Politics & Laws
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| Work is carried out to fix the broken Đà River Water pipeline in July, 2014. — VNA/VNS Photo Tuấn Anh |
Viet Nam News
HÀ NỘI — The Supreme People’s Procuracy has pronounced the second verdict charging former director of Đà River Pipeline project Hoàng Thế Trung for “violating construction regulations and cause serious consequences.”
Danviet.vn reported on Wednesday that the Supreme People’s Procuracy recommended a 10-year prison term for Trung – the highest punishment for his violations.
According to the verdict, Đà River Water Pipeline Project, invested by Việt Nam Construction and Import-Export Joint Stock Corporation (Vinaconex), was started in 2004 and completed in 2009. As much as VNĐ1.45 trillion (US$63.9 million) was invested in the project. After put into use, between February 2012 and October 2016, the pipeline broke 18 times.
The broken pipeline cost the pipeline operator VNĐ17 billion ($750,000) to fix. Moreover, 177,000 households were affected because of the interrupted water supply and there was a delay in supplying over 1.7 million cubic metres of water.
The Ministry of Construction examined the work and concluded that the incidents were caused by the substandard pipes.
It claimed Trung and his accomplices did not fulfill their responsibility, signing 73 assessment documents and accepting over 5,000 substandard pipes.
In April 2016, the Supreme People’s Committee issued the first verdict in the case, however, the Hà Nội People’s Court returned the verdict and called for further verification of the funds needed to fix the pipeline breaches. — VNS
