Continuously urging but construction has not met requirements
Recently, Lao Dong Newspaper published many articles about "Provincial Road 166 in Yen Bai is like a buffalo tal tal tallestone, 6km of road has not been completed after 4 years" reflecting the shortcomings related to the construction of this road.
Part of this is the reason why the project has been implemented for 4 years with an amount of more than 140 billion VND but is continuously behind schedule due to the innocent exploitation and gathering of sand and gravel. The dense traffic of sand and gravel causes the road to "wallow" every time it rains.
On May 6, speaking with Lao Dong Newspaper, Mr. Nguyen Duc Mau - Vice Chairman of Tran Yen District People's Committee said that the construction of the connecting road - the section through Provincial Road 166 is part of the project connecting Provincial Road 163 with Noi Bai - Lao Cai Expressway, part of the IC13 Intersection Project, with a total cost of more than 143 billion VND.
Vice Chairman of Tran Yen District People's Committee admitted that this project is currently behind schedule. Local authorities and investors, the Yen Bai Provincial Traffic Construction Investment Project Management Board, regularly coordinate to urge and direct, but the construction progress has not yet met requirements.
According to Mr. Nguyen Duc Mau, the 6km road construction project has not been completed in 4 years, the first reason is the delay in site clearance in agreeing on support and compensation plans for the people, leading to delays in handing over the clean site to the contractor.
The second reason is due to weather, in 2024, Yen Bai suffered huge consequences from storm No. 3. In addition, frequent heavy rain has affected progress. In addition, the large number of means of transport carrying sand and gravel, causing water to fall onto the roadbed, also makes construction difficult.
However, according to Mr. Mau, the main reason is the construction of the contractors. The first phase, when it begins implementation in 2021, may face difficulties in terms of land. However, from 2023 to early 2024, contractors have almost stopped at construction packages.
Investors and local authorities have requested to increase human resources and machinery to speed up progress, but so far, contractors have almost "made the choice".
According to the reporter's records in early May 2025, the number of construction machinery on the route is sparse, with a few road rollers working.
Along the route, many construction items are unfinished, materials are gathered in a messy manner, and there are no workers.
Continuously adjusting and changing
Meanwhile, on the route, many locations have not yet agreed in site clearance, contractors have rolled the ground for half of the road, the other half is deeply submerged, houses are worried below, the water is congested and muddy.
Ms. Nguyen Thi Thuong (in Hanh Phuc village, Y Can commune, Tran Yen district) just pointed to the flooded culvert area and shared that she had previously designed in a different way, now changing but did not notify the people. Each time measuring a different index, people do not know what results the authorities use, how to apply support and compensation?
According to Ms. Thuong, this design change has caused more than 10 households in Hanh Phuc village to suddenly become "lowlands", easily causing flooding during heavy rain.
Not to mention, the house was lower than the road, now it is "submerged" even more deeply. For example, during the late April rain, while the whole commune was fine, more than a dozen households here had to wade through flooding.
The investor's representative said that the original design was to have a high roadbed, then the province requested to adjust the foundation accordingly. Therefore, when adjusting the boundary, some households are no longer located in a deep area compared to the road and are no longer affected by the project.
"In order to speed up the project progress, we are coordinating with local authorities to speed up site clearance and adjust to support people. In the coming time, the contractor will focus on construction to strive to complete it in June", informed the leader of the Yen Bai Province Traffic Construction Investment Project Management Board.
The project to build a road connecting Provincial Road 163 with Noi Bai - Lao Cai Expressway (section connecting Provincial Road 166), part of the IC13 Intersection Project of Noi Bai - Lao Cai Expressway, currently has 3 contractors under construction, including Investment and Construction Joint Stock Company No. 9, Yen Bai Traffic Construction Joint Stock Company and Son Tung Construction Company Limited.
The project has been under construction since December 2021, and has been delayed many times and has had to be extended.
