On June 16, the Government issued a resolution allowing the application of a specific mechanism in licensing the exploitation of minerals as common building materials, in order to supply soil for some sections on the East North-South Expressway in the period 2017 – 2020.

The East North-South Expressway Project in the 2017-2020 period has 11 component projects with a total length of 652.85km. Now, there have been 7 projects started, 4 projects are about to start. The project requires about 72 million m3 of soil for embankment, but news mines provide about 33.6 million m3 (equivalent to 62.8% of demand). About 19.9 million m3 (equivalent to 37.2% of demand) remains unexploited because it is located in 99 land mines that are not eligible for exploitation.

Facing the above difficulties and problems, many localities have asked the Prime Minister, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, and the Ministry of Transport to review the law on mineral mining to reduce procedures and apply specific mechanisms in granting soil exploitation permits in order to supply soil for North - South expressway projects