People are miserable because of sand trucks.

Struggling through the provincial road

In late June, we were on Provincial Road 534D, the section connecting Ho Chi Minh Road through Nghia Hanh Commune to Phu Son Commune (Tan Ky District). The road is only about 12 km long, but it took us more than half an hour to overcome the numerous potholes. This is the road that people often complain about overloaded sand trucks running rampant, damaging the road, causing traffic insecurity, and affecting people's lives.

On this provincial road, it is not difficult to see trucks carrying sand going back and forth. Meanwhile, many sections of the road have been completely destroyed. According to local people, this provincial road has just been upgraded but has continued to be damaged and seriously degraded due to overloaded vehicles.

“Sand trucks have been running rampant for many years, not just now. But recently this provincial road was upgraded, we thought that with the new road, there would be strict measures, and overloaded trucks would be banned from running rampant, for fear of damaging the road. But nothing has changed. Therefore, after a short time, the road has been damaged before it is even finished,” said Nguyen Trung Thao (resident of Phu Son commune).

Living near the provincial road, Mr. Thao said that in the dry season, trucks lined up one after another, causing the residential areas on both sides of the road to be covered in dust. Meanwhile, in the rainy season, these large trucks caused a series of deep holes in the middle of the road, making it very difficult for other vehicles to travel. "Every day, there are dozens of heavy trucks like that, causing the whole road to quickly be destroyed. However, we have not seen any force coming to punish them," Mr. Thao said, adding that when it is sunny, the dust flies so thickly that many businesses on both sides of the road have had to close. There have been people who have fallen and had to be hospitalized because of trucks encroaching on the road or overtaking recklessly.

Mr. Nguyen Tat Hai - Director of Tan Ky District Project Management Board said that to facilitate people's travel, in 2022, Tan Ky District invested 6 billion VND to upgrade Provincial Road 534D. Due to the small amount of money, only 1.6 km in Nghia Hanh commune could be upgraded, according to the standards of grade VI mountainous roads, with a 3.5 meter wide asphalt road surface. The upgrade project was completed and handed over from April 2023.

Illegal sand dumping site

According to the reporter's records, most of these sand trucks start from a sand collection site right at the foot of Phu Son Bridge. This is the sand collection site of Nam Ha Company Limited. At the time we were there, there were 6 boats pumping sand under the bridge. Every time the boats were full, they approached the shore to pump sand onto the site. On the collection site, hundreds of cubic meters of sand were piled high, 2 excavators worked continuously to load the sand onto the trucks.

Meanwhile, the sand storage area of ​​Nam Ha Company Limited has not been licensed. This company has only been licensed to mine sand. This storage area is located right at the foot of Phu Son Bridge, a place where many people often pass by, but it is unclear why it has existed for many years. According to records, most of the vehicles are not properly covered, and sand is scattered along the road. Every time this convoy passes, it encroaches on the entire road, the main road suddenly becomes a one-way street, and many people do not even dare to go out.

“It’s so hard. When I saw the road upgrade, I thought it would be okay so I opened a grocery store. Unexpectedly, nothing has changed. In the dry season, the dust flies everywhere, I had to close the store because I couldn’t stand it. And on rainy days, the road is so muddy that I have to work very hard to get through,” said Nguyen Thu Trang indignantly.

Mr. Nguyen Van Dung - Chairman of Phu Son Commune People's Committee said that the locality also regularly receives feedback from people about overloaded vehicles affecting the roads as well as people's lives. "Regarding the sand mine of Nam Ha Company Limited, the district has established an interdisciplinary inspection team. Up to now, there has been no conclusion, so we cannot provide any further information," said Mr. Dung.

Mr. Vuong Dinh Quang - Deputy Head of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of Tan Ky district said that Tan Ky district has established an interdisciplinary team to inspect all areas related to the operation of sand mines in the area. "The whole district currently has 16 licensed sand mines. By the end of July, the inspection team will have completed and concluded," Mr. Quang said and confirmed that the sand gathering site of Nam Ha Company Ltd. right at the foot of Phu Son bridge is illegal.

Also in Tan Ky district, there is another road that was just completed and then damaged. According to the people, the cause was also because of overloaded sand trucks. That is National Highway 15B. This is a nearly 15km long road, connecting Tan Ky town with Nghia Dung, Nghia Hop. This road has a total investment of more than 110 billion VND.

By the end of 2022, this route was basically completed. However, before people could be excited about the newly paved road, the road was damaged in many places. According to people's feedback, the road was damaged due to the daily number of cars carrying sand and gravel from the river, causing water to flow onto the road. Heavy trucks were constantly passing by, causing the road surface to quickly sink and crack. "We have now finished repairing it, the main cause of this situation is the sand trucks. I don't know if they are overloaded or not, but most of them run at night, from sand gathering areas passing here," added Mr. Nguyen Tat Hai - Director of the Tan Ky District Project Management Board.