VietNamNet Bridge – Hanoi Chair Nguyen The Thao has shown his dissatisfaction with the sluggishness of the urban rail project from Nhon to the Hanoi Railway station, which is being carried out by Vietnamese contractor Hancorp and two Korean contractors, Posco and Daelim.

Though Chairman Nguyen The Thao has inspected the Nhon-Hanoi Railway Station project three times, it is still behind schedule.

Chairman Nguyen The Thao has inspected the Nhon-Hanoi Railway Station project three times and it is still behind schedule.  

At the latest check on Wednesday morning, Mr. Thao saw no change for the construction of the main depot, carried out by the Hanoi General Construction Corporation or Hancorp.

He assigned Vice President Nguyen Quoc Hung to work directly with Hancorp to  consider whether it is necessary to find a new contractor.

Thao also asked the Project Management Unit to tighten its monitoring of the pace of construction, as well as the quality and safety of the project.

Last Tuesday, Hung inspected the construction of the Thao package works depot, but nothing has changed.

The Korean contractor Daelim, which holds the bidding pack No. 1 to build the overhead rail from Nhon to Kim Ma Street, pleaded difficulties in personnel recruitment.

Thao disagreed with Daelim’s arguments, saying that the contractor had made commitments to have adequate human resources for the project in its bidding files.

The Hanoi Chair also criticized Korean contractor Posco E&C for the sluggishness of the bidding package No.2. The contractor built fences on the road as part of the project, but since the construction pace has been slow, the project has seriously affected traffic.

Mr. Thao asked Posco to prepare and hire enough laborers and equipment before erecting fences.

He also requested the Hanoi Railway Project Management Unit and consulting firm Systra cooperate to ensure the construction pace of the project.

"This is the first urban railway in Hanoi, funded by the French government. The contractors must not think this is a normal work. but a symbol of Vietnam-France friendship in the new era," stressed Mr. Thao.

The urban railway from Nhon to Hanoi Railway Station is a special project with investment of 1,180 million euros, equivalent to $1.57 billion. The railway has a total length of 12.5 km main line. The project commenced in September 2010 and is scheduled for completion in 2018.

Earlier this month, the Hanoi Railway Management Unit was also criticized by the city authorities for not supervising contractors well, resulting in the slow pace of the project.

Le Ha