Total construction of 4 North-South expressway projects through the Central region, to be completed by September 30

Four component projects of the North-South Expressway Construction Project in the Eastern Region for the 2021-2025 period are being accelerated by investors and contractors, with total construction effort to basically complete by the end of September.

Construction contractors strive to overcome difficulties

The Chi Thanh-Van Phong Expressway Project consists of 2 packages, with 44 construction teams mobilizing a total of 768 machines, equipment and 1,688 personnel. Currently, the project has reached 82.03% of the contract.

Mr. Le Quoc Dung, Director of Project Management Board 7 (investor) said that the roadbed excavation and embankment items are almost completed, the stone grading is over 50%, the asphalt concrete pavement is 45%. The bridge section, including 32 bridges, has been completed. Tuy An tunnel has completed drilling and tunnel lining concrete, reaching 98.53%.

Regarding Package XL02, according to Mr. Dung, due to the mining licensing procedure being about 12 months behind schedule (the final mine will be allowed to be exploited in July 2024); the mines in Dong Hoa town have a lot of boulders, orphaned rocks, the weather in the area is rainy... so the exploitation of fill soil at Package XL02 is facing many difficulties. Therefore, the section from Km34-Km48+052 is behind schedule in filling the foundation, including the area for handling weak soil.

“The route has 15.2km of soft soil treatment, spanning 15.2km in both packages. The loading has been completed and 1.3km is being unloaded. The investor is asking the contractor to increase manpower and machinery to quickly deploy items to bring the project to the finish line by the end of September,” Mr. Dung emphasized.

At the Quang Ngai - Hoai Nhon Expressway Project, Mr. Bui Nhat Hien, Director of the Project Management Board (Project Management Board 2) said that the Project is mobilizing 49 construction teams (25 road construction teams; 18 bridge construction teams and 6 tunnel construction teams) with 1,226 machines, equipment and 3,261 personnel. The output to date has reached 75.45% of the contract value, about 6.5% behind schedule compared to the completion date of September 30, 2025, with tunnel 3 alone to be completed on December 31, 2025.

The main reason Mr. Hien pointed out was that the license to exploit soil mines in the Quang Ngai area was not granted until June 2024 by the province to fully provide construction material mines according to the project's needs. In addition, after being granted the soil mine license for about 4 months, the rainy season in the area entered, so it was impossible to construct the roadbed; the rainy season in 2024 was long, unusual compared to other years (normally from September to December, but in 2024 it lasted from September 2024 to mid-March 2025).

In addition, some subcontractors are behind schedule and have just been transferred to the main contractor to carry out the work. Currently, the contractors have mobilized additional equipment and are striving to make up for the delayed progress, mainly in areas where people are obstructing them, completing bridges and overpasses, and the service road system (as they are focusing on completing the main route).

Regarding the Quy Nhon-Chi Thanh Project, according to Mr. Bui Trong Lai, Project Executive Director, the cumulative output to date has reached 8,362.83/10,401.50 billion VND (80.4%) of the contract value. At the construction site, there are 78 construction teams, 903 machines and equipment and 2,557 construction personnel working in "3 shifts, 4 teams" to speed up the progress.

In Package 12-XL, which is over 22.1km long, Construction Service and Trade Joint Stock Company 68 constructed the asphalt pavement. Because the stone materials in Phu Yen and Binh Dinh are hard and have low concrete adhesion, the contractor had to buy stone from Ha Nam and transport it by ship to meet the construction schedule.

“Although the cost of materials has been 'increased,' however, with the responsibility of the signed contract, the contractor strives to ensure sufficient input materials with the best quality to complete the road surface construction in the coming time, ensuring the quality of the project after completion,” Mr. Lai acknowledged.

The investor admitted that the route in Phu Yen has a mountainous terrain, which is divided, so access to the route is very difficult; the excavation volume in Phu Yen is very large (more than 12 million m3), the geology of the excavated roadbed is complex, requiring many solutions to reinforce the roof; the transportation and dumping work is difficult due to the distance from the construction site, and the transportation time on local roads is limited.

At the Hoai Nhon-Quy Nhon Expressway Project, up to 86 construction teams have been mobilized, reaching 84.80% of the contract, 0.88% faster than the approved schedule. However, the project's implementation progress and current disbursement plan are affected by the section through the natural forest Km18+650-Km21+100 of the 11-XL package, the total remaining excavation volume is about 0.185 million m3, including about 0.14 million m3 of rock excavation, about 0.045 million m3 of soil excavation and only about 1 month left to complete.

Increase machinery and personnel to compensate for slow progress.

To ensure the completion progress of the Chi Thanh-Van Phong Project in the third quarter of 2025 as directed by the Government and the Ministry of Construction ; Project Management Board 7 is resolutely directing contractors with sections without weak ground treatment (including Tuy An tunnel) to strive to basically complete the traffic safety system in September 2025.

For sections with weak soil treatment (about 15.2 km), the contractor continues to monitor stability and settlement rate to calculate increased forced loads to speed up consolidation, striving to unload the last section in early September 2025.

During the implementation process, Project Management Board 7 will closely monitor the site of each contractor and each construction team to direct relevant units to quickly handle any problems or issues at the site; resolutely handle and immediately replace weak units and construction teams that cause delays compared to the plan to ensure the project's progress and quality requirements.

In parallel with the construction work on site, Project Management Board 7 has directed the construction contractor and supervision consultant to arrange sufficient human resources to perform internal work well to speed up the acceptance and payment work, ensuring financial resources for the construction contractor and the project's disbursement plan (currently, the acceptance and payment work from the time the contractor submits until the money is transferred to the contractor's account does not exceed 3 days).

To bring the Hoai Nhon-Quy Nhon project to the finish line, Truong Son Construction Corporation has increased construction teams, human resources, overtime, and shifts to speed up construction progress, especially in the natural forest section, to ensure the progress of the bid package in particular and the project in general, ensuring the completion of bid package 11-XL and the project before September 30, 2025.

Project Management Board 85 requested the contractor to increase machinery and equipment and work at night to compensate for the volume of delayed construction work. The contractors have increased manpower and equipment; organized overtime work; simultaneously deployed construction work on foundations, foundations, and road surfaces; determined and committed to basically completing the expressway in August 2025 and completing the entire project by September 30, 2025, following the direction of the Prime Minister and the Ministry of Construction./.