Project stuck due to lack of soil material for embankment
After more than two years of implementation, the Quang Uyen town bypass road project (Cao Bang) has not been completed as planned due to a lack of filling soil materials. Talking to Lao Dong Newspaper reporters, Ms. Hoang Thi Hieu - Chairwoman of Quang Uyen Commune People's Committee - informed that the locality is coordinating with departments, branches and businesses to find solutions to clear the filling soil source to serve the project construction.
According to Ms. Hieu, the project's capital has been transferred to 2026. This means that the project must be completed this year, otherwise many difficulties will continue to arise in the implementation process. "Functional agencies are actively involved to remove obstacles related to the Coc Ray land mine. This is an important material source for the project," she said.
According to local leaders, after having the assessment results, functional sectors will continue to propagate and dialogue with people to clarify the contents related to the environment, water sources and landslide risks that people are concerned about.
The current goal is to put the Coc Ray soil mine into operation in June. When there is a stable source of materials, the Quang Uyen town bypass road project will have conditions to accelerate progress to complete according to the set plan" - Ms. Hieu said.
The Quang Uyen town bypass road project is one of the important transport projects of the locality, expected to contribute to promoting the socio-economic development of the eastern region of Cao Bang province.
According to project documents, the road is nearly 4.85km long with a total investment of about 200 billion VND. The project started in March 2024 and according to the initial plan, it will be completed in 2025. The construction contractor said that at one point the project lacked more than 300,000m3 of land, making many items unable to be deployed synchronously as planned. Some locations, even though the foundation has been completed, still have to wait for materials to continue construction.
Many departments and agencies get involved to find solutions
Not only affecting the progress of the Quang Uyen town bypass project, the lack of embankment soil also affects many other infrastructure projects in Cao Bang province. This is also the reason why the locality has to look for new material sources to meet construction needs.
To solve this difficulty, at the end of 2025, Cao Bang Provincial People's Committee licensed the Coc Ray soil mine in Doc Lap commune. The mine has reserves of more than 915,700m3, identified as the main material source for the Quang Uyen town bypass project and many other projects in the area. However, despite being licensed for exploitation, the soil mine has not yet been able to operate due to opposition from a part of the local people.
People believe that land exploitation can affect domestic water sources, increase the risk of landslides, and affect the living environment as well as the headwater forest area. Faced with the above reality, functional agencies of Cao Bang province have repeatedly organized field surveys, reviewed legal documents as well as dialogued with people.
According to Cao Bang Provincial People's Committee, the Coc Ray soil mine exploitation project is carried out in accordance with current legal regulations. The exploitation area belongs to production forest land and the licensed enterprise has completed relevant procedures before being permitted to exploit by competent authorities.
Provincial leaders also affirmed the view that development must go hand in hand with environmental protection and the legitimate rights of the people. In case mining activities affect people's lives or production, businesses must be responsible for remediation and compensation according to regulations, even suspending mining activities.
In addition, the province has proposed an exploitation plan for each stage.
