Dien Chau - Bai Vot expressway project: Ministry of Transport severely criticizes project enterprise

The project has not met the progress plan.

The component project of investing in the construction of the Dien Chau - Bai Vot expressway section (part of the North - South Eastern Expressway Project) has a length of 49.3 km, of which 44.46 km passes through Nghe An and 4.84 km passes through Ha Tinh province.

This is a BOT project. The investor is a consortium of Hoa Hiep Company Limited - Cienco4 Group Joint Stock Company - Nui Hong Investment Company Limited - Truong Son Construction Corporation - Vina 2 Investment and Construction Joint Stock Company. The project enterprise is Phuc Thanh Hung Investment Joint Stock Company. The total investment is 13,339 billion VND; the implementation period is 3 years, starting on May 22, 2021. According to the plan, the project will be completed and put into use in May 2024.

At the 8th meeting of the State Steering Committee for important national projects and works, key to the transport sector, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh directed that the Project must be completed before April 30, 2024.

In Official Dispatch No. 01/CD-TTg dated January 1, 2024, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh requested investors, Project Management Boards, construction contractors, and consulting contractors to "continue to promote the spirit of "overcoming the sun and rain", "eating quickly and sleeping quickly", "working in 3 shifts", working during holidays and Tet, especially during the Lunar New Year and the dry season of 2024, and be more responsible to speed up construction progress, improve the quality of works and projects, and strive to complete ahead of schedule".

However, up to this point, the project has not yet met the proposed progress plans. In this situation, on January 15, 2024, Deputy Minister of Transport Le Anh Tuan signed and issued Official Dispatch No. 533/BGTVT-CQLXD on urgently completing the North-South Expressway Component Project, Eastern section, Dien Chau - Bai Vot. Official dispatch No. 533/BGTVT-CQLXD stated: “In 2023, the Project has achieved certain results (average output reached about 315 billion VND/month), however, the progress has not met the set plan (up to now, it has only reached 5,720.40 billion VND, equivalent to 66.55% of the project contract value). Currently, the project implementation time is about 4 months, with the remaining output of about 2,660 billion VND (not including 214.65 billion VND ITS), the average monthly project must reach 665 billion VND (equivalent to 7.74% of the project contract value); thus, contractors must concentrate resources more than in 2023 by about 2.12 times to be able to meet the project progress, especially Hoa Hiep Company with the remaining output of about 1,291/2,660 billion VND, accounting for 48.53% of the remaining construction volume of the Project".

The Ministry of Transport severely criticized the project enterprise for not decisively directing the construction contractors to implement the critical items to meet the overall progress of the Project; slow in developing a plan to implement the completed items such as foundation, road surface, traffic safety, toll stations, etc.; slow progress but no solution or continuous construction plan in accordance with the direction of the Prime Minister in Official Dispatch No. 01/CD-TTg dated January 1, 2024 to compensate for the progress; not proactively resolving problems related to site clearance and design adjustments arising according to the provisions of the Project Contract.

Resolutely implement the Prime Minister's direction

To implement the Prime Minister's direction to complete the Project before April 30, 2024, the Ministry of Transport requests: Project Management Board 6 and the project enterprise to review the provisions of the construction contract to promptly handle according to the provisions of the contract for contractors (Hoa Hiep, Thai Yen, 456 and Vina2 Companies) that are slow in construction and do not resolutely concentrate resources to promptly overcome the progress of delayed items; The joint venture investor reviews each personnel position of the project enterprise, considers adjustments and replacements to enhance effective management capacity, meeting the requirements of quality and progress of the Project...

Then, on January 26, 2024, the Ministry of Transport continued to issue Official Dispatch No. 1028/BGTVT-CQLXD to Project Management Board 6 and Phuc Thanh Hung Investment Joint Stock Company (project enterprise) on urgently mobilizing machinery, equipment, and human resources to complete the Dien Chau - Bai Vot section project.

The Ministry of Transport requests:

Project Management Board 6, investors/project enterprises strictly implement the instructions of the Ministry of Transport, most recently Document No. 533/BGTVT-CQLXD dated January 15, 2024. In particular, focus on completing the section from the beginning of the route to the intersection of National Highway 46B and the sections that are not waiting for settlement before April 30, 2024. For the remaining sections, the contractor is required to implement solutions to complete according to the plan and schedule approved by the Project Enterprise.

The investor/project enterprise directs the construction contractor to focus on making a "3-shift, 4-team" construction plan for all items (except for sections waiting to subside) to make up for the delayed progress.

The project enterprise strengthens inspection and supervision of construction items to ensure technical requirements, quality, labor safety, environmental sanitation, especially closely inspects and controls the construction work of installing beams of high-height bridge piers; monitors and calculates to determine the unloading time at the roadbed sections for soft soil treatment according to regulations, closely monitors the quality of crushed stone aggregate, CTB aggregate, BTN aggregate, CTB maintenance work, crushed stone aggregate moistening work, etc.

Project enterprises need to proactively coordinate with Project Management Board 6 and local authorities to resolve arising issues regarding project design, site clearance and disbursement.

The project's delay not only affects the nature of a key national project but also causes many difficulties for people and vehicles, especially at bridge and highway crossings during the Lunar New Year 2024.