The Kim Lien underpass in Hanoi was flooded under almost 40 cm of water following heavy rains just two hours after it opened to traffic on June 16.

the Kim Lien underpass is flooded 30-40 cm by a heavy rain on June 16.

It was closed for an hour to pump out the water, and Ngo Quy Tuan, deputy director of Ha Noi’s key projects management board, told Sai Gon Giai Phong it happened because of a contractor’s delay in installing the main pumping system.
 
It would be completed in October, he said, explaining the tunnel has been opened to traffic even though the overall work is only partially complete just to ease traffic pressure.

In the event, the flooding did not come as a surprise, he said.

But he told SGGP that he has asked the contractor to complete the main drainage by June before the onset of the rains.

Once the major pumping system is in place, the underpass would not be flooded again even in heavy rains, he assured.

The tunnel connects Dai Co Viet and Dao Duy Anh and was built by Japan’s Taisei Corporation for the Japan Bridge and Structure Institute at a cost of VND467 billion (US$26 million).

Kim Lien underpass is a section of ring road 1 in Hanoi.

Within the framework of the project on transportation infrastructure development for Hanoi, which is funded by a Japanese official development assistance (ODA) loan worth $130 million, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has provided development support for the city's Ring Road No 2 and Ring Road No 3 via construction of the Nga Tu So and Nga Tu Vong flyovers, the road along To Tich river from Nga Tu So to Hoang Quoc Viet streets, the Nhat Tan Bridge and the Thanh Tri Bridge.

Support has also been given for development of an urban railway network aimed at improving the city's complicated transport system, set for a construction launch in 2011.