The contractor committed to upgrading the road to the quarry after completing the highway.

Trucks carrying rocks to construct the Khanh Hoa - Buon Ma Thuot expressway at Cu Yang commune, Ea Kar district, Dak Lak province were blocked by local people, causing the vehicles to "stand still", greatly affecting the progress of the project, which must be completed by August 30, 2025.

Stone truck blocked by people

According to the reporter of Giao thong Newspaper, the concrete road from the gate of village 8 (Cu Yang commune) leading to the quarry serving the Khanh Hoa - Buon Ma Thuot expressway is about 2km long. In the area near the quarry, people left tires blocking the road and put up a sign "No heavy-duty vehicles", not allowing the stone trucks of Saigon Construction and Trading Company Limited (currently transporting construction materials for the project component 3 of the expressway) to circulate.

Contractor Saigon Construction and Trading Company Limited (Saigon contractor) said that people bringing objects to block the road and obstructing work caused the work to be delayed, greatly affecting the progress of the project completion.

People leave tires blocking the traffic of trucks carrying rocks on the highway. Photo: Ngoc Hung

Mr. To Hieu, a resident of village 8, explained why people blocked construction vehicles: "The concrete road is narrow, with a small load capacity, but there are many large-tonnage stone trucks running, making it difficult for people to travel. Especially when it rains, students on their way to school get mud splashed all over their clothes. Although there have been no accidents, people are worried so they block vehicles and do not allow large-tonnage trucks to pass."

According to Mr. Hieu: The company promised to upgrade and expand this road in February but did not do so, and on top of that, they allowed heavy trucks to run more frequently, so people blocked the company's vehicles. "We hope the company will expand the road, and when it is done, people will let them run," Mr. Hieu suggested.

Mr. Vo Ho Anh Tuan, the operator of the material quarry of the contractor Saigon Company, reflected: "Every day, the unit transports from 1,500m3 to 2,000m3 of stone to the highway, but in the past two days not a single stone has been brought to the construction site. Nearly ten vehicles have had to wait at the quarry, causing huge losses to the contractor. We hope that the local authorities will intervene to resolve the issue so that the company can transport and gather stones to meet the highway construction schedule."

Commitment to upgrade and expand the expressway project after completion

Mr. Nguyen Dinh Tong, Deputy Director of Saigon Construction and Trading Company Limited, said: People are obstructing construction while the progress of the Khanh Hoa - Buon Ma Thuot expressway project is very tense, which can easily affect the goal of finishing on time on August 30.

Blocked by the people, the trucks carrying rocks serving the highway had to stop moving, causing great difficulties for the contractor's construction work. Photo: Ngoc Hung

According to Mr. Tong, the company previously committed to upgrading and widening the road by 1 meter on each side by February for both businesses and people to use. However, at that time, the Prime Minister had not yet launched the spirit of working 500 days and nights non-stop to complete the expressways.

Implementing the Prime Minister's directive, the unit is currently racing against time, carefully calculating every stone to serve the highway, so the contractor's commitment (to expand the road in February) cannot be fulfilled, which is reasonable.

"The company hopes to receive sympathy from the people because of the pressure of the highway construction progress, forcing the company to focus all resources, people, machinery and equipment, and continuously work overtime to ensure progress, so it has not been possible to upgrade the above route.

After completing the project on time and the auxiliary works and the residential roads, the company will upgrade and renovate inter-village roads 7 and 8 from October 20, 2025," Mr. Tong affirmed.

Mr. Truong Van Toan, Chairman of the People's Committee of Cu Yang Commune, said: On March 18, there was an incident where people went out to block the Saigon Company's stone transport vehicle. After receiving the information, I went directly to the area with the commune police to propagate and explain, but the people did not agree, because two companies had previously promised but after completing the project, they "ran away".

"The company promised to renovate and upgrade the road but is mobilizing all machinery, vehicles, and human resources to serve the expressway and cannot spend money to do it right now. The commune has explained but the people do not agree. Currently, the commune continues to receive the people's suggestions and concerns to resolve the issue reasonably. At the same time, it requests that the people not act rashly. The commune People's Committee will continue to report to ask for direction from the district People's Committee," said the Chairman of the People's Committee of Cu Yang commune.

According to a leader of the Ea Kar District People's Committee, in response to the people's opinions, the district invited the commune and the enterprise to a meeting and the company made a commitment to the district that the commune would build the road after completing the highway. Currently, the district has assigned the commune to propagate and explain to the people.

On the morning of March 21, representatives of the Dak Lak Province Project Management Board for Investment in Construction of Transport Works and Rural Development (investor), along with business leaders, the District People's Committee and local authorities, went to the scene to propagate and explain to the people of villages 7 and 8. However, the people still did not agree to let the vehicles transporting the rocks go.

The Khanh Hoa - Buon Ma Thuot Expressway Project Phase 1 has a total investment of VND21,935 billion. The project has a total length of about 116.577km.

The project is divided into three component projects: component project 1 is invested by Khanh Hoa Provincial People's Committee, component project 2 is invested by the Ministry of Transport and component 3 is invested by Dak Lak Provincial People's Committee.

Of which, component project 3 has a total route length of about 48.093km, with a total investment of more than 6,165 billion VND; component project 2 is about 37.5km through the two provinces of Khanh Hoa and Dak Lak, with a total investment of more than 10,436 billion VND.

Source: https://www.baogiaothong.vn/nha-thau-cam-ket-xong-cao-toc-se-nang-cap-duong-vao-mo-da-192250320170028525.htm