The truth about the 65 billion VND bridge built with 'foam reinforced concrete'

On September 7, some information said that the Zet bridge (Chuong My, Hanoi) with an investment of nearly 65 billion VND was built with "foam reinforced concrete". Immediately after being posted, this information was shared at a dizzying rate, with many opinions concerned about "cutting back on materials" or "technical errors",... during the bridge construction process.

Regarding this incident, at noon on September 8, Mr. Pham Hoang Tuan, Deputy Director of the Hanoi Department of Transport, together with the inspection team, the contractor and the authorities of Tot Dong commune were present at Zet bridge to survey and confirm the above information. The results from the explanation of the investor and the construction unit showed that there was no such thing as the bridge being built with "foam reinforced concrete".

Specifically, Mr. Nguyen Dinh Cong, Head of Project Management Department (Traffic Management Board 2, Hanoi Department of Transport), confirmed that these are the locations of the lighting poles. Accordingly, there are a total of six locations on Zet Bridge, of which the main bridge has two.

The foam holes as reported in the press according to the approved design are electrical connection technical boxes, with dimensions of 0.2 x 0.3 x 0.2 m. Placing the foam is to create a mold, so that later there is no need to break when inserting cables, connecting electricity,...

People gently tapped the outer concrete layer and discovered a lot of foam inside.

As for the foam joints, according to the design documents, they are settlement joints. According to Mr. Cong, all concrete items usually have settlement joints to avoid the contraction of the rigid structure. The contractor's construction method is to temporarily place a foam layer in the middle, and when the basic construction is completed, the foam will be removed and the construction will be carried out according to the approved design.

Meanwhile, the contractor representative also said that the reflection that the bridge was built with “foam reinforced concrete” was completely a misunderstanding. The reason for the foam inside was to create a pre-mold for the technical box positions, so that later there was no need to break it, just pry off the foam layer to install it.

“However, we also accept responsibility for not completing these positions immediately after construction, leading to misunderstandings among the people. The reason for this problem is that other lamp posts were not completed yet, so we waited for them to be completed before performing the construction synchronously. In addition, we also avoid water getting in or children prying, causing damage to the internal piping system,” said a representative of the construction unit.

To prove that this was the location of the technical box, the deputy director of the Hanoi Department of Transport asked the construction unit to knock down all the outer concrete layer and remove all the foam inside. The results showed that only the area used to create the molds for the technical boxes had foam, the other locations were all poured with concrete.

The incident has caused much confusion among people about the situation of "cutting back on construction materials".

The leaders of the Hanoi Department of Transport have requested the construction unit to knock down all the outer concrete layer and remove all the foam inside.

The results showed that only the molding area for the technical boxes had foam, the other locations were poured with concrete.

According to PLO