Construction across the North-South Expressway

This shows the efforts and determination of the investor, staff, workers and contractors in completing the projects and soon promoting the socio-economic efficiency of the project.

The component project of the North-South Eastern Expressway Project Phase 1 (2017-2020) My Thuan - Can Tho must be completed in 2023. Due to the limited construction time left, contractors at the project are racing to reach the finish line.

Mr. Le Ba Trung, Commander of the XL02 package (Truong Son Construction Corporation) said that the XL02 package was constructed by the Joint Venture of Truong Son Construction Corporation - Cienco 4 Group Joint Stock Company; in which Truong Son Construction Corporation undertook 58% of the volume, equivalent to 400 billion VND. Up to this point, Truong Son Construction Corporation has completed the construction with an output value of about 250 billion VND, equal to 62.5% of the volume undertaken by the unit.

“According to the direction of the Ministry of Transport and the My Thuan Project Management Board, the project must be completed in 2023. Because Truong Son Construction Corporation is undertaking the construction of about 5 km of the road, under the condition of treating weak soil with wicking and loading solutions, it will not be until the beginning of June 2023 that the conditions for road surface construction are met, the pressure in the final stage is very high. Therefore, on the occasion of the National Day holiday on September 2 this year, all officers and employees of the unit were determined to celebrate the ceremony,” Mr. Le Ba Trung shared.

During this holiday, the staff and workers of Truong Son Construction Corporation still maintain 100% of the staff, organize overtime and increase shifts. Currently, the contractor has mobilized 77 locomotives and equipment. Since the beginning of June, the contractor has organized construction in 3 shifts and 4 shifts, achieving 2,000/5,000md of crushed stone aggregate foundation.

Meanwhile, the Dien Chau - Bai Vot project is scheduled to be completed by April 2024. For many months, this project has been on the list of slow-progressing component projects, but according to the leader of Phuc Thanh Hung Investment Joint Stock Company (project enterprise), recently the project has had positive changes in progress, especially important items such as bridges, tunnels...

Mr. Le Duc Hao, Executive Director of the XL02 Dien Chau - Bai Vot Expressway Package (Truong Son Construction Corporation) said that on the occasion of the September 2 holiday this year, the contractor directed production to be organized as usual with 5 units, 21 construction teams, more than 150 motorbikes, equipment and more than 200 workers.

“During the holiday, the construction items of embankment, weak ground treatment, and bridge concrete will be focused on with the highest determination. As of August 31, the contractor's construction output reached nearly 783 billion VND, reaching nearly 61% of the contract value. In the past 3 months, the average monthly output reached over 50 billion VND, an increase of more than 40% compared to the first months of the year,” said Mr. Le Duc Hao.

Mr. Le Duc Hao said that in order to complete the project on schedule, contractors are working hard at the construction site. However, there are still many difficulties that need to be resolved by the authorities, especially controlling the increase in material prices in the last months of the year. In addition, the supply of materials is scarce, especially filling materials, so it is proposed to allow mines to increase their mining reserves to meet the material needs of the project.

According to the report, by the end of August 2023, the total construction value of the entire North-South Eastern Expressway project in the 2017-2020 period (phase 1) reached about 87% of the contract value; of which, 8/11 component projects have been completed and put into operation.

For the North-South expressway projects in the 2021-2025 period (phase 2) started from January 1, 2023, as of the end of August, the output of component projects reached an average of more than 9% of the contract value.

At the Vung Ang - Bung component project invested by Project Management Board 6, the contractor also carried out the project during the National Day. The leader of Project Management Board 6 shared that, taking advantage of the favorable weather in the Central region, the unit directed the contractors to increase machinery and equipment to speed up construction at the site before the upcoming rainy season.

Undertaking the construction of 24 km of the XL2 package of the North-South expressway project, Vung Ang - Bung section, during the 4-day holiday, the leader of Phuong Thanh Transport Investment and Construction Joint Stock Company (Phuong Thanh Tranconsin) said that the unit has mobilized 10 construction teams with 300 - 400 locomotives and equipment to concentrate on the construction of the main items of Gianh River Bridge (about 2.4 km long) and the roadbed.

At the Bung - Van Ninh component project, also invested by Project Management Board 6, Mr. Tran Van Thanh, Director of the XL1 Package Management Board - Cienco 4 Joint Stock Company, said that to speed up the progress at the construction site, during this year's National Day holiday, the contractor encouraged the construction site staff to work hard. Cienco 4 mobilized 60 engineers, 295 workers divided into 26 construction teams (including 7 bridge construction teams, 11 road construction teams and 8 civil tunnel construction teams and various culverts) along with 92 locomotives and equipment.

Also in the North-South Eastern Expressway project phase 2 (2021 - 2025) is the Quang Ngai - Hoai Nhon component project invested by Project Management Board 2.

Representatives of Deo Ca Group and the joint contractors of this project said that we put aside the holidays and accelerated the important items. On the 88km long construction site of this project, thousands of engineers and workers were divided into many groups to construct the packages. Particularly at tunnel No. 3 - the longest mountain tunnel of the project, about 400 engineers and workers are focusing on speeding up the tunnel digging progress.

On the occasion of National Day, September 2, at the two Southern expressway component projects: Can Tho - Hau Giang, Hau Giang - Ca Mau, the construction teams are also maintaining their positions to speed up the construction of bridges on the route and service roads in the context of the project still having difficulty in supplying embankment materials.

The representative of the investor, My Thuan Project Management Board, said that to ensure the overall goal of these two component projects in 2023, the contractors have so far organized 140 construction teams, mobilized 440 locomotives and equipment with 1,072 personnel. The total output value of the two sections Can Tho - Hau Giang and Hau Giang - Ca Mau reached more than 1,700 billion VND, reaching 9% of the contract value.

Major General Nguyen Huu Ngoc, Commander of the 12th Corps, Chairman of the Board of Members and General Director of Truong Son Construction Corporation - the leading contractor of the Can Tho - Hau Giang Expressway construction consortium, said that in order for the project to meet the contracted progress, during this holiday, the Corporation has encouraged officers, soldiers, and workers at the construction site to make efforts to ensure the set progress. However, the project is still facing difficulties in the supply of sand for embankment and if there is no timely source of embankment soil, it will be impossible to embank the weak soil on the route.

“The demand for sand for construction is huge, and localities in the Mekong Delta region must share and care to complete the project. Contractors are focusing on constructing bridges and public roads during this holiday while waiting for sand materials to fill the foundation,” said Major General Nguyen Huu Ngoc.

Regarding the difficulty in sourcing materials for the two sections of the Can Tho - Ca Mau Expressway, Mr. Le Duc Tuan, Deputy Director of the My Thuan Project Management Board, said that the efforts and determination of contractors at the construction site must be acknowledged. However, contractors also face numerous difficulties in sourcing materials.

According to Mr. Le Duc Tuan, the demand for sand for roadbed construction for this project is very large (more than 18 million m3). Up to now, localities have only arranged nearly 1.5 million m3. In fact, the contractor received 0.481 million m3 (An Giang province 0.11 million m3; Dong Thap province 0.371 million m3), but the mines have temporarily stopped due to revocation (An Giang province). Meanwhile, the implementation of procedures to open new sand mines is very slow. Therefore, the My Thuan Project Management Board recommends that localities speed up the procedures to increase the capacity by no more than 50% stated in the licenses of the mines currently operating in the area according to the Government's direction in Resolution No. 18/NQ-CP so that it can be granted to the project in September 2023.