Increasing mining capacity
Recorded at the MS01 sand mine on the Hau River, in the territory of Phong Nam and An Lac Tay communes (Ke Sach district, Soc Trang province), the exploitation activities took place very urgently. Here, there are 2 trawlers and dozens of transport ships lining up to enter and exit the mine. This sand mine is exploited by Cuu Long Concrete Joint Stock Company, supplying materials for packages 9 and 10 of the Chau Doc - Can Tho - Soc Trang Expressway Component 4 Project (Component Project 4).
Currently, the exploitation capacity at MS01 mine has been increased to 4,000 m3/day, more than 2 times higher than the original capacity. As of mid-April 2025, the mine has exploited 1.182 million m3 of sand and it is expected that this figure will continue to increase to 715,000 m3 in June.
According to Mr. Thach Minh Hoai - Director of Project Management Board 2, investor of Component Project 4 - as of April 17, the total volume of sand from mines in the province that has been exploited and supplied to the Project has reached about 1.182 million m3. It is expected that by June 2025, the volume will reach 3.3/6.6 million m3.
To reduce pressure on river sand mines in Soc Trang, Project Management Board 2 has also recommended that relevant units consider transferring the volume of river sand from specific mines in An Giang and Dong Thap provinces (assigned to the North-South Expressway Project in the East) to Component Project 4 after the other projects complete the sand casting work.
To date, Component Project 4 has reached 30.1% of the contract value, with the progress of the packages ranging from 24.15% - 40.9%.
Using sea sand for highways
According to Project Management Board 2, to solve the remaining shortage of 3.3 million m3, Soc Trang province has considered the option of using sea sand from sub-areas B1.4 and B1.5. Currently, the People's Committee of Soc Trang province has issued a confirmation for the B1.4 sea sand mine and the contractor has submitted documents to the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment to assign the sea area.
The leaders of Project Management Board 2 also informed that - through reviewing and surveying the salinity along the route, there are only about 3.2 km of the end of the route (total volume of filled sand is about 283,000 m3) through shrimp ponds, with suitable conditions to use sea sand (according to Instruction document No. 9156/BTNMT-MT dated December 26, 2024 of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment).
Due to urgent needs, the contractor of Construction Corporation No. 1 used river sand to fill the foundation of this section with a volume of about 180,000 m3. With the remaining demand for sea sand at suitable locations being about 100,000 m3 (3.2 km at the end of the section bordering Nam Song Hau National Highway), other sections have unsuitable natural conditions due to being sweet areas for growing water rice and fruit trees.
The Government Office has just issued Notice No. 203/TB-VPCP conclusions of the Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on a business trip and working with ministries and localities on the situation of investment in developing transport infrastructure in the Mekong Delta area. In terms of materials, the Prime Minister requested investors (including the People's Committee of Soc Trang Province) to actively review and decide according to its competence for the pilot use of sea sand as materials to build background according to the guidance of the Ministry of Construction and the Ministry of Agriculture and the Environment to reduce the pressure of river sand.
The Prime Minister agreed on the principle of the transfer of materials granted according to a specific mechanism that is still reserved but no longer needs to exploit and transfer sand volume after unloading from the project to apply a specific mechanism to another project (applying specific mechanism) to continue exploiting and using to reduce administrative procedures, accelerate the implementation of projects; Special attention, interest does not cause negative, corruption, group interests.
Based on the guidance of the Ministry of Construction, the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment, the People's Committee of Soc Trang province proactively exploits and supplying sea sand for the project according to its competence, and actively works with localities with leveling of leveling materials (sand, stone) to supply the project, not to the project as slow as the past time.
