Da Nang's sidewalk upgrades were sold as the boring, good kind of civic project: wider walkways, neater curbs, a city that's easier to walk around. On a growing list of streets, it's become something else, a months-long maze of sand piles, half-laid gravel and pits that turn to mud whenever it rains.

On Sunday morning Bao Da Nang, the city's own official paper, ran a full walk-through of the worst stretches.

The street-by-street damage

On Tong Phuoc Pho in Hoa Cuong ward, a dense route linking Tieu La, Nguyen Son Tra and Nui Thanh, work has run for months. It started busy, then thinned to a handful of workers. The paper describes dust on dry days, puddles on wet ones, pedestrians tripping on uneven ground and manholes that weren't always properly covered.

On Le Quang Dao in Ngu Hanh Son ward, a stretch of a little over 100 meters between Phan Tu and Ngo Thi Si has had sand heaped on the sidewalk for days. That pushes walkers, including tourists, out into traffic, and blows dust toward Thanh Tam Special School and Da Nang College nearby. Exposed cable conduits are still waiting to be finished. Progress on Pham Kiet and Do Ba streets nearby is also slow, the paper says.

Then there's Nguyen Luong Bang, across from Ngo Si Lien Primary School, where kids waiting for their parents have nowhere dry to stand. That sidewalk is part of a renovation also covering Ton Duc Thang and Nguyen Van Cu that began more than a year ago, Bnews reported. Truong Bang Linh, director of the city's infrastructure maintenance board, blamed weather, rising material prices and labor shortages, and said work had resumed with the aim of finishing on schedule.

What the city has ordered

Hoa Cuong ward chairman Truong Thanh Dung told Bao Da Nang that residents' complaints were accurate and legitimate. He said the ward had escalated them to the city and asked the investor to finish fast, before the rainy season gets going.

The Department of Construction got there first, sort of. On October 1 it told investors and project managers citywide to review sidewalk work that is late, slow to clean up or poorly built, Thanh Nien reported. Contractors must work section by section and restore each one before moving on. They must also protect tree roots and keep barriers, signage and temporary walkways in place. The department says it will pin responsibility on contractors and consultants under their contracts.

Tree roots are no small worry. On September 12, during heavy rain and wind, a tree on To Huu Street in Cam Le ward toppled onto a restaurant. Thanh Nien noted that a sidewalk construction pit had been open beside it for several days.

What none of the coverage has published yet are the contractors' names, the budgets or new completion dates. Until those numbers are public, "urgently review" is a promise. Residents on these streets will judge it by whether they can walk to the corner store without wading.

Sources

This story was compiled by the Da Nang Voice news desk from the published sources listed above. Facts, figures and quotes are attributed to those sources; Da Nang Voice did not conduct interviews for it unless the text says so. Corrections are dated and noted at the top of the story. Read our corrections policy. Spotted an error? Tell us.