According to Mr. Le Tien Dung, in Can Tho, the demand for sand used as a roadbed for the following routes: Western Ring Road, provincial roads 918, 921, 923 requires approximately 2.1 million cubic meters of sand. However, these projects have currently only arranged for about 30% of the sand demand, with the remainder still being sought and proving very difficult to obtain.
“The price of sand when the estimate was made was about 200,000 VND/cubic meter, while the current market price is over 300,000 VND/cubic meter but is very scarce,” said Mr. Dung.
The Director of the Can Tho Department of Transport added that for the two expressway projects passing through Can Tho: the North – South Expressway (Can Tho – Ca Mau section) and the Chau Doc – Can Tho – Soc Trang horizontal axis expressway, a mechanism has been established to assign mines for sand exploitation.
For the Can Tho – Ca Mau expressway passing through Can Tho, there is a demand for 800,000 cubic meters of sand. The My Thuan Project Management Board (Ministry of Transport, representing the investor) has currently balanced sufficient resources from sand mines in An Giang and Dong Thap.
Meanwhile, the Chau Doc – Can Tho – Soc Trang expressway (37.5km long through the city area) requires 5.3 million cubic meters of sand for the roadbed. However, only one mine in Binh Phuoc Xuan commune (Cho Moi district, An Giang province) has been granted, with a reserve of 2.4 million cubic meters of sand. The remaining quantity has yet to be balanced.
“Currently, the department and the investor are coordinating with relevant departments and localities in the region to examine the remaining sand mines to support these projects,” informed Mr. Dung.