Efforts to bring the North-South expressway project, Dien Chau - Bai Vot section, to the finish line soon

Work 3 shifts

Although the weather in recent days has been unfavorable, at the construction site of the North-South Expressway through Dien Chau - Bai Vot, construction teams and motorbikes are always present to carry out their tasks. The atmosphere is bustling from the main construction site, the auxiliary construction site, the temporary control room to the component production area. Nearly 1,000 officers, workers and laborers are present at the construction site with more than 455 locomotives and equipment spread along the route. The mobilization of human resources and machinery has increased by about 3 times.

When we were at the construction site of Than Vu 1 bridge across the mountain in Nghi Dong commune, Nghi Loc district, hundreds of officials and workers were concentrating on building the pillars and pouring the foundation. The bridge phase 1 is 120m long, 17m wide, has two pillars and three spans, and is in use.

Construction in mountainous conditions, on extremely hot days, the construction site must work at night and from 5am to rest at noon. At the construction siteThan Vu Dien Chau TunnelIn the North, motorbikes are on standby to dig tunnels, the tunnel entrance has been revealed. The good tunnel engineers who have completed the Truong Vinh tunnel have come here to work. The corrugated iron roofs - where the workers sleep - have been burned by the sun and have to be sprayed with water every day to cool them down. Despite the difficult conditions, the construction team still sticks around day and night to work.

Than Vu Tunnel, the northern gate of Dien Chau on the North-South Expressway, is being constructed by Hoa Hiep Company Limited. Photo: Tran Chau

At Hung Duc Bridge (Hung Nguyen), taking advantage of the rainy and stormy season, the contractor, Traffic Construction Corporation 4, also gathered barges, machinery and human resources for construction. The bridge is more than 4km long, spanning the Lam River, connecting Nghe An and Ha Tinh. Hundreds of engineers, officers and workers had to work in the middle of the river in dangerous and difficult conditions, especially on rainy days when the river water rose, but because of the committed progress, no one left their position.

Mr. Nguyen Anh Dung - Head of the Site Clearance Board of Phuc Thanh Hung Investment Joint Stock Company said that the company always ensures construction conditions, labor safety and overcomes all difficulties to complete the task. In hot and sunny conditions, one of the things to note is to strictly control and ensure the quality of fresh concrete...

The first tunnel entrance of the Than Vu tunnel through Than Vu mountain is a complex critical path on the North-South expressway. Photo: Tran Chau

The project was implemented at the time when the Covid-19 pandemic was raging, the price of iron and steel materials increased, in addition to the initial difficulty in arranging capital, the project encountered some problems and was delayed compared to projects fully invested by the state.

However, with the highest sense of responsibility, the project enterprise leaders launched movements, motivating all officers and workers of the units participating in the project construction. Construction contractors, design consultants, supervision consultants and project enterprises strived together, overcoming all difficulties, taking the slogan "Bringing the project to the finish line ensuring quality, progress and absolute safety" as the guiding principle for all activities.

Construction of O O bridge on the North-South expressway, Dien Chau - Bai Vot section. Photo: Quang An

It is known that according to the plan to disburse investment capital for project construction in 2022 set by the Ministry of Transport, it is 3,000 billion VND. However, up to now, the project output has only been implemented at nearly 1,000 billion VND. The reason is that the Credit Contract was signed later than initially expected (the contract was signed with a consortium of 4 banks, each bank has its own terms so it takes a long time to negotiate), plus the mobilization of scarce human resources.

The project's investment capital includes equity, credit capital, and state support capital. The credit contract has been signed, and this capital will be deployed in the third quarter of 2022. After arranging capital, the entire project will be implemented with 96 construction sites, including 35 bridge construction sites, 45 road construction sites, 6 tunnel construction sites, and 10 drainage and underpass construction sites.

In addition to the difficult weather, businesses are currently facing many challenges such as high and scarce prices of materials, supplies, and fuel due to the impact of post-Covid-19 and many other reasons. The increase in steel and oil prices has caused costs to increase and has not yet been resolved. Another major difficulty is the current lack of supply from earthwork and sand mines.

Recently, the problems regarding the construction site have been actively resolved. The project enterprise has closely coordinated with the Project Management Board 6 of the Ministry of Transport and the Site Clearance Council of the districts of Nghe An and Ha Tinh provinces to accelerate the site clearance work and has handed over the site to the investor and construction contractors. Up to now, the construction site has been handed over at 99.87%.

Construction of Than Vu 1 bridge in Nghi Loc. Photo: Quang An

Removing obstacles

Discussing solutions to compensate for the project's progress, Mr. Nguyen Quoc Viet - General Director of Phuc Thanh Hung Investment Joint Stock Company said: Currently, the enterprise has been completing contracts related to providing capital for the project and construction insurance contracts, focusing on insurance for losses and impacts on third parties. The enterprise is speeding up the selection of additional contractors to increase human resources, machinery and equipment for project construction; speeding up the approval and acceptance of construction organization measures, construction drawing design documents, applying for construction permits at intersections with roads, railways, dike safety corridors, irrigation canals; applying for approval of waste material dumping sites, and approving material suppliers for construction.

The project enterprise has also directed that, based on the uncompleted volume and the remaining time, contractors adjust the detailed construction schedule, and the slow volume will be compensated in the fourth quarter of 2022. Departments (supervision consultants, investors) arrange staff to monitor and supervise the construction progress of each project and each contractor to urge implementation according to the adjusted construction schedule. Determine the progress critical path to prioritize resources for implementation, have solutions to compensate for the delayed volume; weekly and monthly meetings to review and evaluate the progress and completion level of each project and each contractor to promptly adjust the volume... It is known that contractors must use well-functioning machinery and equipment, prioritize the use of newly manufactured, modern machinery and equipment, apply advanced technology to speed up the construction progress with the criteria: Quality must be guaranteed - Progress must be met - Safety must be absolute.

Regarding capital, the project enterprise also regularly works with investors to mobilize all resources to provide adequate capital for contractors, and organize timely acceptance and payment of the volume of completed items.