Senior Vietnam Expressway Corporation official arrested

Le Quang Hao was arrested by the Ministry of Public Security's investigative police department for construction law violations that led to "serious consequences."

Hao is said to be responsible for not following procedures, standards and design requirements in overseeing inspection of a 65-kilometer section of the expressway, which resulted in poor project quality.

Fourteen other people including employees of the corporation, the country's biggest expressway builder, members of the project management board and staff of other companies have also been arrested in the case.

Reports about poor construction quality of the expressway, the first expressway in the country's central region that connects Da Nang City and Quang Ngai Province, first surfaced in 2018 after it developed cracks and potholes.

Construction of the expressway had begun in 2013. A part of it was opened to traffic in 2017 and it became fully operational in September the following year.

However, just a month after the opening, cracks and potholes were seen in the aftermath of a heavy downpour in the area. These were hundreds of square centimeters wide and 5-10 centimeters deep.

Workers mend a hole on the Da Nang - Quang Ngai Expressway. Photo by VnExpress/Dac Thanh.

The expressway cost over VND34.5 trillion ($1.4 billion) to build.

VEC recorded VND7.57 billion ($324,000) in consolidated profit after tax in 2019, up 32 percent against 2018.