[12Gauge687]

When Sri Lanka is bailing you out, you know you’re in trouble.

It’s quite probable that in order to make the concrete more pumpable too much water was added. Knowing how low-bid contracts have worked in the USA, I’m pretty certain contractors and sub-contractors (as well as Communist Party cadres) on these projects skimped on the quality of concrete, reinforcing and even curing time.

Not too sure if vermiculite can be used in this situation but patching with concrete isn’t going to do too much unless it can cure in a relatively dry environment.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

I watched a TV show a few years ago that covered one of these dams while under construction. The liquid cement was being poured from more than 50 feet above the plywood structure. It looked to me like this was a sloppy approach to building with cement since the materials would tend to separate in the drop.

[stravinskyrules]

Ironically, the Chinese army is showing their stuff; effective and competent...very effective transport infrastructure....the Chinese military is a formidable force.

[bert]

In the top photos, it looks like the concrete was covered with about an inch of stucco and that is what is cracking.

My first thought was that they troweled the fines to the top but you don’t trowell down inside the forms.

It looks like the surface was finished to provide a better appearance to a rough formed finish. There are also what appear to be concrete pavers that are loose and damaged. I didn’t see any structural cracks in the dam.

The fault along the earthen dam is of real concern.

[khnyny]

Actually, I believe these types of concrete problems appeared in the new US Embassy in Iraq, IIRC. That was, supposedly a bid contract, but it went to a contractor in Kuwait. Also, IIRC, that's against US law.