Provincial Road 160 through Xuan Hoa commune is a key traffic project, with a total investment of about 235 billion VND, implemented in the period 2023-2025.
The project is constructed by a joint venture of Vu Thanh Co., Ltd. - 873 Joint Stock Company - Lao Cai Construction and Inspection Joint Stock Company.
Recorded at the end of May, after nearly 3 years of construction, the road has not been completed, many road sections are under construction, and people's travel is facing many difficulties.
Mr. Vu Hong Quynh - Vice Chairman of Xuan Hoa Commune People's Committee informed that the main reason is that the contractor has weak capacity, construction plans and measures do not meet requirements; traffic assurance work is not performed well, in many times it is almost passive, only deployed when there is a written reminder from the commune.
Notably, in the area near the commune People's Committee headquarters, the government and commune police have to contribute their own funds to rent machinery to ensure traffic and serve people's travel.
Regarding the site, Mr. Quynh said that previously in the old district phase, the Bao Yen Area PMB easily did it in the form of sticky rice and beans, leading to difficulties for contractors in material gathering and construction.
The coordination between the investor and the land clearance consulting unit is not good, the boundaries on the map and the actual site are not matched, causing many locations, although equipment has been gathered, to not be deployed because people have not agreed.
Xuan Hoa commune proposed that the investor direct 3 contractors to focus manpower and equipment, accelerate construction at locations that have handed over clean ground, and soon handle traffic bottlenecks that affect the travel and study of students and trade.
At the same time, it is proposed that the Bao Yen Area Project Management Board complete the statistical and inventory dossiers to submit to the Xuan Hoa Commune People's Committee for approval, as a basis for payment to the remaining households.
Talking to reporters, Mr. Nguyen Thanh Trung - Deputy Head of Project Management Department 1, Lao Cai Provincial Traffic Construction Investment Project Management Board shared that the project to upgrade Provincial Road 160 was started in 2023, the project has been extended twice by the province, and must be completed by August 31, 2026.
However, to date, the construction volume of the entire route has only reached about 50% of the contract value.
According to Mr. Trung, previously the project was slow mainly due to site clearance problems, so it could not be implemented synchronously.
Currently, the site has basically been cleared, but new difficulties have arisen when the prices of raw materials and fuel fluctuate. Contracts are signed in the form of fixed unit prices, while fuel prices at times increase by over 200%, greatly affecting the contractor's capacity and construction plan.
Every week we meet with communes, contractors and related parties to review progress, develop plans for the next week, thereby accelerating the handling of bottlenecks," Mr. Trung said.
However, the difficulty that needs to be removed now is the high cost of materials, which makes many contractors work in a state of holding back, even increasing losses as construction progresses, making it difficult to ensure project progress goals.
Regarding solutions, the investor will continue to review and evaluate the progress and request the contractor to accelerate construction. Sections that do not meet the requirements will study to add subcontractors.
In case of continued delays, the unit will sanction, replace or transfer contractors, and even re-organize bidding.
