More than 40 drain hole covers along Thu Thiem 2 Bridge, costing US$133 million to build, in Ho Chi Minh City have been stolen after the structure was opened to traffic over a week ago.

Forty-four drain hole covers on Thu Thiem 2 Bridge were stolen early on Wednesday and Thursday morning, a representative from Thien An Company, the bridge constructor, confirmed.

The bridge has a total of 108 drain hole covers, each measuring 20 centimeters in diameter, the representative added.

Thien An Company has tasked its employees with welding the remaining covers to prevent them from being taken away.

The incident has been reported to police in District 1 and Thu Duc City. 

The production and installation of new covers will take about a month.

Without these covers, the culverts can be easily blocked by garbage, the company representative elaborated, adding that many residents often litter while hanging out on the bridge in the evening.

Thien An Company is planning to replace the metal drain covers with concrete ones in the future to prevent similar incidents.

Spanning the Saigon River between District 1 and Thu Duc City, the cable-stayed Thu Thiem 2 Bridge stretches a total of 1.4 kilometers and has six lanes of traffic.

The bridge’s main deck is 885 meters long with its tower being 113 meters tall.

The bridge project was started in February 2015 in the form of build - transfer, at a cost of VND3,082 billion ($133 million). 

It was opened to traffic on April 28.

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