After more than a year of research, authorities determined that 145 million m3 of sea sand in Soc Trang can be used immediately as highway embankment material.
The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment announced the above information at the Industry Summary Conference on the morning of December 31. Over the past year, the Vietnam Geology Department has researched the project Evaluation of mineral resources for sea sand exploitation to meet the needs of leveling highway projects and transport and urban infrastructure projects in the Mekong Delta.
The assessment area is 250 km2 in the waters of Soc Trang province, 16-18 km from shore. The research agency has identified a body of sea sand minerals on an area of 160 km2 with sea sand reserves that meet the standards for leveling urban infrastructure and leveling roadbeds. The structure of the mineral body is fine-grained sand formations, loose, mixed with a little powder. The uniformity of composition and grain size are quite high. Average sand body thickness is 4,3 m; Average total sand content is 82,8%.
"Sea sand in the assessment area is fine-grained sand, mainly composed of quartz, with an average density of 6,39%," the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment said.
Mr. Vuong Quoc Nam, Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Soc Trang province, said that this province has received the handover of the exploitation area of 145 million m3 of sea sand from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and the Ministry of Transport. Because this is an unprecedented activity, Soc Trang's departments are actively coordinating with the two ministries to complete documents and soon exploit them to meet the needs of expressway construction.
The proposed sea sand mining area is about 18-20 km from the shore.
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh said that the need to use foundation materials for transportation infrastructure projects last year was very large. Early next year, demand is forecast to continue to increase as many key transportation projects continue to be started. "To prepare materials for construction, the Natural Resources and Environment sector needs to actively coordinate with localities to research the use of filling materials, especially sea sand," the Government leader said.
River sand mining in the Mekong Delta is facing many difficulties due to the risk of landslides as well as the amount of sand flowing from the upper Mekong into Vietnam through the Tien River (Tan Chau, An Giang and Hong Ngu, Dong Thap). and Hau River (Chau Doc, An Giang) are much lower than previous estimates.
Meanwhile, the current demand for sand as filling material in the Mekong Delta is very large, and the limited on-site supply puts many key highways at risk of delay. For example, the 110 km long Can Tho - Ca Mau expressway needs 18,1 million m3 of sand but has only been supplied with nearly 1,5 million m3 (8%), causing the project to be 3 months behind schedule.
