Posted on 15 Apr 2015
Transport Minister Dinh La Thang on April 9 decided to launch a thorough inspection into expressway project packages with the involvement of POSCO Engineering & Construction (POSCO E&C) as a contractor.
According to the decision, the inspection team has six members representing the ministry's departments of finance and science-technology, and Transport Engineering Construction and Quality Management Bureau.
The team will review contractor selection, appraisal and payment at the packages implemented by POSCO E&C to see whether there were irregularities.
The team will propose sanctions against any violations it detects and propose changing regulations to ensure transparency in other similar projects.
The ministry said POSCO E&C won packages A1, A2 and A3 of the Noi Bai-Lao Cai Expressway in the north, and No.3 and 5A packages of the HCMC-Long Thanh-Dau Giay Expressway connecting HCMC and the southern province of Dong Nai.
All those packages were completed and put into operation.
At a news briefing in Hanoi last week, Deputy Minister of Transport Nguyen Hong Truong said the ministry had not found any irregularities at the projects with POSCO E&C's involvement.
Truong said all the packages won by POSCO were put up for tender in line with international practices and carefully checked by investors. Through the tenders, prices of the package contracts were cut by 15-30% compared to the initial estimates.
Korea's Yonhap news agency cited Korean police as saying that another executive of POSCO E&C, the construction arm of POSCO Group, was detained on Tuesday on alleged charges of involvement in the creation of a slush fund overseas and taking bribes from a subcontractor.
POSCO E&C was investigated after South Korean prosecutors suspected the firm open a lush fund totaling 10 billion won (some US$9.2 million) and collude with subcontractors to inflate construction costs of the expressway projects it got involved in ASEAN, including Vietnam.
