Accordingly, the project to overcome the consequences of natural disasters at Phong Chau bridge will be implemented under an emergency order with a provisional budget of more than 9.1 billion VND from the State budget, spent on salvaging the bridge and sunken vehicles, and at the same time spent on traffic diversion, ensuring traffic, and arranging staff on duty.
The Department of Transport of Phu Tho province is the agency assigned by the Vietnam Road Administration to implement the project, and at the same time carry out procedures for appointing construction contractors and managing project progress and quality.
The project will immediately salvage sunken vehicles located outside the steel truss span, bring them closer to shore and lift them into the staging area using a 150-ton specialized crane.
For vehicles stuck in the steel truss that cannot be salvaged immediately, the construction unit will use a 400-ton crane on shore and 2 ships equipped with salvage equipment to lift the steel truss out of the water and cut each span. The tugboat will bring each span of the steel truss to shore and use a specialized 150-ton crane on shore to lift, lift, and place it in the staging area. During the process of cutting the steel truss spans, the construction unit will also simultaneously take the vehicles stuck inside out and tow them to shore.
With steel truss spans and vehicles buried deep under layers of sand and silt, the construction unit will use hoses and suction to remove the sand and silt before salvage.
For the concrete bridge deck, piers, piles, and submerged abutments, the contractor will use a 400-ton crane on shore and two ships equipped with salvage equipment to lift them to the water surface. The concrete will be demolished by an excavator equipped with a concrete chisel on board.
As for the collapsed T7 bridge pier, it cannot be demolished or towed, so the Vietnam Road Administration has not yet calculated the cost of handling it. For now, the authorities will put up buoys to warn of waterway traffic safety, and when the water recedes, they will survey and find a way to demolish it.
Previously, on September 9, Phong Chau bridge across the Red River connecting Tam Nong and Lam Thao districts of Phu Tho province collapsed, pulling down pillar T7 and collapsing two main spans of the bridge (spans 6 and 7), causing many vehicles to fall into the river, with 8 victims currently identified as missing.
After many days of search and rescue at the site of the bridge collapse and dozens of kilometers downstream of the Red River, up to now, the functional forces of Phu Tho province have recovered, identified the victims and handed over 4 bodies to the families for burial.
Meanwhile, the military agency is urgently completing the reinforcement of the two river banks (about 400m downstream from the collapsed bridge), moving towards installing a temporary pontoon bridge to replace Phong Chau bridge, serving the travel needs of the people.
