Vietnam has banned Taisei Corp. and Kajima Corp. from working on construction projects in the Southeast Asian nation following their involvement in a collapsed bridge, a transport ministry official said.
The two Tokyo-based companies will be banned for 12 months, Tran Quoc Viet, head of the quality control department at the Transport Ministry, said Tuesday from Hanoi.
"This is punishment to the Japanese companies for their involvement in the construction of the Can Tho bridge that collapsed," Viet said.
At least 52 people were killed after the bridge, spanning a river between the city of Can Tho, 131 km southwest of Ho Chi Minh City, and Vinh Long Province gave way in September 2007. More than 117 laborers and engineers were seriously injured.
The bridge collapse was due to "unforeseen" weaknesses in two concrete supports that the Japanese companies were involved in building, according to a report by Nguyen Hong Quan, minister of construction, in July 2008. The report didn't name the companies.