Transport Minister slams Danang Airport redevelopment management

Vietnam’s newly-appointed Transport Minister Dinh La Thang has culled the head of an airport terminal project’s management board due to the slow pace of construction.

Following a site check on October 4, the minister terminated the services of Dang Hong Cuong, Head of Danang International Airport’s terminal project management board in the central city of Danang.

Slow project

Work on the VND1.345 trillion ($64.6 million) project, invested in by the Central Airports Corporation, started in December, 2007. As scheduled, the terminal should have become operational in the first quarter of 2010, however, it still remains unfinished.

Recently, Deputy Minister of Transport Ngo Thinh Duc asked the investor and the project management board to speed up the work for completion before December 31.

On October 4 when Minister Thang undertook his inspection, nothing had improved. Hoang Thanh, chairman of the Middle Airports Corporation, said that 350 workers were employed on the site, but, chief consultant and supervisor John Richrd Malig said the real figure was just 250.

When asked about hiring more workers for the project, contractors said that they needed time to source workers from Hanoi to meet the deadline. The minister flatly refused their excuse, saying, “You’re kidding? Workers in Danang are famous for completing on time, no need to bring workers down from Hanoi. The problem is that you haven’t offered them good enough pay so you’ve failed in employing them.”

John Richard Malig added that despite being requested to submit reports on the pace of the project, the contractors had failed to do so.

“It will be difficult to finish the project by late this year due to the sluggish pace of implementation,” he noted.

Replacement

Minister Thang said, “I do not understand the bidding mechanism of the project. Both of the two main domestic contractors Vietnam Investment Construction and Trading JSC (Constrexim) and Industrial Construction JSC Company No. 4 under Vietnam Industrial Construction Corp. (ICIC), are weak, so it is not surprising why the project has been so slow.”

He added that the companies involved had not met the minister to explain the reasons for the slow pace of the project. Constrexim director Phan Minh Tuan even refused to take Thang’s phone calls.

The minister said the responsibility for the slow pace firstly lay with the investor and the project management board. Following the failure, the minister officially appointed Do Tat Binh, deputy general director of Southern Airports Corporation to replace Dang Hong Cuong, as head of Danang International Airport’s terminal project management board from October 5.

Thang also requested Constrexim and ICIC to actively work on the project, saying that the Ministry of Transport would offer the best conditions for the contractors, particularly funding, to quicken the project. If within a week, the situation had not improved, they would be replaced by the Hoa Binh Corporation, a private firm which successfully carried out Can Tho Airport’s terminal project.

The proposed runway 35R-17L upgrade at Danang International Airport is also facing a sluggish pace of construction, with just 50 per cent of the work completed. The minister urged the completion of the runway project before December 31 this year.

Thang added that head of the Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam would be punished if he had only invited one contractor to bid for the runway construction, adding that, many firms were capable of carrying out the runway project. – VIR

Tags: Danang Airport