The Government Office has just issued a communication conveying the opinion of Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha on the supply of sand for the Can Tho – Ca Mau expressway project.
Accordingly, Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha requested the Chairman of the People’s Committee of the provinces: An Giang, Dong Thap, Vinh Long to consider, resolve according to their authority, and in accordance with the regulations of the law regarding the issuance of “Confirmation Documents” for 6 sand mines submitted in the dossier by the contractors to fulfill their tax and fee obligations and be able to exploit in February 2024 (An Giang province – 5 mines, Vinh Long province – 1 mine).
The People’s Committee of An Giang province needs to proactively handle procedures for 5 mines that have completed the procedures by the contractors. Along with that, support the contractors to maximize the operating capacity of equipment, vehicles, and the operating time during the day to ensure the production capacity of exploitation.
At the same time, based on the actual exploitation situation of the mines that have been granted for the project, review and evaluate the approved environmental impact to consider adjusting and increasing the exploitation capacity of the sand mines if conditions are met.
Can Tho – Ca Mau expressway lacks sand, affecting the progress of the project.
The Deputy Prime Minister requested the localities to review the sand mines being exploited, the new mines in the area (especially An Giang and Vinh Long provinces), prioritize the renewal of mines and increase the capacity to supply for the project and allocate new mines to the contractors to carry out the exploitation procedures to ensure enough capacity to supply the construction site with the sand quantity assigned by the Prime Minister by June 30, 2024.
In addition, the Deputy Prime Minister assigned the People’s Committee of Trà Vinh and Sóc Trăng provinces to direct the relevant departments, agencies to closely coordinate with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, the investor, and the contractors to carry out the procedures for allocating sea sand mines to the contractors for exploitation in accordance with the specific mechanism stated in the resolutions of the National Assembly and the Government.
The People’s Committees of the provinces with sand material sources for embankment (Tien Giang, Sóc Trăng, Trà Vinh, Bến Tre…) shall support the investor and the contractors in accessing and surveying the river sand and sea sand mines in the province.
The Can Tho – Ca Mau expressway project, which started at the beginning of 2023, has only achieved over 20% of the contract value in terms of construction volume (reaching over VND 3,800 billion out of VND 18,800 billion). The main reason for the slow progress is the lack of sand material for road foundation.
According to the representative of the investor, the total sand demand for the project is very large (about 18.4 million m3). However, the actual licensed mines and the exploitation capacity of the mines are very limited, so they cannot meet the project’s progress requirements.
