From the sharing of a construction contractor participating in the Ho Chi Minh City Belt 3 project, contacting 3 backfilling sand suppliers in Dong Nai, Tien Giang and An Giang. All suppliers quote prices for leveling sand with impurities below 15% that can be used to build road bases. The price to Ho Chi Minh City is from 285.000 VND/m³ or more and is the price without tax.
Compared to October 10, the current price of leveling sand of the same standard type increased by nearly 2023%. Because of participating in many projects at the same time, if each year using 50 million m³ of sand, the construction contractor will definitely lose 1 billion VND compared to the time of signing the contract, representative of a traffic contractor in Binh Chanh district. (HCMC) shared.
Mr. Le Thanh Tung, Head of Project Executive Committee 4, Ho Chi Minh City Urban Infrastructure Department, said that the project to renovate the Tham Luong - Ben Cat canal currently requires 1,8 million m³ of sand to build roads on both sides. However, currently the contractor reported that there is still no plan to ensure enough volume.
High sand prices and scarcity cause many construction material yards to only focus on trading in rough construction sand and concrete sand instead of filling sand.
Along the construction site, the contractor added equipment and more workers to soon complete the process of building pre-stressed concrete piles tens of kilometers long along the canal bank. However, the time to move on to the road construction project on both sides is near, but where the volume of sand must be collected from is still an unsolved problem.
According to Mr. Le Ngoc Hung, Deputy Director of Ho Chi Minh City Traffic Projects Management Board, many mines are stopping supply or only supplying vertical and horizontal highway projects and local projects. The entire southern region is implementing many large transportation projects at the same time, so the source of sand for foundation is in short supply. In the previous period, construction contractors depended on large sand mines in Dong Thap and An Giang. When these mines encounter legal problems, they cannot change suppliers in time.
Currently, Ring Road 3 of Ho Chi Minh City needs more than 9 million m³ of sand. In 2024 alone, 7 million m³ of sand is needed, right in the second quarter. Although three localities have committed to sharing sand resources, localities have also implemented many traffic projects. There are times when sharing is not possible. Ho Chi Minh City needs to be ready for another option, which is to use sand. If before June this year, the Ministry of Transport officially announces the process and standards on sea sand for highway construction, Ho Chi Minh City will urgently apply it to Belt 3.
Among the localities that Ho Chi Minh City has worked with, Dong Thap is a province that is almost impossible to support because this year, there are 4 projects with a total investment of about 15.000 billion VND that will be constructed, including highway projects: Cao Lanh - Lo Te, Cao Lanh - An Huu, My An - Cao Lanh, National Highway 30 upgrade project phase 3.
Mr. Ho Thanh Phuong, Director of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of Dong Thap province, said that river sand sediment reserves on the Tien and Hau rivers are gradually decreasing, while the province's planning for the period 2021 - 2030, with a vision to 2050, has not been implemented. approval, including planning of sand mining area. Therefore, the province will take advantage of specific mechanisms for sand mines to increase exploitation capacity. Currently, the whole province only has 12 mining licenses, so it can only meet about 2,7 million m³. Dong Thap can only give top priority to the expressway project under the direction of the Government, the remaining quantity is supplied to key local projects.
Similarly, a representative of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of Ben Tre province said that they are also waiting for approval of the Provincial Planning for the period 2021 - 2030, with a vision to 2050 and will put 6 sand mines into bidding. If these 6 mines operate, they will be able to meet the supply in the province, and sharing with localities will also be quite basic. It is necessary to soon use sea sand to partially replace river sand in coastal transport infrastructure projects or saline areas.
Mr. Le Duc Tuan, Deputy Director of My Thuan Project Management Board, said that this unit is directly piloting the use of sea sand to construct a return road about 300m long of Provincial Road 978 at the Hau Giang component project. - Ca Mau. After a period of pilot testing and monitoring since the end of March 3 until now, initial results show that the physical and mechanical indicators of sea sand samples basically meet regulatory requirements. We expect sea sand will soon be approved, allowing the use of highway embankment in saline conditions similar to the pilot area, bringing the project to the finish line on schedule, Mr. Tuan shared.
