Research on using sea sand as a highway in the Mekong Delta, the results will be available by the end of 2023
Anh Tu - VNEconomy
According to Minister Nguyen Van Thang, the Mekong Delta region lacks a huge amount of construction material, which is foundation sand. The research to find an alternative material source for river sand is very scarce for highway projects in this area is an urgent need, by the end of 2023, there will be results.
About 39 million m3 of sand for leveling is required for the construction of highways in the Mekong Delta, however, the local river sand resources are scarce and seriously inadequate.
On the afternoon of November 3, under the direction of Vice Chairman of the National Assembly, Senior Lieutenant General Tran Quang Phuong, the National Assembly held a session to question and answer the first question in the field of construction.
Questioned at the meeting, delegate Tran Van Sau from the National Assembly Delegation of Dong Thap province asked: "By 2025, the Mekong Delta needs to complete about 400km of highways, needing 39 million m3 of sand and sand. filling, not to mention other public works and civil works, so the demand for sand leveling is very large".
However, if continued overexploitation causes landslides, subsidence and very likely leads to conflicts. Therefore, delegate Tran Van Sau asked what solution to ensure the progress and quality of national key works and when will there be materials to replace river sand?
Delegate Tran Van Sau, National Assembly Delegation of Dong Thap province - Photo: Quochoi.vn.
Information on the problem of researching new building materials to replace traditional materials in key traffic projects, Minister of Transport Nguyen Van Thang said recently, after visiting and inspecting To check the progress of the project "North-South expressway" to the East in the Mekong Delta, the Prime Minister assigned the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, the Ministry of Transport and other relevant ministries and sectors to study alternative materials for sand. river when implementing key transport projects in this area.
"Currently, the total demand for sand to be used as materials for traffic works in the Mekong Delta is 39 million m3, while this area only has about 26 million m3. Therefore, there is a shortage of one. The amount of construction material is very large sand foundation", Mr. Thang stated the difficulty.
Therefore, after the direction of the Prime Minister, the Ministry of Transport cooperated very closely with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment. In particular, with the responsibility of implementing many key projects in the West, the Ministry of Transport assessed that the study of sea sand materials to replace river sand is an urgent need.
Overview of the session questioning the first problem in the field of construction.
Also according to Minister Nguyen Van Thang, the Ministry of Transport is urgently conducting research on this material through taking samples and doing tests.
According to initial results, if sea sand is used instead of river sand, especially in the Mekong Delta, the amount of sea sand is up to billions of cubic meters, which is not only usable for the Mekong Delta but can also be applied to other areas. country.
"Around the end of 2023, we will have the results on whether this material can be used as a substitute for river sand. There are still technical factors to work out, however, preliminary studies show that this material can be used as a substitute for river sand. In fact, currently Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan and Middle Eastern countries apply this material," said Minister Nguyen Van Thang.
The Minister of Transport, added that ash can also be an additional material for road construction. The Ministry of Construction has documents and standards to guide this.
"The Ministry of Transport also informs contractors that can use ash and slag materials to support with other materials such as river sand, to carry out leveling for projects under the works of the Ministry of Transport. download", Mr. Thang emphasized.
Currently, most of the infrastructure projects in the Mekong Delta region, the sand used for leveling and embankment is from river sand exploited along the two major tributaries of the Mekong River, the Tien and Hau rivers. mainly in the provinces of Tien Giang, Vinh Long, An Giang, Dong Thap and the total output of mines being exploited is still low compared to the total reserves available in the mines. Meanwhile, in situ river sand resources are scarce and seriously lacking.
Moreover, the lesson of implementing investment projects to build a number of sections of the North-South Expressway in the East in the period 2017-2020 shows that the Government and ministries and branches have made efforts to promulgate many specific mechanisms at the administrative level. permit to exploit minerals as normal construction materials to supply this great project, however, the shortage of supply of building materials for road foundation is still a big problem, hindering the progress of construction works. traffic, especially when the rush of projects is implemented.
