The first blocks of sea sand arrived at the Hau Giang highway construction site

From June 29, a nearly 100-hectare sea sand mine in Soc Trang was officially exploited to serve the North-South expressway project in the 2021-2025 period, section Can Tho - Hau Giang and Hau Giang - Ca Mau. The implementing unit is VNCN E&C Construction and Engineering Investment Joint Stock Company.

Sea sand is brought to the assembly line of the XL02 construction package, Hau Giang - Ca Mau expressway, section passing through Thoi Binh district, Ca Mau province.

Two days and two nights of bringing sand to the construction site

According to the reporter's records, the sand mining area in Sub-areas B1.1 and B1.2 is located about 40km from the mainland, in the sea area of ​​Soc Trang province.

This is the first sea sand mine put into operation to serve the construction of the Can Tho - Ca Mau expressway. (section from Hong Dan district, Bac Lieu province and section through Thoi Binh district, Ca Mau province).

At the XL02 package construction site (Thoi Binh district, Ca Mau province), reporters recorded that the contractor mobilized dozens of vehicles such as barges and dredgers, while workers were busy operating large machinery. This package is 9km long and requires about two million cubic meters of sand for the foundation. So far, sea sand has been brought in two batches with about 4,300 cubic meters.

The construction unit mobilized 5 sand pumping teams with about 60 people operating pumps and carrying pipes to bring sea sand to the construction site.

Mr. Kieu Quoc Thanh, the captain of the barge carrying the first 600m3 of sea sand from Tran De estuary (Soc Trang province) to the final section of the highway in Ca Mau province, said that from Tran De port to here, it took about two days and two nights, the barge moved at a speed of 10 - 12km/h.

"Waiting at sea to transfer to the other side is very difficult because of the strong currents and big waves. After collecting the sand, the barge stops to wait for the shipping papers to be issued, which takes about a week," said Mr. Thanh.

He said that at sea, there are turtle boats that suck up sand and bring it to Tran De port, then pump it to a barge. When the quantity is enough, they stop. With a journey of more than 100km, the barge consumes more than 800 liters of oil.

"After transferring to the other side, the barge followed the Hau River to Can Tho, then passed Vi Thanh, down the Chac Bang River, passed the Huyen Su canal and arrived at the construction site," Mr. Thanh shared about his journey.

Construction supervisors carefully checked saltwater samples from Huyen Su canal and people's ponds along both sides of the highway before pumping sand from barges to the construction site.

Double the joy

Mr. Pham Van Linh, construction supervisor of VNCN E&C Construction and Engineering Investment Joint Stock Company, part of the XL02 construction package, shared that when the sea sand is sucked up, fresh water will be pumped in to dilute the salinity.

Video: The captain recounts the journey of bringing the first 600m3 of sea sand to the Can Tho - Ca Mau highway, the final point in Ca Mau.

When the sea sand arrived at the construction site, the actual salinity measured fluctuated around 10 - 15‰, close to the salinity in the ponds of people on both sides of the route. Currently, two batches of sea sand have filled the main route foundation for about 200m.

"As soon as the sand arrived at the construction site, not only the contractors but also the construction teams were very excited. The joy was doubled, the brothers had work to do and also quenched their thirst for sand for building the foundation," said Mr. Linh.

According to Mr. Linh, when the sand source arrives, the construction unit divides into "3 shifts, 4 teams" to speed up the progress three times compared to the time when there is a sand shortage to make up for the missing volume.

"When the sand barge arrives, everyone works continuously until about 10pm, and then continues pumping at 5am the next morning.

Just like that, the first 4,000 cubic meters of sea sand for the foundation were brought straight to the construction site. The brothers worked with determination and tirelessness," Linh shared.

A section of sea sand pumped onto the Can Tho - Ca Mau highway (section passing through Thoi Binh district, Ca Mau province) is about 200m long.

To speed up the sand pumping progress, the construction unit deployed two parallel sand pumping pipelines (the nearest pumping location is about 300m away, the longest is about 4 - 5km), mobilizing 5 pumps, each with 10 - 12 workers, pumping and moving the sand pipes. The average daily capacity can pump from 7,000 - 10,000m3 to the construction site.

"We are trying to complete the loading by December 2024 and open the traffic in 2025. With a pumping capacity of 10,000m3 of sand/day, equivalent to about 16-20 barges, to rotate about 3-4 days for a return trip, the contractor will mobilize 70-80 barges for transit," Mr. Linh added.

Mr. Do Minh Chau, representative of VNCN E&C Construction and Engineering Investment Joint Stock Company, said that the unit uses an exploitation method by running the suction nozzles of turtle ships along the sand surface on the seabed.

With 6 million m3 of sand, the unit will exploit in 6 months. Registered capacity is from 35,000 - 50,000 m3/day, time from 7am - 5pm daily, no exploitation at night.

After being sucked up, the sea sand is loaded onto barges and transported to shore along Dinh An channel. Next, the sand is transported by barges with a capacity of 2,000 - 3,000m3 to the staging area to be brought to the construction site.

The Can Tho - Ca Mau Expressway is 110km long, with connecting routes of about 25km, and a total investment of more than VND27,200 billion. The total demand for sand for the project is about 18.1 million m3; of which 9.1 million m3 is needed in 2023 and 9 million m3 in 2024.

According to the My Thuan Project Management Board, the entire project has mobilized 2,800 engineers and workers to deploy 237 construction teams to synchronously construct 110km of main routes, 117 bridges and 11 intersections. Up to now, the progress has reached more than 34% of the plan, 14% behind schedule.

Source: https://www.baogiaothong.vn/nhung-khoi-cat-bien-dau-tien-ve-cong-truong-cao-toc-hau-giang-ca-mau-192240717141343188.htm