Highway construction site after 4 months of intense competition.

Four months after the Prime Minister launched the "500-day emulation campaign to complete 3,000km of expressways," construction sites of the projects have seen a surge in output as manpower, machinery, and equipment have been simultaneously supplemented.

However, to achieve the goal by 2025, a huge amount of work remains to be done, and obstacles such as unfavorable weather conditions, as well as issues related to land and materials, need to be resolved promptly.

Production surged after the launch of the 500-day peak period.

In the final days of 2024, the weather was bitterly cold, but even late at night, the Vung Ang - Bung project construction site in Ha Tinh province remained brightly lit.

The intensive emulation campaign "500 days and nights of emulation to complete 3,000km of expressways" was launched by Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on August 18th. To date, many projects have registered to be completed ahead of schedule. (In the photo: Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and Minister of Transport Tran Hong Minh inspect the Can Tho – Ca Mau expressway project on December 15th). Photo: PV.

While preparing his protective gear for the night shift, road roller operator Nguyen Xuan Tien (from Thanh Hoa) said: "The deadline is very tight, so everyone is focusing their maximum effort. The time pressure is high, but the salary and bonuses are reasonable, and the company provides nighttime meals to ensure our health and ability to work."

Engineer Nguyen Van Trung (368 Construction Joint Stock Company) stated that the contract value for his company at the Vung Ang - Bung project is 458 billion VND, and to date, the completed work has reached over 400 billion VND, achieving 90% of the target.

"Since there are no obstacles on the ground, the basic items have been completed. We expect to pave the bridge decks with concrete in December; we aim to complete the remaining items in 2024," Mr. Trung said.

The Vung Ang - Bung Expressway project commenced in January 2023, with a total investment of over 12,540 billion VND. According to the leaders of Project Management Board 6 (Ministry of Transport - the investor), before the Prime Minister launched the emulation campaign, the total output of the entire route reached approximately 5,500 billion VND, equivalent to 55%. To date, after 4 months, the output has reached 6,580/8,650 billion VND, equivalent to 76%.

Similarly, at the Ham Nghi - Vung Ang project, before the emulation campaign was launched, the output reached 67%, and now it has reached 72%, an increase of about 7%.

Regarding package XL02 of the Ham Nghi - Vung Ang project, a representative from the contractor Xuan Truong stated that, out of the total 18km of the main route, the contractor has paved 15km with asphalt concrete; and installed the corrugated steel guardrail system and protective fences.

"We hope the local authorities will soon hand over the garden land of the households within the construction area of ​​the Ky Trung intersection and the local access road system to speed up construction," said a representative of the contractor Xuan Truong.

Hopefully the land acquisition issues will be resolved soon.

According to a representative of the contractor Truong Thinh, the Van Ninh - Cam Lo expressway project, the section passing through Quang Binh province, is 32km long. To date, many sections along the entire route have been paved with asphalt, and guardrails and protective fences have been installed. However, within the construction area of ​​the main route as well as the replacement road (Ho Chi Minh Highway), there are still houses and structures obstructing the construction.

There is still a huge amount of work to be done.

According to the Construction Investment Management Department, a huge amount of work remains to be done to complete 3,000km of expressways by 2025.

Specifically for the Can Tho - Ca Mau section of the project, the investor needs to proactively work with local authorities to expedite the process of supplying materials for road embankment construction; and study the use of sea sand in suitable areas and scopes.

For projects where local authorities are the managing agency, the provinces of Dong Nai, Khanh Hoa, Binh Duong, and Tuyen Quang need to direct their departments and agencies and mobilize the entire political system to participate in order to resolutely complete land clearance.

Representatives from the People's Committee of Le Thuy District (Quang Binh Province) stated that, after a period of public awareness campaigns and persuasion, some households with houses and properties obstructing the main route have voluntarily dismantled their structures and handed over the land. It is expected that the main route section passing through the district will be fully cleared by December.

According to Mr. Luu Tuan (Ho Chi Minh Highway Project Management Board - the investor), there are only 4 months left for the construction units to implement the project by April 30, 2025. To date, the Van Ninh - Cam Lo project has completed 93% of the road embankment and 70% of the C19 asphalt concrete paving. "We are urging the contractors to continue working day and night to complete the project on schedule," Mr. Tuan said.

At the Tuyen Quang - Ha Giang expressway project, construction is being accelerated to compensate for the time the site was stalled due to the impact of Typhoon No. 3 and its aftermath.

However, many sections passing through Tuyen Quang province are facing difficulties due to fragmented land handover, causing contractors to only carry out construction at a slow pace.

According to a report by the People's Committee of Tuyen Quang province, the project has handed over more than 81.7% of the land, with over 12.7km remaining due to land issues related to forest farms and rice land exceeding the permitted limit, which have been approved by the Prime Minister for conversion to other uses.

Mr. Ha Van Duong, Director of the Land Development Center of Ham Yen district, Tuyen Quang province, said that the district leaders have worked with companies that own land within the forest plantation, and the procedures are currently being finalized.

Staying on schedule despite adverse weather conditions.

Meanwhile, at the Hoai Nhon - Quy Nhon project, in stark contrast to the bustling atmosphere and machinery operating at full capacity previously, a reporter observed many vehicles sitting idle along the route on December 15th. For the past 10 days, continuous rain in Binh Dinh province has hampered construction.

Many component projects of the North-South Expressway Phase 2 are ahead of schedule and have registered to shorten the completion time by 3-6 months (In the photo: Construction of the Hoai Nhon - Quy Nhon Expressway. Currently, the contractor Son Hai has paved 7km of the second layer of asphalt).

Amidst the torrential rain, Mr. Hoang Gia Dai, Head of the Executive Board of Truong Thinh Group for package 12-XL, was still busy handling paperwork, records, and re-counting the volume of work.

In package 12-XL, Truong Thinh Group is responsible for nearly 6km, of which 3.8km requires treatment of weak soil foundations. The monitoring of settlement takes 2 months, preventing significant progress. To date, progress has reached approximately 51%.

The plan is to complete 3,000km of expressways by 2025.

- 15 projects/component projects in Group 1: 10 component projects of the North-South Expressway Phase 2 from Ha Tinh to Khanh Hoa; Lo Te - Rach Soi Expressway; Component Project 3 of the Bien Hoa - Vung Tau Expressway; Ben Luc - Long Thanh Expressway (excluding the 3km section of Phuoc Khanh Bridge); Cao Lan - Lo Te Project; Component Project 7 of the Ho Chi Minh City Ring Road 3.

- 7 projects/sub-projects in group 2: Can Tho - Hau Giang; Hau Giang - Ca Mau; Hoa Lien - Tuy Loan; Sub-project 1 of Ho Chi Minh City Ring Road 3; Sub-projects 1 and 3 of Khanh Hoa - Buon Ma Thuot Expressway; Tuyen Quang - Ha Giang Expressway project via Ha Giang.

- 6 projects/sub-projects in group 3: Sub-projects 1 and 2 of the Bien Hoa - Vung Tau Expressway; Sub-projects 3 and 5 of the Ho Chi Minh City Ring Road 3; the Tuyen Quang - Ha Giang Expressway project via Tuyen Quang; the Cao Lan - An Huu project; Package J3-1 of the Phuoc Khanh Bridge area of ​​the Ben Luc - Long Thanh Expressway.

"For the past 20 days, heavy rains have continued, but the contractors had prepared contingency plans in advance. As a result, although it's difficult to increase production, it hasn't affected the plan," Mr. Dai said.

In this contract, Son Hai Group is responsible for 22km. Although they are the first unit to lay asphalt on the entire project and are leading in terms of progress, worry is still constantly etched on the faces of the site managers.

Nearly 300 workers from the unit have been "waiting for the weather" for days. Tens of thousands of guardrails imported from abroad are awaiting assembly. Road paving work has been forced to halt. The service roads and intersections are still under construction, while manpower and machinery are at a standstill.

"Although the progress is on schedule, the contractor is not allowed to be complacent or negligent. The unit is focusing its resources to complete its portion of the work by mid-2025," a leader of Son Hai's management board at package 12-XL shared.

Similarly, the contractor, Phuc Loc Group Joint Stock Company, required 100% of its staff and workers to be on standby at the construction site throughout the days of heavy rain and flooding to be ready to respond. At the same time, they ensured a sufficient supply of materials so that construction could resume simultaneously on all fronts as soon as the weather improved, preventing any delays in the project's progress.

According to the leaders of Project Management Board 85 (the investor), in addition to focusing on storm and flood prevention, the investor requires contractors to develop construction plans that are appropriate to the weather conditions. As a result, the cumulative output to date has reached over 57% of the contract, exceeding the schedule by 0.07%.

Many tasks need to be completed definitively.

According to Mr. Nguyen The Minh, Deputy Director of the Construction Investment Management Department (Ministry of Transport), there are a total of 28 projects/sub-projects planned for completion in 2025, divided into 3 groups.

Group 1, comprising 15 projects/sub-projects (771km), is largely free of significant difficulties and obstacles. Within this group, many sub-projects of the North-South Expressway Phase 2 are ahead of schedule and have registered to shorten completion times by 3-6 months, such as: Bai Vot - Ham Nghi, Ham Nghi - Vung Ang, Vung Ang - Bung, Bung - Van Ninh, Van Ninh - Cam Lo, Hoai Nhon - Quy Nhon, Quy Nhon - Chi Thanh, Chi Thanh - Van Phong, and Van Phong - Nha Trang.

Specifically, the Quang Ngai - Hoai Nhon component project, which includes a 3.2km tunnel, was scheduled for completion in 2026, but the contractor has already registered to shorten the completion time to 2025 (a reduction of 9 months).

According to Mr. Minh, for the current Group 1 projects, the remaining volume of land clearance and relocation of high-voltage power lines in some projects (Hoai Nhon - Quy Nhon, Van Ninh - Cam Lo, Quy Nhon - Chi Thanh, Chi Thanh - Van Phong, Ben Luc - Long Thanh) is not significant, and investors need to expedite the completion of all work by December 2024.

Furthermore, the Ben Luc - Long Thanh project is behind schedule due to construction organization issues and the rainy season weather conditions in the area, requiring strict control.

Group 2, comprising 7 projects/sub-projects (265km), requires continued focus on resolving difficulties related to land clearance, material sources, and organizing construction in 3 shifts and 4 teams to complete them in 2025.

Although localities such as Dong Nai, Da Nang, and Khanh Hoa have made efforts to hand over more land, land availability remains a bottleneck that needs to be addressed.

Regarding materials, the supply of sand for embankment construction is still facing many difficulties at the Ho Chi Minh City and Can Tho - Ca Mau Ring Road 3 projects, and the volume of sand extracted has not met the construction schedule.

Two projects are facing stone supply shortages: the Hoa Lien - Tuy Loan project and the Tuyen Quang - Ha Giang section passing through Ha Giang province. Contractors are coordinating with local authorities to find alternative sources.

Group 3 comprises 6 projects and the section crossing the Phuoc Khanh bridge, part of the Ben Luc - Long Thanh project (total length 152km). This is the most challenging project, requiring the mobilization of the entire political system by local authorities and managing agencies, along with focused direction and high determination and great effort, to meet the completion deadline in 2025.

In this project group, land clearance work for all projects is not meeting the required schedule (except for the Cao Lanh - An Huu project).

Despite numerous directives from the Prime Minister, the supply of materials for the Bien Hoa - Vung Tau and Ho Chi Minh City Ring Road 3 projects has not met the requirements. If this issue is not resolved definitively to allow for exploitation by December 2024, completion in 2025 will be difficult.

Southern projects accelerate.

In the southern region, construction activity on the Ben Luc - Long Thanh expressway project has resumed. The 57.8km long route, with a total investment of nearly 30,000 billion VND, is being developed by the Vietnam Expressway Investment and Development Corporation (VEC).

To date, significant progress has been made on the route. The 3.4km section from the Trung Luong Expressway interchange to National Highway 1 has been fully completed, and is awaiting the connecting section to the Trung Luong Expressway. Mr. Pham Hong Quang, General Director of VEC, said that this section will be put into operation before Tet (Lunar New Year) without charging tolls.

Meanwhile, the 22km section from the National Highway 1 intersection to Nguyen Van Tao Street is also being constructed at an accelerated pace by contractors. The main section is basically complete, and contractors are currently working on some bridge approaches, expansion joints, and guardrails.

Corporation 319 is one of the units in the consortium constructing package XL-A2.2-4 of the Ben Luc - Long Thanh project. Colonel Khuong Van Thuy, Deputy General Director of Corporation 319, who is in charge of construction supervision at the project, said that the package has a total length of 8.4km.

According to the plan, the asphalt concrete paving work is scheduled to be completed by March 30, 2025, but the unit will mobilize additional manpower and equipment to complete the construction earlier, handing it over to the investor for operation by April 30, 2025.

With the Binh Khanh bridge, one of the two large cable-stayed bridges on this expressway, the contractor is also focusing on construction and is expected to be completed by the end of August 2025.

The Ho Chi Minh City Ring Road 3 project has a total length of 76km, passing through four localities: Ho Chi Minh City, Binh Duong, Dong Nai, and Long An, with a total investment of nearly 75,400 billion VND.

In Dong Nai, after resolving outstanding issues, over 91% of the land has been handed over, and the contractor has mobilized machinery and equipment to carry out construction along the entire route.

The section through Binh Duong currently only reaches 6% of the 2024 plan due to unresolved land acquisition issues. The section through Long An has the best construction progress, reaching over 53%, with all three construction packages exceeding the plan.

Meanwhile, the section passing through Ho Chi Minh City has 4 construction packages that started in June 2023 and have reached an overall progress of over 24%; 6 construction packages that started in early 2024 have reached a progress of about 10%.

Meanwhile, at the Can Tho - Ca Mau project, construction is also proceeding very busily.

According to the My Thuan Project Management Board, as of December 9, 2024, construction output reached 53% of the plan (whereas in August 2024, before the start of the emulation campaign, output only reached 37%).

In terms of land, the localities have handed over 100%, and the entire technical infrastructure system has been relocated.

The total demand for embankment materials for the project is approximately 18.6 million m3, of which the demand until the end of 2024 is 15.12 million m3. Currently, the project has 11.73 million m3. However, due to some mines exceeding the permitted depth, riverbank erosion, or substandard sand quality, it is projected that only about 0.72 million m3 of river sand can be extracted by the end of 2024.

Regarding the remaining quantity shortfall, the Board has worked with Ben Tre province to explore additional sources of sand, and has also requested the contractor to supplement the supply with imported sand from Cambodia and sea sand.

Source: https://www.baogiaothong.vn/cong-truong-cao-toc-sau-4-thang-thi-dua-19224121623055086.htm