Increasing the capacity of sand mines
Recorded at the MS01 sand mine on the Hau River, in Phong Nam and An Lac Tay communes, Ke Sach district (Soc Trang), the exploitation activities are taking place urgently with 2 exploitation vehicles and dozens of transport ships. This sand mine is exploited by Cuu Long Concrete Joint Stock Company, mainly supplying sand for packages 9 and 10 of the Chau Doc - Can Tho - Soc Trang Expressway Component 4 project (section through Soc Trang province). MS01 sand mine has abundant reserves, up to 1,180,000m3. The exploitation capacity at the mine has been increased to 4,000m3/day, more than twice the original capacity. By mid-April 2025, 1.182 million cubic meters had been exploited and is expected to increase to 715,000m3 in June.
According to Mr. Thach Minh Hoai - Director of Project Management Board 2 - investor of Component Project 4 - it is expected that by June 2025, the total maximum exploitation volume at 6 river sand mines will reach about 3 million cubic meters.
The Department of Agriculture and Environment of Soc Trang province has also surveyed 3 potential river sand areas outside the planning, including Area 3-MR (residence of about 185,854m3), Area 11 (residence of about 786,851m3) and Area 12 (residence of about 600,000m3), to increase supply for this key project.
In Ben Tre, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Nguyen Minh Canh said that the province has assigned 4 sand mines to exploitation units to provide materials for 2 expressway projects. Up to now, sand has been exploited and supplied to the Chau Doc - Can Tho - Soc Trang expressway project, a total of 260,319m3; Can Tho - Ca Mau expressway is 237,474m3 of sand. At the end of April, the province continued to grant a license to exploit another sand mine.
In Tien Giang province, the People's Committee of this province has just issued a document requesting licensed mine owners to urgently complete financial and legal procedures and conduct exploitation by April 25, 2025 at the latest. The province also urges units that are in the process of applying for a license for Ngu Hiep, Tan Phong, and Kim Son mines to complete the dossier before May 20, 2025 and declare sand prices according to regulations.
Proposal to transfer sand and expand the use of sea sand
Mr. Le Minh Cuong - Director of the Can Tho City Construction Investment Project Management Board - said that although he had received 1.3 million cubic meters of sand from An Giang province, having to transfer 700,000m3 to the Can Tho - Ca Mau project had a significant impact on the progress of the Chau Doc - Can Tho - Soc Trang expressway component project 2 (section through Can Tho City).
For the remaining 4.5 million cubic meters of sand, Tien Giang province has arranged 3 mines to operate under the commercial mechanism (priced at 132,000 VND/m3). In that context, the Committee has recommended that An Giang province consider returning the transferred sand, Tien Giang province directed mine owners to support the supply of sand.
Similarly, the Project Management Board of Soc Trang province also proposed that the Ministry of Construction consider transferring the volume of river sand at specific mines in An Giang and Dong Thap provinces assigned to the North-South Expressway Project in the East to Component Project 4 when these projects complete the sand casting work.
Soc Trang has considered the use of about 3.6 million cubic meters of sea sand from sub-area B1.4 (2 million cubic meters) and sub-area B1.5 (1.6 million cubic meters). The province also recommended that the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment consider allowing the widespread use of sea sand in saline areas, areas without agricultural production such as urban areas, residential areas (unlimited pilot) and the use of sea sand through salinity washing for other areas.
