Thousands of households in the capital lack water due to poorly constructed pipelines. The underground pipeline supplying water from the Da River in Hoa Binh Province to Hanoi broke four times in the past two years, forcing about 70,000 households to go without water for at least two days at a time. Last week, part of the pipeline system burst in Thach That District, following a break in Quoc Oai District last month. The incidents occurred because the pipe was too close to the highway, according to the Clean Water Investment and Construction Corporation. But Nguyen Sy Trung, chief engineer of the Institute of Transport Science and Technology's project on enlargement and completion of Lang-Hoa Lac Highway, said to Tien phong (Vaguards) that the pipes were installed on weak ground, so they broke easily. "The pipes were installed 12.5m from the highway and four to six metres underground, so they can't be affected by the road-bed," he said. Trung believed the shaking caused by vehicles on the highway did not affect the pipe system. Rather, he said, they broke due to the weak ground and the fact that they were made of composite, which could not bear direct impact. He said he had repeatedly warned the investors and contractors about the weak ground before the pipeline system was built, but they ignored it and continued installing the pipes. Representative of the Clean Water Investment and Construction Corporation admitted the error, saying that a second pipeline must be installed parallel with the current pipeline to assure water supply for local people. Trung estimated that the construction could cost up to VND3 trillion ($141 million), which would take time for the company to mobilize. (Vietnam News Dec 25)
