That is the hope of nearly 20 households in Block 2, Quan Bau Ward, Vinh City sent to Nghe An Newspaper in early August 2022. The reason is that for the past 3 years, their housing project has been affected by the construction of the foundation and basement system of the 26-storey building at No. 33, Phan Boi Chau Street but has not been resolved.
Mr. Nguyen Van Dong - owner of apartment number 14, Tan Da street, is the representative of households in block 2, Quan Bau ward, who wrote a petition to Nghe An Newspaper. The petition reads: “The construction of a 26-storey apartment building at number 33, Phan Boi Chau street, Quan Bau ward has been underway for 3 years. The project is invested by Lung Lo Company, and Arita Joint Stock Company is the construction contractor. The construction process has seriously affected the housing structure of our households, causing subsidence, cracks, and breakage of construction items. Many households have therefore had to rent other places to live. Many households live in dilapidated conditions when it rains, which is extremely miserable.
We have repeatedly sent petitions to all levels, asking for help, asking the construction company to remedy and compensate the people for damages. For the past 3 years, all levels of government (ward, city, province) have sent official dispatches requesting the construction company to compensate the people, but they have not done so…”.
The households in Block 2, Quan Bau Ward whose names are on the petition have housing projects on Phan Boi Chau, Tan Da and Golden City streets (the streets surrounding the 26-storey apartment building project). Being present at these places on August 11, it was clear that each citizen was upset and worried. And when visiting the housing projects, they saw subsidence, cracks, and breaks... as reflected in the petition.
Specifically, Mr. Nguyen Trong Thanh (house number 29, Phan Boi Chau street) took us to visit house number 31 (next to the project fence), which is the address where the owner had to move to live elsewhere. According to Mr. Thanh, this is the house of Mr. Nguyen Ba, former Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, left to his descendants. Because the house was tilted and sunk, the floor was cracked and unsafe, so the family had to move elsewhere. Observing from the outside, the house was indeed tilted and sunk. The surface of the yard and the first floor were cracked and concave, so even though no one lived in the house, the door system was open. "The foundation was so crooked that the door could not be closed. My house is also in this condition..." - Mr. Thanh said.
Visiting the house of Mr. Nguyen Trong Thanh's family, there were countless "evidences" of subsidence, cracks, and breaks. The house has 3 floors, the structure of some items such as the 2nd floor pillars, the balcony is attached to house number 27, but due to subsidence, it has been separated, the gap can fit a hand. The foundation and walls of the 1st floor have long cracks with large gaps; the 2nd and 3rd floors are also in a similar condition; even the washbasin has cracks. Faced with the unsafe situation of subsidence and cracks, Mr. Thanh's family did not dare to live in their house but rented an apartment next door to temporarily stay since April 2021. Mr. Thanh said: “The construction unit knows very well the damage to my house. They also know very well that I am renting a temporary house. Because I am renting an apartment from Arita Joint Stock Company right in this block 2. The company representative also came to check and made a commitment, but has not yet compensated for the damage caused…”.
Visiting the affected houses on Golden City Road, we saw that the asphalt road surface was cracked and tilted towards the project. According to Mr. Nguyen Van Dong, this situation occurred after the project had driven piles, driven bored piles and constructed the basement system. Here, visiting the 4-storey house of Mr. Thai Van Hoa, we saw many large cracks running down the middle of the house, and the cracks were present on all floors. Mr. Ho Tuyen's house, 4 floors high, built in 2016 and completed in 2018, also had cracks; many of the stone panels on the front wall of the house were peeling and falling off... Mr. Tuyen said he was very sad about this situation, wanted to repair it but was worried about losing the "evidence"...
The 26-storey apartment building project is invested by Lung Lo Construction Corporation, but according to the residents, the general contractor responsible for the damage to their houses is Arita Joint Stock Company. To prove this, they presented many related documents and records. These include documents from the Provincial People's Committee, Vinh City People's Committee, Quan Bau Ward People's Committee, and minutes of meetings between the government, Arita Joint Stock Company and the residents to handle the petitions. In addition, there are many minutes made by Arita Joint Stock Company with each household.
As Document No. 191/UBND-DDT established on December 17, 2017 by the People's Committee of Quan Bau Ward sent to Lung Lo Construction Corporation, Arita Joint Stock Company, requesting to overcome the shortcomings in the construction process of the project at No. 33, Phan Boi Chau Street. Document No. 2304/CV/ART-PVLAND established by Arita Joint Stock Company on April 23, 2018, sent to the Department of Construction, Vinh City People's Committee, related units and households with the content of requesting to introduce a unit with sufficient capacity to carry out the work of project quality appraisal, acting as an intermediary in the work of negotiating to support damages for households adjacent to the Trade Center and Luxury Apartment project in Quan Bau Ward, constructed by Arita Joint Stock Company as the general contractor.
But the most noteworthy are the minutes of the meeting between Arita Joint Stock Company and each household. Here, it is shown that the representative of this unit surveyed and assessed the damage to the people's houses, determined the cause, acknowledged responsibility and committed to repair and compensate.
Specifically, as the minutes of the meeting between the Lung Lo Construction Command Board and Mr. Nguyen Van Dong's household (No. 14, Tan Da Street) dated May 10, 2021, and Ms. Vu Hong Thanh's household (No. 25, Phan Boi Chau Street) dated May 13, 2021 stated: "Currently, the construction unit is constructing the underground system of the building according to the approved design and construction methods. However, during the actual construction process, there were some impacts affecting the homeowner's house. The construction unit has received feedback from the homeowner about this incident. In the spirit of cooperation, for the safety of the homeowner's house, ensuring the homeowner's life as well as stabilizing the construction, the construction unit had a meeting with the homeowner and agreed on the following contents:
The construction unit accepts responsibility for incidents caused by impacts during the construction process on the homeowner's housing project. The construction unit will take corrective measures to ensure the stability of the project, stabilize the living conditions of the homeowner's housing project, and minimize impacts such as noise, dust, vibration, etc. The construction unit commits that after completing the underground construction (completing the removal of sheet piles, filling sand into sheet pile walls, sheet pile holes, and pouring the basement cover Cos 0.00), the construction unit will organize a survey to assess and record incidents affecting the homeowner's housing project. The parties will agree on measures to overcome and handle incidents and a satisfactory support plan for the homeowner according to the content of the survey report dated July 25, 2020 (with attached images) confirmed by the parties.
According to Mr. Nguyen Viet Duc - Head of Urban Management Department, a few years ago, Vinh City People's Committee knew about the petition of the people of Block 2, Quan Bau Ward. After that, they checked and issued a document directing Quan Bau Ward to resolve the petition and suspend the construction. Currently, the project at No. 33, Phan Boi Chau Street is still suspended. Regarding the reflection that there are workers working in the project, through inspection, they are actually cleaning and maintaining the steel system, not doing construction. Also according to Mr. Duc, currently Arita Joint Stock Company is no longer involved in this project. Mr. Duc said: “As far as I know, Lung Lo Construction Corporation previously joined forces with Arita Joint Stock Company to implement the project. But according to current law, Lung Lo Construction Corporation is a state-owned unit and is not allowed to invest but must auction the project to return the assets to the state. During the auction, Arita Joint Stock Company did not win the auction. Therefore, the unit that wins the project auction will be responsible for handling the damage to the housing of the related households…”.
Contact Mr. Vu Hoang Tu - Chairman of the Board of Directors and Director of Arita Joint Stock Company to ask about the implementation of the commitment established in the minutes with the households. According to Mr. Tu, if the project does not change, Arita Joint Stock Company will fulfill its responsibility to the households. However, because it did not win the project auction, this issue will be handled by the newly won auction unit. Mr. Tu said: “389 Construction and Trade Investment Joint Stock Company is the winning bidder. This company is also the direct contractor of the project’s foundation, so even if it does not win the bid, it will still be responsible for participating in resolving the residents’ petitions. But as far as I know, 389 Construction and Trade Investment Joint Stock Company has determined its responsibility in handling the residents’ damages. However, they need to complete the legal procedures in implementing the project. Once this task is completed, they will have the legitimacy to carry out their responsibility in resolving issues related to the residents…”.
According to the investigation, the project at No. 33, Phan Boi Chau Street is called Lung Lo Vinh Building Construction Investment Project; including a 26-storey building and 1 basement with multi-functional purposes. The investor is Lung Lo Construction Corporation - Ministry of National Defense, in November 2018, cooperating with Arita Joint Stock Company to implement the project. But by November 2021, Lung Lo Construction Corporation and Arita Joint Stock Company had to liquidate the business cooperation contract to transfer the project in the form of public auction. At this time, the project has completed the construction of bored piles and the entire underground structure to Cos0.00. On April 12, 2022, the Lung Lo Vinh Building Construction Investment Project was auctioned, with the result that 389 Investment, Trade and Construction Joint Stock Company won the auction.
Contacting Mr. Nguyen Van Quyen - Director of 389 Construction and Trade Investment Joint Stock Company, it is known that this unit is currently in the process of working with Lung Lo Construction Corporation to complete the project transfer procedures. Mr. Quyen said that when the transfer procedures are completed, a document can be sent to the authorities to notify that the Company is the project investor. "For the surrounding households, we will also have a similar notice; at the same time, we will work with Arita Joint Stock Company to handle the problems in the previous construction process. With the desire to create a close relationship with the related households, we determined that when the procedures are completed, we will report to the authorities and request permission to hold a meeting with the households to handle this content..." - Mr. Quyen said.
Discussing the concerns of households when seeing some workers working inside the construction site, Mr. Quyen acknowledged that, given the reality that has occurred, it is natural for people to be worried and react. At the same time, he explained that the project is currently still in the suspension period; the activities involved are only to clean, pump out water from the basement, remove rust, cover to protect the construction site and avoid unfortunate incidents from the outside... Mr. Nguyen Van Quyen further discussed: "The project has purchased risk insurance, in addition, the auction regulations include a part of the budget to deal with damage to the houses of related households caused by the construction of the project's foundation. Moreover, as a capable construction unit that has carried out many large projects, we understand our responsibilities. However, without sufficient legal status, we cannot organize meetings with households to handle this content...".
Thus, it can be understood that the delay in assessing, repairing, and compensating for damage to the houses of the households around the project at 33 Phan Boi Chau Street has objective reasons. However, it is difficult to accept that the people whose houses were damaged have to worry and be upset, leading to petitions being sent to authorities at all levels and the press. It is recommended that the authorities of Vinh city and Quan Bau ward supervise the construction of the project and the implementation of the investor's responsibilities to the related households.