Question about the investor's management capacity!

(Baonghean) -Although the Provincial People's Committee has extended the bidding packages up to 5 times, the road connecting Bong Khe commune to Binh Chuan (Con Cuong) is still a muddy, muddy road, with no known completion date, causing great suffering for people in the 5 communes on the left bank of the Lam River when participating in traffic.

Muddy road, collapsed sewer...

Knowing that I intended to go on the "suffering road" of Bong Khe to Binh Chuan, the motorbike taxi drivers at Con Cuong Town market shook their heads in dismay: "The road is very muddy, someone just died from falling off their motorbike at Met slope...". Finally, the most "talented" motorbike taxi driver volunteered to take the journalist in to "call" for help from the people. Passing Thanh Nam suspension bridge, Bong Khe commune, a winding, muddy road appeared ahead. Tran Tien - the motorbike taxi driver who slowly increased the throttle, going up the slope said: "If you are not a skilled driver on this road, you might die unjustly". Passing Mau Duc commune, the mud was deep enough to cover half of the motorbike wheel, we struggled to pull and push the motorbike covered in mud. Mr. Tien said: This section is still nothing, being able to push the motorbike is already very lucky. Passing Thong Nhat village, Mau Duc commune borders Hop Thanh village, Don Phuc commune, the road is like a swamp in many places, the mud is so sticky, several cars carrying acacia trees were stuck here for a week.

To get through these "swamps", people along the road use wooden planks to pave the road for light vehicles to pass. According to the reporter's records at 6:30 a.m. on November 3, 2011, there were 2 places where wooden planks were laid on the muddy section of Mau Duc and Binh Chuan streets. Some people collected a "fee" of 10,000 VND per motorbike to pass through. Many people who did not want to pay risked wading through the "swamp" or asked others to help them pull and push their motorbikes out of the swamp. On this muddy road, we witnessed students being taken to school by their parents in tire-filled ox carts, and preschool children had to be carried to school. Met Mr. Luong Van Toan in Xieng village, 75 years old, he was rolling up his pants and wading through the swamp with heavy steps, lamenting: Even though he is old and weak, he has to walk from Con Cuong Hospital here because no "tricycle" dares to take the old man on this road.

When we arrived at the center of Hop Thanh village, Don Phuc commune, the sun was just high in the sky. Mr. Nguyen Quang Vinh - the village chief was directing the villagers to level the road. Mr. Vinh had a sad face: The road is dusty when it is sunny, and muddy for a whole month when it rains. We have sent many petitions to the district requesting the implementation of the road construction but have not received any response.

The muddy "swamp" road can cause accidents for pedestrians.

According to the local people, on October 25, 2011, Mr. Vi Dinh Tham, 66 years old, in Hong Thang village, Don Phuc commune, fell and broke his neck while riding a motorbike through the slippery Met slope and died. Mr. Vi Van Dau in Phuc village said: My wife, Cam Thi Chien, recently went into labor. We had to mobilize more than 10 people to carry her on the slippery road for more than 8 km. Only when we reached National Highway 7 could we take her by motorbike. It was a real scare. According to Mr. Vinh, Head of Hop Thanh village: What people fear most is that if someone gets sick or seriously ill and goes to the emergency room at night on this road, they might die unjustly. The most pitiful are the primary and secondary school students who have to walk on this road every day. In the 5 communes on the left bank, there are hundreds of high school students who have to go to boarding schools for ethnic minorities on this road. Lo Thi Hien from Hop Thanh village - an 11th grade student at Con Cuong Ethnic Boarding School, said: I haven't been able to go home for a whole month because I fell off my bike several times and I'm so scared. I've been short of rice for the past few days and have had to borrow some from my friends. Ho Thi Hoa sadly said: When it rains, people from Don Phuc and Mau Duc communes have to take a shortcut through Cam Lam commune to get to Con Cuong town, it's so miserable.

Mr. Lang Vi Duc - Chairman of Don Phuc commune added: Don Phuc has 7 villages including Hong Dien, Hong Thang, Xieng, Phuc, Trong To, Tong Tien..., people's lives are still very difficult. The slow road construction project has directly affected the daily lives of the villagers. We suggest that if the contractor has not built the road, they must level it to ensure traffic for the people.

For the last commune, Binh Chuan, the road is now completely cut off because it is too muddy. From the commune to the center of Con Cuong district is about 30 km, but people have to go around to Yen Thang and Nga My communes of Tuong Duong district, which takes about 100 km.

While we were taking photos at the road in Thong Nhat village, Mau Duc commune (a package constructed by Thanh Hoa Bridge and Road Construction Joint Stock Company), we saw many local people talking about a culvert that had just collapsed after being built. Ms. Phan Thi N, Thong Nhat village, was upset: The quality was too poor, it collapsed right after being built, only a few very small iron rods were sticking out, sparsely spaced. The contractor left the collapsed bridge as it was, creating a deadly hole, many vehicles driving at night fell into the hole and had accidents. The locals were upset and asked the contractor to rebuild the bridge, but they brought out an excavator to fill in the collapsed area to "dispose of the evidence".

Mr. Nguyen Quang Vinh - Head of Hop Thanh village, Don Phuc commune confirmed: Many people in Hop Thanh village (Don Phuc) and Thong Nhat village - (Mau Duc) reported to me that the above culvert had collapsed, and they discovered that the concrete had both steel and "bamboo reinforcement". But now the collapsed bridge has been filled with soil by the contractor using an excavator. Mr. Dam Van T, in Mau Duc added: Above the collapsed bridge section, there is also a culvert that has just been completed. This culvert has not collapsed yet, but when we went to check, the quality was very bad, we could squeeze the cement mortar and it crumbled.

Two people in Hop Thanh village, Don Phuc commune fell and broke their legs while walking on this road.

Whose responsibility is it?

Mr. Luu Van Cuu - Head of the Department of Industry and Trade of Con Cuong district said: The Bong Khe - Binh Chuan route is worth more than 120 billion VND, started in 2006. According to the commitment, the bid packages will be completed within 12 months. The route includes 3 bid packages, the construction units are Thanh Hoa Bridge and Road Construction Joint Stock Company, Truong Thanh Company Limited, Tuan Hoang Company Limited, Minh Ngan Construction Company. Currently, the above bid packages have all received more than 40% of the capital. The construction progress of all the above bid packages is slow, such as the package of Thanh Hoa Bridge and Road Construction Joint Stock Company, Nghe An Provincial People's Committee has extended the deadline 5 times but it has not been completed yet, the remaining bid packages have been extended by the Provincial People's Committee from 2-3 times. Currently, only Tuan Hoang Company Limited has completed 1.5 km of this route in Don Phuc commune.

Mr. Cuu added: The reason for the delay is that many places have been damaged and degraded due to heavy rain. The District People's Committee has held meetings to urge contractors to complete the construction, but some contractors did not attend the meetings. The roads are congested but many contractors have left them ungraded, causing traffic difficulties.

Talking to us about the slow construction progress, Mr. Hoang Dinh Tuan - Chairman of the People's Committee of Con Cuong district said: "The main reason for the slow construction progress is due to the rainy and windy weather". Regarding the collapsed culvert in Thong Nhat village, Mau Duc commune, Mr. Tuan replied: "Because the concrete was not yet hard that day, the vehicles drove a lot, so it collapsed. Today I ordered them to dig it out and redo it...".

Is it true that the People's Committee of Con Cuong district was assigned to be the investor of the Bong Khe - Binh Chuan road project, but was "fooled" by the design consultants, supervision consultants, and construction units when the entire route had been advanced 40% of the capital, equivalent to 30 billion VND, but some packages, although extended up to 5 times, had not yet been constructed. Especially, the issue of management and supervision of quality by the investor was very lax, the culvert on the route collapsed but no one in the Con Cuong District Industry and Trade Department knew. It was only when the journalist showed the pictures that Mr. Tran Anh Tuan - Deputy Head of Con Cuong Industry and Trade Department took out his phone to criticize the contractor!

Van Truong