According to the reporter's records at the end of November, the traces of the Lo River embankment in An Tuong Ward, Tuyen Quang City, which was eroded in 2017, are still very clear. Many locations are showing signs of further expansion.
Although the embankment below the riverbank has been reinforced and repaired, cracks tens of meters long and as wide as a human foot have appeared along the embankment roof. Meanwhile, many broken concrete structures lie scattered.
The railings were solidly built, but some parts are still there and some have collapsed. The embankment surface has subsided, and the walkways are reinforced with concrete and steel bars in many places.
Ms. Lien (An Tuong ward) still brings her family's buffalo to this area to graze every day and cannot help but feel heartbroken at the desolation and collapse of this construction.
"The current state of the project has been the same for nearly ten years. Before the weeds had grown to cover the broken areas, the concrete and bricks and stones were still clearly visible. Last year, they finished the stone embankment under the river, but I don't know if they will rebuild the section on the shore or not," said Ms. Lien.
According to research, the project to protect the Lo River embankment through Tuyen Quang City is 16.1 km long, with a total investment of more than 385 billion VND. This project was approved in 2007, divided into 19 bid packages and assigned to the Management Board of Investment and Construction of Agricultural and Rural Development Projects of Tuyen Quang Province as the investor.
By the end of July 2017, when the project was completed, nearly 500 meters of embankment at package 3 through An Tuong ward (Tuyen Quang city) constructed by Phuc Thanh An Company Limited suddenly collapsed.
The site inspection report in early August 2017 determined that the cause of the landslide was due to prolonged heavy rains over a large area, along with the discharge of floodwaters from Tuyen Quang Hydropower Reservoir, causing the Lo River to rise and flow rapidly towards the foot of the embankment, destroying the protective rock layer. The cost to repair the damage was approximately 21.9 billion VND.
After nearly 5 years of dealing with the project's insurer, at the end of December 2021, the above-mentioned landslide embankment was repaired with the implementation deadline permitted by the People's Committee of Tuyen Quang province until June 30, 2022.
However, due to the slow progress, the People's Committee of Tuyen Quang province had to extend the construction period twice. By early 2023, the repair was completed with the embankment foot reinforced with boulders and technical measures, while the collapsed embankment roof and surface remained intact.
Until now, it is difficult to recognize that this was once a project to protect the banks of the Lo River and to beautify the urban area with a total investment of hundreds of billions of VND from the State budget.
