Project to renovate and upgrade Provincial Road 2 is invested by the Management Board of Construction Investment Projects of Dak Nong Province. The project connects the two districts of Dak Mil and Dak Song, designed according to grade III mountainous standards, with a design speed of 60 km/h.
According to the People’s Committee of Dak Nong province, Provincial Road 2 is a project located in the bauxite exploration and exploitation area. If implementing the project, the Provincial People’s Committee must implement solutions to recover and protect minerals as prescribed in Point dd, Clause 7, Article 2, Decision No. 866 dated July 18, 2023 of the Prime Minister on approval of mineral exploration, exploitation, processing and use planning.
Provincial Road 2 is about 60km from Nhan Co Alumin Factory, Dak R’lap district. The total need for internal land leveling in this project is about 74,000m3. With a transport norm of 545,000 VND/m23total cost is more than 40.3 billion VND.
In the ideal case, all leveled and coordinated soil in the project has a bauxite content with a recovery rate of 33%, the volume of fine ore in 74,000 m3.3 is 24,420m3.
The ore value is calculated according to the bauxite natural resources tax price of 390,000 VND/m3 will be more than 9.5 billion VND. Difference between transportation cost and ore value in 74,000m3 is more than 30.8 billion VND.
In addition, the investor will have to spend about 3.6 billion VND to buy 74,000 square meters.3 leveling land (not including transportation costs) to compensate for the amount of bauxite ore recovered.
Preliminary calculations, this project will cost more than 34.4 billion VND. Not to mention the recovery and transportation will take longer, affecting the progress of the project.
Through review, the People’s Committee of Dak Nong province determined that there are 425 public investment projects in the province located in the planned bauxite exploration and exploitation area that are facing difficulties and obstacles in recovering and protecting minerals.
Of these, 37 necessary projects include: renovating and upgrading Provincial Road 2; renovate and upgrade provincial road 5; Dao Nghia – Quang Khe road (phase 2)… there needs to be a timely solution policy.
If these projects are paused, Dak Nong province will be affected by the disbursement progress of medium-term public investment capital from 2021 to 2025. Roads that are not upgraded will cause traffic to seriously deteriorate, posing a risk. loss of traffic safety, restriction of goods circulation in the area.
Dak Nong has more than 2,400km2 bauxite ore was discovered, with estimated reserves of about 1.3 billion tons of fine ore. Bauxite ore is distributed over an area of more than 35% of the total natural area of the province.
Standing Vice Chairman of Dak Nong Provincial People’s Committee Le Van Chien said that bauxite exploitation requires a roadmap and a period of tens or even hundreds of years.
Currently, in Dak Nong, only Nhan Co Alumina Factory of Vietnam Coal and Mineral Industry Group (TKV) is exploiting bauxite and producing alumina.
Through calculations, if bauxite is exploited from a distance of over 15km to the factory, it is basically unprofitable. The farther bauxite is exploited, the lower the economic efficiency, even losses.
According to TKV leaders, the authority to recover bauxite in construction projects is the investor. TKV will only recover minerals when the investor completes all legal procedures and site clearance to hand over clean land to TKV. Ore recovery must ensure economic efficiency for alumina production.
Currently, the People’s Committee of Dak Nong province and Vinacomin have requested the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment to allow mineral recovery when implementing socio-economic development projects in the planning area, bauxite exploration and exploitation.
Regarding this issue, Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Dang Quoc Khanh asked specialized units to coordinate with Dak Nong province to evaluate and report each specific area to have directions to remove problems for the locality.
