Several officials and a subcontractor were suspended on December 29, one day after the scaffolding on part of the Ha Dong-Cat Linh flyover project collapsed on a Hanoi street, landing on top of a passenger taxi.
The collapsed scaffold
A section of scaffolding collapsed on December 28 at Ha Dong Terminal, crashing 10 metres on to a passing taxi, but the driver and three passengers escaped injury.The Ministry of Transport says initial investigations into the December incident reveal the scaffold was moved from its original position and, while being used to pour concrete, it could not bear the weight and collapsed.
Minister Dinh La Thang said Nguyen Manh Hung has been demoted from acting director general of the Railway Project Management Board, while his deputy Nguyen Van Bao has been suspended, pending further investigation.
Trieu Khac Dung, the director of Road Construction Management Bureau, and Diem Chi Cuong, the project’s chief consultant, have been issued with reprimands, while Ta Trung Van, a consultant overseeing the terminal, was suspended indefinitely.
China Railway 6th Bureau Group Co Ltd, the project's EPC contractor, has been asked to take full responsibility for the incidents and cooperate with police in further investigation. The ministry has banned the project's sub-contractor, Vietnam Technology Consultant and Construction Investment JSC (Vinacontech), from any further work on the Cat Linh-Ha Dong flyover.
On November 6, a steel beam dropped from a crane at Thanh Xuan Station on the project on Nguyen Trai Street, Thanh Xuan District. The accident killed at least one person and seriously injured two others.
The 13-km stretch of the Cat Linh-Ha Dong rapid transit railway currently under construction has an estimated cost USD552m. The railway will allow trains to travel at 35-80km per hour. China is contributing USD419m in overseas development assistance loans, while Vietnam is paying USD133m.
The project came under scrutiny in April over a USD339m cost overrun and construction delays that had put it two years behind schedule.
The Ministry of Transport has said Vietnam's lack of experience in such construction and its complicated technology, the project required design changes. Ground clearance has also been blamed for cost overruns.
