Ministry shames shoddy contractors

The Ministry of Construction has blamed VEC, contractor Posco and consultants Nippon Koei and TEDI South

The project developer, the Vietnam Expressway Corporation, was scheduled to open the first section of the route in late December. However, on December 25, the ministry  ordered VEC and contractors to recheck the work on package 3 completed by Korean company POSCO E&C as the contractor and a consultancy partnership between Nippon Koei and Vietnam’s TEDI South as the supervisor.

The order came after inspectors discovered poor quality concrete had been used for the foundations for some support poles on the guardrail along a section of the route. The ministry wants to discipline the guilty parties before December 30, the day VEC was due to open the first 20 kilometre section of the route between Ho Chi Minh City’s District 9 and the National Highway in Dong Nai province. VEC was also ordered to fix the problem.

VEC has also been asked about its higher toll charges.  For vehicles with under 12 seats, trucks with loads under two tonnes, and buses, the toll would be VND40,000 ($1.93) per vehicle. For vehicles with 12-30 seats and trucks with loads of two to four tonnes, the charge would be VND60,000, and for vehicles with 31 seats or more and trucks with loads of 4-10 tonnes, the fee would be VND80,000.

According to the approved financial plan for the motorway, the lowest toll fee possible would be VND2,000 per kilometre with the toll collection contract set to run for 20 years.

Asked why the lowest level was double that for the Ho Chi Minh City-Trung Luong motorway running to My Tho City in the Mekong Delta, VEC general director Mai Tuan Anh said the new route was built with foreign loans and the route cost more to construct due to the difficult conditions.

The entire 55 kilometres of the Ho Chi Minh City – Long Thanh – Dau Giay motorway will cost VND20.6 trillion ($982.3 million) and is set for completion by late 2015 to help reduce traffic accidents and congestion at the gateways to the city and Dong Nai. The 22 kilometre Ho Chi Minh City-Long Thanh section is expected to cut travel times from an hour to just 20 minutes.