Construction workers on the recently-completed Noi Bai-Lao Cai Highway recently blocked the road they built from traffic, forcing the project investor to ask their contractor to pay their employees.
Workers blocked the road on October 7.
Le Kim Thanh, deputy general director of Vietnam Expressway Corporation (VEC) the project investor, said the contractor responsible for the section in question is Vinaconex Corporation. He said, "We have asked Vinaconex to explain whether they had paid the salaries or not. If the contractor owes workers' salaries then by all means, they must pay the debt."
He went on to say that the workers had disturbed public order by gathering together to block the road. This action caused traffic problems and could potentially cause harms to drivers. The management board of Noi Bai-Lao Cai Highway has been maintaining a presence on the scene to deal with any problems.
On October 7, many people from Bao Thang District, Lao Cai Province brought clubs and sticks with them to block the road. The incident caused a one-hour traffic jam, which continued after VEC and Bao Thang District authorities promised to clear it up.
According to the workers, the issue is simple: they were hired to build the highway but have not been paid. They tried to contact their employer and claim their pay, but to no avail.
This is not the first such incident in recent past. Early this year, farmers in Vinh Phuc Province also blocked the Noi Bai-Lao Cai Highway because they were not satisfied with compensation rates for land and crops, which were affected by the construction process.
The Noi Bai-Lao Cai Highway is the biggest and longest highway project in Vietnam. The project was started in 2009 and has just been completed after five years of construction. The Noi Bai-Lao Cai Highway is part of a cooperation programme among six countries in the Mekong Sub-region, including Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Myanmar and China.