VEC leader admits negligence in statement 'highway damaged by rain'

On the afternoon of October 15, Mr. Tran Van Tam, General Director of Vietnam Expressway Corporation (VEC), the investor of the Da Nang - Quang Ngai Expressway, said that the damaged road section belongs to a project using JICA (Japan) loan capital, put into use since August 2017.

In response to the recent explanation by the Project Management Board that some areas on the highway's surface were peeling and potholed due to the weather, the VEC leader admitted, "That is not correct, because in reality, damage is caused by many factors, including the weather."

"The statement that the road surface was damaged due to heavy rain was a mistake in the expression of the leader of the highway project management board. The statement made the problem worse," Mr. Tam explained.

Regarding the delay in repairing damaged road surfaces that caused the Ministry of Transport to criticize VEC, Mr. Tam explained that the repair only needed 2 days, but it had been raining continuously recently, affecting the progress.

"When it rains, even if we try to fix it, it will still break down, which is even more disgusting. However, the weather has improved now, and the complete repair will be completed before noon on October 17," he pledged.

According to VEC leaders, the Da Nang - Quang Ngai expressway project has 13 packages with many joint ventures participating, in which the damaged road section is constructed by two Vietnamese contractors: Tuan Loc Construction Investment Joint Stock Company (in package 4) and Thanh An Corporation (in package 6).

"Previous A4 and A6 packages were constructed on schedule, there was no damage due to time pressure," said Mr. Tam.

On the highway, there are other construction packages constructed by a number of Korean and Chinese contractors, which are currently not damaged.

VEC leaders affirmed that the unit has requested relevant individuals and groups to explain their responsibilities for the above incident, including the Chairman of the Board of Members, General Director and Executive Board, all of whom must self-examine and report to the Corporation before October 19.

"The damaged route was put into use before I became General Director, but I still have to take responsibility, including projects built 5-7 years earlier," Mr. Tam said.

According to Dr. Tran Chung, former Director of the Department of Construction Appraisal (Ministry of Construction), the statement of the investor representative about the weather being considered as one of the reasons for road damage is "inaccurate", because the road design must fully calculate the weather factors. The road surface must be flat, and water must not be allowed to accumulate because water will break the roof layer, then destroy the surface.

"When it rains when constructing asphalt concrete, the construction unit has to stop because if they continue to work, the road will be damaged. The road is damaged because of problems with the construction quality," said Mr. Chung.

Engineer Tran Dan - Vice President of the Danang Bridge and Road Association, said that VEC has not been serious in its self-criticism. "Leading the rain as a factor in the road damage is a way of denying responsibility," said engineer Dan.

Mr. Dan also argued against the opinion that at first VEC made temporary repairs and from October 14th carried out proper construction because the rain stopped.

"I agree with the temporary repair of potholes to ensure safe traffic. But without public opinion and the Ministry of Transport, would the investor have brought machinery to the scene to cut the road, compact it, and re-pave the asphalt like in recent days?", Mr. Dan expressed his personal opinion and said that if VEC had a systematic repair plan from the beginning, the unit would have had to gather modern machinery to the damaged road sections, not do it manually as the press reported.

This expert said that the Ministry of Transport's decision not to allow VEC to continue collecting tolls to focus on repairing the damaged road section was the correct and decisive decision.

"The failure to collect fees, causing a loss of about 600 million VND per day as the investor said, is a consequence caused by themselves," Mr. Dan commented.

According to him, the damaged road sections were constructed by domestic contractors, not foreign contractors, so the Ministry of Transport "should consider allowing those contractors to continue to receive bids for other projects or not?".

During the meeting of the National Assembly Standing Committee on the afternoon of October 15, Chairwoman of the Judiciary Committee Le Thi Nga mentioned the Da Nang - Quang Ngai Expressway case and suggested: "The Government needs to answer the question of why the quality of infrastructure projects in general, especially public investment infrastructure, including traffic projects, is deteriorating so quickly."

Welcoming the Ministry of Transport for "strictly directing the investor", Ms. Nga emphasized that the Ministry needs to soon clarify the responsibilities of relevant individuals and units.

After more than a year of operation, the Km0 – Km65 section of the Da Nang – Quang Ngai Expressway has shown signs of damage to the road surface in some locations. The damaged area is about 70m2 out of a total of 3.1 million m2 of road surface, however the Management Board, operating units and contractors have been slow to implement repairs.

The Ministry of Transport has issued an official letter criticizing the investor of the Da Nang - Quang Ngai Expressway, requesting a temporary suspension of toll collection from October 12 until the damage to the road surface is completely repaired. The temporary suspension of toll collection causes VEC to lose an average of 600 million VND per day.