Six bidding packages face the "headache" of sand shortages.
The An Giang Provincial leadership has just sent a written response to the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee stating that the province is no longer able to provide sand to Ho Chi Minh City for the Ring Road 3 project. The reason is that all sand resources in An Giang province have already been mobilized and allocated to highway construction projects in the Mekong Delta region. This includes the Chau Doc - Can Tho - Soc Trang expressway (over 9.3 million m³ passing through An Giang province ) , and Hau Giang and Can Tho (7.5 million m³ ) ; and the Can Tho - Ca Mau expressway (7 million m³ ) . In addition, An Giang province's sand resources must also be supplied to socio- economic development, national defense, and security projects within the province until 2025.
Construction on Ho Chi Minh City's Ring Road 3 is proceeding slowly, with concerns about a sand shortage.
Regarding the sand mines proposed by the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee to supply the Ring Road 3 project, including the sand mine on the Hau River (Khanh Hoa commune, Chau Phu district and Phu Hiep commune, Phu Tan district) exploited by Tan Hong Trading Co., Ltd., with a reserve of approximately over 1.1 million m³ , the An Giang provincial leadership stated that all of it has been allocated to the Chau Doc - Can Tho - Soc Trang expressway passing through An Giang province and other projects within the province. In addition, the sand recovered from the Vam Nao River dredging and channel rectification project (in An Giang province), with a reserve of approximately over 3.46 million m³, has also had 3 million m³ allocated to the Chau Doc - Can Tho - Soc Trang expressway section passing through the province and the Can Tho - Ca Mau expressway, with the remaining volume supplied to projects within An Giang province.
According to An Giang province leaders, "providing sand for the Ho Chi Minh City Ring Road 3 project is very difficult, and An Giang province is no longer able to provide support," stated a document signed by Ms. Nguyen Thi Minh Thuy, Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of An Giang province. This is the second time An Giang province has refused a request for sand support for the Ring Road 3 project. Earlier this year, when the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee urgently mobilized construction materials from eight provinces for this project before the preparatory phase, the investor of the Ho Chi Minh City Ring Road 3, the Ho Chi Minh City Investment and Construction Project Management Board for Transportation Works (Transportation Board), also calculated that they would ask An Giang province to support about 30% of the 50% shortage of sand for embankment (leveling sand) and nearly 30% of the remaining construction sand (along with mobilization from Ba Ria-Vung Tau province), but this was also refused by the province on the grounds that priority should be given to key local projects.
Following the latest feedback from An Giang province, the Ring Road 3 project is in an extremely difficult situation. After more than 5 months since its commencement, construction work is currently progressing very slowly. The section of the road passing through Ho Chi Minh City, over 47 km long with a total investment of over 41,000 billion VND, was started in mid-June with 4 construction packages, but the volume of work completed to date is still very small.
According to the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Transport, contractors are currently mobilizing personnel, equipment, and materials to construct some auxiliary works, service roads, bored piles, etc. This year, the project was allocated 7,600 billion VND but only over 1,500 billion VND has been disbursed, reaching nearly 21%. It is expected that the remaining 6 main construction packages of the Ring Road 3 project through Ho Chi Minh City will commence at the end of the year.
However, the current supply of sand for road embankment is short by about 20% compared to the total project demand. Meanwhile, some quarries have stopped supplying or are only supplying to expressway projects along the north-south and south-northeast axes, as well as provincial projects. When expressway projects are simultaneously implemented, especially in the latter part of the year – the time when the bidding process for the remaining 6 construction packages is completed – the supply of sand for embankment will be at risk of shortage, affecting the project's construction progress within the city.
A series of key national projects are awaiting materials.
Not only the Ho Chi Minh City Ring Road 3, but also other national key projects are facing significant challenges due to shortages of land, sand, and other construction materials. For example, the My Thuan - Can Tho expressway is in its final stages of construction, with workers operating in three shifts and four teams to ensure it is operational before December 31st, but the access roads are still lacking approximately 92,000 m³ of sand for embankment.
The My Thuan Project Management Board and contractors proactively sought sand supplies from local areas in the region, but were unable to meet the demand and still lacked approximately 44,000 m³ of sand. Minister of Transport Nguyen Van Thang worked with the leaders of An Giang, Dong Thap, and Vinh Long provinces and requested the People's Committee of An Giang province to consider continuing to supply 44,000 m³ of sand for the project.
The My Thuan - Can Tho expressway project is also affected due to a shortage of materials.
Similarly, in the Can Tho - Hau Giang and Hau Giang - Ca Mau sections of the project, contractors organized 140 construction teams, mobilized 440 pieces of machinery and equipment, and 1,072 engineers and workers. However, after more than 11 months since the commencement of construction, the output only reached 13% of the contract value due to a shortage of sand for road embankment. Therefore, the contractor could only carry out construction of bridge sections along the route and excavate unsuitable soil, build embankments, and construct service roads and temporary bridges…
Representatives from the Ministry of Transport acknowledged that the issue of construction materials is one of the biggest challenges facing the transport sector. Every project is urgent and requires a race against time. In principle, a shortage of construction materials is the responsibility of the contractor, because having signed the contract and provided a price quote, they must meet the quality and deadlines as committed. However, this is a national mineral resource, and in practice, implementation is fraught with difficulties, overlaps, and complex issues. Therefore, with the common goal of quickly completing the project, the Ministry must work closely with the contractor. "The Ministry of Transport and the Project Management Boards have weekly, even daily, meetings, but the reality of implementation is extremely complex," the Ministry of Transport representative stated.
In fact, government leaders have repeatedly inspected the projects directly, worked with local authorities, and issued directives requesting focused efforts to resolve difficulties regarding construction materials for the projects, but to no avail.
With the National Assembly recently passing a Resolution piloting some specific policies on investment in road construction projects and a specific pilot mechanism on the exploitation of mineral resources for common materials, the procedures for granting permits for material exploitation at mines can be shortened by about 8-10 months, expected to remove bottlenecks and help accelerate the implementation of projects.
Mr. Luong Minh Phuc, Director of the Transport Department, said that next week, the Materials Team of Ho Chi Minh City will work with the provinces to discuss and agree on this issue. The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Transport has also proposed to the City People's Committee to continue requesting the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment to report to the competent authorities and to take the lead in working with the People's Committees of the provinces to coordinate and implement specific volume commitments at mineral mines in the provinces to serve the Ring Road 3 project. At the same time, it has requested the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, and the Ministry of Science and Technology to soon issue standards for the use of sea sand for highway projects, addressing the current shortage of sand for embankment materials.
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