Construction of Hoi An coastal protection embankment: Speeding up progress before rainy season

Construction site at sea. Photo: CONG TU

Key projects

On March 20, 2025, Quang Nam province (old) held a groundbreaking ceremony for the Project to prevent erosion and sustainably protect the Hoi An coast. Mr. Vo Van Diem, Director of the Quang Nam Province Investment and Construction Project Management Board (under the Da Nang City People's Committee) said that the Hoi An coast was once considered one of the most beautiful coasts in Asia. However, since 2014, this coast has suffered severe erosion, losing its beaches and damaging infrastructure along the coast, affecting people's lives, the landscape and tourism environment, and threatening the safety of constructions.

To protect the coast from the risk of further erosion inland, Quang Nam has had many engineering solutions to overcome the erosion situation, which have initially shown effectiveness.

However, due to limited funding, the locality has only been able to implement about 2.3km out of more than 6km of the required coastline. Therefore, the official entry into the implementation phase of the Hoi An Coastal Erosion Prevention and Sustainable Protection Project is an important step forward in ensuring the future development of the Hoi An coastline.

Underground dike to reduce waves on section B7. Photo: CONG TU

On April 4, Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Tan, Deputy Director of the Quang Nam Province Construction Investment Project Management Board, signed an official dispatch announcing the construction of the Hoi An Coastal Erosion Prevention and Sustainable Protection Project, consisting of two components.

In which, component 1 focuses on investing in infrastructure construction; the construction scope from the river mouth of the wharf section to Cu Lao Cham along the north to the northern border of Victoria Hotel is about 3,393.5m long. Component 2 implements non-structural measures such as research, assessment and strengthening of mechanisms and institutions for organizing integrated management of coastal basins...

The project has 2 construction packages. Package No. 1 was implemented by the consortium of Lung Lo Construction Corporation and Dat Phuong Group Joint Stock Company; and Package No. 2 was implemented by the consortium of Dat Phuong Group Joint Stock Company and Thanh Tien Company Limited. The project is expected to be completed in December 2026. The completion of this project will protect the land, houses, property and lives of the people, as well as tourism and resort infrastructure for the entire 3.2 square kilometers of land area and more than 1,300 households.

Promote construction

Mr. Tan said that the structural solutions for the project's construction items include: Underground wave-reducing dykes from B1 to B7; a system of 6 welding groynes perpendicular to the shore; and beach renovation.

Divers work on wave-reducing dike construction through the afternoon. Photo: CONG TU

The detailed beach renovation scope is divided into renovation areas from C1 to C6 located between the welding mines. Particularly renovation area C7 (sacrificial nourishment area), this area will continue the previous renovation area of the emergency anti-erosion embankment project of Cua Dai beach, from the old Cam An ward People's Committee (now Hoi An Tay ward) to An Bang area moving north.

At the offshore construction site, the joint venture of contractors mobilized dozens of equipment, machinery, and ships. Engineer Dao To Van, in charge of construction techniques at Dat Phuong Group Corporation, shared that the unit is constructing underground dykes B1 and B4, dredging the dyke foundation, and constructing core stones for the dyke in package 1. For package 2, the contractor is organizing the synchronous construction of underground dykes B5, B6, and B7.

Mr. Le Dinh Son, project manager (Quang Nam Province Investment and Construction Project Management Board) said that the project is favorable because it does not affect site clearance, the contractor has the capacity to perform the construction, and the people agree to support. Currently, the contractors are organizing 4 construction teams at sea. Taking advantage of favorable weather, the construction team works through the afternoon, striving to complete the underground wave-reducing dykes B4, B5, B6, B7 before this year's storm season, so that the beach nourishment can be carried out in 2026. Dyke lines B1, B2, B3 are partially under construction and will be completed in 2026.

The project is entering the peak phase of accelerating progress. Up to now, the output value has reached about 15%. According to the investor, the volume of construction stone is very large, so the origin, quality, and paperwork must be ensured.

The main source of stone supply is concentrated in Nui Thanh and Dung Quat ( Quang Ngai province). However, the project encountered some difficulties such as unstable weather at sea with frequent rain accompanied by high waves; scarce supply of raw materials, fluctuating prices.

Construction at sea so progress depends largely on the weather. Photo: CONG TU

Mr. Van said that to speed up the progress, the contractor rented additional specialized machinery and equipment at a high cost. A set of barges, tugboats, and cranes costs about 650 million VND/month; a set of rock carriers, excavators, and cranes also costs the same. Therefore, it is necessary to take advantage of favorable weather for construction, otherwise it will be very costly.

The consulting unit's engineers shared that if the wind forecast does not show any unusual developments and appears for a short time, the machinery and equipment will be temporarily anchored at sea and the construction will continue until the sea is calm. On the contrary, if the wind forecast is level 4-5, the equipment must be taken to a safe shelter and can be reorganized after about 5 days. Therefore, the contractors took advantage of the favorable weather to complete the construction plan before the rainy season.

The Hoi An coastal erosion prevention and sustainable protection project has a total cost of VND982.239 billion (equivalent to 42 million euros). Of which, AFD loan capital is VND807.745 billion (state budget allocates 50% and re-lends 50%); non-refundable aid from the WARM fund authorized by the EU is VND46.585 billion (state budget allocates 100% for the project); counterpart capital from the local budget is VND127.907 billion.

Source: https://baodanang.vn/thi-cong-ke-bao-ve-bo-bien-hoi-an-day-nhanh-tien-do-truoc-mua-mua-3299195.html