by Trinh Anh Duc
19-10-2001
Construction of the Ho Chi Minh highway, Viet Nam's second trans-national route, was progressing smoothly in October 2001. After 19 months of construction, 14 of the 24 large-bridges located from Ha Tinh central province southward had been completed. The remainding ten bridges were expected to be complete by the end of 2001. In addition, contractors for the project commenced construction on 157 medium-sized bridges in the previous three months. They reported having completed the building of the foundation and main spans of 62 bridges of this type and expected to open 90 medium-sized bridges to traffic by the end of 2001.
Almost 2,000 drains with a combined length of 30km or 60 percent of the total workload have been installed. The third quarter of 2001 alone saw the completion of 804 drains, stretching over nearly 11km. Construction of 222 dykes with a combined length of more than 23km have been finished.
Construction units reported having removed 28 million cu. m. of earth of the 42 million cu. m. excavation workload for the section from Ha Tinh province southward in September.
On site clearance, localities from Ha Tinh province southward completed 93 percent of the plan, transferring 916km of the total 985km set for being cleared to contractors by the end of September. Meanwhile, Ha Tinh's neighbouring provinces of Thanh Hoa and Nghe An failed to keep pace with the original schedule, clearing only 18km of the total 100km required for the construction of the highway. Unclear compensation policies and failure to establish new residential areas for families required to move from their existing homes by local authorities were blamed for the tardiness of site clearance in those localities.
Construction of the highway, which connects Hoa Lac town in northern Ha Tay province to Ho Chi Minh City's Binh Phuoc cross-roads via the historical Ho Chi Minh trail built in 1959, started in April 2000. Construction cost of the highway had been estimated at VND 5,300 billion (roughly USD 360 million).
The 1,690-km Ho Chi Minh highway crosses the western mountains in a parallel track with the coastal road, Highway 1.