Over the recent years, the Party and the State have paid attention to the Northwest region with many preferential policies on socio-economic development, hunger eradication and poverty alleviation, social security assurance, provincial governments and the people from the Northwest region also have made great efforts to work, strive to overcome difficulties and challenges to build a growing Northwest. However, the Northwest is still an extremely poor area of the country, one of the most important reasons for the slow development of the Northwest is because of the poor transport infrastructure that does not meet the requirements of social economic development.
Over the past three years since the project was proposed to be implemented by the Investor, with great effort and strong determination of the investor and consulting units, strong attention and guidance of the two provinces’ leaders, the consent of the ministries/sectors and of the people of the Northwest provinces, the project has gradually finalised necessary procedures for its implementation.
The Hoa Binh – Son La highway will create a new traffic artery connecting the two provinces of Hoa Binh and Son La, and expand the connection of the Northwest region with Hanoi capital, the political and business center of the whole country and the surrounding areas. This will help to complete the highway system according to the plan approved by the Prime Minister, creating a complete transportation network to meet the demand for goods transportation and passengers, shorten travel time and promote the effectiveness of the projects being invested. At the same time, it also contributes to promoting socio-economic development, strengthening security and national defense of the areas where the route goes through in the Northwest region in particular and the whole country in general.
The project has a total length of about 80 km through Hoa Binh city, Da Bac, Mai Chau, Hoa Binh and Van Ho, Moc Chau and Son La provinces. The project complies with the technical standard of motorway with a scale of 4 lanes of 22 m width, with a staging investment of phase 1 with 04 lanes of 17 m width.
Recognizing that this is a project with a very complex level of technicality because the route passes through different terrains of extremely difficult conditions and special structures shall be used for most of the construction works on the route (including cable-stayed bridge, suspension bridge, mountain tunnel) and a large proportion of viaduct works to ensure the operation. TEDI, who was dedicated to be the consultant to prepare the feasibility study report of the project exerted all necessary resources to complete the project according to the committed schedule.
In order to confirm the feasibility and to choose the optimal route direction, on September 28th, 2019 TEDI and Hoa Binh – Son La Expressway Investment Joint Stock Company organized a field visit and a follow-up discussion on design options with the main focus on the location for Binh Son bridge (across Hoa Binh Lake).
A planned design option for Binh Son bridge
After reviewing, the mission agreed to focus on studying locations for the bridge under Option 1 and Option 3 with the types of arch, cable-stayed, and suspension bridges … to compare and select the optimal option. General Director Pham Huu Son has assigned diferent units to focus on the research, carefully compare and select the option to serve as a basis for reporting to investors and competent state agencies.
In addition, the mission also reviewed the entire route going through difficult sections before and after Hoa Binh lake.
The mission surveying the section after Hoa Binh lake
The mission determined that this is the most difficult section in terms of both topography and geology. The General Director requested concerned units to carry out necessary research to develop the most optimal option that will avoid road landslides and collapse) and prioritize to use works (tunnel, viaducts…) but also ensure the economic and technical factors.
During the trip, the General Director also visited and encouraged the engineers and workers of the Engineering Survey Data and Services Division who are conducting the survey work at the site.
Members of the field-visit mission talking with surveying engineers and workers
