Steel block falls on museum fence, halts construction of twin towers

The investor and construction unit of The One twin tower project, where a crane collapse recently occurred causing damage to the City Fine Arts Museum, need to stop construction and maintain the current status, a representative of the Inspectorate of the Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs of Ho Chi Minh City said.

The falling steel block collapsed the museum fence.

The Labor Safety Inspectorate of the Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs of Ho Chi Minh City had a working session with relevant departments and agencies about the crane collapse incident on Le Thi Hong Gam Street (Ho Chi Minh City) on the afternoon of January 4.

According to the Department Inspectorate representative, the investor and the construction unit of The One twin tower project must stop construction and maintain the current status. After receiving opinions from relevant departments, the project management board will start cleaning up.

During this working session, Mr. Nguyen Van Thanh, Deputy Head of Bitexco Project Management Department - the investor admitted that while the crane was assembling tower cage 2 into tower cage 1, the crane showed signs of tilting.

The cause was determined to be uneven subsidence of the ground, which caused the tower crane to fall, collapsing the wall of the Fine Arts Museum and breaking the technical infrastructure system.

Representative of the Department of Construction, Mr. Nguyen Thanh Xuyen, Deputy Head of the Construction Quality Management Department, requested the authorities to handle administrative violations related to the project.

He also requested the investor and construction unit to submit the underground construction plan to the Department of Construction, and at the same time contact the electricity, lighting, traffic units, and clean up the area outside the construction site to return the walkway to the people.

As for the City Fine Arts Museum, the unit that suffered the most damage in the incident, according to a representative of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, since Bitexco started construction in January 2013, the museum has been seriously affected.

Many walls in building 2 of the museum were cracked, the wall in the security room was torn off and tilted to one side, making it impossible to close the gate.

Expressing her indignation, Ms. Vu Kim Anh, Deputy Director of the Department, said: "Previously, regarding the damage to the museum building, we had a meeting with relevant departments and investors, Bitexco, and agreed to conduct an inspection to find out the cause of the subsidence and cracking of this relic."

“While waiting for the inspection results, Bitexco continued construction without informing us. The crane collapse continued to cause damage to the museum, which is an unfortunate consequence,” said Ms. Anh.

It is known that The One twin tower project has a large investment located right in the center, contributing to increasing the beauty and appearance of the city. However, besides that, the building used as a museum is a highly artistic architectural work, built in the early 20th century in the French architectural style combined harmoniously with Oriental architecture. The building has been recognized as a city-level cultural relic.

This monument remains intact to this day. However, The One project has caused quite a lot of damage. Many areas have sunk. Walls have cracked. In the incident that occurred in the early morning of January 4, a section of the solid iron fence was crushed. Many statues on display in the museum grounds have broken and fallen.

Bitexco with The One twin tower project, costing up to 500 million USD, is a large project but that does not mean that the long-standing artistic values ​​that have been preserved to this day are underestimated.

Many knowledgeable people said that next to the museum there is also a high-rise project of Eximbank. Before construction, Eximbank contracted with an inspection company to mark and determine the current status of the building used as the Fine Arts Museum.

During the construction process, this unit always pays attention to the safety of the building. The two business units' responses also show the awareness and responsibility of each side.

According to vietnamnet