Of the ten young pedestrians and motorcyclists to have perished at the transport construction sites, the youngest victim was four years old while the oldest was a college student.
Tran Hong Nam, deputy chief inspector at the Ho Chi Minh City Transport Department, said his inspectors had been doling out strict penalties for safety violations as part of daily inspections at construction sites around the city.
But the inspections have yielded little results and the strict penalties have come in the form of a few contractors paying out minor compensations to victims’ families.
After a seven-year-old street performer died after falling down a manhole at a Binh Thanh District construction site on New Year’s Eve, the Transport Department simply instructed the project’s investors, contractors and supervisors to check their manholes.
Department Director Tran Quang Phuong has said the body would issue specific policies for construction site safety, including penalties for violators, sometime this year.
He said the department would make it obligatory for all construction contracts in the city to stipulate exactly who would be responsible for safety and accidents.
Lawyer Truong Xuan Tam from the Ba Ria–Vung Tau Province Bar Association said individuals or organizations found responsible for such deaths could face criminal charges.
Uncovered manholes, weak barriers around construction sites or lack of a warning notice could all be used as evidence against contractors, he said.
He said those found guilty could be jailed for up to 15 years in line with item 220 of the Criminal Code, which regulates transportation construction sites.
He also said it would not be difficult to trace evidence back to those who violate safety regulations.Offenders could be prosecuted even when the victims’ families do not take legal action, he added.
Dangerous sites
Despite the efforts of the department, conditions at most roadside construction projects have not improved.
On the corner of Dien Bien Phu and Truong Sa streets in Binh Thanh District, traffic has to squeeze through a rough section road beside a ten-meter-deep hole dug for a sewer installation as part of the Water Environment Project.
The uncovered hole was barely surrounded by weak barriers that could easily allow pedestrians or cyclists to slip through.
There are several similar holes on Truong Sa Street, which stretches through Binh Thanh and District 1, and on Tran Van Dang Street in District 3. There are careless makeshift fences and no warning notices at any of the sites.
Many Water Environment Project contractors have also failed to properly pave streets after finishing construction projects along the Nhieu Loc – Thi Nghe Canal in District 3, leaving behind a number of dangerous potholes and rough sections of road.
Several sections of Tran Van Kieu Street in District 6 are even worse with no barriers between the street and a major construction site where potholes are up to a meter deep. The streets are often filled with water and mud spilled by construction trucks.
A recent case
The body of a seven-year-old street performer was found inside an uncovered manhole on Cu Lao Street in Phu Nhuan District this New Year’s Day.
Local residents said they found the body of Ngo Hoang Vo floating in the sewer at around 2 p.m. on January 1.
Police said Vo had been performing with his nine-year-old brother Ngo Thanh Van since 6:30 p.m. on New Year’s Eve.
Vo had fallen into the manhole after the brothers had split up to perform at different eateries. The manhole had been left uncovered by contractors working on the city’s Water Environment Project, police said.
