Ensure construction safety in the project against hill landslide

​Land treatment in the urgent project to handle hill landslide in Phu Lam 3 hamlet, Phu Son commune (Tan Phu district)

After 9 months of construction, the investor has treated about 5% of the total volume of land that needs to be removed. However, due to the location close to Highway 20, the terrain is steep and steep, the investor has not followed the approved design, the project has caused the landslide.

 Project is urgent

Sharing about this project, Mr. Nguyen Huu Ky, Chairman of People's Committee of Tan Phu, said that the hill in Phu Lam 3 hamlet, Phu Son commune showed signs of landslide many years ago. A few affected households have submitted petitions. Through field surveys, there are 2 options given: reinforcing by embankment at the foot of the hill or relocating people to another place. However, both of these options are not feasible because the foothill is only a few tens of meters from National Highway 20, and moving people to another place still occurs the possibility of landslides affecting traffic. As for reinforcement embankments, we also have to deal with the ground and a huge budget. The district proposes the province to implement an erosion prevention project to ensure the safety of the people and national highway 20 traffic.

Mr. Vo Quoc Viet, Director of Sub-Department of Cultivation, Plant Protection, Irrigation (Department of Agriculture and Rural Development) said that this project is necessary and urgent to ensure safety and lives of the people in the rainy season. When the project proposal was proposed, an investor, Minh Minh Dat Company Limited (Tan Phu District) registered for implementation.

In 2018, the Provincial People's Committee approved the urgent project to deal with hill landslides at Phu Lam 3 hamlet, Phu Son commune in the form of socialization, expected to be implemented in 3 years (2018-2020). By 2019, the province will adjust the decision to extend until 2021. The project is divided into 3 phases with a total volume of land extracted and renovated nearly 200,000 m3. The decision requires investors to formulate construction solutions, ensure safety and progress according to commitments, comply with regulations on land, environmental protection, construction and irrigation; Department of Agriculture and Agricultural Development presides over the appraisal of design documents, construction inspection and supervision. In addition, the investor has to pay natural resources tax, environmental protection fee, mineral mining right fee, ground return and plant trees according to the original land use purpose.

Mr. Nguyen Van Huong, Chairman of Phu Son Commune People's Committee said that, right after the province had approved the project, the people were very happy. The commune has propagated and mobilized people to cooperate in handing over the premises for construction. The commune also assigns people to assist in traffic diversification and road sanitation to ensure safety for people and vehicles in traffic.

As of 1 March 2021, the investor has treated about 10 thousand m3 of soil, equivalent to about 5% of the total volume of land to be removed (199 thousand m3).​

Need to ensure construction safety

According to the Chairman of Phu Son Commune People's Committee Nguyen Van Huong, people in this area are looking forward to the project, cooperate with the authorities and investors, however, the construction process of the contractor does not ensure safety for the people. and people involved in traffic on National Highway 20. In phase 1 area with the greatest risk of landslide and need to be handled, the investor will not do the construction of phase 3, in order to spill land on the road causing dust.

“By the end of 2020, the commune sent a written petition to the District People's Committee and the District Disaster Prevention Steering Committee to work with the investor to set up landmarks for the land exploitation area, to construct in order from top to bottom to limit landslide. In February 2021, the district and the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development worked with the investor. The indicated shortcomings have not been overcome, a heavy rain on the evening of March 21 made many blocks of landslides, water and mud spilled onto the road, affecting traffic ”- Mr. Huong said.

According to the minutes of working between Agriculture and Rural Development, the District People's Committee and the investor at the end of February 2021, there were many shortcomings in this project. Specifically, the contractor's construction methods have not been implemented according to the approved design: digging vertical roofs, not having canvas roofing; the site has not been set up according to the design; no construction supervision consulting unit; there is no work publicity board at the construction area; no traffic instructors have been arranged in the process of transporting land from the work to National Highway 20; danger signs have not been installed in areas with high risk of landslides; Contractor implemented phase 3 before phase 1, 2 ... Department of Agriculture and Rural Development requires the investor to overcome the above problems before April 30, stop digging at the foot of the hill to avoid landslides.

 “The new working minutes will be issued in early March. We will follow up the contractor's repair; strengthen inspection and require investors to take measures to organize construction safely in the rainy season. Directing the Steering Committee for natural disaster prevention - search and rescue of Tan Phu province to supplement the situation of responding to natural disasters in this area. Along with that, the locality is required to monitor and urge the contractor to overcome the shortcomings, closely inspect and supervise the construction process ”- the representative of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development shared.

Chairman of People's Committee of Tan Phu said that this was an urgent project that needs to be done immediately to ensure the safety of people and vehicles across Highway 20. The frustration of the people and the spillage of mud and land. The road is due to the contractor's failure to follow the approved design. There is also an objective reason that the site is close to the road, the hills are steep, so it is difficult to control mud and soil in heavy rain. The district will direct to increase human resources and assist vehicles to spray the road, divide traffic flow when it rains. At the same time, it is required the construction unit to immediately overcome the shortcomings, to keep the slab to keep the land according to the design, to have a plan to ensure construction safety.

                                                                                                           Phan Anh