Key infrastructure projects face site clearance issues, material shortages

Progress of the Long Thanh international airport project and component projects for the North-South Expressway’s eastern section in the 2021-2025 period is being held back by uneven site clearance and material shortages.

National key projects gradually built up

The Long Thanh airport project in the southern province of Dong Nai has an estimated investment of VND336.63 trillion ($16.06 billion), with its first phase requiring VND114.45 trillion ($5.45 billion).

The first phase of the three-stage project involves the construction of a runway and passenger terminal, along with auxiliary facilities, capable of handling 25 million passengers per year. A cargo terminal is designed to have an annual capacity of 1.2 million tons of freight. The first phase is expected to come on stream by 2025 at the latest.

The second phase will cover an additional open runway and one passenger terminal, aiming to raise the airport’s yearly capacity to 50 million passengers. Additionally, a cargo terminal capable of handling 1.5 million tons of cargo per year will be supplemented.

For the third phase, further enhancements will be made to lift the project’s capacity to 100 million passengers and five million tons of cargo annually.

The project has largely remained on schedule thus far, but the Airports Corporation of Vietnam (ACV) has reported some hurdles to site clearance.

Specifically, while the site handover for a traffic system connecting Road No.1 has been 99% completed, an issue related to site clearance persists at the intersection between Road No.1 and the Bien Hoa-Vung Tau Expressway project. Additionally, there is a similar hitch to the section extending from Km0+880 to Km0+944 of the Bung Mon bridge.

Those obstacles have delayed land increment reinforcement, posing a risk to the progress of soft roadbed soil treatment

Additionally, although over 89% of the site has been allocated for the construction of road No.2, ACV noted that approximately 80% of the area is qualified for development, and some locations have still not been fully cleared for construction.

For example, the non-cleared location at the intersection between Road No.2 and the Ho Chi Minh City-Long Thanh-Dau Giay Expressway has impacted the progress of an overpass spanning the expressway’s T12-to-T22 section, which may take 12 months to construct.

Additionally, certain existing technical issues, particularly power lines, along Road No.2 have yet to be cleared or relocated, impacting both safety assurance and construction progress.

Therefore, ACV proposed the People’s Committee of Dong Nai province to ask relevant units to accelerate site clearance for a complete handover to ensure the project runs on schedule.

In early February, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh inspected the Long Thanh airport project. During his visit, the PM emphasized that while previous years had laid the foundation for the airport, this year marks a period of acceleration, and 2025 is slated as the breakthrough year.

He also stressed the urgency of completing the airport project within the first half of 2026. Drawing from past experiences, Chinh asked for the timeline to be adjusted with a view to shortening the progress by three-six months to offset any delays.

As a key national project, Long Thanh airport will significantly enhance flight routes, bolster Vietnam’s economic links with countries in ASEAN and the world, and alleviate congestion at Tan Son Nhat International Airport, which is located in the adjacent metropolis of Ho Chi Minh City.

It is expected to serve as a pivotal transit hub for Asia and beyond by 2030. However, site clearance setbacks have made investors and contractors fret over deadlines committed to by the government.

North-South Expressway component projects likely to miss 2025 completion deadline

After one year of construction, the component projects of the North-South Expressway’s eastern section in the 2021-2025 period are facing many challenges related to site clearance and material shortages. If these issues are not addressed promptly, the Ministry of Transport (MoT) acknowledges that it will be difficult to complete the component projects by 2025 as required by the government and National Assembly.

Notably, the 49-km Dien Chau-Bai Vot Expressway project, kicked off in May 2021 with a total investment of VND11.15 trillion ($446.2 million), is designed to connect Nghe An and Ha Tinh provinces, both in the central region.

A 30-kilometer segment of the project, extending from the intersection of National Highway No.7 (Dien Chau district) to the intersection of National Highway No.46B (Hung Nguyen district), was inaugurated on April 28, shortening the travel time between Hanoi and Nghe An’s Vinh town from five and a half hours to three hours by car.

However, the remaining 19 kilometers from National Highway No.46B to Bai Vot district (Ha Tinh province), characterized by soft soil, requires additional time for ground reinforcement and will be inaugurated this September.

Similarly, the Cam Lam-Vinh Hao Expressway, spanning the central provinces of Khanh Hoa, Ninh Thuan, and Binh Thuan, was opened to traffic on April 26 after 28 months of construction. The 78.5-km route, with a total investment of VND3.92 trillion ($352.14 million), slashes the travel time from Ho Chi Minh City to Khanh Hoa’s Nha Trang town from eight hours to five hours by car.

Regarding the 12 component projects of the North-South Expressway in 2021-2025, the MoT said that their investors and contractors had basically adhered to the timetable. However, the Can Tho-Hau Giang and Hau Giang-Ca Mau sections, both in the south, are lagging behind schedule due to a shortage of sand.

Specifically, for component projects spanning from Ha Tinh to Khanh Hoa provinces, both in central Vietnam, contractors have exploited 14 out of 17 sand quarries, meeting about 91% of the demand. The remaining three quarries, located along the Quang Ngai province-Hoai Nhon town section, remain unexploited due to disagreements with owners of mining land over compensation prices. Besides, 43 out of 55 sand quarries scattered all over the Ha Tinh-Khanh Hoa section are reported to have satisfied around 77% of the demand.

For the Can Tho-Ca Mau Expressway project, the Mekong Delta provinces of An Giang, Dong Thap, and Vinh Long have arranged a total supply of 16.02 million cubic meters of sand. Meanwhile, a source for 2.98 million m3 of sand has not yet been determined (one million m3 for An Giang and 1.98 million m3 for Vinh Long). Of the total supply, nine million m3 of sand is being exploited, and the remaining seven million is awaiting procedures for exploitation.

Contractors have delivered 2.7 million m3 of sand to the construction site, comprising 400,000 m3 for An Giang, 2.3 million m3 from Dong Thap, and 4,400 m3 for Vinh Long. The sand mining capacity in the Mekong Delta region remains considerably low, averaging only 18,000 m3/day. This falls short of the project’s daily demand of 50,000 m3, primarily due to restrictions on capacity and exploitation means/hours.

In terms of site clearance, the ministry assessed that if the site was not handed over for construction before April 30, the component projects might slip behind the scheduled completion year of 2025.

In addition, unless the amendments of Resolution 273 on changing the use purpose of forest, forest land, and rice farming land cultivated for two crops and beyond are submitted to the National Assembly’s Standing Committee for approval in April, the progress of the component projects of the North-South Expressway in 2021-2025 will be greatly impacted.

Viewing site clearance as a principal task, the MoT has requested local authorities to address hitches for these projects.