What do investors say about the quality of school consolidation in Nghe An?

After Nghe An Newspaper raised questions about the quality of the programschool consolidationThrough a series of articles, the investor's representative, Mr. Nguyen Dinh Hung - Deputy Head of Project Management Department 2 (Project Management Board for Investment and Construction of Civil and Industrial Works of Nghe An Province) said that the unit immediately assigned an officer to closely monitor the area, and at the same time speed up the progress of overcoming the works that were reported about quality. Believing that the reflections of Nghe An Newspaper were accurate, the investor's representative promised to urge the overcoming of the limitations, to soon hand over and put the works into use.

The road leading to Na Lot Primary School (Nhon Mai Primary School) is overgrown with weeds. This is a project that is part of the solidification program but has not been handed over due to low quality. Photo: Duc Anh

According to Mr. Hung, currently at Tung Huong Kindergarten (Tam Quang commune, Tuong Duong district), the problem of power lines running through classrooms has been fixed by the construction unit.

Accordingly, this unit has planted new electric poles and moved the power lines behind the school. “The construction unit explained that because the investor was urging progress, while the electricity company had not yet moved the power lines, they “creatively” came up with the idea of ​​building right under the power lines like that. It is unacceptable to build right under the power lines and then let them run through the classrooms like that,” said Mr. Hung.

According to the investor representative, there are many reasons for such situations. The main reason is the weak capacity of the construction unit and the irresponsibility of some construction workers. As for the investor, Mr. Hung said that the unit also accepted responsibility for not closely supervising the construction process due to a lack of staff.

According to the reporter's investigation, the construction projects that have been criticized by local authorities and schools for their low quality in Tuong Duong district are mostly carried out by two companies: Alpha Construction Consulting Joint Stock Company headquartered in Vinh City and Nghe An Construction Corporation Joint Stock Company headquartered in Nghi Loc district.

Speaking to reporters, Mr. Phan Thanh Duc - Director of Alpha Construction Consulting Joint Stock Company admitted that some school projects constructed by the company were not of good quality and behind schedule.

The power line runs through the kindergarten classroom. Photo: Tien Hung

Mr. Duc said that this company was contracted to construct school buildings in Tam Quang, Mai Son, Xieng My and Huu Khuong communes. Regarding the issue of the unit's crooked construction when running the residential power line through the classroom at Tung Huong Kindergarten, Mr. Duc said that the electricity company was partly responsible. Because before that, the unit had agreed with the locality and the electricity company to relocate the electric pole. However, the electricity company hesitated, so the construction unit had to proceed with the construction right under the power grid.

In Tam Quang commune, this unit is constructing two kindergartens. During the construction process, one of the company's workers owed the local people tens of millions of dong and refused to pay. For a long time, the people came to the construction sites and did not allow the construction workers to continue, putting pressure on them to collect the debt.

The public road has been moved away from the classroom at Tung Huong kindergarten. Photo: Tien Hung.

The company director said that this was also one of the reasons for the slow construction progress. Recently, to send workers to fix the power line at Tung Huong school, Mr. Duc himself had to negotiate with this creditor.

Explaining the subsidence and peeling of the brick foundation that occurred at Huoi To 1 Primary School (Mai Son Commune), Mr. Duc said that it was due to the carelessness of the construction workers. Immediately after the incident, the unit sent people to dig up the ground again to fix it. But after that, local subsidence continued to appear, so the contractor had to send people again to repair it.

Tam Lien Kindergarten (Tam Quang Commune) was once prevented by local people from constructing the school because the construction workers owed money. Photo: My Ha

Similarly, at Huoi Xa Primary School, although the construction did not have pillars, the construction unit did not weave bricks between the intersecting walls according to construction principles, but only built independently and then hooked steel bars in. Mr. Duc said that the responsibility lay with the workers. “When constructing that school, the company's technical supervisor resigned, there was no one to supervise, so that happened.

After receiving feedback, we chiseled to re-tile the bricks," Mr. Duc said, adding that the repair work at the schools that did not meet the requirements was being thoroughly carried out. It is expected that next month they will be accepted and handed over for use. Regarding the cracks that appeared shortly after construction was completed, Mr. Duc said that the cause could be due to the materials, using unburnt bricks (dashboard bricks). However, the unit must wait for the cracks to grow larger before they can be fixed.

The local government and school in Mai Son commune are not satisfied with the quality of the construction. Photo: My Ha.

Mr. Truong Cong Giap - Deputy Director of Nghe An Construction Corporation Joint Stock Company said that the unit has approved in detail the items that need to be repaired because they do not meet the requirements. Of which, some points must be completely replaced because they cannot be repaired. This company is the contractor for the construction of 5 primary schools in Nhon Mai commune. However, according to the beneficiary units, the commune leaders and the school, all 5 schools with 20 classrooms have "problems" with quality even though they have not been handed over or put into use yet.

Mr. Giap also admitted that some of the work his workers did was “unacceptable”. One of them was the primary school in Huoi Co. There were only 5 classrooms, but 3 of them had large cracks, running longer than 1 meter. The walls were leaking and seriously leaking, and every time it rained, rainwater poured down the concrete roof and then seeped into the classrooms... In particular, the corrugated iron sheets were not properly fitted and came loose.

While waiting for the new school to be handed over, students in Huoi Xa village (Mai Son) have to temporarily study in degraded schools. Photo: Duc Anh

“The workers were very sloppy, extremely sloppy. It is unacceptable to install a corrugated iron roof and not hit the nail on the lower horizontal line. The corrugated iron roof is to protect against rain, but it turned out like this. Now we have to do waterproofing,” Mr. Giap said about the school in Huoi Co.

Mr. Truong Cong Giap also accepted responsibility as the contractor's leader and pledged to complete the repair work soon. "As the contractor, we accept responsibility. The information reported by Nghe An Newspaper is completely accurate, we accept it and will soon complete the repair," Mr. Giap said.

The school consolidation program in the 2017-2020 period in Nghe An province has 86 projects with a total capital of nearly 270 billion VND, mostly from government bonds. The project was initially expected to be assigned to the districts as investors. However, in 2017, the Management Board of Specialized Education and Training Projects was established under the Nghe An Department of Education and Training. Therefore, the Department of Education and Training authorized this board to represent the investor.

However, less than 3 years after its establishment, this Board had to be dissolved to merge with 4 other Management Boards to form the Nghe An Province Civil and Industrial Project Management Board, managed by the Provincial People's Committee. Mr. Nguyen Mau Luong - Director of the Board of Management of Specialized Education and Training Projects continued to be appointed as acting director after the merger.