The Ha Noi People's Committee has agreed for work to resume at eight construction sites along the first skytrain railway in Ha Noi after safety concerns were resolved following a thorough inspection of the sites.

"If the contractors violate safety regulations again, they will be punished under Vietnamese law and banned from working on any other State-funded projects in the city," said the city's People's Committee Vice Chairman Nguyen Quoc Hung.

The People's Committee also urged the Ha Noi Urban Railway Management Board and Systra Consultant to monitor the work of two project's contractors, Dealim and POSCO E&C.

The Ha Noi Urban Railway Management Board has asked the contractors to use only qualified machinery and construction materials that were checked beforehand by the consultants in order to guarantee traffic safety.

What to do

"The contractors must recruit inspectors, engineers and workers who are fully trained in labour safety to work with cranes, and send traffic officers to evacuate residents from dangerous zone where cranes are operating," said vice head of the board, Le Huy Hoang.

On May 13, authorities issued a suspension order on the Nhon-Ha Noi Metro Station project after two accidents at the project's construction sites.

In one accident, a crane collapsed on two buildings and two houses on Cau Giay Street, injuring a motorbike rider and a pregnant woman. This occurred just two days after 680kg of iron sheets fell off a crane at Station Four. Fortunately, no-one was injured in the incident.

Contractors POSCO E&C and Daelim were fined VND25 million (US$1,160) and VND30 million ($1,390) respectively by the Department of Construction's Inspectorate for Safety Violations.

A safety inspection by the Ha Noi Urban Railway Management Board later found that more than 200 steel sheet pilings used at the construction sites of the Ha Noi metro route were in a dangerously degraded condition.

The board said they would replace the pilings as soon as possible to ensure safety for workers and residents. 

VNS