Request extension of many mines for construction materials for the Northern Expressway

On March 2, the Ministry of Transport (MOT) sent an urgent document to the Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister, and Head of the Government Office regarding the extension of the exploitation of earth fill mines for the Vinh Hao - Phan Thiet section investment and construction component project.

Accordingly, the Vinh Hao - Phan Thiet section investment project belongs to the Project to build some expressway sections on the North - South East route, phase 2017 - 2020. This is the subject to apply the special mechanism according to Resolution No. 60 and Resolution No. 133 of the Government on licensing common construction material mines for contractors to exploit and supply for the Project.

In the Resolution, the Government has allowed the contractor to exploit until there is enough volume of minerals to supply common construction materials for the Project.

Implementing the Government's Resolutions, the People's Committee of Binh Thuan province has granted exploitation licenses to 6 mines to contractors with an exploitation period until December 10, 2022 according to the initial progress of the signed construction contracts.

For example, Binh An mine was granted to Package XL02, Hon Lup was granted to Package XL03, Song Khieng mine, Phu Thai village mine, Ham Tri commune, Lam Giang village mine, Ham Tri commune, and Hamlet 2 mine, Ham Can commune were granted to Package XL04.

However, due to some objective reasons (COVID-19 pandemic, adverse weather conditions), the implementation period of the bidding packages must be extended to April 30, 2023 and the exploitation period of the soil mines must be extended.

Not to mention, the construction contractors are not professional units performing mineral exploitation work, do not have a detailed understanding of the procedures for extension and do not anticipate objective factors, unusual weather conditions, so the application for extension of the License is submitted later than the time specified in Decree No. 158/2016 of the Government on the contractor must submit a complete application for extension of the Mineral Exploitation License to the receiving agency when the Mineral Exploitation License is still valid for at least 45 days. As a result, the People's Committee of Binh Thuan province has not yet carried out the extension.

Regarding the above issue, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment stated that the extension of material mines is under the authority of the Government.

Also according to the Ministry of Transport, the remaining earthwork demand of the Project is about 920,000m3. Due to the lack of an extension, from December 10, 2022 to now (about 80 days), contractors do not have earthwork materials for construction, machinery, equipment, and mobilized human resources have to wait, causing waste.

With the remaining volume, if from the beginning of March 2023 there is fill soil and the contractor implements construction in "3 shifts - 4 teams", the Project can be completed on April 30, 2023, while the mine extension procedure takes at least about 1 month.

Therefore, to avoid waste and damage to contractors, and at the same time have soil materials to complete construction packages before April 30, 2023, the Ministry of Transport proposed that the Prime Minister consider approving the inclusion in the Resolution of the regular Government meeting in February 2023 of a number of measures to remove difficulties.

In particular, the People's Committee of Binh Thuan province is allowed to carry out procedures to extend 6 licenses for exploiting earth fill mines applied according to the specific mechanism of Resolution No. 60 to serve the construction of the Vinh Hao - Phan Thiet section investment component project until the completion of the project without considering the time of submitting the application for extension.

In addition, it is recommended that the Government allow contractors to exploit soil mines to serve the construction of the Project during the extension procedures.

Assign the People's Committee of Binh Thuan province to direct relevant departments, branches and units to urgently extend the License for exploiting earth fill mines; assign investors and contractors to ensure that the exploitation of earth fill mines is only to supply and serve the construction of the Project, and at the same time work with the People's Committee of Binh Thuan province on the extension period to ensure that the exploitation of earth fill materials is not interrupted during the construction of the bid packages.

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