Prime Minister: The North-South high-speed railway project needs a special mechanism

In mid-September, the 10th Central Conference of the 13th term agreed on the policy of investing in the entire high-speed railway project (350 km/h) on the North-South axis and assigned the Government Party Committee and the National Assembly Party Committee to direct Direct agencies to urgently complete documents for submission to the 8th session opening in October.

At the meeting on October 5, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh requested the Ministry of Transport and related ministries to soon submit to the Appraisal Council and complete the dossier to submit to the National Assembly on this project.

Through reviewing plans, consulting investment rates from other countries and consulting on preparing a pre-feasibility study report, the total preliminary project investment is 67.34 billion USD. The Prime Minister assigned relevant agencies to review and ensure the “most accurate possible” investment rate and preliminary total investment of this project.

At the same time, the agencies review and propose specific and special mechanisms for the project, including resource mobilization and procedures for land, site clearance, and construction materials. This must follow the motto “open mechanism, shortened procedures, shortened construction”.

He noted the impact assessment on public, government, foreign debts, and budget overspending. At the same time, the effectiveness of the project needs to be analyzed clearly, in terms of economic efficiency, impact on the country’s potential and position, logistics costs, and competitiveness of products and goods.

The Prime Minister assigned ministries and branches to come up with a mechanism to mobilize diverse resources, including central and local public investment, loans, bond issuance and other legal sources. “It is necessary to mobilize the entire political system to participate, with total force from the people and businesses in terms of human resources and facilities to serve the project,” he noted.

The high-speed railway is expected to start at Ngoc Hoi station (Hanoi) and end at Thu Thiem station (HCMC). The project goes through 20 provinces and cities including Hanoi, Ha Nam, Nam Dinh, Ninh Binh, Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Tri, Thua Thien Hue, Da Nang, Quang Nam, Quang Ngai, Binh Dinh , Phu Yen, Khanh Hoa, Ninh Thuan, Binh Thuan, Dong Nai, Ho Chi Minh City.

The Prime Minister emphasized that the investment plan must ensure the most straight route possible, avoid large residential areas so as not to have to clear a lot of land, save money, deploy quickly, and create new development space. Along with that, plan, arrange stations and build appropriate stations, in a modern, forward-looking direction. However, this must also avoid waste, promote functionality, serve socio-economic development, and ensure security and national defense.

This railway line must be built in accordance with national and industry planning. This is to ensure connection with other infrastructure and transportation methods, such as aviation, maritime and domestic and regional economic corridors such as China, Laos, and Cambodia.

According to Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, the Government has established a Working Group to implement the project. However, he emphasized that in order to achieve this, participating agencies must have new ways of doing things with high determination, great efforts, and drastic actions. “Only work, no backtracking, clearly assign people, tasks, responsibilities, time, and efficiency,” he further requested.