Situational solution

The recent implementation of the emergency dredging and saltwater intrusion prevention project on Co Co River, Hoi An City (Km0 - Km14) has created a large amount of sand, about 1.3 million cubic meters, which has been accumulated in some areas along the riverbank for more than 3 years.

Due to two auctions but no one bought in 2022, recently the Provincial Traffic Construction Investment Project Management Board is completing procedures and plans according to Notice 139 of the Provincial People's Committee to continue the auction.

Mr. Nguyen Thanh Tam - Director of the Provincial Traffic Construction Investment Project Management Board proposed that the Provincial People's Committee consider and agree to add an additional storage area in Thuan An village (Duy Nghia commune, Duy Xuyen) with an area of ​​about 1.5 hectares to temporarily gather about 150 thousand cubic meters of sand after dredging.

“If we want to speed up the dredging of the Km0 - Km3+900 section, thereby clearing the area bordering Hoi An - Dien Ban, we need to establish this storage area soon. This storage area is located south of Cua Dai bridge, previously used to gather materials for the construction of Cua Dai bridge, and is currently mainly under the management of the commune, so it is relatively convenient to establish,” said Mr. Tam.

However, this is only a temporary solution to handle about 150 thousand cubic meters of sand nearby. The plan to create additional temporary storage sites to move all 1.3 million cubic meters of sand while waiting for the auction is considered by the authorities to be unfeasible because it will cost more resources to transport and handle this resource.

Waiting for the market to "warm up"

According to the general assessment, for many reasons, it will still be difficult for any individual or organization to buy this amount of sand in the upcoming auction. The representative of the Provincial People's Committee Office proposed that in case the auction still fails, the Provincial People's Committee should agree on the policy of allowing the use of sand after dredging Co Co River to serve investment projects using public investment capital in the province.

The problem is that the experimental results show that this sand is contaminated with salt and cannot be used for construction. Therefore, if it is used for public investment projects in the province, it can only be "divided" to fill the foundation of some items and projects and it is almost impossible to consume all the sand amounting to millions of cubic meters.

At a recent working session on the Co Co River dredging project, provincial leaders requested that relevant parties soon have a fundamental plan to speed up the consumption of this dredging sand resource.

Alternate member of the Party Central Committee, Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee Luong Nguyen Minh Triet suggested that the authorities need to reconsider the price issue, have a plan to redo the price, and cannot depend entirely on the consulting unit. If the price ceiling is left as it is now, it will continue to be a vicious circle.

Mr. Nguyen Thanh Tam said that recently, there are encouraging signs through market surveys that some local units have a need for sand for urban filling and are exploring the amount of this sand. Hopefully, there will be movement on this issue in the near future.

Recently, most of the urban projects in this area have been "frozen" while these are the subjects with great demand and suitable to consume this type of sand and amount of sand. Therefore, the province has been considering creating favorable conditions for the progress of some projects in this area, which is expected to soon promote the issue of sand consumption after dredging Co Co River.