This morning (September 27), the Ministry of Construction held a scientific workshop to evaluate solutions for effective use of construction materials in the construction of transport infrastructure works.
Mr. Dao Ngoc Thanh - Chairman of the Board of Directors of Vinaconex Joint Stock Company said that this enterprise is implementing many key traffic projects. Among them, the North-South Expressway project in the East, through survey, the licensed material mines have small remaining reserves. To use the new mine, it is necessary to auction the right to exploit minerals, which will take 7-9 months to complete. Enterprises are very concerned about the impact on the project's progress.
“To meet the schedule, we propose that the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment consider and report to the Government and the National Assembly to issue a special mechanism for the exploitation of earth fill materials. Because this is a common material but is managed by the Law on Minerals. In addition, we propose that localities allow contractors to conduct exploitation work in parallel and submit procedures for approval until they are granted an exploitation license on the basis of ensuring safety in all aspects,” Mr. Thanh emphasized.
A representative of Deo Ca Group shared that the company is implementing many packages of the North-South Expressway, phase 2, Quang Ngai - Hoai Nhon, Chi Thanh - Van Phong; Cam Lam - Vinh Hao... Currently, the company is facing many difficulties related to construction materials.
Specifically, the contractor has not yet organized the survey and prepared the documents for the material mine licensing in sync with the project approval. As a result, the project has not been able to start construction immediately after it has started because it has to wait for the licensing procedures. Or, for projects in the West with weak geology, saline intrusion, limited sand and soil mines, they have to import from Cambodia, the long transportation distance leads to high costs.
“We recommend that management agencies speed up research and issue regulations on using sea sand to build roadbeds, in order to find alternative solutions,” emphasized the representative of Deo Ca Group.
According to experts, through surveys, the sand source from river sand mining in the Mekong Delta region only meets about 55 - 60% of the construction needs. Therefore, the research on using sea sand as a construction material is very urgent.
The demand for sand for roadbed construction for expressway projects in the Mekong Delta region starting in the period of 2022 - 2025 is up to 40 million m3. Of which, about 17 million m3 is needed in 2023, and about 23 million m3 in 2024 - 2025.
With two North-South expressway component projects, Can Tho - Hau Giang and Hau Giang - Ca Mau sections, according to calculations, the total demand for roadbed sand for construction is about 18.5 million m3.
In 2023, the demand for materials for the two component projects is about 11 million m3. However, currently, localities only have a policy to arrange about 3 million m3 in 2023, meeting only about 30% of the demand.
Mr. Nguyen Van Sinh - Deputy Minister of Construction said that currently, traffic infrastructure projects in general and highway projects in particular require a large amount of soil (sand). Meanwhile, mines are not enough to meet the demand. Therefore, currently, many organizations, individuals and scientists are researching the use of alternative materials to river sand in traffic infrastructure projects such as sea sand, thermal power ash; or researching the use of reinforced concrete overpasses to replace part of the embankment to take advantage of the ability to supply large volumes of cement and steel domestically. The Ministry of Construction also has a research project on using sea sand to replace soil and river sand, expected to be completed by the end of 2024 and submitted to competent authorities for consideration.
Need special mechanism
According to Dr. Le Van Cu, Director of the Institute of Construction Economics, when analyzing and evaluating the effectiveness of expressway construction investment projects, it is necessary to use the method of comparing and synthesizing indicators reflecting the economic, social, environmental and other factors of the project (benefit-cost analysis method). According to this method, the cost of the project is the cost of the entire project life cycle (construction investment costs, management and exploitation).
However, using this method requires sufficient data and data for calculation. While the data on actual investment costs are quite specific, the actual data on management and operation costs are very limited; especially the management and operation costs of reinforced concrete overpasses of expressways. Therefore, it is necessary to choose a more appropriate approach for analysis and evaluation.
In addition, experts and construction contractors all believe that there should be a specific mechanism for materials in traffic infrastructure projects, instead of having to apply according to the Law on Minerals to reduce the procedures for applying for mining licenses; Supplementing the construction time of expressway packages must include the time for applying for material mining licenses; Allowing contractors to conduct mining work in parallel and submit procedures for approval until being granted mining licenses on the basis of ensuring safety and environmental hygiene conditions;
In particular, for areas where conventional filling materials are scarce, research on the use of sea sand as filling material needs to be conducted and tested carefully, avoiding hasty conclusions that affect the quality and life of the project; Research on viaduct design solutions to ensure feasibility, stability and long-term sustainability. Although the construction investment cost is relatively high, in return it will solve the problem of supply difficulties, minimize the impact on the environment when exploiting filling materials and reduce site clearance costs...
The Prime Minister has approved the Road Network Planning for the 2021-2030 period, with a vision to 2050, with the goal of completing the construction of about 5,000 km of expressways by 2030; by 2050, the planned expressway network will include 41 routes with a total length of about 9,014 km.
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