River embankment project in Ky Son at risk of missing deadline

Urgent project

On March 22, 2022, Deputy Prime Minister Le Minh Khai agreed to allow the People's Committee of Nghe An province to use 100 billion VND, out of a total of 150 billion VND supported from the central budget reserve in 2021 according to Decision No. 2266/QD-TTg to implement the Nam Mo River embankment project, through blocks 4 and 5, Muong Xen town, Ky Son district. According to the feasibility study report, the Nam Mo river embankment has a total length of 2,420m.

This is an extremely necessary and urgent project to limit the consequences of natural disasters and floods, making an important contribution to ensuring the safety of lives and property for households, protecting economic and social infrastructure works in the area; at the same time, contributing to the successful implementation of 3 national target programs in the poor mountainous district of Ky Son.

With that importance, in August 2022, the People's Council of Nghe An province issued an investment policy decision for this project, with an implementation period of 2 years, from 2022 to 2023. Immediately after that, this project was approved by the People's Committee of Nghe An province in Decision No. 4161/QD-UBND dated December 26, 2022, assigned to the People's Committee of Ky Son district as the investor, with a capital of about 100 billion VND.

However, from late September to early October 2022, flash floods occurred in Ky Son district, causing great loss of life and property for local people. The consequences of the flash floods led to changes in the Nam Mo river basin, so the feasible design plan submitted by the Ky Son district People's Committee for appraisal earlier was no longer suitable for the current status of both sides of the river where the project was implemented.

Therefore, on March 15, 2024, the Provincial People's Committee issued Decision No. 567/QD-UBND approving the project adjustment and adjusting the contractor selection plan for the project: Nam Mo River embankment through block 4, block 5, Muong Xen town. In which, the project was transferred from the People's Committee of Ky Son district as the investor to the Project Management Board for Investment in Construction of Agricultural and Rural Development Works, under the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Nghe An province.

Accordingly, this project has 4 bidding packages, including: Bidding package 5A, section 1 from K0 to K0+520; Bidding package 5B, section 2 from K0+961.1 to K1+559.1; Bidding package 5C, section 1 from K0 to K0+584; Bidding package 5D, section 2 from K0+742.4 to K1+460.4. After the decision to change the investor was made, all 4 new bidding packages were implemented in May 2024.

With the unstable terrain characteristics in the Nam Mo riverbed area, according to the design, the upstream embankment of Muong Xen bridge will be arranged with a sloped roof structure made of reinforced concrete slabs, connecting from the existing embankment to the bridge abutment. The downstream embankment has a vertical wall structure combined with a sloped roof. The top surface of the embankment connecting to the bank is reinforced with cobblestones, boulders, the back of the embankment is filled with soil and compacted. The foot of the wall is reinforced with sturdy stone gabions to prevent landslides and erosion... It is expected that this project will be completed and handed over for operation by the end of 2024.

Risk of delay

Although it is an urgent project, ensuring the safety of many households in Muong Xen town and infrastructure for both sides of the river. However, the change of investor from Ky Son District People's Committee to the Project Management Board for Investment in Construction of Agricultural and Rural Development Works, along with the impacts of extreme weather conditions, has forced the project to adjust its progress.

In fact, in the area where this project is being implemented, we have noticed that the water level on the Nam Mo River has recently remained high. To ensure the safe construction of the embankment, the construction units have had to build a dike to prevent water from flooding the reinforced concrete part of the embankment. However, recently, when the flood situation in the Central region is still complicated, the risk of the units having to stop construction is very high.

In addition to concerns that the project will be delayed, local people are also quite worried that in order to construct this project, construction units had to build dikes, narrowing the flow, affecting flood drainage.

Mr. Nguyen Dinh Hung - Director of Nghe An Agricultural and Rural Development Construction Investment Project Management Board said: After adjusting the project and starting construction in May 2024, the Project Management Board requested the construction units to focus on human resources, materials, and machinery to speed up the construction progress to ensure the completion of the disbursement of the assigned capital plan.

Although the construction was carried out in the summer, the rainy season soon entered, making the construction very difficult. In particular, within just 4 months, due to heavy rain in the upstream area, hydroelectric plants discharged floodwaters 7 times, causing the water level in the river to rise, making it impossible for the contractor to carry out the construction as planned. There were times when the rain and floods caused landslides on the riverbanks, forcing the contractors to reinforce the landslides, affecting the progress.

Not to mention, most of this embankment is constructed close to residential areas and some units, when machinery is brought in for construction, there is a potential risk of landslides. In fact, during the construction process, contractors had to implement measures to reinforce, handle, and ensure safety for some areas.

According to Mr. Hung, after the groundbreaking ceremony, the unit directed the construction teams to proactively speed up the project implementation progress; directed the contractors to make a specific construction plan, and report the progress in detail at each specific time. The investor also requested the construction units to increase machinery and equipment, take advantage of favorable weather conditions to work overtime and increase shifts to ensure the project's construction progress.

At the same time, direct the construction unit to develop a natural disaster prevention plan and measures to implement the construction in a rolling manner to promptly clear the flow when unusual rains and floods occur.

We ask, according to the plan, this project must be completed and put into use by the end of 2024, with current weather conditions, can the construction units complete the task?

Mr. Hung said: The unit has also directed the contractor to be determined to complete and hand over the project by the end of 2024. However, in case of force majeure due to objective reasons such as weather conditions, floods that slow down the progress, it may be necessary to petition the People's Council to propose to the National Assembly to allow adjustment of the time, ensuring the completion of the project's objectives.