"Thirst" for construction materials in Thanh Hoa

Speaking to reporters, a representative of a construction company in Thanh Hoa City said: Recently, the prices of construction materials in Thanh Hoa province from soil for filling, construction stone, sand, gravel, etc. have all increased significantly compared to the price frame issued by the authorities.

In the past, construction stones were congested and piled up at quarries, but now, to buy stones, you have to drive trucks to line up, one truck goes out, another truck puts the truck's body on the conveyor belt, and the crusher picks up the stones as it goes. Not only stones, unburnt bricks were approved for prices from 1,300 VND - 1,400 VND/piece, but now they have increased to 1,700 VND - 1,800 VND/piece...

The increase in construction material prices and scarcity has significantly affected the progress of projects.

Regarding sand, the price of sand has increased "skyrocketingly", it is scarce everywhere, construction enterprises in Thanh Hoa have to go to Nghe An to buy sand, each cubic meter of construction sand costs over 500,000 VND/m3, now there is no sand to buy. The representative of this enterprise also pointed out some shortcomings in the process of pricing construction materials. This person gave an example, mine A has an annual exploitation reserve of 100,000m3, only a few enterprises need to buy to run out of reserves, but dozens of other enterprises still use the price of this mine to set prices and get approval, regardless of whether the reserves of the above mine are exhausted or not?! In addition, even though the price range is approved, the mining enterprise can sell much higher than the listed price, those who do not buy, then forget it!

At the conference to comprehensively assess mineral activities in Thanh Hoa province, Mr. Cao Tien Doan - Chairman of Thanh Hoa Province Business Association, said: "According to feedback from members of the association, the price of land for leveling has increased by 20 - 30%, construction sand has increased by 30 - 40% and construction stone has increased by 5 - 10%. This fluctuation not only directly affects the operation of enterprises but also slows down the progress of many key public investment projects, causing difficulties and huge losses for enterprises". Mr. Doan also emphasized that it is worth noting that the current price adjustment mechanism is still slow, inadequate and untimely. Material prices are increasing rapidly, but the price list is announced too slowly and is not close to reality.

Also at the conference, Mr. Cao Van Cuong - Director of the Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources of Thanh Hoa province said that Thanh Hoa province currently has 616 planned mineral mines, of which 557 are under the licensing authority of the Provincial People's Committee and 59 are under the licensing authority of the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment. Up to now, the whole province has 344 licensed mines, of which 17 are licensed by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (now the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment) and 327 are licensed by the Provincial People's Committee (the remaining mineral reserves of the mines are about 43.6 million m3 of fill; 3.6 million m3 of sand and 163.6 million m3 of stone).

The Director of the Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources of Thanh Hoa province assessed: In recent years, mineral exploitation activities in the province, especially minerals for common construction materials, have been led, directed, and implemented by all levels, sectors, and localities, achieving many important results, basically meeting the demand for construction materials for construction works and projects in the province, providing materials for people to build, renovate houses, build new rural areas... contributing to the provincial budget annually from 900 to 1,000 billion VND.

However, mineral activities in the province have had many shortcomings in recent times, with three issues emerging: From the beginning of 2025 until now, the prices of many types of construction materials in the province have fluctuated sharply and have not complied with the price announcements of the authorities, mainly focusing on three groups of construction materials: landfill, stone and sand, especially the price of sand has increased by about 30% compared to the end of 2024.

Some projects are under construction but there is no source of material mines near the project area, so materials must be purchased from far away, with high transportation costs, leading to high material prices at the construction site, affecting project progress as well as business production efficiency of the enterprise.

Many mineral exploitation and processing projects have committed violations, such as: Exploitation beyond the boundary, exceeding capacity, not in accordance with the design; not fully implementing environmental protection measures; not declaring the correct mining output; selling at the wrong listed price; transporting materials causing smoke, dust, environmental pollution, and damage to roads.

Notably, the situation of illegal mineral exploitation is complicated, especially river sand and landfill. The work of assessing and forecasting the supply and demand of construction materials in the province is not regular and not accurate; the list of mineral exploitation and processing projects has not been built annually to auction the right to exploit and supply construction materials for works and projects in the province. The above-mentioned shortcomings and violations in mineral activities have affected production and business activities, affecting the supply of materials for projects in the province, some cases causing public opinion and indignation among the people.

Faced with the above situations, Thanh Hoa Provincial Party Secretary Nguyen Doan Anh requested the Provincial People's Committee and leaders of provincial departments, agencies, districts, towns, and cities; leaders of the Provincial Business Association, mineral exploitation and processing enterprises; enterprises and construction contractors using minerals as construction materials in the province to analyze and clarify issues in licensing management and management of mineral exploitation and processing activities.

At the same time, it pointed out the shortcomings, problems and causes; thereby proposing fundamental solutions both in the short term and in the long term, in order to put mineral activities in the province into order and develop sustainably. The Secretary also requested the leaders of the Provincial Business Association; mineral exploitation and processing enterprises; enterprises and contractors using minerals as construction materials in the province to discuss to come up with appropriate and harmonious construction material prices so that material prices do not become higher than those in other provinces nationwide.

Along with that, it is necessary to coordinate well between the government and enterprises in removing market bottlenecks, contributing to the development of the province. Enterprises also requested the Provincial People's Committee to balance the reserves of mines that must be supplied, avoiding the shortage of construction materials for projects, leading to contractors having to buy floating materials from spontaneous, unlicensed mines at high prices, substandard products, causing disruption and damage to businesses...

According to the reporter's investigation, one of the reasons why common construction materials in Thanh Hoa province have recently increased in price and become scarce is because recently, Thanh Hoa Provincial Police and the Department of Economic Crime Investigation, Ministry of Public Security have discovered, arrested, and prosecuted many construction material mine owners in Thanh Hoa who violated the law in mineral exploitation activities.

Therefore, many related construction material mines were temporarily suspended for investigation and handling according to the provisions of law. In addition, Thanh Hoa province also has a plan to inspect all mineral exploitation activities of licensed mines in the area. With the participation of functional agencies, construction material mines showing signs of violating the law such as exploitation not in accordance with approved designs, exploitation exceeding reserves, exploitation beyond boundaries... have all been temporarily suspended!

Source: https://cand.com.vn/Xa-hoi/khat-vat-lieu-xay-dung-o-thanh-hoa-i768021/