Chau Doc - Can Tho - Soc Trang Expressway behind schedule due to lack of sand

On November 4, Vice Chairman of Can Tho City People's Committee Nguyen Van Hoa and representatives of departments and branches conducted a survey, inspection and urged the progress of key traffic projects; including 2 trillion-dong infrastructure projects invested by the Management Board of Investment and Construction of Traffic and Agricultural Works, including: Component Project 4 of the Chau Doc - Can Tho - Soc Trang Expressway Project Phase 1 and the East-West Economic Development Axis Road Project of Soc Trang Province.

The first layer of crushed stone was constructed on the highway, marking the transition to the construction phase of the roadbed and surface. Photo: Thanh Sang/VNA

According to the report of the Department of Finance of Can Tho City, the biggest obstacle hindering the progress of the Chau Doc - Can Tho - Soc Trang Expressway Component 4 Project is the supply of sand materials. The total demand for sand of the project is very large, up to 8.1 million m3. Although 9 river sand mines have been licensed for exploitation with a total reserve of about 8.95 million m3, as of October 30, 2025, the total exploited volume has only reached nearly 2.8 million m3, leaving a shortage of about 5.3 million m3 of sand.

The objective reason pointed out is that Soc Trang province (old) is located at the end of the river, so the quality of many river sand mines does not meet the requirements. In addition, the project is implemented in an area with weak soil, requiring a large volume of sand for filling the foundation. Soc Trang province previously did not have stone and clay mines for embankment, so materials had to be transported from other provinces, affecting the progress and cost of construction.

The lack of sand has resulted in the overall construction volume not being much. The total value of the 4 construction packages of Component 4 has only reached 3,408 billion VND out of the total 8,092 billion VND, equivalent to 42.1% of the contract value and is 11.7% behind schedule. The difference is very clear when the bridge construction part, which is less dependent on the foundation sand, has reached 79.4% of the volume, while the road part, which needs sand for the foundation, has only achieved 25.1% of the value.

All four packages are behind schedule, including Package 09 (18% behind schedule), Package 10 (10.7%), Package 11 (12.5%) and Package 12 (10.9%). With the difficulty in sand sources not yet completely resolved, shortening the schedule to basically complete the project by July 2026 is very difficult.

To solve the material problem, investors and contractors are simultaneously promoting many solutions. Regarding the sea sand source, the People's Committee of Soc Trang province previously issued a Confirmation for the sea sand mine in Sub-area B1.4 (Construction Corporation No. 1) with a registered exploitation reserve of 2 million m3. Currently, the contractor is urgently completing documents, procedures and preparing means to soon put into exploitation. However, the use of saline sand is a new solution, requiring careful study of technical and environmental factors.

At the same time, the solution to transfer sand resources was also implemented after the Government issued Resolution No. 66.4/2025/NQ-CP on promulgating specific mechanisms and policies to remove difficulties in implementing the Law on Geology and Minerals in 2024. This Resolution allows the transfer of the volume of river sand assigned to the Eastern North-South Expressway Project to Component Project 4. The investor is coordinating with relevant units to prepare documents and procedures to request sand transfer. In addition, the investor also requested the Department of Construction to promptly review and announce the price of sand materials at commercial mines MS01, MS04 and develop machine shift prices for some types of machinery serving sand mining.

In contrast to the difficulty in materials, the site clearance of Component Project 4 has generally been implemented according to plan and has reached 100%. Specifically, the section through Soc Trang province has handed over 329.44/329.44 hectares and the section through Hau Giang province has handed over 2.34/2.34 hectares. Regarding the disbursement situation, out of more than VND 3,114 billion of the capital plan for 2025, the project has disbursed VND 1,145 billion, reaching 33.5% of the yearly plan. Accumulated from the beginning of the project to date, the total disbursement has reached VND 4,917 billion out of the total VND 7,186 billion of allocated capital, reaching 68.4%.

For the East-West Economic Development Axis Road Project of Soc Trang Province (old), the construction progress has entered the completion stage. The cumulative value of implementation to date has reached about 1,407 billion VND out of a total of 1,435.8 billion VND, reaching 98% of the contract value. Most of the main items have been completed, including asphalting 55.5/56.678 km of road surface (reaching 98%), finishing concrete pouring of 44/44 bridges (reaching 100%) and completing 100% of the culvert items. The additional section of 3 branch routes has just started construction on October 9, 2025. The only remaining difficulty and problem of this project is related to site clearance in Vinh Chau town (old), but it does not affect the construction.

The Chau Doc - Can Tho - Soc Trang Expressway Component 4 Project is a Group A project, a level I traffic project, with a total investment of 11,961 billion VND. The route has a total length of 58.37 km, passing through Hau Giang and Soc Trang. Phase 1 of the project is divided into 4 lanes, 17m cross-section, and will be completed with 6 lanes, 32.25m cross-section; site clearance will be carried out at once on a scale of 6 lanes. The project started construction before June 30, 2023 and aims to basically complete the entire route by 2026, and put into synchronous operation in 2027.

Meanwhile, the East-West Economic Development Axis Road Project of Soc Trang Province is also a Group A project, a level III traffic project, with a total investment of 2,000 billion VND. This route has a total length of 56.678 km, including 44 traffic bridges, passing through 4 localities: Nga Nam town, Thanh Tri district, My Xuyen district and Vinh Chau town.

After directly inspecting the construction site, Vice Chairman of Can Tho City People's Committee Nguyen Van Hoa requested the Management Board of Investment Projects for Construction of Traffic and Agricultural Works and contractors to concentrate maximum human resources, vehicles and materials to speed up progress.

In particular, for Component 4 of the Chau Doc - Can Tho - Soc Trang Expressway Project Phase 1, Mr. Nguyen Van Hoa directed to urgently mobilize sand transport vehicles to the construction site, requiring the construction to have the volume of work performed for acceptance and payment. For the East-West Economic Development Axis Road Project of Soc Trang province, the contractor must also concentrate forces, speed up construction to complete soon, and put the project into use by the end of this year.

Source: https://baotintuc.vn/kinh-te/cao-toc-chau-doc-can-tho-soc-trang-cham-tien-do-do-thieu-cat-20251104165954589.htm