VietNamNet Bridge – The People's Supreme Procuracy on Wednesday (Feb 3) began legal proceedings against nine people for violating construction regulations that caused breaks in water supplies at the Vietnam Construction, Import - Export Corporation (Vinaconex).

Workers fix the Da River water pipelines, which were reported to broke 14 times since 2012. — Photo: VNN

The nine people are Hoang The Trung, former director of the Da river pipeline project, Nguyen Van Khai, former deputy director of the project, Truong Tran Hien, former head of the project's materials and equipment division, Tran Cao Bang, former director of the Viwase Company that supplied the pipes, Vu Thanh Hai, deputy director of the Viwase Company, Do Dinh Tri, head of the Viwase Company's consultancy and supervision group and Nguyen Bien Hung, Hoang Quoc Thong and Bui Minh Quan, who were former employees at the Viwase Company.

The indictment detailed how the Da River clean water project, whose investor was the Vinaconex Corporation, was set up in 2004 and began operating in 2009.

The project had a total investment of VND1.4 trillion (US$64.4 million).

The pipeline system repeatedly needed repair, having broken down 14 times from February 2012 to September 2015.

Officials report that more than VND13.4 billion ($595,500) was spent on repairing the system during this period.

Due to the breaks in the pipelines, as many as 177,000 households in Ha Noi were repeatedly without clean water, which was calculated at a loss of some 1.5 million cubic metres occurring for more than 340 hours.

The Ministry of Construction's review indicated that the repeated breakdowns were caused by the inferior quality of the pipelines.

The nine people have been charged with violating regulations related to pipelines, construction and improperly supervising the project.

VNS