3 Cambodian companies could sell billions of cubic meters of sand for southern expressway projects

Chaktomuk Cambodia, Sok Theara, Global Green Energy companies are licensed by the Cambodian Ministry of Mines and Energy to exploit about 1.39 billion cubic meters of sand on the Mekong and Bassac rivers, which can be sold to southern expressway projects.

Cambodia's sand is enough for southern provinces to build expressways
Faced with the shortage of filling materials on many southern expressways, Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha has just requested the Ministry of Transport to urgently develop a master plan for filling material needs for projects, coordinate with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment to coordinate material sources for each project, and meet the construction progress according to the direction of the Government leaders. The Deputy Prime Minister also assigned the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee, investors, and contractors of projects to study the import of sand as construction materials for the projects.

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Cambodia has large sand reserves of up to billions of cubic meters on the Mekong River (flowing into Vietnam as the Tien River) and the Bassac River (flowing into Vietnam as the Hau River). And currently, Cambodia does not grant licenses to foreign enterprises to exploit sand, only granting licenses to 3 domestic enterprises to exploit.

Specifically, the Cambodian Ministry of Mines and Energy has granted licenses to Chaktomuk Cambodia Company to exploit 3 sand mines on the Mekong River, 18km, 22km and 45km from Vinh Xuong border gate (An Giang), respectively.

The exploited reserves of these 3 mines are about 680 million cubic meters. Currently, Chaktomuk Cambodia Company exports 40,000 - 60,000m3 of sand to about 15 - 20 Vietnamese companies every day.

Similarly, Global Green Energy Company is licensed to operate sand mines with reserves of about 500 million m3 of sand, exporting about 10,000 m3 of sand to 2-3 Vietnamese companies per day.

Meanwhile, Sok Theara Company is licensed to operate sand mines with reserves of more than 200 million m3, but has not yet exported to Vietnam.

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Cambodian companies often sell sand to Vietnamese companies at buoy No. 0 of Vinh Xuong international waterway border gate.

From 2021 to 2023 and in the first 4 months of 2024, Cambodian companies have exported about 23.6 million m3 of sand to Vietnam.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade assessed that Cambodia's sand reserves for filling and construction are quite abundant, and can provide enough for the immediate and long-term needs of the southern provinces. Sand exports from Cambodia to Vietnam are taking place normally, without any problems.

Series of Southern Expressway projects lack sand
Regarding the demand for sand for filling key transport projects in the West and the Ho Chi Minh City Ring Road 3 project, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment said that the demand for sand for filling the Ho Chi Minh City Ring Road 3 is about 9.3 million m3, about 6 million m3 in 2024 alone.

To date, the volume of sand from domestic mines committed to supply for the Ho Chi Minh City Ring Road 3 project has reached about 7 million m3, still lacking about 2.3 million m3.

For the North-South Expressway project in the east, the Can Tho - Ca Mau section, the demand for sand for filling the project is about 19 million m3. Regarding the supply of materials for the project, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment said that An Giang, Dong Thap, and Vinh Long provinces have committed to providing about 16 million m3, with the remaining 3 million m3 yet to be identified.

At the Chau Doc - Can Tho - Soc Trang expressway investment project, component project 1 requires about 9.3 million m3 of sand for embankment, and has so far arranged about 5.9 million m3, compared to the remaining shortage of about 3.4 million m3.

For component project 2 through Can Tho, the demand for sand for filling is about 5.3 million m3, which has not been arranged. For component project 3 through Hau Giang, the demand for sand is about 6 million m3, with a shortage of about 3.4 million m3. For component project 4, the demand for sand is about 7.5 million m3, and enough filling materials have been arranged.

For the Cao Lanh - An Huu expressway project, the demand for sand for filling is about 3.5 million m3, up to now, 3 million m3 of sand for filling has been arranged, there is still a shortage of about 0.5 million m3.

And for the My An - Cao Lanh expressway project, the demand for sand for filling the foundation is about 3.1 million m3. Currently, Dong Thap province is committed to providing enough sand for filling the foundation for the project.

Source: Tuoi Tre Newspaper