Discussing solutions for Vietnamese enterprises to master the railway industry

Today (March 21), the Ministry of Construction coordinated with the Vietnam Association of Mechanical Enterprises to organize the Workshop "Vietnamese Enterprises with the Program for Developing Vietnam's Railway Industry".

Positioning the business in the railway industry market

Speaking at the workshop, Deputy Minister of Construction Nguyen Danh Huy said that from 1986 to present, in the four transport sectors including road, aviation, maritime, and inland waterways, Vietnam's level of mastery has basically been equal to that of some countries in the region.

Some technologies are at the same level as some countries in the world. Typically, the technology of building cable-stayed bridges, tunneling technology, etc.

Railways are still slower to develop due to their specific requirements for high capital; investment must ensure a large length to be effective. Railway transport is only effective for distances of 300km or more.

Deputy Minister of Construction Nguyen Danh Huy suggested that businesses "position themselves" in the railway industry market (Photo: Ta Hai).

In 2022, the Ministry of Transport (now the Ministry of Construction) summarized 10 years of implementing Conclusion 27 of the Politburo to advise the Politburo to issue Conclusion 49, identifying the 2025-2035 period as the decade for railway development.

Recently, the Ministry of Construction has reported to the Politburo, the Government, and submitted to the National Assembly three important Resolutions on: Construction of high-speed railway on the North-South axis; Construction of Lao Cai - Hanoi - Hai Phong railway; Construction and development of urban railways in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

In the projects reported to the Politburo, the Ministry of Construction set quite ambitious goals for the development of the railway industry: By 2030, Vietnam will be able to master the survey, design and construction of railways with speeds of 160km/h or less and urban railways. Regarding signal information, from 2030 onwards, it will begin to produce software and master control system equipment, electromechanical systems, and produce locomotives and carriages domestically.

According to Deputy Minister Huy, learning from the experiences of Spain, China, and South Korea (countries that did not develop high-speed rail technology themselves but through technology transfer) shows that it is not necessary to master everything. Even China still has to import some details.

From here, the Deputy Minister suggested that businesses need to determine their capacity, what products they want to participate in the market, what plans and orientations they have, and from there, make specific recommendations on mechanisms and policies for the State.

"We use this playground to work, to contribute, for Vietnamese enterprises to dominate at home and when enterprises do, they must make a profit. On the contrary, enterprises must also provide competitively priced products, which cannot be too expensive compared to foreign products," said Deputy Minister Nguyen Danh Huy.

Firmly follow the roadmap for technology transfer and development

Regarding specific information on the development orientation of Vietnam's railway industry until 2030, with a vision to 2050, Mr. Tran Thien Canh, Director of Vietnam Railways Department, said that the demand for railway industry products is concentrated in 4 groups.

Mr. Tran Thien Canh, Director of Vietnam Railway Authority, provided specific information on the need for railway industry development (Photo: Ta Hai).

Railway infrastructure construction industry group, need to supply railway materials with about 28.7 million meters of rails, about 11,680 sets of scoreboards, and about 46 million sleepers.

For locomotives and wagons, by 2030, there will be 15 locomotives with a gauge of 1,000mm and 250 locomotives with a gauge of 1,435mm; by 2045, these numbers will be 150 and 2,000 respectively. Similarly, for wagons, by 2030, there will be 26 locomotives with a gauge of 1,000mm and 1,760 locomotives with a gauge of 1,435mm; by 2045, these numbers will be 160 and 10,144 respectively.

The group of information and signal systems (TTTH) includes TTTH for existing railways and TTTH for electrified railways. The group of traction power systems, investing in the construction of 18 new electrified railway lines; The power supply system for national railways is a 25kV single-phase AC power source.

Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Chi Sang, Chairman of the Vietnam Association of Mechanical Enterprises, said that it is necessary to build a roadmap for railway industry development and implement it consistently and steadfastly (Photo: Ta Hai).

Regarding the orientation of mastering technology, Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Chi Sang, Chairman of the Vietnam Association of Mechanical Enterprises, said that it is necessary to build a roadmap for the development of the national railway industry associated with the development of the railway network with a long enough vision and to implement it consistently and steadfastly.

At the same time, standards for railway types can be developed/selected to enable modularization, as a basis for localizing railway products and services.

It is necessary to identify early the products and services of the railway industry that need to be localized and the localization rate in each stage to include these requirements at the beginning of the bid as a prerequisite.

Assign some State/private companies to own and provide some important service items and manufacture equipment for the railway industry. Have a mechanism to appoint contractors for the items.

"Vietnam must be self-reliant in constructing railway projects with speeds under 200 km/h (inter-regional and metro) including: design consultancy, project management; infrastructure construction; manufacturing of locomotives, carriages, equipment; design, manufacturing, integration of information systems, signals, train control; maintenance and repair," Mr. Sang said and proposed that foreign contractors should be required to form joint ventures with domestic design and manufacturing units to ensure the localization rate of project services and products as a prerequisite in the bidding documents.

Need specific incentive mechanisms and policies

Speaking at the conference, leading enterprises in the fields of construction, telecommunications, steel, and automobile industry such as Viettel, Hoa Phat Group, Thaco, Trung Chinh Company, etc. all affirmed that they are ready with resources to participate in the railway industry market. However, these enterprises all said that the State needs to have specific favorable mechanisms and policies on taxes, preferential loans, or designated contractors.

Enterprises participating in the workshop all expressed their readiness to participate in railway development (Photo: Ta Hai).

Affirming that Hoa Phat is completely confident in its ability to master the production of high-quality rails, Mr. Nguyen Viet Thang, General Director of Hoa Phat Group, said that he has invested in a rail production project, and is expected to have the first rail product by the end of 2027.

Mr. Thang suggested that the Government order enterprises to implement to ensure product output. At the same time, competent authorities need to soon have standards and regulations for rail types for railways, allowing enterprises to participate deeply with technical departments to produce products that meet requirements and ensure high quality.

Regarding the production of locomotives and carriages, Mr. Pham Truong Tung, Senior Director of Engineering - Technology, Thaco Industrial Joint Stock Company, said that Thaco can absolutely participate in the production of carriages. However, enterprises need to enjoy preferential policies on tax and land. Specifically, exemption of import tax on raw materials, supplies, and components that cannot be produced domestically to produce railway industrial products; application of investment incentives according to high-tech product production projects...

"Support connecting international partners to cooperate in technology transfer, and have policies for domestic investment enterprises on credit and costs for human resource training and development, technology transfer, research and development," Mr. Tung recommended.

Source: https://www.baogiaothong.vn/ban-giai-phap-de-doanh-nghiep-viet-lam-chu-cong-nghiep-duong-sat-192250321160108025.htm