VietNamNet Bridge – Nearly 60m of embankment of a VND700 billion ($35 million) project which is under construction collapsed into the river of Can Tho on the early morning of May 30.

The incident made local people very worried because right after the incident, water encroached into residential areas and caused power outages.   

Many local people said, at nearly 3 am, when they were sleeping, they were woken up by strange sounds. They went out to see what happened and were very surprised seeing tens of meters of embankment sinking into the river.

An electric pillar also collapsed and fell into the river with dozens of fences of several houses in the area.

The collapsed embankment is part of bid package No.7 of the Can Tho River embankment project, which is worth VND700 billion.

Nguyen Chi Hung, deputy director of the project management board of Can Tho City said that before the incident, the contractor - Van Cuong company – gathered many D800 culverts and about 30 m3 of rock (about 60 tons) behind the embankment. This may be the reason of the incident.

The Can Tho River embankment project is over 10 km long, started in May 2010, with total capital of over VND700 billion from the government bonds. The project is expected to be completed by the end of 2011, but at present there’s only the embankment  on one riverbank in Cai Rang district.

The investors are seeking to raise investment to VND2 trillion but not being approved yet.

Quoc Huy