Construction workers are moving an 800-tonne building 40 metres from its original location in the central Nghe An Province.

The moving of the 171sq.m three-storey house, with a height of 11 metres, began Thursday morning 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, director of Huy Nam Company, said there would be a 30-degree shift in the direction the house faced, from south-east to south, after the relocation.

Cuong, who also owns the house, said it was built last year at a cost of VNĐ4 billion (US$ 178,000). He has been forced to move it to make way for a public project of the province.

About 20 workers are carrying out the relocation work, expected to be completed in three days and cost about VNĐ1.4 billion ($62,000).

Cuong said he and his fellow workers had to go to the southern provinces to learn how the house could be moved, an event happening for the first time in Nghe An.

However, relocation of structures is not new to Vietnam.

Several “structure movers” in southern Vietnam, often referred to as “genies”, have been successful in moving large structures such as a 2600-tonne building in Buon Ma Thuot City in the Central Highlands in February this year.

VNS