Hanoi's People’s Committee previously asked the government to intervene in the second phase of the Da River water pipeline amid public concerns over the quality of the pipes supplied by Chinese contractor Xingxing Corporation.
The public has voiced concerns over the credibility of pipe supplier Xingxing Corporation due mainly to the fact that since the completion of the project’s first phase in 2009, the water pipe supplied by another Chinese contractor has broken 17 times. This has caused an estimated loss of 1.5 million cubic meters of water, and made around 70,000 residential households living in six of the city's inner districts repeatedly suffer severe clean water shortages.
Hanoi also recommended the government to ask the project developer Vinaconex to hire an international consulting firm capable of verifying the quality of the pipes supplied by the Chinese contractor.
Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has agreed to Hanoi’s request, assigning the Construction Ministry and other relevant authorities to monitor the project and ensure it is will be carried out properly as scheduled.
According to a report released by Hanoi’s People's Committee, although the Chinese contractor has completed the bidding process, it has yet to provide a pipe sample for quality verification, leading to fears that the pipes supplied by Xingxing might contaminate the water and harm public health.
The second phase of the project, worth VND5 trillion ($224 million), is expected to double the current water supply to 600,000 cubic meters per day.