At a conference onApril 19, Minister Thang asked the committee to work with the railwaysector to resettle the many people who lived under the Long Bien andThang Long bridges by the end of this year.
He demanded that plans for relocation, including areas where residents were to be shifted, must be clear.
ViceChairman of the committee Nguyen Quoc Hung said encroachments ontorailway corridors and level crossings were still a problem, despite theauthority's efforts.
Hung said people living under the bridges had encroached on trading activities and negatively affected the image of the city.
He said the city had proposed to relocate these people many times, but the problem remained unsolved.
Hung said the city would issue a supportive policy on housing for these people if needed.
TranNgoc Thanh, general director of the Vietnam Railway Corporation (VRC)agreed to work with the city to solve the problem by the end of thisyear.
At the same meeting, Colonel Dao Thanh Hai, deputy head ofthe Hanoi Police Department proposed to move Hanoi railway station outof the city centre to reduce congestion and accidents.
He saidthat the relocation of the station, located in Hoan Kiem District's LeDuan Street, was necessary as trains caused congestion at citycrossings.
The proposal received support from Vice Chairman ofthe city's committee Nguyen Quoc Hung, who claimed that railwayaccidents were on the rise.
However, Thanh, general director ofVRC, said the location of Hanoi Railway Station was integral to thecity's urban planning. If the relocation was implemented, he had no ideahow the urban railway system would be affected in the next 10 years.
Areport from the ministry's VRC showed that railway accidents across thecountry increased by 30 per cent compared with the same period of lastyear. They resulted in 37 deaths and 48 injuries.
Most of theaccidents occurred at illegal crossing, it said. The country has morethan 5,700 railway crossings, 4,200 of which are illegal.-VNA