Pham Tan Luc, a 63-year-old farmer, was awarded a certificate of merit by Quang Ngai province’s chairman for reporting wrongdoings in the Danang-Quang Ngai Expressway project.
The expressway was invested by state-run Vietnam Expressway Corporation (VEC) with a total fund of VND34,500 billion ($1.48 billion).
In 2014, Luc, a resident of Binh Son district, was hired by the contractor for the 13-kilometer A3 construction package as a security guard.
Detecting that the contractor had used low quality materials, filled the roadway with muck, and many other suspicious signals, he reported to some engineers. However, Luc’s reports were ignored, and he was sacked a year later for interfering with the contractor's affairs.
For the following four years, Luc observed the construction site closely, taking thousands of photos to record evidence of the contractor's violations. He persisted in submitting those findings to provincial and central government leaders despite many threats.
The expressway showed much degradation and potholes soon after it was inaugurated. Water leaked from the median strip to the abutment and seeped into the connection of the bridge surface drainage pipe on 21 of the expressway’s bridges. The road surface near some bridges bent, showing several cracks.
Luc’s evidence helped police identify violations pertaining to this project. Many VEC leaders and officials have been arrested and brought to court since the end of 2019.
Le Quang Hao and Nguyen Manh Hung, former VEC deputy directors, were sentenced to six and seven years in prison, respectively. In March this year, Mai Tuan Anh, former chairman and general director of VEC and six others were also prosecuted.
Danang-Quang Ngai Expressway has a total length of more than 139 kilometers, spanning from Da Nang city to Quang Ngai province. Construction commenced in May 2013.