Prime Minister continues to remove difficulties for expressway projects in the Mekong Delta

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh delivered a concluding speech at the conference – Photo: CHI QUOC

In his opening speech, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh said: “I have personally inspected projects in the Mekong Delta five times. Today’s conference is to listen to and re-evaluate the situation, on that basis, what has been done well will be learned from, lessons learned, and continued, while reviewing the obstacles that need to be resolved.

If there is any problem, we must resolve it immediately and thoroughly, with a spirit of high determination, great motivation, decisive action and focused work. Each task must be completed, and any difficulties must be resolved, without delay or prolongation.

15 million cubic meters of sand ^short of demand

Mr. Nguyen Duy Lam, Deputy Minister of Transport, said that the entire Mekong Delta region is implementing 9 important national and key transport projects of the transport sector with a total investment of 106,000 billion VND, of which 8 projects are under construction, only the My An - Cao Lanh expressway project (using Korean ODA capital) is completing procedures and is expected to start construction in early 2025.

Currently, these projects still face some difficulties and problems. Firstly, although the licensing procedures for exploiting river sand have been completed, the mining capacity of the mines is limited and has not met the construction progress.

Second , according to the Prime Minister's direction, the provinces of Tien Giang, Ben Tre, Vinh Long, and Soc Trang need to complete licensing procedures for sand mining before August 30, 2024, but the implementation of the procedures has not met the requirements.

Third , when surveyed and evaluated, many sand mines in Tien Giang, Ben Tre and Soc Trang did not meet the requirements in terms of quality and reserves, so they had to find other alternative mines, which affected the progress of licensing sand mines.

Mr. Le Cong Thanh - Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment - said that up to now, localities have issued 49 licenses for sand mining with a total reserve of nearly 50 million ^m3 , lower than the demand of 65 million ^m3 , so it is necessary to continue searching for sources and licensing new mines.

According to Mr. Thanh, the amount of sand coming to the Mekong Delta is decreasing due to the impact of climate change and construction on the river, so it is time to research and use other sand sources, including sea sand, and promote the use of sea sand where possible as well as imported sand.

More focus, more breakthrough

Source of sand for filling is still a "hot" issue for current highway projects - Photo: CHI QUOC

Concluding the conference, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh acknowledged and highly appreciated the localities in the Mekong Delta, relevant ministries, enterprises, contractors, consulting, supervising and designing units for their active efforts in changing the Mekong Delta from the highway system; commended the provinces of Tien Giang, An Giang, Soc Trang and Ben Tre for working with investors in providing material sources.

In the coming time, the Prime Minister suggested more focus, more acceleration, more breakthroughs, more strength in organization and implementation, higher political determination, more scientific and proactive ways of doing things with three major orientations.

Firstly , traffic must be smooth, go ahead and open the way, decentralize to local decision, local action, local responsibility.

Second , there is only a desk, no back table, ensuring progress, technique, environmental hygiene, ensuring people's lives and avoiding waste and negativity.

Third, what has been discussed and decided must be done, not discussed and then left there. Once done, there must be a specific product that can be measured and counted.

The Prime Minister also said that the workload in the coming time is still large, so ministries, branches and localities should proactively implement and strive to complete 600km of expressway in the Mekong Delta by 2025. They should make more efforts to make up for the slow progress in the past.

Regarding the overlap between laws, the Prime Minister suggested that if the laws are different, the spirit of the previous law should follow the later law, and in case of conflicts or overlaps between laws, specialized laws should be applied.

The Prime Minister also requested determination to completely resolve land clearance, high-voltage power lines and thoroughly resolve the issue of raw materials.

“People’s Committees of localities in the project area must complete 100% of site clearance work this October, not to affect progress; closely coordinate with other localities that have sources of raw materials, ensure raw materials of sand, stone, gravel, and landfill, and proactively handle them together,” the Prime Minister directed.

Tuoitre.vn

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/thu-tuong-tiep-tuc-go-kho-cho-cac-du-an-cao-toc-o-dong-bang-song-cuu-long-20241016125214897.htm