Bach Dang bridge in Quang Ninh province (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNS/VNA)- The State Audit Office of Vietnam (SAV) proposed a reduction of 193 billionVND (8.2 million USD) to the investment cost of Bach Dang bridge, a BOT projectin northern Quang Ninh province, as well as a cut to the project’s tollcollection time, which is currently set at 20 years, to 17 years andeight months.
The office pointed out the project'sdiscrepancies and technical shortcomings. The SAV demanded the project’smanagement to provide additional documents on a number of construction materialcosts and contractors.
While the bridge has been deemed safe for travelby the State Council for Assessment for the time being and opened to trafficsince September last year, the SAV insisted the project’s management and theprovincial authorities work together to address the above mentioned issues in atimely manner.
Despite the fact that the project completiontime was allowed to be pushed back three times, there are still severalcategories that remained unfinished by the time the project went under audit,many still lagging behind the original deadlines, said the office.
The provincial Department of Transport was toshare part of the blame for failing in its responsibility to monitor andsupervise the implementation of the project.
The Bach Dang bridge project, the firstcable-stayed bridge designed and engineered by Vietnam, started construction inJanuary 2015 with a total investment cost estimated at 7.2 trillion VND (308million USD). It was initially set to be completed before July 2018.
The bridge helps shorten travel distance fromthe capital city of Hanoi to the coastal city of Ha Long, one of Vietnam’s toptourist destinations and home to the UNESCO Heritage Site Ha Long Bay, from180km to 130km. Travel distance between Ha Long and the port city of Hai Phongwas also reduced to 25km, instead of 75km as before.-VNS/VNA
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