status, volume of vehicles in traffic, works components inconsistent with design of works; events causing unexpected damage during operation; the progress and results of management and maintenance of construction works, construction items and equipments installed to road works, quality of works;

c) If the service life is shorter than the design one, the owner, manager or user of road works must inspect and assess the quality of works (where necessary) to find causes for the decrease in the service life and seek solutions.

d) Operation of road works out of their design life must comply with regulations in Article 23 hereof.

6. Assessing bearing safety and operation safety during operation of road works

a) Assessment of bearing safety and operation safety during operation of road works must be carried out in accordance with provisions of the law on quality control and maintenance of construction works;

b) Assessment matters and frequency shall be prescribed in technical standards and regulations (if any) or road work maintenance process.

Article 20. Quality control during road work maintenance process

1. The quality control during maintenance must comply with the following regulations:

a) The owner, manager or user of road works, investor of road work maintenance project, road work maintenance contractor and organizations and individuals relating to road work maintenance shall be responsible for controlling the quality of maintenance in accordance with provisions of laws;

b) Maintenance quality control shall comply with provisions of the law on management and operation of road transport infrastructure, regulations in technical standards for work maintenance and regulations issued by the Minister of Transport on supervision and acceptance of volume and quality of road work management and regular maintenance tasks performed;

c) The quality of periodic and irregular repair including survey, design, inspection, appraisal, approval, and performance and acceptance supervision shall be controlled in compliance with provisions of the law on quality control and maintenance of construction works.

2. The quality of maintenance of road works within the PPP project shall be controlled as prescribed in clause 1 in this Article and the following regulations:

a) Responsibilities of the regulatory agency entering into the PPP project contract and the enterprise controlling the maintenance quality shall be claimed in accordance with regulations hereof and provisions of the signed contract;

b) The regulatory agency entering into the PP project contract shall inspect the maintenance quality control duty performed by the project management enterprise to ensure the quality in consistent with provisions of laws; handling in accordance with provisions of the law on construction and provisions of the signed contract if discovering any violation regarding quality or violation against technical standards and approved maintenance process.

If violations of quality against design standards, technical standards, maintenance process during road work operation or violations posing a risk to traffic safety and operation safety fail to be timely handled, the regulatory agency entering into the project contract shall suspend the collection of road work service charge until all violations are completely handled. In case of damage which lead to the risk of collapse causing safety hazard for operation of road works, such regulatory agency shall suspend the operation until all damage are repaired.

3. The warranty period of road work repair shall be prescribed in clause 4 and 5 in Article 41 of Decree No.46/2015/ND-CP.

4. Where road works require monitoring or quality assessment, such task must be performed as prescribed in clause 7 in Article 41 of Decree No.46/2015/ND-CP and clause 2 and in Article 4 hereof.

Article 21. Maintenance of road works currently in operation but not subject to any maintenance process

1. With regard to road works currently in operation but not subject to any maintenance process, the owner or manager, user of those works shall perform the following tasks:

a) Supervise, inspect and assess the current status of the works; carry out quality assessment if necessary as the basis for making maintenance process;

b) Establish the maintenance process as prescribed in clause 2 in Article 6 hereof;

c) During the pre-issuance of maintenance process, the owner, manager or user of road works may apply technical standards or maintenance process of equivalent works to maintain road works under their own management until the day on which the maintenance process of their works is issued. If necessary, they may employ the consultancy to assess the conformity before applying technical standards or maintenance process of equivalent works.

2. Road works enterprises, the owner of dedicated road works, manager or user of road works shall perform tasks prescribed in clause 1 in this Article with regard to road works under their own management.

Article 22. Handling road works showing signs of danger, causing safety hazard for operation

1. The owner, manager or user of road works, road work maintenance and operation contractor and organizations and individuals relating to road work maintenance are required to:

a) When discovering road works or works components showing signs of danger or causing safety hazard for operation, check the current status of the works, assess the quality of such works (if necessary); employ emergency methods such as limiting the use of road works, load of vehicles or speed, suspending the work operation, transferring people, means of transport and properties for safety assurance in case of risk of collapse; immediately notify the nearest local authority; repair damage which could pose a risk to safety operation. take legal responsibility if failing to handle timely which results in loss of life and properties.

With regard to road works within the central road network including roads invested, constructed, managed and operated by the enterprise, notification must be given both to the nearest local authority and the Ministry of Transport as well as Directorate for Roads of Vietnam.

Notify competent authorities in case of road work destruction and carry out procedures in accordance with provisions of the law on management and operation of road transport infrastructure;

b) Cooperate with the local authority in performing tasks prescribed in clause 2 in Article 44 of Decree No.46/2015/ND-CP.

2. Any organization and individual may notify the owner, manager and operator of road works, state management authority or through mass media when discovering incidents, road works or works components showing signs of danger or causing safety hazard for operation in pursuit of timely handling.

Article 23. Handling expired road works but its operation is still needed

1. For expired road works, the road management agency, owner or manager, operator of such works must perform tasks prescribed in clause 1 in Article 45 of Decree No.46/2015/ND-CP.

2. The extension of operation of such works must be decided based on technical status, particular operation requirements, type and grade of road works. Responsibility for notifying and the authority to handle expired road works but operation of such works is still needed shall comply with regulations in clause 2 in Article 45 of Decree No.46/2015/ND-CP.

3. End of operation of expired works and destruction of works no longer in operation shall comply with regulations in clause 4 and 5 in Article 45 of Decree No.46/2015/ND-CP.

Article 24. Applying technical standards and regulations as well as economic-technical restrictions in maintenance of road works

1. Application of technical standards and regulations in maintenance of road works shall comply with regulations in Article 6 of Decree No.46/2015/ND-CP.

2. Application of economic-technical restrictions in maintenance of road works shall comply with provisions of the law on management of investment and construction costs and the law on costs for maintenance of construction works.

Article 25. Road work maintenance reporting

1. With regard to central road network, the report shall be made as follows:

a) The Directorate for Roads of Vietnam shall send periodic reports on results of management and maintenance of road works before the 22^ndof March, June and September as well as a report in the year before December 22 to the Ministry of Transport;

b) The road management agency, entities authorized to manage road works shall send periodic report on results of management and maintenance of road works before the 12^thof March, June and September and a report in the year before December 12;

c) The report must be made as prescribed in Appendix III issued thereto.

2. With regard to local road network, road management agencies shall made reports in accordance with regulations issued by People s Committees of province.

The Department of Transport shall send a report on management and maintenance of the network of provincial roads, urban roads, commune roads and other local roads as well as dedicated roads to the Directorate for Roads of Vietnam before December 12.

3. Entities prescribed in clause 1 and 2 in this Article must make both periodic reports stipulated in clause 1 in this Article and irregular reports where force majeure events arise which affect the road works or as required by competent authorities as well as other reports in accordance with provisions of the law on investment.

Article 26. Funding sources for management, operation and maintenance of road works

1. Funds for road work maintenance, funding derived from state budget, ODA capital, capital of investors in PPP projects, capital sources from operation of road traffic infrastructure and other capital sources in accordance with provisions of laws.

2. Funding for management, operation and maintenance of road works must be used and managed in accordance with provisions of the law in force.

Article 27. Costs for management, operation and maintenance of road works

1. Costs for management, operation and maintenance of road works shall be calculated as prescribed in Article 42 of Decree No.46/2015/ND-CP, Decree No.32/2015/ND-CP dated March 25, 2015 of the Government on management of construction costs, Circular No.03/2017/TT-BXD dated March 16, 2017 of the Minister of Construction on guidelines for calculating costs for maintenance of construction works (hereinafter referred to as Circular No.03/2017/TT-BXD). Costs for management, operation maintenance of road works shall be calculated by using at least one of the following methods:

a) Using percentage-based costs prescribed in point a in clause 1 in Article 5 of Circular No.03/2017/TT-BXD;

b) Calculating costs according to workload and unit price prescribed in point b in clause 1 in Article 5 of Circular No.03/2017/TT-BXD including maintenance workload and maintenance unit price; volume and number of employees, experts required by each particular job and road works, job description, progress and time for performance, qualification of employees and experts, appropriate unit price and other necessary costs;

c) Calculating costs according to costs of management, operation and maintenance of equivalent road works prescribed in point c in clause 2 of Decree No.32/2015/ND-CP. If using such method, the costs will be calculated based on scale, capacity or service ability of the road works or works’ components under consideration and costs for management, operation and maintenance of equivalent works with same type, grade, scale, capacity or service ability. If using recorded data on costs for previous road works, those costs must be exchanged to the one on the day of cost calculation in the locality where the works is constructed and other costs may be adjusted where necessary to be suitable for particular project or works.

This method shall only apply in making report on project possibility research.

d) For the case in which there are no technical standards for maintenance, maintenance and operation process. maintenance restrictions, data on costs for management, operation and maintenance of equivalent works as the basis for calculating costs as prescribed in point a, b and c in clause 1 in Article 27 hereof, the design consultancy shall be responsible for developing a technical guideline for work operation and maintenance to determine the volume and making cost estimate for costs of management, operation and maintenance under the guidance provided in Appendix V issued thereto.

2. With regard to road works funded by state budget including road maintenance funds, the costs must be calculated and managed in compliance with provisions of the law on bidding, placing orders for production and supply of public products and services for management and maintenance of road works.

3. Management, operation and maintenance costs shall be combined with contents of the report on project possibility research during the project making.

During operation of works, the cost estimate for management, operation and maintenance expenses must be made, appraised and approved in accordance with provisions of the law on management of construction costs, quality control and maintenance of construction works.

4. Cost contingency for price slippage during operation of road works shall be determined under the principle of consistency on calculation methods such as calculating costs in the stage of investment preparation or investment making.

5. With regard to road works within the PPP project, if any damage is caused by unexpected effects prescribed in point b in clause 5 in Article 4 hereof during the contract implementation, the costs for irregular repair must be additionally stated in the project contract. Where the bidding documents for selecting investors or the project contract states that the investor (project management enterprise) shall take responsibility to self-balance costs for irregular repair within the financial plan, such investor must perform the task mentioned above and must not record any additional irregular costs in the project contract.

6. With regard to national highways under management of entities authorized by the Ministry of Transport, costs for management of regular maintenance will be calculated as prescribed in clause 3 in Article 4 of Joint Circular No.75/2011/TTLT-BTC-BGTVT dated June 06, 2011 of the Minister of Finance and Transport.

7. Regular maintenance of road works during the warranty period as regulated shall not include the costs for repair and replacement of damaged equipments. The construction contractor and equipment supply and installation contractor shall be responsible for providing warranty of works.

There is no cost for regular repair of works components and construction items within the repair plan or items not requiring maintenance during repair of road works.

Chapter 5

IMPLEMENTATION PROVISIONS

Article 28. Effect

1. This Circular takes effect on July 24, 2018 and replaces Circular No.52/2013/TT-BGTVT dated December 12, 2013 of the Minister of Transport on management, operation and maintenance of road construction works, Circular No.20/2014/TT-BGTVT dated May 30, 2014 of the Minister of Transport on amendments to the former Circular.

2. If legislative documents mentioned herein are amended or replaced during the implementation of this Circular, the amended or replaced documents will prevail.

3. Road works within the PPP project contract which is signed before the day this Circular comes into force shall be managed, operated and maintained as agreed in the signed contract. Where the project contract fails to present in detail the management, operation and maintenance of road works or projects approved before the day on which this Circular comes into force, road works shall be managed, operated and maintained in accordance with regulations hereof.

Article 29. Implementation

Chief of the Ministry Office, Chief of Ministry Inspectorate, Director General, Director General of Directorate for Roads of Vietnam, Directors of Transport Departments of centrally-affiliated cities and provinces, Directors of relevant agencies, relevant organizations and individuals shall take responsibility to implement this Circular./.

For the Minister
The Deputy Minister
Le Dinh Tho

*All the Appendixes enclosed with this Circular are not translated*