Many construction sections are sluggish due to lack of sand
Recorded at the Ring Road 3 construction site in Cu Chi, Hoc Mon and Binh Chanh districts, the construction atmosphere is quite quiet. Although some sections have been formed, the progress of roadbed and technical structure construction is still very slow. The main reason is the lack of sand to treat weak soil.
The Ho Chi Minh City Ring Road 3 project has a total length of more than 76km, passing through Ho Chi Minh City, Binh Duong, Dong Nai and Long An, with a total investment of nearly VND 75,400 billion. The section through Ho Chi Minh City alone is more than 47km long.
According to the latest request of the Government and the People's Committee of Ho Chi Minh City, the 14.7km section of the overpass through Thu Duc City must be completed for technical traffic in 2025 along with the more than 32km section in the West.
As of the end of May 2025, the construction volume of Ring Road 3 through Ho Chi Minh City has only reached nearly 40%. Meanwhile, the demand for sand for embankment in Ho Chi Minh City is estimated at about 6.6 million cubic meters, but so far only about 2.15 million cubic meters have been mobilized. In 2025 alone, the construction site needs about 3.75 million cubic meters of sand.
According to Mr. Luong Minh Phuc - Director of the Management Board of Investment Project Construction of Ho Chi Minh City Transport works, although the three Western provinces including Vinh Long, Tien Giang and Ben Tre have licensed to exploit 14 sand mines for the project, the actual supply progress is slower than the original commitment. This makes the construction progress of western bidding packages significantly affected.
To bring sand from mines in the West to the construction site in Ho Chi Minh City, barges have to go through 8 waterway control stations, border guards and interdisciplinary groups. These stations basically all carry out similar inspection procedures, from material origin records, invoices to vehicle loads. The repeated inspection has caused significant delays.
In order to remove obstacles, the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee has proposed that relevant units coordinate to establish a separate "green channel" for sand transportation activities to serve the Ring Road 3 project. Each barge is only inspected once per trip, and the inspection results at the starting station will be recognized by the remaining stations.
The city also recommends minimizing repeat inspections by receiving in advance long-term valuable records such as vehicle registration. The list of barges, transportation schedules and related documents will be proactively sent to the authorities in advance for coordination in inspection and supervision in a synchronous and effective manner.
No delay
The remaining workload of the Ring Road 3 project is very large, while the time is less than 8 months. However, according to Mr. Luong Minh Phuc, despite facing many difficulties, the Project Management Board is still steadfast in its goal of completing the project on schedule - from ensuring materials, changing construction plans to speeding up handling weak soil.
Mr. Phuc said that the unit has proposed increasing the exploitation capacity at sand mines in the West to 50%. At the same time, contractors are also proactive in finding sources of commercial sand and importing sand from Cambodia to promptly supplement.
Technically, a series of new solutions are being implemented simultaneously to shorten the time to treat weak ground. The construction units have increased the wick density, adjusting the height of the floor and applying vacuum technology, helping to shorten the processing time from 10 to 12 months to 5-6 months. Some routes, if the monitor meets the requirements, can reach the finishening sooner than expected.
In 5 Western packages with a total length of 32.5km, new technical solutions have been deployed over 25% of the route length. The measure of using cement stakes to treat weak soil is also considered, but due to high costs, it is only applied in areas that are really necessary.
