VietNamNet Bridge – Dozens of holes which are called “death holes” have appeared on HCM City’s roads recently,making locals worry about geological problems, especially landslide and sinking.

Compared to the aftermaths of land sinking, the recent consequences of death holes are nothing.

“In infrastructural construction, nobody dares to confirm that Nguyen Huu Canh road (crossing District 1 and Binh Thanh district) will not be sunken further,” said Dr. Dang Huu Diep, Director of the Union of Geology, Construction and Environment.

A recognised construction expert, Dr. To Van Truong, called Nguyen Huu Canh road – Van Thanh bridge project “the painful road”, after the name of a famous novel.

Truong said that in 2007, HCM City spent VND141 billion out of the total funding of VND200 billion to repair Van Thanh bridge and Nguyen Huu Canh road, which were sunken. The funding to repair these works is double the investment to build them, Truong said.

The construction of Pacific building in District 1 has been delayed for over three years since the nearby building of the Southern Institute for Social Sciences and Humanity collapsed because of land sinking, caused by the initial construction works of the Pacific building.

Three months after the incident, a big hole appeared in the campus of the HCM City Foreign Affairs Department, which is located at the back of Pacific building.

The investor of Pacific building project hired a Taiwanese firm to deal with the case.

HCM City’s geology is weak and complicated but the city doesn’t have a geological map which defines the areas under risk to serve construction activities.

Dr. Dang Huu Diep said that the city conducted some research works on landslide and land sinking. Dr. Diep was the leader of a research group which made a geological map in 1982, based on their own research and the geological maps left by the US army.

In this work, Dr. Diep anticipated landslide and land sinking in the city. He called these phenomena “geological calamities” and divided the city’s geology into three regions.

This map was handed over to the Institute of Economics but was later lost.

Dr. Diep said that this map would be very useful for the city’s construction planning.

Dr. Diep explained that “death holes” appeared recently because the city is implementing many big construction works,In addition, holes dug up by builders were not filled up properly. Construction activities carried out in the rainy season can also make soil absorb a lot of water, weakening land structure and causing landslide or sinking.

HCM City recently used ultrasound waves to find the holes but Dr. Diep said that this method can’t help detect holes that are caused by water absorption.

Engineer Vu Quoc Thang from the HCM City Association of Science and Technology said that in the long run, the city has to have a geological map made by combined research of scientists in various fields.

PV