Chau Doc - Can Tho - Soc Trang Expressway is at risk of not meeting the required progress.

The Chau Doc - Can Tho - Soc Trang expressway project is still facing difficulties with sand materials for embankment, and the overall construction progress has not met the basic requirements of completing the entire route by 2026 and putting it into synchronous operation by 2027.

According to the report of the Ministry of Construction on the implementation of the Chau Doc - Can Tho - Soc Trang Expressway Construction Investment Project, up to now, all 4 component projects have basically completed the site clearance and land handover for project implementation. The average construction output of the entire project reached more than 45% of the contract value.

Of which, component project 1 (through An Giang province, 57 km long) reached 55%, component project 2 (through the old Can Tho city, more than 37 km long) reached 41%, component project 3 (through the old Hau Giang province, nearly 37 km long) reached 46% and component project 4 (through the old Soc Trang province, more than 58 km long) reached 40%. Compared to the implementation plan, component projects 1 and 3 basically met the progress, component projects 2 and 4 were about 5-9% behind schedule.

Up to now, the total capital allocated to the project in the annual plan is 28,125 billion VND. It is expected that by the end of August 2025, the disbursement will reach 20,043 billion VND (equivalent to 71% of the assigned plan).

Construction of an overpass on the Chau Doc - Can Tho - Soc Trang expressway

Can Tho City People's Committee said that the capital allocated for component projects 2, 3 and 4 through the area to date is more than 18,800 billion VND, the disbursement value is more than 13,000 billion VND, reaching a rate of nearly 70%. In 2025 alone, the capital allocated to date is nearly 7,300 billion VND, the disbursement value is nearly 1,600 billion VND, reaching a rate of nearly 22%.

According to the People's Committee of Can Tho City, the capital allocation from various sources is guaranteed according to the project's progress. However, the disbursement rate in the first 8 months of 2025 is low, and it is likely that the disbursement rate will not reach 100% as planned in 2025. Although the investor has tried to find sources of sand for the project, it has not yet met the source and has not reached the exploitation capacity according to the project's progress. The implementation progress is still slow compared to the construction unit's registered plan.

The Ministry of Construction said that the implementation of the project still faces many difficulties, specifically: Regarding sand materials for embankment, localities have made efforts to speed up the licensing procedures for mining 26.8 million m3 out of the total demand of 28.9 million m3, basically meeting the reserve requirements for project implementation. However, although the sand reserves in the area according to the planning are relatively large, the mining capacity cannot meet the progress of project implementation. Increasing the capacity can impact the environment, causing landslides on both sides of the river.

The difficulties and problems with sand for embankment materials have objective causes due to the simultaneous implementation of many key projects in the region, especially prioritizing projects with completion requirements by 2025. The subjective cause is that the survey of construction material sources only assesses reserves, but has not assessed actual exploitation capacity according to project progress; and has not assessed the impact when implementing key projects in the region simultaneously.

Regarding construction progress, the overall project basically does not meet the requirements of the National Assembly (basically completing the entire route in 2026 and completing and putting the entire project into synchronous operation in 2027), especially component project 2 and component project 4 are 5-9% behind schedule.

The main reason for the delay is the lack of sand materials for the foundation. Currently, the construction progress of the bridge section meets the requirements and is expected to be basically completed in December 2025. However, the project's progress is critical to the road construction, the biggest problem is that the sand mining capacity only reaches an average of 13% of the requirements, affecting the volume of roadbed loading (only reaching about 33%).

“If sand mining capacity is not increased, combined with technical solutions adjusted to replace wick drains with cement-reinforced soil pillars or a combination of wick drains and vacuum suction to shorten loading time, the construction progress of the road section will be seriously affected, with the potential risk of not being able to complete the project as required by the Prime Minister and the National Assembly,” the Ministry of Construction said.

The Chau Doc - Can Tho - Soc Trang Expressway construction investment project, phase 1, started on June 17, 2023, with a total length of more than 188 km, a scale of 4 lanes, and a total investment of VND 44,691 billion.

Source: https://baodautu.vn/cao-toc-chau-doc---can-tho---soc-trang-co-nguy-co-kho-dat-tien-do-theo-yeu-cau-d370335.html