Crack found in USD270m bridge yet to enter use

A large crack has already been found on the VND5.7trn (USD270m) Vam Cong Bridge in Dong Thap Province despite it not even opened for traffic yet.

A large crack has already been found on the VND5.7trn (USD270m) Vam Cong Bridge in Dong Thap Province despite it not even opened for traffic yet.

On November 17, Deputy Minister of Transport Nguyen Nhat held a meeting with Cuu Long Corporation, and project's consultants as well as contractors to fix the crack in a horizontal beam on Vam Cong Bridge.

Consultant and supervising companies also sent related documents to the parent companies in South Korea. Experts will be sent to Vietnam to find the cause and fix the crack. No other cracks were found and the bridge's design and dimension are in line with the submitted dossiers.

  

Crack found in Vam Cong Bridge

After discovering the large crack on November 14, the Ministry of Transport ordered to halt the project and carry out necessary measures to ensure the safety of the bridge, the workers and the residents. Representatives of the Transport Engineering Construction and Quality Management Bureau also arrived at the scene.

Deputy Minister of Transport Nguyen Nhat asked to recheck every step from design to assembling the bridge to find the cause of the crack.

The 2.9km cable-stayed bridge has the longest spans in the southern region and built by the Cuu Long Corporation for Investment, Development and Project Management of Infrastructure (Cuu Long CIPM). The investment came from South Korea's ODA and matching Vietnamese capital.

Vam Cong Bridge will connect Dong Thap Province and Can Tho City. Construction was started in 2013 and is expected to complete this year. The contractors are South Korea's GS Engineering & Construction and Hanshin Engineering & Construction.