North-South Expressway: Resolutely and strictly handle contractors who violate contracts

Construction at a standstill requires special monitoring.

The report to the Prime Minister on the results of the review of difficulties and recommendations of the working group inspected by Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Hoa Binh shows that the inspection team inspected and worked on 4 expressway projects (Hoa Lien-Tuy Loan, Quang Ngai-Hoai Nhon, Hoai Nhon-Quy Nhon and Quy Nhon-Chi Thanh sections), with a total length of 231.27km; total investment of 49,786,385 billion VND; accounting for about 23% of the volume that must be completed to achieve the target of 3,000km of expressway by 2025.

At the meeting, the parties committed to completing the Hoa Lien-Tuy Loan expressway in August 2025 in accordance with the Prime Minister's direction. However, the project still faces some difficulties and problems. Specifically, the Hoa Lien-Tuy Loan section has not yet handed over the land of about 572m of the service road; 3 medium voltage power stations are being relocated; 3 resettlement areas have not been completed to return to the locality.

In addition, the stone production capacity at the mines does not meet the material demand according to the project's progress. The actual price of some materials purchased by the contractor from the mines is higher than the price announced by the locality. Some sections of the route through residential areas are not allowed to work overtime at night.

For the Hoai Nhon-Quy Nhon, Quy Nhon-Chi Thanh, and Quang Ngai-Hoai Nhon projects, the parties have committed to completing the expressway in September 2025 in accordance with the Prime Minister's direction (tunnel No. 3, 3.2 km long, Quang Ngai-Hoai Nhon section, will be basically completed by December 31, 2025). However, the working group also pointed out difficulties and problems in these 3 expressway component projects regarding construction materials due to the region's specific scarcity of stone materials used for asphalt concrete items.

In particular, some contractors show signs of slow construction and slow progress that need to be monitored, such as at the Quy Nhon-Chi Thanh Project, with the following contractors: Hai Dang Joint Stock Company, package 12-XL, 1.02% behind schedule; 168 Vietnam Construction Group Joint Stock Company, package 13-XL, 1.19% behind schedule.

Previously, Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Hoa Binh, Head of the inspection team, requested project management boards to coordinate with contractors to accelerate survey and testing work to determine the quarry of stone materials used for asphalt concrete to ensure the quality and required volume of the entire project; report and propose solutions (if necessary) to the Ministry of Construction in March 2025 for timely urging and direction. The working group assigned the Ministry of Construction to coordinate with relevant agencies to organize field inspections at least once a month and to strictly handle contractors who violate the contract in accordance with regulations.

Projects on the North-South Expressway are required to speed up progress.

Solutions are needed to compensate for the slow volume.

In the report on the inspection results of 4 expressway projects: Chi Thanh-Van Phong, Van Phong-Nha Trang, Component Project 1 and 3 of Khanh Hoa-Buon Ma Thuot Expressway led by Deputy Prime Minister Le Thanh Long, the leader of the Ministry of Construction said that the 4 projects have a total length of 210.9km with a total investment of 34,079 billion VND; accounting for about 20% of the volume that must be completed to achieve the target of 3,000km of expressway by 2025.

Specifically, the Chi Thanh-Van Phong component project currently has a construction output of about 70% of the contract, 0.69% behind schedule, of which the project's critical path of weak soil treatment is about ^525,500m3 and must be completed in March 2025 to move to the settlement waiting phase. The Van Phong-Nha Trang component project currently has a main line construction output of 91% of the contract value, about 11% ahead of schedule.

However, the remaining section (13km) is currently behind schedule compared to the completion date in April 2025 due to unfavorable weather conditions. Units are working hard to complete the main section by April 30, 2025 and complete the entire section by June 2025.

At the Khanh Hoa-Buon Ma Thuot Expressway, the project's component 1 has so far completed 48.26% of the contract value, about 8.3% behind the contract schedule. Of which, the first 20km section (package XL01) is 12.5% ​​behind the completion schedule of December 31, 2025. The Component 3 project has completed 34.9% of the contract value, about 10% behind the completion schedule of 2025. The inspection team pointed out that the reason for the delay is due to problems in site clearance and relocation of technical infrastructure works and locations of material dumping sites.

In order for the project to be completed by the end of this year as planned, the inspection team requested Khanh Hoa and Dak Lak provinces to propagate and mobilize people to urgently hand over the site and speed up the relocation of technical infrastructure works, complete and hand over the entire site to the projects before March 31, 2025.

For the Chi Thanh-Van Phong Project, the Ministry of Construction will direct investors and contractors to increase construction teams, proactively source materials for roadbed embankment; proactively coordinate materials between bid packages to ensure sufficient source of embankment materials to meet the required progress. Investors will direct consultants and contractors to calculate necessary technical solutions to shorten the waiting time for subsidence. For sections that do not require weak soil treatment, contractors will speed up construction progress and complete items; organize the implementation of rolling construction of foundation structures and road surfaces to ensure synchronization and continuity along the entire route to complete the entire route by September 30, 2025 to concentrate construction forces when the weak soil treatment sections are eligible for unloading.

The Ministry of Construction directed the investor and contractor at the Van Phong-Nha Trang Project to complete all related procedures to hand over and put into operation the last 70km of the route on April 30, 2025; complete the entire 13km of the first section of the route, ensuring the goal of completing the entire route by June 30, 2025. For the Component Projects 1 and 3 of the Khanh Hoa-Buon Ma Thuot Expressway, the People's Committees of Khanh Hoa and Dak Lak provinces directed the investor and contractor to re-establish the progress, strengthen the organization of construction to complete the roadbed, foundation, and traffic safety items, ensuring that weather conditions do not affect the goal of completing the project in 2025.