Nghe An Provincial Party Secretary gives urgent direction to 1,300 billion VND project to upgrade National Highway 7

Slow site clearance, frequent traffic congestion

The project to renovate and upgrade National Highway 7, section Km0 - Km36, and handle landslides caused by storms and floods in the Khe Thoi - Nam Can section, Nghe An province, started in October 2022. According to the plan, the project is scheduled to be completed in 2024, with the section from Km0 - Km5 (Dien Chau intersection to the expressway interchange) to be completed in 2023.

However, according to the report of Project Management Board 4, Vietnam Road Administration as the investor, to date, localities in Nghe An province have only handed over the site for about 48,253/55,212km (87.46%) including both left and right routes. Therefore, the total value of construction output to date is estimated at 498/712 billion VND, equivalent to 69.96% of the construction value of the entire project.

Event - Nghe An Provincial Party Secretary gives — *The section from Km 0 - Km 5 (Dien Chau intersection to the North - South expressway interchange) still cannot be cleared.*

Of which, due to site clearance problems, the railway overpass has only completed the construction of abutments A0 to P4 and installed 35 girders, completed 07 bridge decks from P1 to P4; completed the construction of bored piles P7, A8 and P5 of the right-hand unit (The base, pier body, and residential beam have not been constructed yet because the site has not been cleared); completed the construction of pier body P6 on the right-hand side of the route (The residential beam has not been constructed yet because the site has not been cleared yet).

Mr. Hoang Van Chau, Project Executive Director of Project Management Board 4, said that according to the initial schedule, the project to renovate and upgrade National Highway 7 must be completed by December 31, 2023. However, due to the unsatisfactory site clearance, the Ministry of Transport has extended the deadline to December 2024.

“The land issue is still the biggest obstacle for the project. The provincial People's Committee has repeatedly directed and set a time for handing over the land, but localities still cannot implement the plan as planned. Currently, some districts such as Do Luong and Yen Thanh have had to consider organizing construction protection,” Mr. Chau informed.

According to records, due to land acquisition and handover problems, there are still many sections that the contractor has not been able to construct. In particular, the section from Km 0 - Km 5 (Dien Chau intersection to the North - South expressway interchange) is still a bottleneck, leading to traffic congestion.

Right at the beginning of the project, one of the important items of this project is the railway overpass section passing through Dien Phuc commune. According to the design, this overpass has 2 lanes, 8 spans, however, up to now, due to problems in site clearance, the construction unit has only been able to install some beams on the eastern abutment, while the western abutment of the railway has not been completed yet.

The quality of the old road surface has deteriorated over many years of exploitation, and now it is under pressure from the amount of vehicles moving down the Nghi Son - Dien Chau highway, causing the road surface to be more seriously damaged. In many sections, the investor and contractor have had to fill in the potholes with crushed stone, but vehicles still face many difficulties.

Therefore, the investor representative recommended that Nghe An province speed up site clearance work, handing over the project by May 2024 at the latest to meet the extended schedule.

Intentionally not handing over the site will create a plan to protect the construction

Recently, Nghe An Provincial Party Secretary Thai Thanh Quy, together with leaders of the Provincial People's Committee and local departments, directly inspected the construction progress of the National Highway 7 Renovation and Upgrade Project.

After listening to the opinions of investors, contractors, and authorities of Dien Chau, Yen Thanh, and Do Luong districts, the Secretary of Nghe An Provincial Party Committee requested that localities take more drastic measures in site clearance.

Regarding progress, the Secretary of Nghe An Provincial Party Committee requested that by April 30, Yen Thanh district must hand over a part of the site for the project, the remaining part must be handed over before May 15; Do Luong district must complete before May 15; For Dien Chau district, the site must be handed over no later than May 30.

For cases of intentional non-handover despite local mobilization and support through mechanisms and policies, after the above time frames, a construction protection plan will be established.

The Secretary of Nghe An Province also requested Project Management Board 4 and contractors to join hands with the government. Because there are currently problems that need the joint efforts of all parties to gradually resolve. There are also things that must be implemented flexibly and cannot just wait for additional mechanisms and policies.

The project to renovate and upgrade National Highway 7, section Km0 - Km36, and handle landslides caused by storms and floods in the Khe Thoi - Nam Can section, Nghe An province, is 27.5km long, passing through 3 districts: Dien Chau, Yen Thanh and Do Luong, Nghe An province. The project is invested by Project Management Board 4, Vietnam Road Administration , with a total investment of 1,300 billion VND.

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