The Ministry of Transport has warned three contractors and banned one other from bidding on new transport projects for two years after discovering violations.
National Highway 14 is being upgraded
The punishment was implemented after an inspection at three sections of the National Highway 14 project: The My An-Cao Lanh connecting road, Dam Cung Bridge and a section of national highway that crosses Dong Xoai Town. All three projects are under the control of Ho Chi Minh Highway Management Board.
A number violations were found in various areas such as investment and design work. All three projects have raised their expected investment because of changes in material costs or slow site clearance.
One of the violating companies, Construction Machinery Cooperation (COMA3), provided false bidding documents with their financial claims not matching those submitted for tax purposes. Still, the HCM Highway Management Board chose the COMA3 as their contractor. As a result, the project is behind schedule by 17 months.
To deal with the stagnant project, the management board decided to sign contract with An Cuong Construction Company. The Ministry of Transport has banned COMA3 from bidding on new transport projects for two years and asked the bank to freeze COMA3's assets, which consist of VND5 billion (USD240,000).
Meanwhile, the Hanoi Construction Company no44 refused to provide documents to the inspectors. More violations were revealed when Thang Long Construction Group refused to do their work and the Mechanic Construction Engineering 623 decided to take up this workload on their own. The management board reprimanded weak contractors and asked them to fire many engineers and employees.
However, the Ministry of Transport said the HCM Highway Management Board will have to take full responsibility for such violations and lax management. Every consultant and contractor will also be held to account.
Along with the application of fines, the ministry said they asked the management board and other agencies to think of a solution and make clear individual responsibility.
