Bustling at construction sites
Of the more than 232 projects, the Lao Cai - Hanoi - Hai Phong railway project is a key focus. This is a railway line with a length of 419km, a total investment of more than 203,200 billion VND, including 18 stations and many sections with a design speed of up to 160km/h. The section through Lao Cai province alone is 143.64km long, requiring the recovery of about 1,291 hectares of land, affecting more than 6,500 households and 41 production facilities. Large scale and wide scope, making site clearance a key task.
At the new Lao Cai station area - where the groundbreaking ceremony will take place - on December 19, 6.27 hectares of land have been handed over by the locality to the Railway Project Management Board to level and complete temporary infrastructure.
"The compensation and support plan for households has been publicly posted. We have also relocated the electricity infrastructure items for construction, ensuring the handover of clean land according to requirements" - said the leader of Lao Cai Ward People's Committee.
At resettlement projects, the construction atmosphere is very urgent. Early in the morning in the Ban Qua resettlement area (Bat Xat commune), the sound of excavators, bulldozers, and road rollers worked tirelessly. On the site of dozens of hectares, groups of trucks lined up to transport soil and rocks to level the ground.
The project to level the ground and technical infrastructure of Ban Qua area has a scale of 75 hectares, serving the relocation of 34 production facilities in Dong Pho Moi Industrial Park.
Major Le Thanh Dat - Construction Commander (Truong Son Construction Corporation) said: "We mobilized 80 workers and engineers along with 6 large excavators and 25 transport vehicles. However, some locations are still stuck with site clearance. If more clean areas are handed over, the contractor will open more construction teams to compensate for the interruption caused by floods".
In Package No. 8 of leveling the Kim Thanh - Ban Vuoc logistics area, the progress is also being accelerated to be ready to receive industrial facilities that need to be relocated. Seeing from the Kim Thanh - Ngoi Phat route, the project foundation is gradually becoming clear as many points have formed the ground.
Mr. Nguyen Duc Loi - project supervisor, Lao Cai Provincial Construction Investment Project Management Board informed: "Thanks to the consensus of the people and the strong direction of the government, the progress is being guaranteed".
At the meeting on December 1, Lao Cai Provincial Party Secretary Trinh Viet Hung - Head of the Project Site Clearance Steering Committee - requested departments, branches and localities: "Focus at the highest level, ensure all conditions for the groundbreaking ceremony to take place safely, on schedule as assigned by the Central Government".
Also in that competitive atmosphere, more than 1,700km from Lao Cai, at the Can Tho - Ca Mau expressway construction site, each group of workers still works under white spotlights all night long. In early December, when time was ettling, thousands of people and more than a thousand devices were still working hard as if they had no concept of rest.
Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Thanh Vinh - Deputy Director of Truong Son Nam Board - said that the main route has completed more than 97% of the volume, the asphalt concrete section has been completed, only the small items will be completed before December 12. At many construction sites, engineers have to divide the shifts into 3 shifts, maintaining continuous construction throughout the night.
"We take advantage of every hour" - engineer Nguyen Van Dat said quickly after checking a section of the asphalt, "as long as the weather is favorable, we can speed up all construction points". Nearly 2,100 workers and 1,150 machines are creating a special heat, a spirit of "all night - regardless of rain or wind" just to be able to open to traffic on December 19.
Meanwhile, in the Southeast, the Ben Thanh - Can Gio Metro project is also urgently preparing the final conditions for the groundbreaking ceremony. The metro line is about 54km long, with a total capital of more than VND 85,600 billion, will connect the center of Ho Chi Minh City with the Can Gio sea area and play an important role in the urban development strategy to the South. Each group of engineers and workers is urgently completing the site, preparing a way to access equipment, and reviewing each parametric accurately because this is a key project that the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee has confirmed that it is eligible to hold a groundbreaking ceremony on December 19.
In the Northeast, the Ha Long Xanh Complex Urban Area project - with a total investment of more than VND456,000 billion - is required by the leaders of Quang Ninh to complete the conditions to start construction in December. On an area of more than 4,100 hectares in Tuan Chau and Ha An, the construction teams are focusing on leveling the ground, completing procedures to hand over the land, ensuring compliance with requirements. Ha Long Xanh is not only an urban area, but a strategic driving force of Quang Ninh province, a symbol of the new development aspiration that the locality sent to the 14th National Congress.
December 19 - National Infrastructure Festival
According to the report of the Ministry of Construction, as of November 30, 232 projects of ministries, branches, localities, corporations and general companies were eligible to start construction and be inaugurated on December 19. The total investment is more than 1,123,700 billion VND, with 149 projects underway and 83 projects inaugurated, spread across 34 provinces and cities. This is an unprecedented "record" in scale and level of synchronization, demonstrating the determination of the entire political system in implementing the infrastructure development strategy for 2021-2025 according to the Resolution of the 13th National Congress, while creating a new momentum towards the 14th National Congress.
In Official Dispatch No. 235/CD-TTg signed by Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on December 1, the Government leaders requested to focus on reviewing carefully, continuing to register additional works and projects; reviewing the procedures and conditions for inauguration and commencement of construction according to regulations (ensuring the criteria for scale and significance) and sending them to the Ministry of Construction no later than December 10, 2025.
Review the list of projects and works to ensure conditions for organization of inauguration and commencement of construction (clearly state the number of inaugurated projects, the number of projects under construction to ensure the criteria of scale and significance); report to the Prime Minister before December 12, 2025.
Review, evaluate and propose bonuses for projects that are completed early, save budget and put into effective operation according to the provisions of law and the Government, to be completed before December 15, 2025.
Vietnam Airports Corporation (ACV) shall preside over and coordinate with the Investors of component projects of the Long Thanh International Airport Construction Investment Project - Phase 1, prepare all material and technical conditions to organize the central launching point of the Inauguration Ceremony, and start construction of large-scale projects and works, meaning to celebrate the 14th National Congress of the Party according to the general scenario, ensuring solemnity, efficiency, economy, and safety.
December 19 is approaching. When hundreds of bridges across the country simultaneously ring out to signal the groundbreaking and inauguration, it will not only be a symbolic ceremony. That will be an affirmation that the country is ready for a new stage of development, more modern infrastructure, more open connectivity and a longer vision. Workers, engineers, construction site commanders - those who are working silently in the dust and wind - will be the first to feel that meaning. Because they themselves wrote the first pages of that journey, with sweat, will and faith.
