Song Thu Bridge Approach Road Project at Risk of Slow Progress

Song Thu Bridge construction site seen from Duy Xuyen bank across Dai Loc. Photo: CT

Traffic jam in many places

The road connecting National Highway 14H to DT609C (including Thu River crossing Thu Bon River) is being constructed by a consortium of contractors including Thanh An 96 Construction Joint Stock Company, 368 Construction Joint Stock Company, and Quang Dai Viet Construction Joint Stock Company. A representative of Thanh An 96 Construction Joint Stock Company said that in Duy Tan Commune (Duy Xuyen), the branch road intersection with DH10.DX route is still blocked by 2 households. Therefore, the contractor has only completed half of the right side of the road.

The branch road intersection with route DH10.DX cannot be completed yet. Photo: CT

The investor, the Quang Nam Province Traffic Construction Investment Project Management Board, said that Ms. Phuong's household had submitted a petition for land allocation (although the plan had been approved and the money had been offered, they did not agree).

Engineer Pham Van Tho - Site Manager of Thanh An 96 Construction Joint Stock Company shared that the contractor had to contact the local people to borrow land to build a service road to construct and handle the weak soil at km3+000-km3+380. Because this location still has 74 households related to reclaimed land.

The contractor pointed out the location of the problem related to reclaimed land of 74 households. Photo: CT

Or at the intersection between the project's access road and route DH17.DX (the road passing in front of the commune's administrative center), the contractor has not been able to clear the route due to the resettlement of Mr. Ho Van Minh's household. Behind the M1 bridge pier, the construction of the access road has not been able to proceed because the resettlement of Thai Thi Thuy and Thai Van Tai households has not been completed.

[VIDEO] - The location of the branch road intersection with route DH.10DX still has land issues:

In addition, Duy Tan commune is still stuck with land clearance due to many other reasons, such as inheritance procedures, disputes between households Cao Thi Hong, Van Thi Thiet, Nguyen Thi Sau; 4 graves have arisen. In Thu Bon Dong village (Duy Tan commune), Ms. Lien's family grows corn on cemetery land (not available at the time of inventory), but she is currently requesting compensation.

In Duy Phu commune (Duy Xuyen), there are still 4 cases of land acquisition problems. In particular, resettlement land has not been arranged for Nguyen Phuoc Long's household, causing the construction of the new road connecting the road with the road through Duy Phu commune's administrative center to be stalled.

Risk of delay

The intersection location between the project's approach road and route DH17.DX is stuck with land clearance for Mr. Ho Van Minh. Photo: CT

The road connecting National Highway 14H to DT609C has a total length of 6km (including the 699m long Song Thu bridge). Of which, the section through Duy Xuyen district is 5km long (with 0.9km using the existing road), the remaining area for site clearance is 4.1km; the section through Dai Loc district is 1km long. The project started on September 5, 2022; the progress according to the contract is until November 2024. At this time, all Song Thu bridge girders have been cast, 8/16 spans installed, 8/8 spans poured; 2/2 bridge abutments, 11/15 pillars completed. Pillars T2, T11, T12 are under construction.

The construction of the new road section connecting the old road (Duy Phu commune) has been suspended due to land clearance problems. Photo: CT

Regarding the road category, Duy Xuyen area completed the first layer of asphalt concrete and installed lighting for a 350m section (Duy Phu commune); Dai Loc area completed the first layer of asphalt concrete and installed lighting for a 600m section (Dai Thang commune). The investor said that the value of the new construction contract reached 110/287 billion VND (accounting for 38%). The construction of the access road encountered difficulties due to land clearance problems in many sections.

[VIDEO] - Due to the lack of land clearance related to 74 households, the contractor had to borrow land from local people to build a service road to carry out the construction project:

For example, in Duy Xuyen, the locality has cleared about 3.5/4.1km (85%); many important locations have been congested for a long time, so the value of the construction volume is low.

At the bank of Dai Thang commune, there are 12 households stuck in the last 160m of the route; of which 3 households are cleared. Dai Loc district is building a resettlement area in which 3 households are cleared (expected to be 8 lots). The remaining cases are related to residential land and adjacent gardens and ponds, and must wait for approval of adjusted land prices, then develop a compensation plan.

Construction to treat weak soil takes a long time. Photo: CT

Engineer Pham Van Tho said that the joint venture contractor is very worried because there is no space to construct important locations. In many places, weak ground must be treated by drilling cement piles, sand wells, replacing sand, and driving bamboo piles, which takes a lot of time.

The Quang Nam Province Traffic Construction Investment Project Management Board said that to ensure the construction and opening of Song Thu Bridge before September 2, 2024 and to complete the project as planned, the investor proposed that the Duy Xuyen District People's Committee direct the acceleration of site clearance progress.

A piece of land in Nhuan Son village (Duy Phu commune) that has not been cleared yet is located in the middle of a road construction site. Photo: CT

According to the plan, the project section through Duy Phu commune will hand over the site in March 2024, with Mr. Phuoc Long's household at the first intersection of the route cleared before June 30, 2024. The section through Duy Tan commune will hand over the site to the remaining households before April 30, 2024; in particular, the cases of complete clearance will complete the site clearance before June 30, 2024.

The road project connecting National Highway 14H to DT609C is a Group B project, a level II traffic project; total investment is 340 billion VND (of which compensation and site clearance costs are 30.08 billion VND). The road cross-section is 9m wide. Song Thu Bridge is 9m wide; of which the roadway is 8m wide, the barriers and railings are 0.5m wide on each side.

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