CHAPTER 3

3.1

ROAD MAINTENANCE DEFINITIONS AND PRACTICE

A common understanding of road maintenance.

Before assessing the situation in relation to the funds required for the maintenance of rural
roads in Vietnam, we need to address the issue of the understanding of the term "maintenance".
The basic objective of road maintenance is implicit in the word itself. It is done to ensure that the
road that has been constructed, or improved, is maintained in its original condition. It is
accepted that over the life of the road it will deteriorate due to factors with which maintenance
activities cannot deal. Nevertheless maintenance is intended to begin on the first day after the
road improvement works are completed.
In practice the effect of regular and timely maintenance is to increase the life of the road by
putting off the date at which it needs to be reconstructed. This has several benefits, the
prominent being that it stretches the period over which the benefits of the investment made are
available and therefore provides a higher rate of return on the initial investment. In addition, it
puts off the date when large investments have to be made to reconstruct the road. As the
yearly cost of maintaining a road is a small fraction of the investment cost, usually some 2-3%,
the economic logic for effective preventative maintenance is undeniable. It can indeed be
argued that the construction of roads, whilst consuming large amounts of money, is of limited
importance if there is no effective maintenance system.
For reasons that are difficult to assess, however, road maintenance is often viewed as an
activity that is carried out only when the road is damaged. As no one would apply this approach
to his house or even his own health, it is strange that it seems to be a pervasive attitude in the
road sector.
The situation is particularly critical with unsealed roads, which is the case with the majority of
provincial, district and commune roads in Vietnam. Here the main enemy of the road is water.
The whole concept of rural road building is to get the water as quickly and efficiently as possible
away from the road structure. This means that the camber of the surface, the slope of the
shoulders, the side drains and cross drainage structures need not only to be constructed
effectively but also need to be kept in a condition that will permit the free run off of the water
away from the road. This means that the road once constructed has to be looked after on a
regular basis. This is why routine maintenance is so important and is the core of an effective
maintenance system. The term Recurrent maintenance is sometimes used to cover certain
activities (such as light grading) which are carried out during the year over and above the
activities of routine maintenance. Periodic maintenance is an activity that is undertaken every 35 years and is concerned with rectifying defects which are outside the scope of routine
maintenance. Routine maintenance however remains the key activity. It is the least costly but
provides the greatest benefits.
Maintenance, being a recurrent activity, should be financed from the recurrent budget. The
funds allocated to it should relate to a maintenance plan which defines those roads in a
maintainable condition and, using standard figures for routine, recurrent and periodic
maintenance, produces a recurrent cost for the network.
Unfortunately, as in many other countries, road maintenance in Vietnam is not viewed as
recurrent activity. It is viewed as a set of projects to be carried out on roads which, because of

lack of maintenance, have deteriorated to a state where they need improvement. This is most
apparent at the District level where the funds for road improvement and road maintenance are
seen as one pot from which road works activities are paid.
The present description of road maintenance in the budget reflects the curative rather than
preventative approach to maintenance. Funds for maintenance are allocated to "small",
"medium" and "big" works.
There is therefore a major effort required not only to develop an effective and realistic rural road
maintenance system but also to create a maintenance culture along the lines described above.
3.1.1. Defining road maintenance
In Vietnam, road maintenance is not described in any conventional manner. The budget for
maintenance is categorised in terms of small, medium and big works. This categorisation itself
suggests an attitude to maintenance which looks at it as repair rather than preventative works.
In order therefore to ensure that we are all talking the same language, we have felt it necessary
to define the terms we have used when discussing rural road maintenance.
We would suggest that, in keeping with an approach which is preventative rather than curative,
maintenance should be defined as follows:

Routine Maintenance - required continuously.

non-pavement related; required continually on all roads in maintainable

condition (good and fair) during the year irrespective of traffic volume or
engineering characteristics.
Activities include: grass cutting, bush cutting, drain clearing, ditch
cleaning, culvert cleaning, road sign cleaning, repairs of minor
damage to side slopes, levelling of shoulders and verges.

pavement related; required at intervals during the year with a frequency

depending on condition of the pavement and traffic volume/composition.
Activities include: for paved roads, repairing pot-holes, patching,
for unpaved roads, repairing pot-holes,

Recurrent Maintenance required at intervals during the year

Activities include: for paved roads, edge repairs, crack sealing, line marking,
for unpaved roads, grading or dragging.

Periodic Maintenance Operations - required at intervals of several years.

for paved roads:

for unpaved roads:
pavements.

resealing, regravelling of shoulders, line marking.

regravelling or replacement of unbound macadam

Emergency Maintenance Operations required to deal with emergencies where

immediate action(s) is required to ensure road user safety.

Activities include removal of debris/obstacles, clearing of land slides, repairs to

localised damages road sections/structures.
In an effective system routine maintenance would be the core activity and emergency
maintenance would consume only a small portion of the budget. The current situation in
Vietnam is that the bulk of the funds are used for emergency maintenance, principally because
routine and periodic maintenance activities are not being undertaken.
In an effective system, the order of priority of maintenance activities would be as follows:

3.2

Routine Drainage Works including clearing of ditches, clearing of

culverts, clearing of bridges, clearing of river channels, repairs of
erosion damage, repairs to scour checks and other minor drainage
structures, repairs of culverts and other large structures, repairs of
embankment slopes, etc.,
Routine Pavement Works including filling of potholes, repairs to
shoulders, etc.,
Recurrent Maintenance Grading - gravel surfaced roads only,
Other Routine Maintenance Works including grass and bush
cutting, cleaning, repairing, replacing road signs, etc., and
Periodic Maintenance Works including regravelling, etc..

Approach to Road Maintenance

Road maintenance is a major element in the sustainability of an effective road network. It cannot
be divorced from the planning and financing of the network. It can be argued, for instance, that
the funds available for maintenance condition the size of the network. The definition of an
approach to road maintenance has to be done within the context of the network to which it is
being applied. The wrong, but all too common, approach of designing a network and then
considering maintenance as an afterthought almost always results in a lack of sustainability.
In general terms the approach to maintenance will follow the following steps:
a detailed condition inventory of all the Provincial, District and Commune roads in the
Province;
develop a simple screening process to identify the core road network. In the case of the
Provincial roads the screening process would be concerned with prioritising the Provincial
roads. Presently some are acting as National roads whilst others are no more than District
roads. This could lead eventually to a reclassification of some of the provincial roads. In the
case of the District and Commune roads it is evident from field observations that some of the
roads identified in the classified network either do not exist or have reverted to the bush.
Again a simple screening process would identify the core District network;

Assess the cost of putting the core network into a maintainable condition;

Cost the periodic and routine maintenance;

 The costing exercise in the two previous measures would lead to an iterative process
which would define the network in terms of the affordability of the maintenance of the
network.
Define a selection procedure for the prioritisation of the interventions to bring the rest of
the core network to a maintainable standard

3.3

Funding of Road Maintenance

The current situation regarding the budgeting of road maintenance is discussed in Chapter 2
and analysed in Chapter 4. At present 50% of the national, 75% of the provincial and nearly
90% of the district networks are not in a maintainable condition. However to assume that the
totality of the network will require maintenance after the unmaintainable parts have been
improved would be unrealistic. This is because

the actual size of the network is not known with any precision;

some of the existing roads do not serve an effective purpose;

the level of funding required to put the whole of the network into a maintainable condition
is beyond the reach of the government even with donor support for the foreseeable future.
Any discussion of maintaining the totality of the network is therefore at this stage an academic
exercise. In the following section we have tried to present a more realistic scenario based on the
expected level of funding for provincial and district road improvement over the next 10 years
and the concomitant level of maintenance funding.
Presently various proposals are being made both the MoT and some of the donors with regard
to a road fund. Given the lack of success of the so called "first generation" road funds, there is
concern to develop a manageable and equitable system. The idea that seems to have the most
support is some form of road user charge, on the basis that those who cause damage to the
road network should pay for its upkeep.
It is estimated that expenditure on national and provincial road maintenance is presently running
at about $80 million per year. It is suggested that the cost of maintaining the whole of the
national, provincial and district networks would be $190 million per year and that this could be
covered by the application of road user charges plus some contribution from the provinces and
districts.
One is not opposed to the concept of road user charges per se. However the approach to road
maintenance and particularly provincial and district roads should be incremental. It is somewhat
meaningless to estimate the cost of maintaining the whole network when one has no real idea of
its size or its actual condition.
The better approach is to define what network is required, plan for its improvement over a
realistic time span and then assess what maintenance funds are required.

An example from the three Provinces of Ninh Binh, Ha Tay and Vinh Phuc provides an
illustration of the current source and use of funds. The majority of the funds for road
maintenance and repair comes from the communes with relatively little coming from the
Province.

Source of Funds, Three Provinces

Province
District
Commune

In terms of the allocation of funds to different road activities, routine maintenance receives the
smallest portion, the rest is equally distributed between repair and rehabilitation.
Distribution of funding for road activities
Three Provinces

Rt.Mtnce
Repair
Rehab

Effective maintenance is both the basis for and the result of road network planning. In the first
place the level of maintenance funding will define the size of the network. It is not cost effective
to spread maintenance resources thinly over a large number of kilometres.
The only effective means of preserving the investment that has been made is to provide
sufficent maintenance to a defined network of roads.
If the level of maintenance funding is known, the length of the network that can be maintained
can be calculated from a knowledge of the cost of routine and periodic maintenance of roads of
varying standard and specification.
Once the network size has been defined maintenance planning becomes routine. Each of the
links of the network needs to be put under routine maintenance. This is an activity which is

carried out on a regular basis all year round and the activities involved are the same from one
year to the next. In addition, with a defined network it is possible to prepare a plan for the
recurrent and periodic maintenance of the network. Recurrent maintenance will be defined from
the yearly condition inventory of the network.

Time
Planned
maintenance

Road
Condition

Road
impassable

Periodic
maintenance

No
maintenance

Figure 3.2 Maintenance and the condition of road over time

Periodic maintenance is carried out on each link at regular intervals. For a gravel road, one
would carry out periodic maintenance every three or four years. This needs to be incorporated
into the maintenance plan for the road link deteriorate to some degree even with good routine
maintenance. In addition, timely application of periodic maintenance will also arrest the decline
of the road. Without maintenance the road degrades quickly and reaches an impassable
condition long before the road with maintenance. Maintenance therefore ensures that the road
continues to be trafficable for a much longer period and ensures that the benefits from the
investment are achieved for a much longer period.
An actual example may help to illustrate the concepts. The Province of Ninh Binh has a total
network of roads as shown below.

District
Commune
Total

Kilometres of Presently
Road
Maintainable
Kilometres
265
72
668
27
933
99

The budget available for roads in the districts for District and Commune roads comprises of
funds from the Province provided to the District, funds retained by the districts, funds passed by
the districts to the communes and funds, comprising actual money plus the monetised value of
the obligatory labour days, provided by the commune. Funds are distributed between
maintenance, repair and rehabilitation.

The total value of the funds available for maintenance and repair of roads in the districts is
shown in the table below:
Funds (VND million)
For routine maintenance
For repair
Total

District
58
3781
3839

Commune
1660
11826
13486

Total
1718
15607
17325

Rather than looking at district and commune roads separately, it is more appropriate to look at
the totality of the district and commune roads as the basis of the core network of the districts.
The next step is to look at the totality of the funds available, VND 17,325 million, for the
maintenance and repair of roads and relate that to the requirements. This is shown in the
following table.

Total funds available

Funds required for
maintainable roads
Funds required for
whole network

District
3839
1454

Commune
13486
545

Total
17325
1999

5353

13494

18847

What emerges from this analysis is that the districts and communes have sufficient funds to
adequately maintain the near totality of the district and commune network. However only a small
portion of the existing network of roads is in a maintainable condition. In this case therefore one
should apply funds to the maintenance of the maintainable roads and use the remainder for the
improvement of a defined core network. In Ninh Binh the advent of the RTP2 project will provide
additional investment into the development of the core network.
1.Define the Network

3.4 A Planned Approach

The more logical approach to the maintenance of the network would follow the process of
maintenance planning shown in Figure 3.1. The figures for the three provinces provide the basis
for an illustration of the eight phases of this process.
2.Establish Condition
3.Identify
4.Define maintenance
of all roads in network
maintainable roads
costs for roads

6.Prioritise
unmaintainable roads
using appropriate
criteria

5.Establish
maintenance on
maintainable roads

7.Improve
unmaintainable roads

8.Expand
maintenance to
entirety of network

Figure 3.1 Basics of Maintenance Planning

1. Define the core road network

The definition of the core district and commune roads should be done through a process of
consultation. This consultation should however be based on an understanding of the existing
situation of the roads in each district. Clearly certain road linkages have to be in place. For
example, each commune should be connected to the district centre to provide political and
administrative cohesion as well as providing access of the communes to the facilities that exist
at the district centre. Other linkages may however be also important. Roads which link to river
transport at landing stages, roads to particular markets, roads which may provide access to
tourist locations and to particular agriculturally productive areas.

2. Establish condition of the all roads in the network

The condition of the roads in this network needs to be defined by a detailed condition survey. At
present they are defined only in terms of an accessibility index, where index 8 and above are
considered to be unmaintainable. To be able to assess the costs of both improvement and
maintenance for the roads, a condition inventory needs to be prepared for each road.

3. Define the maintenance costs of the roads

The network that has been defined will need, eventually, to be maintained in its entirety. In the
initial stages only the maintainable sections can be maintained. However over a period of time
the full network should be put in maintainable condition. To be able to plan effectively we need
therefore to know the cost of maintaining the whole network and in the short term the cost of
maintaining the maintainable roads.
For the three provinces the funds available and the funds required for the maintainable roads
are shown in Table 3.2.
Province

Maintainable Km

Ninh Binh
Vinh Phuc
Ha Tay
Total

99
270
246
615

Cost of
maintenance
Million VND
1997
5447
4962
12406

Funds available
Million VND
17325
13919
13808
45501

Table 3.2.
The funds for maintenance and repair are considerably more that what is required for the
maintenance of the maintainable roads.

4. Establish maintenance on maintainable roads

Having identified the funds required, they fund need to be applied effectively. A planned system
for the routine maintenance of the roads coupled with a plan for their periodic maintenance
needs to be drawn up. In the case of the RTP2, the commune and district concerned will

prepare a maintenance plan. In general the maintenance plan will define responsibilities for
providing the resources, preparing the annual maintenance plan and budget and for
implementing the works. The development of the maintenance plan is described more fully in
Annex 1.

5. Prioritise unmaintainable roads using appropriate criteria

Having put the maintainable roads under maintenance, the next step is to identify a programme
for the improvement of the rest of the network. Simple criteria exist which can be used to
prioritise the unmaintainable roads. These generally use the cost of the road improvement
compared with the population served by the road as the main criteria. Other criteria related to
economic and social benefits can be included.

6. Improve unmaintainable roads

As we have seen, sufficient funds are available for a planned programme to be made for the
improvement of the core network. Clearly decisions would need to be taken on the technology
to be used, whether labour based or equipment, whether the works are to be carried out by
force account or by contractors and what can be expected in tersm of lcoal contribtuions from
the communes.

7. Expand maintenance to entirety of the core network

Kilometres of
maintainable roads

As roads of the core network are improved these need to be put under maintenance. This
implies that funds need to be set aside for their maintenance. In the case of the three provinces,
funds are presently available. Assuming that the level of funding remains the same this means
that as the network of maintainable roads increases over time, more of the available budget will
be used for maintenance. This is shown below.
1500
1000
500
0
1

Year

10

Distribution of funds year 1

Funds for
maintenance
Remaining funds

Distribution of funds year 10

Funds for
maintenance
Remaining funds