A Ho Chi Minh City road contractor has agreed to pay compensation to a taxi company after a taxi was trapped in a pothole in the city’s District 3 Tuesday.
Dreco and Cienco 5, the consortium that is laying a drainpipe in an alley off Le Van Sy Street, will pay Vinasun Taxi Co VND50 million (US$2,600) to repair the vehicle, Phan Chau Thuan, director of the Ho Chi Minh City Environmental Sanitation Project, said.
While digging recently to link the new drain with the main network, the contractor uncovered the water pipeline and telecom cable. In such an event, the city requires work to be stopped and barriers put up around the work site until the Department of Transport can sort out the problem.
The contractors failed to erect barriers and, instead, decided to cover the hole with sand and stones.
But torrential rains Tuesday swept away the sand and stones, leaving the hole exposed and filled with water and trapping the taxi.
If the pothole had appeared after the work had been completed, the contractor would have been heavily fined. But since the work is still going on, there will be no penalty.
Authorities have merely warned the companies to exercise more caution in future and inspect their works regularly, Thuan added.
Tuoi Tre had warned about the pothole last month when it was still small.
But even after the taxi was trapped, the contractor has not put up a barrier, choosing to again fill it up with sand and stone.
Many other HCMC roads pose the same threats to unwary motorists.
Another pothole caused by roadwork, this one 3 meters wide and 2 meters deep, is at the Hoang Van Thu – Phan Dinh Phung intersection in Phu Nhuan District, though it has at least been barricaded.
In Binh Chanh District, truck fell into a pothole caused by careless roadwork Monday.
Who cares for us?
Nguoi Lao Dong (Laborer) newspaper reported that 30 kilometers on 52 city streets were dug up this year for drainage and other infrastructure works.
Even after they are finished, they leave a legacy in the form of holes of all sizes and uneven road surfaces, often posing a serious threat to motorists, especially motorbike riders, and causing many accidents.
But with rules remaining lax, contractors are disdainful about doing a proper job.
