HCM City to hire foreign consultant to fix tunnel cracks
26-AUG-2008 Intellasia | Thanhniennews
Aug 26, 2008 - 7:00:00 AM
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The HCM City administration announced Saturday that it would bring in an independent consultant to help fix several cracks in a major tunnel project.
A number of cracks have been found in four tunnel sections pre-constructed for the Thu Thiem Tunnel project, part of the larger East-West Highway project linking HCM City's District 1 to District 2.
The four sections, which were built in neighbouring Dong Nai Province but have yet to be transported to HCM City, had developed a series of cracks before their completion in June.
The HCM City administration is the project's main investor via the East-West Highway Project management Unit while the Obayashi Corp and Pacific Consultants International (PCI) from Japan are the tunnel's contractors.
Speaking at a meeting Saturday between the HCM City government and the Ministry of Construction, head of the East-West Highway Project management unit Huynh Ngoc Si filed a report pointing out several possible causes of the cracks.
The report said the cracks may be attributed to temperature changes during the construction of the tunnel sections, the questionable quality of construction materials or incompetent workers.
But the root cause of the cracks had yet to be ascertained.
Though the Japanese contractors have put forth several solutions to the problem, Si said at the meeting that a foreign independent consultant should be brought in to inspect the cracks and devise a solution.
HCM City mayor Le Hoang Quan agreed with the proposal, saying the city would begin recruiting a consultant.
"Those responsible for the cracks will have to pay all the repair fees," Quan said.
Deputy minister of Construction Cao Lai Quang approved the proposal to hire a consultant and instructed the HCM City government, the East-West Highway Project Management Unit, and the State Inspection Committee for Construction Projects (SICCP) to work closely on the issue.
On Tuesday, Head of the Construction Ministry's Department of Construction Works Quality Appraisal Le Quang Hung had said the project management unit would be held accountable for the cracks on its investor status. The two Japanese contractors would also have to bear responsibility, Hung said. But he failed to spell out who as responsible for what as SICCP d yet to wrap up its investigation othe cracks.
The 2 trillion dong Thu Thiem Tunnel is slated to be 1.5 kilometres long at completion, with a 371-metre section running under the Saigon River. It is set to open by June next year and become Southeast Asia's longest river tunnel.
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