The contractor broke their promise.
For nearly two years, Lo Van Chin (34 years old), from Nhon Mai commune ( Nghe An province), has been sending petitions to many agencies and units demanding payment from the contractor who hired his team of workers for many months. However, his petitions have received no response from the investor, and the contractor has blocked all communication with him.
"They blocked all calls, and even searching on-site yielded no results. Although it's a huge sum of money for the locals here, it's probably insignificant for a construction company. I don't understand why they would do something like that," Mr. Chín said angrily.
Mr. Chín was directly involved in the construction of the school canteen, two classrooms, and several auxiliary facilities at Nhôn Mai Primary School. This project had a total investment of 2 billion VND, with the People's Committee of Tương Dương District (formerly) as the investor. Construction began in 2023 and was completed in February 2024.
The company that won the bid to construct this project is Cuong Hoai Construction Joint Stock Company, located in Vinh Loc ward (Nghe An province). However, this company did not directly carry out the construction but instead purchased building materials locally and hired a group of local workers to do the job.
Mr. Lo Van Chin stated that he was the one who signed the contract to construct this project from Cuong Hoai Construction Joint Stock Company. The project involves a row of single-story houses with corrugated iron roofs, covering a total area of approximately 200 square meters . “According to the signed contract, we were to be paid 327 million VND in labor costs by Cuong Hoai Construction Joint Stock Company. After signing the contract, I immediately called my team of over 20 workers to start working. By February 2024, the project was completed, but the contractor still hadn't paid us the full amount,” Mr. Chin recounted, adding that because he couldn't collect the money from the contractor, and the workers were all facing financial difficulties, he had to sell all his family's buffaloes and cows to pay their wages.
By September 2024, Mr. Chín was still owed nearly 140 million VND in wages by this company. When the contractor's representative came to complete the handover procedures, Mr. Chín and another creditor blocked the vehicle and pressured them to pay. Leaders of the People's Committee of Tương Dương district (formerly) also arrived to handle the matter. At this point, Cường Hoài Construction Joint Stock Company paid Mr. Chín an additional 50 million VND. Regarding the remaining debt of nearly 90 million VND, the company wrote a commitment letter, signed and stamped by the director, stating that "payment will be made no later than September 25, 2024. If payment is not made, the company will bear full responsibility." However, more than a year has passed since the agreed deadline, and the company still refuses to pay.
Sharing the same predicament as Mr. Chín, Mr. Nguyễn Văn Tiệp (41 years old) from Tri Lễ commune said that he signed a contract to supply construction materials to Cường Hoài Construction Joint Stock Company for this project. However, to date, he is still owed nearly 30 million VND.
“That day, in front of the district leaders, they promised and wrote a commitment letter to pay before September 25, 2024, but afterwards, not only did they not pay, they also blocked all our communication,” Mr. Tiep recounted, adding that he and Mr. Chin had also submitted petitions to the People's Committee of Tuong Duong District (formerly) and related units since 2024 to ask for help in recovering the money, but have not received any response to date.
Mr. Bui Van Hao, Principal of Nhon Mai Ethnic Boarding Primary School, said that although the construction was completed at the beginning of 2024, it was only put into use in September 2024. “After the opening ceremony, when the school brought students in, these creditors initially disagreed and closed the building, claiming the contractor still owed money. After a written commitment was made, they agreed to hand over the building to the school, but recently they came back to the school, proposing to dismantle some of the corrugated iron sheets to pressure us into paying for the work. I intervened because that is a violation of the law, and at the same time, I asked them to work with the authorities, so they stopped,” Mr. Hao said, adding that although the building has been in use for a long time, the handover documents are still incomplete.
To clarify the allegations, reporters repeatedly contacted Cuong Hoai Construction Joint Stock Company but received no response. Meanwhile, a representative of the investor stated that the contractor had been fully paid for the construction work. "We thought they had paid off all their debts to the residents," the representative said.
The arduous task of collecting debts.
Similarly to Nhon Mai commune, in Tam Quang commune (formerly Tuong Duong district), for nearly two years, many residents have also submitted petitions demanding payment from the contractor of the Tam Quang Commune People's Committee headquarters upgrade and repair project. The project was invested in by the People's Committee of Tuong Duong district (formerly), and the winning bidder was Duy Hung Construction and Consulting Supervision Joint Stock Company, located in Thanh Vinh ward (Nghe An province).
After winning the bid, the company did not directly carry out the construction but mostly purchased building materials and equipment right in Tam Quang commune and then hired local people to do the work. The project started in 2023 and was completed and put into use in early 2024. However, nearly two years after completion, according to the leaders of Tam Quang commune, the project has still not been inspected and handed over because the contractor owes the people hundreds of millions of dong, while the quality of the construction is not guaranteed.
A representative of the investor stated that after the project was completed, the local authorities sent two written invitations to the company to come for inspection and handover, but the company failed to show up.
Discussing this issue, Mr. Phan Bao Duy, Director of Duy Hung Construction and Supervision Consulting Joint Stock Company, admitted that the project's construction process had resulted in hundreds of millions of dong owed to local residents, but he also admitted to being a "victim" in the matter. "After winning the bid, due to the long distance, I hired someone to oversee the construction. After the work was completed, I paid that person, only to discover that he owed money to the residents. Ideally, the residents should go directly to the person who owes them. But to expedite the project's completion, by June 2025, I had already paid off all the debts to the residents, with only two households owing nearly 40 million dong remaining," Mr. Duy said.
However, the leaders of Tam Quang commune stated that this information is untrue. According to the commune's review, the contractor still owes money to seven households, totaling over 170 million VND. Furthermore, there is one case where a family repeatedly tried to claim payment, but the family has since passed away, so they are unsure whether the company has paid them or not.
One of the seven households, Mr. Le Dinh Thang, residing in Khe Bo village, Tam Quang commune, stated that after winning the bid for the project, the Director of Duy Hung Construction and Consulting Supervision Joint Stock Company directly signed a contract with him to carry out items such as iron gates and windows. However, to date, after two years of persistently trying to collect the debt, the company still owes him over 22 million VND. “They hired us to do the work, with a proper contract, but I don't understand why they are so slow to pay. During the construction process, they paid half of the amount, but only paid an additional 25 million VND in June 2025 after much pressure. Now they still owe me over 22 million VND. And they don't answer the phone,” Mr. Thang said.
Ms. Kha Thi Hien, Vice Chairman of the Tam Quang Commune People's Committee, said that it wasn't until June 2025, when the two levels of government were preparing to become operational, that the director of this company came to Tam Quang Commune to request the commune to sign the project acceptance documents for handover, but she refused to sign for two reasons.
“Firstly, as users of the project, we find that the quality is not up to standard. Many items, such as ceiling fans, only lasted a few days before burning out, and the ceilings are leaking, preventing officials from working inside. Secondly, the contractor still owes money to local residents. As local leaders, we also have a responsibility to the people. The company's leaders keep insisting that they have paid everything to the people, but when the commune requested a meeting with the residents, they refused. Last year, this company still owed the people nearly 400 million VND. By June 2025, they had paid some more, and currently, the commune has verified each household and found that there is still about 173 million VND owed,” Ms. Hien said, adding that regarding the quality of the construction, the commune leaders have repeatedly contacted the contractor to request an inspection to determine which items are under warranty and which are not, so that the commune can repair them itself. However, the company has still not cooperated.
Source: https://baonghean.vn/nha-thau-thue-nguoi-dan-lam-cong-trinh-roi-chay-lang-10315222.html
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