Looking for substitute materials and measures to deal with a severe shortage of sand for road and bridge projects in the Mekong Delta is an urgent imperative. Otherwise, projects will fall behind schedule, impeding the Mekong Delta’s development. Sand resources near depletion Eight expressway projects currently underway in the Mekong Delta require some 53.69 million cubic meters of sand, mostly in 2023 and 2024. However, the reserve is only 37 million cubic meters, meeting 70% of the demand of the expressway projects, excluding other road projects. That means if hindrances related to procedures for sand mining are removed, the shortage of sand for expressway projects still persists. Meanwhile, WWF Vietnam has recently released a study on the Mekong Delta’s sand reserve which indicates sand resources there are becoming exhausted. According to the study, the total sand volume in riverbeds is estimated at between 367 and 550 million cubic meters. This volume is deemed essential for maintaining the topographical stability of the delta. The study also estimates sand extraction from 2017 to 2022 at between 35 and 55 million cubic meters a year, while the annual sand accretion is estimated at two to four million cubic meters since much of the […]
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