Lack of materials, will Bien Hoa-Vung Tau expressway 'pull back' the target of 3,000km of expressway?

(Chinhphu.vn) - The Bien Hoa-Vung Tau Expressway construction project, phase 1, is facing difficulties in site clearance and lack of construction materials. If the locality does not promptly resolve the issue, the project will be difficult to complete by the end of this year...

According to the report of the Ministry of Construction, the Bien Hoa-Vung Tau Expressway project is divided into 3 component projects. Up to now, component project 1 has handed over 105.61/137.6ha, about 77%; there are still 548 households that have not approved the compensation plan.

Location and material bottlenecks
Component project 2 has handed over 167.48/180.47ha; reaching 92.8%; There are still some locations that have not been handed over the land (underpass for people at Km24+182, pillar T5, 6,7 of branch line N7, ...) which are the bottlenecks of the project. Component project 3 has completed the land clearance and handed over 100% of the area.

The Ministry of Construction commented: The resettlement areas serving the land clearance of Component projects 1 and 2 are still slow, if not completed in March 2025, the progress will not be guaranteed.

In addition to the land issue, the source of construction materials for the project is also seriously lacking, affecting the implementation of construction.

Specifically, Component project 1 needs 2.11 million m3 of land, 0.31 million m3 of land has been brought to the construction site; has been licensed, qualified to exploit 0.2 million m3; there is still a shortage of 1.6 million m3 of land to complete the embankment work in May 2025; Current exploitation capacity is about 800m3/day while the required capacity is up to 20,000m3/day.

Component project 2 requires 3.2 million m3 of soil, currently 0.33 million m3 of soil has been brought to the construction site; there is still a shortage of 2.9 million m3 of soil to complete the embankment work in May 2025; has been licensed, qualified to exploit 1.3 million m3; contractors have requested Dong Nai province to grant exploitation licenses to supply enough of the 1.6 million m3 missing for the project. Current exploitation capacity is about 10,000m3/day while the required capacity is 36,000m3/day

In addition to soil materials, Bien Hoa-Vung Tau expressway component projects are also lacking stone materials for construction such as Component project 1 is short of about 0.628 million m3; Component 2 lacks about 0.782 million m3.

Regarding construction, Component 1 consists of 2 construction packages, with an output of about 550/2,850 billion VND, reaching 18%, 10% behind schedule. Of which, the bridge section is under construction with 7/14 bridges reaching 50%; 8/34 cross-road culverts; 3/7 underpasses for people. The route has dug the roadbed for 8/16km; crushed stone aggregate for 2/16km; road surface for 1/16km.

Divided into 2 construction packages, Component 2 has an output of about 1,194.1/4,279 billion VND, reaching 27.92%, 4.56% behind schedule. Contractors are implementing bridge construction, digging the roadbed, and treating weak soil; aggregate roadbed gravel and road surface construction...

Component 3 project has only one construction package, the progress has reached 71% of the construction value of the contract, striving to open the technical traffic on April 30, 2025 (shortened by about 8 months), ensuring completion in June 2025.

Need local involvement
Component 1 and Component 2 projects can be completed in 2025 if Dong Nai province completes all site clearance and relocation of technical infrastructure before March 30; completes the licensing of roadbed fill mines with sufficient reserves to serve the project before March 15, 2025 to promptly meet the project's remaining fill needs; completes the allocation of stone sources for the project to promptly meet the contractor's construction stone needs.

On that basis, the Ministry of Construction requested the People's Committee of Dong Nai province to direct relevant agencies and units to focus on removing obstacles to hand over priority locations at bottlenecks of Component Project 1 in March and the remaining locations in April 2025; hand over the entire site of Component Project 2 this March.

Dong Nai province accelerates the construction progress of resettlement areas; arranges temporary residence and provides support according to regulations to ensure stable lives for affected households; directs relevant units to ensure the completion of relocation work in March 2025.

Especially for the 500KV line at Song Vac bridge, although the investor has studied and adjusted the technical design solutions with the goal of constructing the maximum volume of items, if the relocation is not completed before August 2025, there will not be enough time to complete the project on schedule and will not ensure the operating conditions due to violations of safe clearance.

"The goal of having 3,000km of expressway nationwide by 2025 remains unchanged. The competent authorities have directed investors and contractors to organize construction in '3 shifts, 4 teams' to compensate for the slow progress, ensuring the completion of the project in accordance with the direction of the Prime Minister," affirmed the leader of the Ministry of Construction.

The Bien Hoa-Vung Tau Expressway construction project phase 1 has a total project length of about 53.7km (Dong Nai province about 34.2km; Ba Ria-Vung Tau province about 19.5km), the scale of phase 1 is from 4-6 lanes, the expansion phase ensures the scale of 6-8 lanes. The preliminary total investment is 17,837 billion VND.

The project is divided into 3 component projects including: Component project 1 is 16km long, with a total approved investment of 6,012 billion VND, managed by Dong Nai province. Component project 2 is about 18.2km long, with a total approved investment of 6,852 billion VND, managed by the Ministry of Construction. Component project 3 is about 19.5km long, with a total approved investment of 4,964 billion VND, managed by Ba Ria-Vung Tau province.

Source: Government Electronic Newspaper