Delegates asked about the Lo River bridge's 'exposed foundation and soil', where is the consulting and supervision?

Discussing the revised Construction Bill on the morning of November 6, delegate Nguyen Anh Tri ( Hanoi ) expressed his "extreme heartache" at the news that the Lo River Bridge in Phu Tho was exposed to the press, with sand and soil inside the bridge piers.

Delegate Nguyen Anh Tri (Hanoi delegation)

PHOTO: GIA HAN

"The supervision consultant certainly knows this. But why does the supervision consultant ignore it? First, it may be due to lack of responsibility. Many supervision consultants come to the construction site but sneak into their houses and sleep, sometimes walking back and forth. Besides, they may ignore it for their own benefit, to gain profit, to ignore it to agree to the construction like that to embezzle money, to do this and that," said Mr. Tri.

Having managed the investment in many construction projects when he was the Director of the Central Institute of Hematology, Mr. Tri said, "In the middle of the pillar, there was only soil, it was very strange and I saw that it was not compacted, the soil was like sand...". According to him, this is a very big lesson, the construction and supervision units cannot be one but must be clearly separated. Consulting and supervision is a profession, independent, with qualifications, knowledge, and responsibility.

Professor Nguyen Anh Tri stated that the draft currently stipulates that investors have the right to supervise construction works when they have sufficient capacity and are responsible for their supervision.

"I propose that this regulation should not be in place. Because this is a situation of both playing football and blowing the whistle. Building while also supervising is not acceptable. Supervision must have its own supervision consulting unit," Mr. Tri said, suggesting that there should be strict sanctions for supervision consultants when mistakes occur.

Also citing the Lo River Bridge, Venerable Thich Bao Nghiem (Hanoi) said that the large project, which has only been in use for more than 10 years, has shown serious damage, raising questions about the quality of construction, supervision and acceptance.

From this incident, he proposed the need to improve legal standards, management responsibilities and supervision of construction works because current laws may not be strong enough in terms of sanctions and criminal liability for poor quality works or unclear about the roles and responsibilities of related parties (investors, construction units, supervision organizations, etc.).

On November 5, Phu Tho Provincial Police said they are investigating, verifying, and handling (if there are violations) individuals, agencies, and organizations related to the construction and operation of Song Lo Bridge.

The low water level of the river exposed a series of pile foundations of the bridge piers, in which the ground of the T3 pier was eroded, creating a large hole about 2 meters high; a pile foundation exposed rusted steel bars, completely losing the protective concrete layer...

The Ministry of Construction also sent a document to the People's Committee of Phu Tho province regarding the review and inspection of the quality of the Song Lo bridge project.

Strengthen acceptance testing, instead of just post-inspection when there is a problem

Expressing concerns about quality control of construction design, delegate Ha Sy Dong (Quang Tri) stated that the draft has abolished the procedure for appraising construction design implemented after basic design - an administrative procedure in the current Construction Law.

Delegate Ha Sy Dong

PHOTO: GIA HAN

According to the draft, after the project is approved, the investor will organize the appraisal and control of the technical design and construction drawing design. This reduction represents a shift from "pre-inspection to post-inspection", giving the investor the initiative and reducing intermediate procedures.

However, he is concerned about whether the quality of technical design can be guaranteed without state appraisal. Investors may not have the capacity to self-appraise, especially large-scale projects with complex techniques.

Mr. Dong also said that it is necessary to strengthen the state inspection and acceptance stage, and should consider assigning specialized construction agencies the right to inspect the acceptance work of investors for important projects, "instead of only post-inspection when there is an incident".

The delegate said that the Construction Law has regulations on the management agency to inspect the acceptance of important works before putting them into use, and the new draft needs to inherit and be more specific.

"Removing intermediate design appraisal is reasonable to simplify procedures, but it is necessary to add a "safety net" to ensure construction works meet quality and are safe during operation," said Mr. Dong.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/dai-bieu-hoi-tru-cau-song-lo-tro-mong-lo-dat-tu-van-giam-sat-o-dau-185251106102150786.htm