HCM City's Department of Transport has blacklisted 443 contractors who have seriously violated the city's construction regulations.
Contractors of projects on Au Co Street are often fined for causing traffic problems
The contractors have not only violated construction regulations but have also failed to pay any of their fines.
The Japanese owned Obayashi contractors stand the top of the black list. They were fined 112 times with total fines up to VND410 million (USD19,000). The joint venture Housing and Urban Development Corporation (HUD) and Water Electrical Mechanical Installation and Construction (Cowaelmic) was fined 89 times, owing VND371 million. Another Japanese contractor, Toa, owes VND337.5 million after they were fined 69 times, while the Tri Viet Thanh Company was fined 62 times and owed VND239 million in penalties.
Some 13 contractors owe over VND100 million of fines. Many contractors have ignored fines of VND2-10 million. By the end of 2012 the total fines of 443 contractors reached VND6.6 billion.
Most of the projects were related to urban development such as Dong Tay Highway construction, Nhieu Loc-Thi Nghe Canal environmental sanitation project or water and electricity supply projects.
Nguyen Bat Han, Deputy Chief Inspector of the municipal Transport Department said these contractors violated regulations on construction such as storing materials outside of their construction sites or working without licenses.
To deal with the problem, the inspectors asked all of the district and ward authorities as well as the local Department of Transport to not approve any applicantions for construction or requests to extend construction times.
"We'll only give approval to contractors who pay their debts." Han said.
19 contractors in the list also damaged public property during their work such as street or traffic lights on 20 streets and junctions. These fines reached VND550 million.
The local authorities had to repair the damage and haven't been able to collect the money from contractors.
In December, 2012, the Department of Transport revoked the licenses of the Ben Thanh Water Supply JSC after their work interfered with traffic flows. Tan Hoa Water Supply Company also had their license revoked after they dug up roads without permission.
