The investor and contractor of a building construction project in Ho Chi Minh City have been fined a surprisingly low VND60 million (US$3,250) in total for causing the collapse of ten houses last week.

In the meantime, three BBI experts from France had arrived to repair the hole in the Saigon M&C building’s diaphragm wall which was built underground for retention systems as of Tuesday noon.

The hole was identified as the accident’s cause, as it let underground water and mud come in, sinking the foundations of houses, said Nguyen Van Hiep, vice director of HCMC Department of Transport.

The incident happened at night with the collapse of a house on District 1’s Ham Nghi Street running across Ton Duc Thang Street, where the building was located. Then in a domino effect, nine others in a row collapsed as well, but no casualties were recorded.

An additional four experts from BBI were also expected to arrive Wednesday to help solve the problem, officials said.

Hiep said all the repair plans made by BBI experts would have to be submitted to the department for approval before implementing them.

It may take the contractor around one month to fix the wall, the official said, noting that the building’s construction would be suspended during that time.

The investor and the contractor had also committed themselves to compensating affected households properly and proposed moving more houses around the building to guarantee safety during a meeting Tuesday with authorities of Nguyen Thai Binh Ward, where the new construction is located.

Nguyen The Dinh, chairman of Nguyen Thai Binh Ward People’s Committee, said initial estimates showed that the losses were not as huge as expected.

The only one house that totally collapsed had reported losses of over VND100 million (US$5,412) in property while most of the others had moved out with their properties as suggested by the investor, he said.

Reported by Phuong Thanh