Many projects are behind schedule
According to the Lam Dong Provincial Department of Finance, since the beginning of the year, the total disbursed capital has reached 253 billion VND, reaching 3.5% of the plan, not reaching the set target. In 2025, the whole province will be allocated a total of VND 7,173.422 billion in public investment capital. Key projects including expressway, Ta Hoet lake, Dong Thanh lake, Kazam lake... are facing many difficulties, the capital disbursement progress is slow, and has not met requirements.
In addition, there are 3 remaining projects including the Investment Project to build the western bypass of Bao Loc city; the Ta Hoet reservoir construction project; the Dong Thanh reservoir project.
According to research, the reason for the province's key projects being behind schedule from the end of 2024 to the first 3 months of 2025 is due to the many times higher price of construction materials. Some contractors lack land to fill the project's ground. There are also units that cannot afford the increased cost of sand and stone due to limited supply.
Currently, Lam Dong province has 19 valid licenses for dredging and collecting sand and gravel minerals.After the Provincial People's Committee issued Document 2096 on March 23, 2023, all dredging and mineral exploitation activities in irrigation lakes and hydropower plants had to be temporarily suspended.
This leads to the situation where hundreds of thousands of blocks of exploited sand have to lie ashore waiting for auction, causing waste of State assets.People and businesses in Lam Dong are currently having to buy sand from neighboring provinces to serve construction.
Mineral mine auction, material price reduction
A representative of the Lam Dong Provincial Department of Justice informed that the unit has announced the organization of an auction of mineral exploitation rights for construction materials for 36 mines that have not explored and assessed their reserves. Including 22 fill mines, 5 sand mines, 8 stone mines, and 1 brick and tile mine. The total starting price for the auction of exploitation rights for these 36 mines is more than 306 billion VND. According to regulations, participating units in the auction must deposit a total of more than 61 billion VND (20% of the starting price).
Regarding this issue, Mr. Tran Hong Thai - Chairman of Lam Dong Provincial People's Committee - said: "In the coming time, the Provincial People's Committee will direct relevant units to completely resolve the situation of high construction materials. To speed up the progress of public investment projects, the supply of construction materials must first be open and prices stable".
According to Mr. Thai, the province is implementing a plan and auctioning 36 mineral mines (total of 50 mines). With such a large number of mineral mines, the supply for project contractors will be abundant, and the cost of construction materials will decrease. These mineral mines are not only for key projects but also for civil works.
"This is one of the urgent tasks that the provincial authorities are forced to handle completely as soon as possible. Because at one point, material prices in Lam Dong province were the highest in the Central Highlands. Many businesses in the province are forced to buy construction materials from other localities to reduce costs" - Chairman of Lam Dong Provincial People's Committee added.
