Dozens of holes which are called “death holes” have
appeared on HCM City’s roads recently,making locals worry about geological
problems, especially landslide and sinking.

Compared to the aftermaths of land sinking, the recent consequences of death
holes are nothing.

“In infrastructural construction, nobody dares to confirm that Nguyen Huu Canh
road (crossing District 1 and Binh Thanh district) will not be sunken further,”
said Dr. Dang Huu Diep, Director of the Union of Geology, Construction and
Environment.

A recognised construction expert, Dr. To Van Truong, called Nguyen Huu Canh road
– Van Thanh bridge project “the painful road”, after the name of a famous novel.

Truong said that in 2007, HCM City spent VND141 billion out of the total funding
of VND200 billion to repair Van Thanh bridge and Nguyen Huu Canh road, which
were sunken. The funding to repair these works is double the investment to build
them, Truong said.

The construction of Pacific building in District 1 has been delayed for over
three years since the nearby building of the Southern Institute for Social
Sciences and Humanity collapsed because of land sinking, caused by the initial
construction works of the Pacific building.

Three months after the incident, a big hole appeared in the campus of the HCM
City Foreign Affairs Department, which is located at the back of Pacific
building.

The investor of Pacific building project hired a Taiwanese firm to deal with the
case.

HCM City’s geology is weak and complicated but the city doesn’t have a
geological map which defines the areas under risk to serve construction
activities.

Dr. Dang Huu Diep said that the city conducted some research works on landslide
and land sinking. Dr. Diep was the leader of a research group which made a
geological map in 1982, based on their own research and the geological maps left
by the US army.

In this work, Dr. Diep anticipated landslide and land sinking in the city. He
called these phenomena “geological calamities” and divided the city’s geology
into three regions.

This map was handed over to the Institute of Economics but was later lost.

Dr. Diep said that this map would be very useful for the city’s construction
planning.

Dr. Diep explained that “death holes” appeared recently because the city is
implementing many big construction works,In addition, holes dug up by builders
were not filled up properly. Construction activities carried out in the rainy
season can also make soil absorb a lot of water, weakening land structure and
causing landslide or sinking.

HCM City recently used ultrasound waves to find the holes but Dr. Diep said that
this method can’t help detect holes that are caused by water absorption.

Engineer Vu Quoc Thang from the HCM City Association of Science and Technology
said that in the long run, the city has to have a geological map made by
combined research of scientists in various fields.

PV