An 800-tonne building has been moved 35m from its original position in the central Nghe An Province.

About 15 construction workers worked hard for seven days to relocate the three-storey building, with a 30-degree shift in the direction it faced from south-east to south.

The moving of the 171sq.m house, with a height of 11m, began last week in Vinh City, supervised by Huy Nam Company, in co-operation with Nghe An Construction and Foundation Treatment Company and Duc Nguyen Company.

Le Viet Cuong, the owner of the house, said it was built last year at a cost of VNĐ4 billion (US$178,000).

He was forced to move it to make way for a public project.

Cuong said he chose to move the building rather than demolish it and build a new one to save money.

He said the relocation work cost about VNĐ1.4 billion ($62,000).

While relocation of structures is not new to Vietnam, Cuong said the relocation of the house was a first for Nghe An.

Last February, a 3,000-tonne building in the Central Highland Dak Lak Province was moved 10m by Do Quoc Khanh, an engineer from Hanoi, with the help of more than 300 tonnes of equipment and 30 workers.

VNS/VietNamNet