Vietnamese 'Genie' tells story of going abroad to save 4,200-ton hotel

(Dan Tri) - Over the past 20 years, Mr. Cu and his team have carried out relocation, anti-sink and anti-tilt works for about 150 houses and religious buildings. He has become famous and is known by the nickname "genie".

For decades, in Vietnam, there have been a number of people who have used modern machinery and equipment to move a building or religious structure weighing thousands of tons from one location to another. Among them is Mr. Nguyen Van Cu (residing in Ho Chi Minh City), who is known as the "genie" of Vietnam because he has commanded the relocation of hundreds of large and small structures.

Before the Lunar New Year of Giap Thin 2024, Mr. Cu and his colleagues completed the work of moving the gate of Thanh Van Chang temple, which is more than 200 years old and weighs 100 tons in Hong Linh town ( Ha Tinh ) to a new location more than 60 meters away and raising the gate of this temple to 1.2 meters high. Dan Tri reporter met with "genie" Nguyen Van Cu to learn more about his life and special work. Hello "genie" Nguyen Van Cu, moving the gate of the temple, which is more than 200 years old in Ha Tinh, is the project that you and your colleagues have carried out? - I have 20 years of experience in moving, preventing subsidence, tilting, and cracking of constructions. During that time, I have carried out about 150 large and small projects, from a ground floor house weighing hundreds of tons to raising a religious building weighing 6,000 tons.

What fate brought you to this special profession? - I was born and raised in Thua Thien - Hue . Perhaps many people will be surprised because my starting point has nothing to do with my current job of calculation and construction, because I graduated from university with a degree in Law in Hue. In 1975, after the liberation day, I moved to Ho Chi Minh City to live. In 2000, I had the opportunity to work as an office worker for a company in the field of construction, settlement treatment, and house relocation. After a period of working here, I gradually recognized and became familiar with the owner's methods and techniques. There were projects where I realized that many things were unreasonable or that new techniques could be applied to achieve better results. However, because I was not a professional, I was not allowed to express my opinion in each meeting. In 2004, I founded my own company with the desire to apply new techniques I invented to prevent settlement, tilt, and flooding. What surprised me was that my business later attracted many of my old company colleagues to work with me.

Since when have you been nicknamed "the genie" by everyone? Does that come from your unique approach to difficult projects? - Yes. In 2007, there was a block of 6 adjacent houses in Binh Hung area, Binh Chanh district, Ho Chi Minh City that needed to be treated for subsidence, tilting and raised 1m. The entire project weighed 3,000 tons, 24m wide, 24m deep. Some acquaintances introduced me to do this project. I received and invested in a series of equipment and machinery to do it. Including hydraulic equipment, I also took raw materials from abroad to make my own machines. This helps to do large projects without needing a lot of manpower. For example, if we used manual equipment before, 1 lifting column needed 1 person to manage, but with this project of 4 columns, we only needed 1 person to manage. At first, I was very worried, but once I took the risk, I was determined to do it. Just like that, together with 25 workers, we completed this project within 3 months. This was my first big project. After that, a newspaper wrote about the event and nicknamed me "the genie". At that time, I did not accept this name and asked them. They said that they named it like that to compare with previous people. Because, this project was difficult because it was extremely solid, with beams and columns, few people participated in the project but it was successfully raised 1m. Some other people said that moving a project from one location to another, calling it "the genie" was correct. After that, when I did many other projects, the press and the internet kept calling me that, so I happily accepted it. The joy is that society gave me such a nickname, not that I thought of it.

Does the nickname "genie" make your job more stressful? - It is true that there is pressure, but before that, I set my own standards and principles when I decided to start this job. During my 20 years in the profession, for any large or small project, near or far, I personally go to survey carefully and meticulously. During the implementation process, I am always present at the construction site to direct the work so I can feel secure. My company has about 30 people, many of whom I have gradually trained to become skilled. They have good techniques, but I am a perfectionist. Although I am 70 years old, fortunately I am still in good health. My son has been working with me for 16 years, and has enough experience and qualifications to take over. But I am still enthusiastic and passionate. For every project, I have to survey and direct to meet high technical and quality requirements. Over the past years, we have carried out about 150 projects, including projects abroad, but no one has complained about the service. Many of those building owners still keep in touch with me after many years. That makes me happy and proud.

You talked about the project you did abroad, can you share more specifically about this memory? - It was a hotel and restaurant building called Pho De Paris with a scale of 1 ground floor, 1 mezzanine, 3 large floors, weighing 4,300 tons. This building was located opposite Le Macau casino many years ago, in Pavet province, Cambodia, bordering Moc Bai border gate, Tay Ninh . In 2009, this building was sinking and cracking. When hearing about my reputation, the owner of this hotel came to Vietnam to invite me to come and handle it. Without hesitation, I decided to go abroad to survey. At that time, I traveled from Ho Chi Minh City to Moc Bai border gate and continued by motorbike for about 3 hours to get there. After surveying the extent of the incident of the project, I accepted the job, and at the same time made a technical drawing and price list. At that time, their local government agency did not let me do it because they did not trust me, worried about collapse leading to casualties. They said that the project was sinking and tilting like that, so how could it be handled? After 2 months, the hotel owner tried his best to convince them, and they finally agreed. When they agreed, we also had difficulty in bringing machinery, equipment and human resources to Cambodia. After that, I made a bold decision to use only 10 employees of the company and hire 15 local workers . When I started digging down to the foundation, the project continued to sink and did not collapse. The foundation of this project was weak, the load capacity was not guaranteed because they had built 2 floors higher than before. I had to research many ways, because the more I dug down to the foundation, the more difficult it was to handle. After that, I decided to reinforce the foundation, using a jack to lift it up. The process of raising the house to rebuild the foundation was also extremely complicated, difficult and arduous. After 6 months, the problem of sinking and tilting of this building was completed, to our joy and the surprise of the local people. The hotel owner was also very happy and satisfied. Because the repair helped them save 1/5 of the cost compared to demolishing and rebuilding. Second, the time to handle the problem only took 6 months, if rebuilding it would take 2 years, not to mention that demolishing it would be very complicated because there are many other buildings next to it. This building has been in good use since then, without any problems.

What is the secret to your success in the profession of preventing subsidence, tilting, and displacement? - I don't have any secret (laughs loudly). In my opinion, doing this job requires passion and a little "spirituality". In many large and small projects, I always remember the memories of religious works. Like Hue Nghiem Pagoda, in Binh Tan, Ho Chi Minh City, I took on the task of raising the Great Lecture Hall of the pagoda, weighing 2,000 tons, 3.4m high to escape flooding for many years. I also successfully moved the 50-year-old, 420-ton artificial mountain of Our Lady in Phuoc Thanh parish, Ba Ria - Vung Tau to a new location 9m away, while raising the mountain 40cm high. Another large and complex religious project in 2019 that I was in charge of was raising the Queen of Peace parish church in Go Vap, Ho Chi Minh City, weighing nearly 6,000 tons, 2m high. In these religious buildings, there are abbots, monks, and priests. Many people had engineering and architectural qualifications before becoming monks, but when they saw each building slowly moving to a new location, everyone was amazed and wondered. My colleagues and I shared that we were a bit reckless, in addition to confidence in our own experience, careful preparation when applying modern machinery and equipment, there was also a "spiritual" factor. Everything also depends on the "heavenly grace" to be successful, I always believe that.

With decades of working as a "genie", have you encountered any difficulties and how do you hope to resolve them? - Currently, the process of urbanization or road construction causes people's houses or religious buildings to be low and flooded. Therefore, the need to raise the construction is very large. However, when there are customers, to do so, we have to apply for a license, some places easily facilitate but some places are also difficult because they say there is no basis for licensing. If we do it "underground" while the construction is still in progress, if the authorities discover it, it will be suspended. This will cause trouble for both the owner and us. Meanwhile, if they have to demolish and rebuild, it will take a lot of time and money. Therefore, we hope that the licensing procedures for the work of moving, raising, preventing subsidence and tilting of construction works will be facilitated quickly by local authorities and competent authorities, reducing difficulties. From there, people will also benefit. Thank you for this conversation! Photo: Duong Nguyen - Nam Anh

Content: Duong Nguyen

Design: Vu Minh Ngoc

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