North-South Toll Road contractors are experiencing difficulties due to high material prices

Vinaconex is implementing a number of component projects for the North-South Toll Road. Nguyen Huu Toi, Deputy General Director of Vinaconex, said that at the time of signing the contract for package 4 of the Vinh Hao – Phan Thiet project, the steel price was just over 11,000 VND/kg, up to now it is more than 20,000 VND/kg. Backfill that was previously 81,000 VND/m3, is now 157,000 VND/m3. Package 4 has a contract value of more than 2,080 billion VND, now an increase of 403 billion VND due to fluctuations in building material prices.

In package 3, the Phan Thiet – Dau Giay section, at the time of signing the contract, the price of steel was 12,000 VND/kg, embankment soil was 85,500 VND/m3, sand 330,000 VND/m3, asphalt 10 million VND/tonne. However, at present, most materials have increased 1.5 times, gasoline fuel has increased almost 2 times. Price fluctuations pushed the contract value up by VND 675 billion, up 31% compared to the winning bid.

This additional fee will be adjusted according to the locally published price index. However, Pak Toi said that the announcement of local prices and price indexes is not close to reality. For example, in the Phan Thiet – Dau Giay project, the current price of steel is over 19,000 VND/kg, but the declared price in the region is over 18,000 VND/kg; The current land price is 158,000 VND/m3 while the announced price is 105,000 VND/m3.

“In general, the auction package increased by 30% compared to the bid price, but previously it was adjusted lower. We recommend ministries and branches to adjust prices according to the market that the toll road passes through,” Pak Toi or because the volume of material is very large, contractors cannot stockpile if there is a price increase. Project contingency costs are calculated by the costs incurred, but the price slip issue is only calculated by a small percentage.

A participating contractor on Mai Son Highway – National Highway 45 (Thanh Hoa) also said that gasoline prices have almost doubled, asphalt prices have increased by one and a half times, increasing the cost of transporting materials. In general, the auction package for bridge and road construction increased by 25-30% compared to the winning bidder. Meanwhile, contractors are only subject to slippage of 5-6%, so they experience huge losses, do not have sufficient costs, and do not earn profits.

He said, in the long term, an increase in material prices without timely adjustments will make contractors lose money, greatly affecting the construction progress of the auction package. Today, most material mine owners, material suppliers and materials… require contractors to prepay for orders, making it even more difficult for them due to lack of cash flow.

“The more we lose, the more we lose, because the contract must be continued. If the manpower is not enough to continue, the contractor will run away, affecting the progress of the work. I hope ministries and agencies will remove the difficulties and allow direct price compensation applications, not in line with the CPI consumer price index”, suggested the contractor’s representative.

Mr Duong Viet Roan, Director of the Thang Long Project Management Board, said that the unit has examined fluctuations in raw material prices in the Mai Son – National Highway 45 and Phan Thiet – Dau Giay bidding packages which are the responsibility of the sub-contractor. to be responsible for reporting to the Ministry of Transportation. It is estimated that the offer package increases costs by more than 10% compared to the previous winning price.

All offer packages charge a 5-6% condition on price slips. However, according to Pak Roan, price slippage may not be sufficient and must be rebalanced from the overall contingency costs of the project. However, this cost does not affect the total investment of the Mai Son Toll Road – National Highway 45 and Phan Thiet – Dau Giay Toll Road.

A representative from the Department of Construction Management and Traffic Construction Quality (Ministry of Transportation) said that the agency is currently compiling a report from the project management agency to capture fluctuations in raw material prices and will report to the Government to eliminate contractor difficulties. In theory, the construction contract for the North-South Expressway project adjusts prices according to the CPI slippage index. Contractors’ difficulties due to high material prices will be resolved through the calculation of price adjustment costs.

However, the price index has not been announced by the regions in a timely manner and is inconsistent with actual fluctuations. Therefore, the transportation sector proposed the provincial Construction Department to announce the material price and construction price index in a timely manner, according to market prices, and at the same time consider establishing a separate price index for the bidding package of toll road projects, in contrast to the material price index. for construction work in the area.

Mr. Duy

at Blogtuan.info – Source: vnexpress.net – Read the original article here