VietNamNet Bridge – The Directorate for Roads of Viet Nam has asked the Deo Ca Investment Joint Stock Company, main investor of Hai Van Tunnel, to examine cracks on the walls of Hai Van Tunnel No 1.

Experts examine cracks on the wall of the Hai Van Tunnel No 1 in Da Nang City. — VNS Photos Dinh Thuc

The cracks were discovered on the southern side of the tunnel, which connects central Da Nang City with central Thua Thien-Hue Province.

Leaders of the Directorate for Roads of Viet Nam plan to visit Hai Van Tunnel No 1 today to assess the cracks.

The Deo Ca Company has affirmed that the cracks have not affected the tunnel’s structure or traffic, even as expansion work is underway on Hai Van Tunnel No 2, which runs parallel to Tunnel No 1.

Le Quynh Mai, deputy general director of the company, told Viet Nam News on Tuesday that the cracks did not impact the overall structure of the tunnel and that the cracks were actually the previously-fixed ones.

Eight serious cracks were found on the surface of the mortar in Tunnel No 1 between January and May 2016 when management of the tunnel and the single-lane rescue tunnel (now Hai Van Tunnel No 2) was transferred by the Ministry of Transport.

The company, in co-operation with Japanese consultants Nippon Koei and German firm Alpin Technik, repaired the cracks, which was approved and inspected by the transport ministry in late 2016.

Cracks on the wall of Hai Van Tunnel No 1. No more new cracks were recorded between December 2016 and September 2017 when expansion work was developing.

Mai said the cracks were covered with a coat of 12-year-old epoxy paint, which peeled off by 1-3cm, making the cracks look wider.

Mai dismissed rumours that the cracks resulted from a series of dynamite detonations during expansion work.

He said the single-lane Hai Van Tunnel No 2, built as a rescue tunnel for Hai Van Tunnel No. 1 in 2005, was expanded to a two-lane 6.29km long tunnel to accommodate increasing traffic on trans-Viet Nam National Highway No 1.

He said no new cracks were visible on Hai Van Tunnel No 1 during expansion work on Hai Van Tunnel No 2 after a series of dynamite detonations were permitted over 12 months.

Vehicles are still travelling through Hai Van Tunnel No 1 while expansion work is taking place on Hai Van Tunnel No 2.

The company again confirmed that no new cracks or landslides were recorded in Hai Van Tunnel No 1 since the old cracks were repaired last December.

The expansion of Hai Van Tunnel 2, which includes 5.85km-long roads on either side, infrastructure and rescue lanes between the two tunnels, is set to cost VND7.3 trillion (US$323 million). It is scheduled to be put in operation in 2020.

According to Deo Ca Co., nearly 2.8 million vehicles travelled through Hai Van Tunnel 1 in 2016. 

VNS