Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha speaking at the working session.

At the meeting, participants discussed ways to overcome obstacles in supplying sand for key traffic projects such as Belt Road 3 in Ho Chi Minh City, the Can Tho-Ca Mau expressway, the Chau Doc-Can Tho-Soc Trang expressway, the Go Quao-Vinh Thuan expressway, and others.

Deputy Minister of Transport Nguyen Duy Lam said that there are currently 16 key transport projects throughout southern provinces and cities which lack a total of 65 million m3 of sand. He noted that the exploitation of sea sand in Soc Trang is being promoted while relevant agencies are assessing the environmental impact of increasing the capacity of river sand mines in the provinces of Ben Tre, Tien Giang, Vinh Long, and An Giang to accelerate the progress of transport projects.

The Deputy Prime Minister assigned the Ministry of Transport to regulate sand sources for expressway projects and flexibly allocate sand mines to ongoing projects. He requested that contractors complete documents with opinions of the Ministry of Transport on the need for sand for expressway projects this week.

He also asked the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment to send officials to the localities to provide guidance regarding procedures for increasing the capacity of sand exploitation.