Skip to main content

Legal case underway over materials testing for Chinese bridge

A legal dispute has arisen regarding some of the materials testing processes carried out for the landmark Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge project. The argument is focusing on whether or not 12 technicians manipulated the results of testing concrete samples taken from the bridge during construction. It is alleged that managers of the test facility told the technicians to change the time settings on the equipment carrying out the tests, due to samples not being tested within the eight hour time period require
January 11, 2019 Read time: 2 mins

A legal dispute has arisen regarding some of the materials testing processes carried out for the landmark Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge project.

The argument is focusing on whether or not 12 technicians manipulated the results of testing concrete samples taken from the bridge during construction. It is alleged that managers of the test facility told the technicians to change the time settings on the equipment carrying out the tests, due to samples not being tested within the eight hour time period required.

There are also allegations that some of the test samples did not perform to the specifications of the project and that these results were also manipulated. The tests being investigated were carried out between 2012 and 2017 as the bridge was being built.

The 2719 Chinese Government has taken major steps in recent times to crack down on corruption, imposing heavy penalties on those found guilty of the most serious offences. Given the high status of this landmark bridge engineering project, it seems likely that should anyone be found guilty, they will be penalised heavily by the Chinese authorities.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • PPRS: the positive side of structural failures
    March 27, 2018
    You learn from your failures, not your successes. That was the overall message for delegates during the day-two morning session on the impact of engineering structural failures. These lessons are also too often “painful”, said Anne-Marie Leclerq, deputy minister for infrastructure within the ministry of transport for the Canadian province of Quebec. On September 30, 2006, a span of the six-lane Concorde Bridge in Laval, near Montreal, collapsed crushing to death five people and injuring six. Only recently
  • Bridge and tunnel concrete testing vital for longevity
    July 9, 2012
    Modern technology is making testing more efficient and reliable, increasing productivity and reducing costs, as Patrick Smith reports A few years ago, visual inspection of an 18-year-old bridge by ARRB in Australia identified considerable cracking in the precast, prestressed deck planks as well as in the cast in situ deck overlay. Laboratory examination indicated that the deck planks and the deck overlay were suffering from a strong case of alkali-aggregate reaction (AAR). Testing of concrete cores drilled
  • Questions over effect of tough sentences for driving offenders
    June 17, 2014
    A UK academic claims that research shows higher prison sentences are unlikely to deter death by driving offences. University of Leicester professor Sally Kyd Cunningham suggests new laws from the UK Government could fail as a deterrent to crimes committed while driving. In the wake of the Government’s recent announcement of a comprehensive review of driving offences and penalties, an academic from the University of Leicester has argued that higher prison sentences could fail to act as a deterrent against de
  • Bonjour bio-based binders
    April 5, 2023
    How can Shell speed the whole road construction sector on its way to decarbonisation? Professor John Read and Richard Taylor have a few ideas.