The Song Da Joint Stock Company 11 was accused of mixing soil with concrete while laying a base for the 220kV-electric poles in Vu Ban District of northern Nam Dinh Province.

Two brothers, Vu Duc Thuan and Vu Ngoc Hoi, who were hired by the company’s construction section head, levelled these accusations.

Hoi said the company’s construction head, Nguyen Van Toan, hired him to build the 220kV-electric poles in March this year.

While using his concrete mixer during construction, Hoi discovered the concrete was mixed with soil to make the base for the poles.

He told Toan about it but his concerns were ignored. So he and his brother decided to terminate the contract with the company as he said they could not indulge in cheating.

In May, by accident, he discovered that the company continued to build the second pole using the same methods.

An angry Hoi recorded the clips and sent it to the media to denounce the cheating.

At present, the construction site has stopped operations after the two brothers’ accusations became public, and investigations are on.

Thereafter, the company decided to suspend Toan from his post.

The National Power Transmission Company under project investor Electricity of Vietnam Corporation (EVNNPT) denied all responsibility.

In a press release, the company said that it had asked the construction section head and the contractor to halt work in March. But the contractor had continued work so the two must be held accountable for the cheating.

Member of the National Assembly (NA) Economic Committee, Tran Du Lich, told the Lao Dong (Labour) newspaper that the “three entities of investor, construction section and contractor had to accept responsibility for the wrongdoing”.

He said the wrongdoing must be strictly treated by authorised agencies since the case was serious.

“Cheating in capital construction works must be strictly punished. It is unacceptable,” he said.

Meanwhile, permanent member of the NA Finance and Budget, Bui Duc Thu, expressed his anger over the case.

At present, effectively using investment resources was a hot issue for the economy, the NA deputy said.

“For the sake of quality of capital constrution works and effectiveness of using investment, I suggested to the authorities to carefully inspect and define the responsibility of each related side,” Thu told the paper.

VNS