They own a house but have to sleep in rented rooms.
For some time now, the family of four, including Mrs. Le Thi An (70 years old) residing at 52 Phu Dinh Street (Ward 16, District 8), has been living in constant anxiety as the walls of their one-story, two-floor house have cracked and the ground has subsided after the Phu Dinh wharf embankment project began construction.
According to Ms. An, about two years ago, when workers came to drive piles along the Lo Gom canal to build the embankment at Phu Dinh wharf, her house cracked unusually despite being built only four months earlier. Each time a pile was driven in, the residential area shook violently.
Large cracks appeared on the walls of Mrs. An's house.
In Mrs. An's living room, numerous cracks of varying sizes have appeared, some more than 10 cm wide. The ground has subsided, causing sections of the walls to fracture, severing the connection between the brick walls and the concrete ceiling above. Several load-bearing pillars of the house are also cracked, exposing the internal steel frames. The doors on the upper floors are misaligned and cannot be opened. When it rains, water seeps through the cracks, damaging furniture and belongings.
"The brick walls are all cracked now. The two main pillars of the house are also cracked. I can hear the walls creaking in my sleep, and I don't know when disaster might strike. We have a house, but we have to sleep in rented rooms," Mrs. An said angrily.
The cracks in the house were spreading and widening, so recently Mrs. An's family spent over 40 million VND to buy steel and hire workers to reinforce the house.
From the outside, looking through the fault line, one can clearly see the objects inside Mrs. An's house.
The homeowner reinforced and braced the cracked sections of the wall.
At the cracks and fractures in the house walls, workers erected iron frames and used screws to reinforce and connect the cracked walls to prevent them from collapsing. Despite reinforcing the house, Mrs. An still felt uneasy and had to sleep in a rented room.
Not only Mrs. An's house but also the warehouse and the row of rental rooms behind her family's house have cracked brick walls. At the entrance to the row of 18 rental rooms, the road surface has subsided and become uneven, making it very difficult to move around. According to Mrs. An's family, due to the subsidence of the road, there have been cases of tenants falling off their motorbikes and breaking their arms.
"Some of the other tenants have already left. I'm also planning to move out because it's too scary to live in a place with cracks like this," shared Phan Thi Tuyet Hanh (31 years old, from An Giang province), a tenant in Mrs. An's house.
The road leading to Mrs. An's lodging house has subsided.
Ms. An's family stated that they have also worked with relevant parties to agree on a solution to address the damage to their house caused by the pile driving work on the Phu Dinh wharf embankment, part of the Ho Chi Minh City water environment improvement project, phase 2. However, the parties have yet to reach an agreement on a solution.
A short distance from Mrs. An's house, the single-story house with a mezzanine at 49/2A Phu Dinh (Ward 16, District 8) is home to eight people across three generations of Mrs. Pham Thi Nam's family (68 years old). Inside the two bedrooms, the brick walls are riddled with cracks running from the ceiling down almost the entire length of the room.
Ms. Nam said that when workers were driving piles to build the canal embankment, the ground could still be felt shaking in many places dozens of meters away. Her house is located right next to the canal embankment, so when the piles were driven, her house shook like... a hammock.
The wall in Mrs. Nam's bedroom has a long crack.
Initially, only small cracks appeared on the wall, but they gradually grew larger and spread, causing the brick wall to break and fracture. "They said they would provide compensation, but so far we haven't seen anything. We have a large family, and our finances are tight. We know it's dangerous, but where else can we live? We'll repair the house when we receive the support; what else can we do?" Mrs. Nam said.
The families of Mrs. Nam and Mrs. An are two of many households affected by the pile driving work for the Phu Dinh wharf embankment, causing cracks and subsidence in their houses, leaving residents extremely worried.
43 people were affected; how will they be compensated?
Mr. Tran Ngoc Thuan, Chairman of the People's Committee of Ward 16, District 8, said that the entire Phu Dinh embankment is over 2,600 meters long. During the construction process, the local authorities recorded 43 cases of affected households.
Of these, the contractor has compensated and paid for 26 affected households, leaving 17 cases remaining. Regarding the plan for continued payments, payments will be made to 6 households before September 2nd, and to 9 households before September 15th.
The embankment at Phu Dinh wharf is currently under construction.
There are two remaining households, specifically Mrs. Nam's household, for which the contractor is currently conducting a second inspection. It is expected that once the authorities complete the inspection, compensation will be processed and payments made before September 20th.
To protect the legitimate rights of the people, specifically Mrs. An's household, the local authorities have recently worked with and reached an agreement with the contractor and the investor, proposing three options.
Firstly, the contractor will undertake the complete repair of the house at 52 Phu Dinh. Secondly, the homeowner can hire an independent unit with the function of inspecting and estimating the repair costs, and the contractor will agree to the repair cost based on the independent inspection's estimate. Thirdly, the contractor will negotiate with the homeowner to provide financial assistance, and the family will carry out the repairs themselves.
According to Mr. Thuan, the contractor recently provided an estimate and a written commitment of approximately 300 million VND for Ms. An's family to carry out the repairs themselves. "In case of force majeure, if the homeowner feels their rights are not protected, they can sue in court. Whatever the court rules, the contractor will abide by the court's decision," Mr. Thuan stated.
Mr. Thuan stated that this is a key project of Ho Chi Minh City in the urgent phase, so the contractor is working diligently to complete the project according to the stipulated schedule, with the completion deadline set for December 31, 2023. Failure to meet the schedule would have significant consequences in many aspects. "Currently, other sections of the Phu Dinh embankment have been completed, except for the 50 meters in front of house number 52 Phu Dinh. This area is low-lying, and during high tides (from the 10th lunar month onwards), water from the drainage pipes rises, causing flooding," Mr. Thuan said.
Regarding residents' complaints about their houses being affected by pile driving for the Phu Dinh wharf construction, we contacted the director of the Ho Chi Minh City Water Environment Improvement Project Phase 2 using the phone number listed on the project information sign on Phu Dinh Street. However, after several attempts to contact him by phone for a meeting, the director stated that he was in a meeting and therefore had no information from the unit.
Source link
Comment (0)