According to the reporter's records on December 13, despite the heavy rain, at the construction site of the East-West economic development axis road passing through Nga Nam town, Thanh Tri district, My Xuyen and Vinh Chau town (Soc Trang province), contractors, engineers and workers were working hard, striving to open the technical traffic by the end of this year.
The representative of Project Management Board 2 (Soc Trang province) - the project investor - said that after more than 2 years of construction, the cumulative construction and installation value to date is estimated at about 1,158/1,487.4 billion VND (excluding contingency costs), reaching 78% of the contract value.
The total capital allocated from the beginning of the project to date is 1,589 billion VND, disbursed 1,369 billion VND, reaching 86.1%. Assessing the progress according to the direction of the People's Committee of Soc Trang province (technical traffic opening on December 31, 2024), the whole project is 12% behind schedule.
Explaining the reason for the delay, the leader of Project Management Board 2 said that due to the scarcity of aggregate (0x4) and crushed stone materials used for asphalt pavement construction, high prices, some contractors have encountered many difficulties in finding sources of supply because they are implementing many highway projects and key national traffic projects, leading to insufficient road construction materials to supply the market. This has resulted in a prolonged implementation time, lack of volume, and slow disbursement compared to the plan.
At the construction inspection on December 13, Secretary of Soc Trang Provincial Party Committee Lam Van Man emphasized that this is a key project, completed to celebrate the Soc Trang Provincial Party Congress and is very important for the socio-economic development of the locality.
In 2024, the leaders of the Provincial Party Committee and the Provincial People's Committee have repeatedly inspected the progress and promptly removed difficulties for the construction unit; the contractor has also committed to achieving the plan, but so far the progress has not been met.
The leaders of Soc Trang Provincial Party Committee requested contractors to mobilize more machinery, equipment, and supplies, especially aggregate stone; increase construction teams, and speed up implementation progress on the entire route.
“By December 31, 2024, the entire route must be completed with graded stone. By March 2025, the road surface and normal roadbed must be completed; unloading of bridges that can be unloaded must be completed. By May 2025, the contract must be completed and the entire route opened to traffic,” the Secretary of the Soc Trang Provincial Party Committee requested the contractors.
The East-West economic development axis route is over 56 km long. The total investment is nearly 2,000 billion VND from the central budget and local budget counterpart. After being put into use, the project will connect the entire western region of Soc Trang province, directly connecting with Quan Lo Phung Hiep National Highway, Nam Song Hau National Highway and National Highway 1A - forming an internal and external traffic axis serving the socio-economic development of Soc Trang province and neighboring areas.
