Ensuring quality and progress of appraisal of North-South high-speed railway project
This is the direction of Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung, Chairman of the State Appraisal Council for the Pre-Feasibility Study Report of the North-South high-speed railway project.
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This afternoon (October 14), the State Appraisal Council for the North-South High-Speed Railway Project held its second meeting to appraise the Pre-Feasibility Study Report for the North-South High-Speed Railway Project sent by the Ministry of Transport (MOT) to the Council in Submission No. 10625/TTr – BGTVT dated October 2, 2024.
Commend the responsible working spirit of the project consultant, appraisal consultant, interdisciplinary appraisal expert team and members of the State Appraisal Council when in a very short time they completed the appraisal report; project dossier after explanation; draft Appraisal Result Report ensuring progress and quality.
“This is a very special and important transport infrastructure project in terms of scale and technology, with impacts lasting hundreds of years, so the appraisal process must demonstrate heart, vision and intelligence to be able to recommend and propose quality opinions on the Pre-Feasibility Study Report to competent authorities,” Minister Nguyen Chi Dung noted.
The process of appraising and commenting on the Project's Pre-Feasibility Study Report must closely follow the instructions of the Politburo, the Party Central Committee and the Government Standing Committee.
Specifically, the Politburo agreed on the policy of investing in a high-speed railway on the North-South axis with the investment plan for the entire route in the form of public investment, speed of 350 km/h, mainly transporting passengers, meeting the dual-use requirements for national defense and security, and being able to transport goods when necessary.
The investment in the Project with high determination, great effort, drastic action, needs to be carefully studied, ensuring feasibility, efficiency, modernity, synchronization, strategic vision... ensuring effective connection of East-West corridors, seaports, airports of the country and connection with countries in the region, first of all China, Laos, Cambodia and Southeast Asia.
In Notice No. 458/TB-VPCP, the Government Standing Committee requested relevant agencies and units to closely follow the investment policy for the entire route with a design speed of 350km/h approved by the Politburo and the Central Executive Committee of the Party to calculate and design appropriate, feasible and effective technical solutions.
Accordingly, the route must be studied to be as straight as possible to reduce costs, ensure exploitation speed, create new development space, save costs; avoid residential areas and large urban areas but must have appropriate connection plans; convenient for the shortest connection to airports and large seaports; ensure convenient connection to the East-West corridor and connection with railways in China, Laos, and Cambodia.
For stations, it is necessary to calculate and determine a large enough area, ensuring a long-term strategic vision to develop full, modern services, and maximize the efficiency of land resources and new development space.
Based on those major orientations, the Minister and Chairman of the State Appraisal Council requested the Ministry of Transport and project consultants to closely coordinate with the appraisal consultants and the interdisciplinary appraisal expert team to focus on clarifying and explaining in a specific and highly convincing manner a number of important issues of the Pre-Feasibility Study Report of the North-South high-speed railway project, including: demand forecast, service scope; preliminary selection of key technologies and techniques and conditions for the supply of materials, raw materials, energy, services, and infrastructure; total investment; capital mobilization plan; specific policy mechanisms, etc.
“We must calculate correctly and fully the construction costs, not embellish the financial picture, especially during the operation phase, to have an effective handling mechanism even though this is a project with very high socio-economic and national security efficiency,” the Minister and Chairman of the State Appraisal Council directed.
Regarding the progress of the Project implementation (preparation and investment implementation within 10 years), the Minister and Chairman of the State Appraisal Council said that this is a very urgent progress, especially in the context of a large-scale, technologically complex, and unprecedented project.
Therefore, the Ministry of Transport, project consultants and relevant units must fully identify risk factors and develop solutions to ensure feasibility of progress as required by the Politburo and the Central Executive Committee.
Because the deadline for submitting the Project Investment Policy Report to the National Assembly must be completed by October 19, 2024 in time for consideration and approval at the 8th Session, the Project appraisal progress must be carried out very urgently, with smooth coordination between relevant agencies.
Minister and Chairman of the State Appraisal Council Nguyen Chi Dung asked the Council members (35 members) to promote a sense of responsibility towards the country and people when giving comments and voting on the draft Appraisal Results Report.
The Ministry of Transport urgently studies and fully absorbs the opinions of ministries, branches, the Government Standing Committee and the State Appraisal Council. For the contents that are not accepted, a full and detailed explanation must be provided to convince the State Appraisal Council and competent authorities to approve.
“The progress of appraisal and submission of the Project Investment Policy Report is very urgent, but that does not mean we can compromise or ignore the requirements on appraisal quality,” the Minister and Chairman of the State Appraisal Council for the Pre-Feasibility Study Report of the North-South High-Speed Railway Project reminded.
It is known that in Document No. 10625, the Ministry of Transport proposed a high-speed railway line on the North-South axis with the starting point at Ngoc Hoi station and the ending point at Thu Thiem station, with a length of about 1,545 km.
Based on the planning and research results of the Consultant, the Ministry of Transport proposed the scope of investment of the Project with the starting point in Hanoi (Ngoc Hoi station); the ending point in Ho Chi Minh City (Thu Thiem station); the total length of the route is about 1,541 km.
The project passes 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 project will build a new double-track railway line, 1,435 mm gauge, designed speed of 350 km/h, load capacity of 22.5 tons/axle; build 23 passenger stations, 5 freight stations; high-speed railway for passenger transport, meeting dual-use requirements for national defense and security, and can transport goods when necessary.
The project has a preliminary land use demand of about 10,827 hectares; the project investment form is public investment; the preliminary total investment is about 1,713,594 billion VND (equivalent to 67.34 billion USD).
Project investment capital is capital from the central budget arranged in medium-term periods, capital contributed by localities, mobilized capital with low cost and few constraints, etc.
During the construction and operation process, businesses will be called upon to invest in service and commercial areas at the stations; and invest in additional vehicles for exploitation when needed.
The Ministry of Transport proposed to prepare a Feasibility Study Report for the Project in 2025-2026; start construction at the end of 2027; strive to complete the entire route in 2035.
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