6 "headache" bid packages worried about sand shortage
The leaders of An Giang province have just responded to the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee in writing, stating that the province is no longer able to support sand resources for Ho Chi Minh City to implement the Ring Road 3 project. The reason is that all sand resources in An Giang province have been mobilized to allocate for investment projects to build expressways in the Mekong Delta region. This includes the Chau Doc - Can Tho - Soc Trang expressway through An Giang province with more than 9.3 million m3 , through Hau Giang and Can Tho with 7.5 million m3 ; and the Can Tho - Ca Mau expressway with 7 million m3 . In addition, the amount of sand in An Giang province must also be provided for works and projects for socio-economic development, national defense and security in the province until 2025.
Ho Chi Minh City's Ring Road 3 construction slows down, fear of sand shortage
Regarding the sand mines proposed by the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee to supply for the Ring Road 3 project, including: the sand mine on the Hau River (Khanh Hoa Commune, Chau Phu District and Phu Hiep Commune, Phu Tan District) exploited by Tan Hong Trading Company Limited, with a reserve of about 1.1 million m3 , the leaders of An Giang province said that all of it has been allocated to the Chau Doc - Can Tho - Soc Trang expressway through An Giang province and other projects in the province. In addition, the area of sand recovered from the dredging project to regulate the flow of the Vam Nao River (in An Giang province) with a reserve of about 3.46 million m3 has also been allocated 3 million m3 to the Chau Doc - Can Tho - Soc Trang expressway through the province and the Can Tho - Ca Mau expressway, the remaining volume is provided for projects in An Giang province.
According to the leader of An Giang province, "supporting sand resources for the Ho Chi Minh City Ring Road 3 project is very difficult and An Giang province is no longer able to support", the document signed by Ms. Nguyen Thi Minh Thuy, Vice Chairwoman of An Giang Provincial People's Committee, clearly stated. This is the second time An Giang province has refused to support sand resources for the Ring Road 3 project. Earlier this year, when the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee urgently mobilized construction materials from 8 provinces for this project before the preparation stage for construction, the investor of Ho Chi Minh City Ring Road 3, the Ho Chi Minh City Traffic Construction Investment Project Management Board (Traffic Board), also calculated to ask An Giang province to support about 30% of the 50% shortage of sand for embankment (filling sand) and nearly 30% of the remaining construction sand volume (along with mobilization from Ba Ria-Vung Tau province), but was also rejected by this province on the grounds of prioritizing serving key projects in the locality.
Following the latest response from An Giang province, the Ring Road 3 project is in an extremely difficult situation. After more than 5 months of construction, the project implementation is currently quite sluggish. The route through Ho Chi Minh City is more than 47 km long, with a total investment of more than 41,000 billion VND, and was started in mid-June with 4 construction packages, but the construction volume so far is not much.
According to the City Department of Transport, contractors are currently assembling personnel, equipment, and materials to construct a number of auxiliary works, service roads, and bored piles. This year, the project was allocated VND7,600 billion but has only disbursed more than VND1,500 billion, reaching nearly 21%. It is expected that the remaining 6 main construction packages of the Ring Road 3 project through Ho Chi Minh City will start construction at the end of the year.
However, the source of sand for roadbed filling is currently about 20% short of the total project demand. Meanwhile, some mines have stopped supplying or are only supplying to vertical and horizontal highway projects and provincial projects. When the highway projects are deployed simultaneously, especially at the end of the year - the time when the bidding for the remaining 6 construction packages is completed, the supply of sand for filling will be at risk of shortage, affecting the construction progress of projects through the city.
A series of key national projects "waiting" for materials
Not only Ho Chi Minh City Ring Road 3, the shortage of soil, sand and construction materials is greatly affecting the progress and disbursement of key national projects. For example, the My Thuan - Can Tho Expressway is in full swing, working in 3 shifts and 4 crews at the construction site to ensure exploitation before December 31, but the frontage road system is still short of about 92,000 m3 of sand.
The My Thuan Project Management Board and contractors have proactively sought support for sand sources from localities in the area, but they have not been able to meet the demand and are still short of about 44,000 m3 of sand. Minister of Transport Nguyen Van Thang has worked with leaders of An Giang, Dong Thap, and Vinh Long provinces and requested the An Giang Provincial People's Committee to consider continuing to provide 44,000 m3 of sand for the project.
My Thuan - Can Tho Expressway Project Also Affected by Lack of Materials
Similarly, in the Can Tho - Hau Giang and Hau Giang - Ca Mau component projects, contractors organized 140 construction teams, mobilized 440 machines and equipment of all kinds, along with 1,072 engineers and workers. However, after more than 11 months of construction, the construction output only reached 13% of the contract value due to the lack of sand materials for roadbed filling. Therefore, contractors can only carry out construction of bridge items on the route and excavate unsuitable soil, build embankments and construct service roads, temporary bridges, etc.
The representative of the Ministry of Transport admitted that the issue of construction materials is one of the biggest challenges of the transport sector. Every project is urgent and racing to meet deadlines. In principle, the lack of construction materials for project implementation is the contractor's responsibility, because "he" has signed a contract and quoted a price, so he must meet the quality and progress as committed. However, this is a national mineral resource, and in reality, implementation has many difficulties, overlaps, and many complicated problems arise. Therefore, with the common goal of quickly completing the project, the Ministry must accompany the contractor. "The Ministry of Transport and the Project Management Boards must meet weekly, even daily, but in reality, implementation is extremely complicated," said the representative of the Ministry of Transport.
In fact, Government leaders have repeatedly directly inspected projects, worked with localities and issued telegrams requesting focus on removing difficulties in construction materials for projects, but to no avail.
Along with the National Assembly's recent approval of a Resolution to pilot a number of specific policies on investment in road construction and a specific pilot mechanism on mining minerals for common materials, the licensing procedures for mining materials at mines can be shortened by about 8-10 months, with the expectation that the bottleneck will be removed to help speed up the progress of project implementation.
Mr. Luong Minh Phuc, Director of the Traffic Department, said that next week, the Materials Team of Ho Chi Minh City will work with the provinces to discuss and reach an agreement on this issue. The Department of Transport has also proposed that the City People's Committee continue to propose that the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment report to competent authorities, preside over and work with the People's Committees of the provinces to coordinate and implement specific volume commitments at mineral mines in the provinces to serve the Ring Road 3 project. At the same time, it is recommended that the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, and the Ministry of Science and Technology soon issue standards for the use of sea sand for expressway projects, solving the current shortage of sand filling materials.
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