Several officials and experts have expressed worries over the selection of a Chinese contractor for the construction of the Song Da water pipeline, saying that they have doubts over the potential quality of the work.

Vietnam’s Viwasupco annouced on Tuesday it had given the ductile iron pipe supply contract for the Song Da Water Pipeline Project - Phase II to Chinese Xinxing Co. Ltd., with a bid price 11.8 percent lower than their tender.

The announcement has stirred concern among the public in Hanoi who have already experienced much misery from the current poor-quality made-in-China pipeline.

In an interview with the Tien Phong Newspaper, former rector of the Hanoi University of Construction, Nguyen Van Hung, said that it was understandable that the public were worried about Viwasupco's choice.

"The current pipeline has been broken for 17 times which has badly affected the lives of thousands of households in Hanoi," Hung explained. "Moreover, there have been rumours about the poor quality of the products provided by Xinxing Company in other projects in the city."

 Workers are fixing the broken Song Da water pipeline

Hung said that the developer should be more careful in their selection and should not only care about the low prices.

"I think we should have an investor and contractor committed to the quality of the project," Hung added.

Sharing the same opinion with Hung, Dr. Bui Thi An, chairman of Hanoi chemistry, Institute of Environmental Resources and Community Development who is also a NA deputy of Hanoi said the contractor should make public all specifications of the materials and local authorities should carefully monitor their work.

"Chinese technologies were also used in the first phase of the project and we've seen the pipeline breaking 17 times in just three years," An explained. "So we should be more careful in the second phase which should need a commitment on quality from the contractor."

Amid rising concerns from the public, Viwasupco general director Nguyen Van Ton explained that the Chinese firm’s bid had actually been carefully assessed by two of the project’s consultant firms, and approved by the company’s board of directors.

The Song Da Water Pipeline Project conveys clean water from the Da River Water Plant in the northern Hoa Binh Province to Hanoi.

The first phase of the project is infamous for suffering from repeated pipeline breaks which have been causing clean water shortages for thousands of Hanoi residents.

Quality concerns always arise whenever a Chinese firm wins a contract to complete large-scale infrastructure projects in Vietnam.

Chinese contractors are known for bidding low to win contracts, then later asking for more money, citing unexpected cost overruns. Most Chinese-contracted projects are likely to reach completion behind schedule, requiring further costs.

One of such projects, the Cat Linh - Ha Dong urban railway project in Hanoi is expected to cost 57 percent more than the initial plan.

The contractor, China Railway Sixth Group, initially estimated costs at USD553 million, but total investment has already risen to over USD868 million by March 2016.