The Ha Noi Construction and Investment JSC No44, Thang Long Construction Group JSC and the Engineering Construction and Mechanics Co No. 623 will not be allowed to bid on future construction packages. — Photo dantri.com.vn

HA NOI (Biz Hub)— The Ministry of Transport has blacklisted nine "incompetent" contractors who will face a range of punitive measures depending on their violations.

The measures include a ban on bidding for new projects and the freezing of the contractors' accounts.

A Vietnamplus report last Friday cited ministry inspectors as saying the companies had demonstrated weak performance and caused costly delays in transportation projects being carried out in the southern city of Can Tho, the northern mountainous province of Lai Chau as also the multi-provincial Ho Chi Minh Highway upgrade.

The highway runs through 28 provinces and cites, from Pac Bo Cave in the northern province of Cao Bang to Dat Mui in the southernmost province of Ca Mau.

For the Ho Chi Minh Highway Project, the Ha Noi Construction and Investment JSC No44, Thang Long Construction Group JSC and the Engineering Construction and Mechanics Co No. 623 will not be allowed to bid on future construction packages, the inspectors said.

A similar bidding ban will also apply to the Vinashin Construction JSC, Traco Hau Giang JSC, Hoang Mai Traffic Construction Co,Ltd, Hoang Nguyen Construction Consultant JSC, Mekong Construction, Commerce and Architecture JSC and No18 Construction Development Investment JSC, they added.

The report quoted the ministry's chief inspector, Nguyen Van Huyen, as saying projects being implemented by the blacklisted contractors have lagged far behind schedule, and several did not have required legal documentation.

"The ban will take effect immediately," he said, adding, "the ministry will continue inspections of the contractors' work and name incompetent ones every six months on the website of the ministry's Department of Construction Management and Traffic Quality." — VNS