Proposing a series of special mechanisms to help Vietnamese contractors "open the door" to high-speed railway projects

Among the 7 specific mechanisms proposed by the Prime Minister for consideration in implementing the North-South Expressway project, the Vietnam Association of Construction Contractors has proposed many mechanisms to open the door for domestic contractors to participate.

Construction package size not exceeding 1.5 billion USD

Speaking with Giao thong Newspaper, Mr. Nguyen Quoc Hiep, Chairman of the Vietnam Association of Construction Contractors (VACC), said that VACC has just sent a document to the Prime Minister requesting him to consider specific mechanisms for the North-South high-speed railway (HSR) project.

Perspective of the North-South Expressway Project (AI Photo)

"Determining the total investment of the high-speed railway project of more than 67 billion USD, of which the basic construction part accounts for about 33 billion USD, is both an opportunity and a big challenge for Vietnamese enterprises and contractors. VACC has proposed 7 specific mechanisms for the Prime Minister to consider," Mr. Hiep informed and said that regarding the division of project components and the scale of the bidding package, VACC proposed that the Prime Minister separate the infrastructure construction component from other specialized components (information, signals; power supply; train vehicles).

The scale of the construction package should be kept between 1 billion and 1.5 billion USD, ensuring the financial capacity of the contractors participating in the bidding; Research to allow the application of the form of designated bidding in the project and apply a 5% discount.

Regarding contractor selection, according to VACC, this is a particularly large project using domestic capital, and priority should be given to using Vietnamese contractors. This ensures the creation of domestic jobs, increases initiative and autonomy, and is the best way to train high-quality domestic human resources to be able to carry out similar projects or to be able to participate in bidding for international projects in the future.

On that basis, VACC recommends that the criteria for selecting domestic contractors with capacity and experience are contractors with capacity and experience; having participated in projects and traffic works with a rank (according to the classification of construction works prescribed in Circular 06/2021/TT-BXD) equivalent to the rank of high-speed railway lines or with a rank converted from at least 3 works at adjacent lower levels.

The contractor model should encourage joint ventures between domestic or domestic and foreign contractors, but the domestic contractor plays the role of the head of the joint venture; Encourage bonus points for contractor joint ventures that use domestic contractors with a larger proportion of work.

"In case foreign contractors want to participate, they must form a joint venture with Vietnamese contractors, in which Vietnamese contractors must undertake at least 50% of the work volume. Regulations on using Vietnamese labor, giving priority to local labor (at least 70%) also need to be considered," VACC proposed.

Regarding financial criteria, to facilitate domestic contractors, VACC recommends considering and allowing the financial capacity of all contractors in the consortium to be added together and possibly reducing the financial capacity requirement.

As for the consulting contractor, according to VACC, the project uses the FEED design process and EPC contractor bidding. However, Vietnamese contractors often separate design consulting contractors and construction contractors. In bidding, there must be a joint venture between these two groups of contractors, including foreign contractors.

"Because the consulting contractor force in our country is still thin, competent authorities need to allow consulting contractors participating in the feasibility study and FEED design steps to still participate in the EPC general contractor consortium to bid if they can prove their legal and financial independence from the construction contractor members in the EPC general contractor consortium or allow the EPC contractor to choose the design consultant after winning the bid," the petition stated.

Regarding supervision consultancy and technical standards, project evaluation has high technical requirements, especially requiring high precision and limited tolerance, VACC recommends strengthening supervision consultancy. The supervision consultancy model is in the form of foreign consultants joining forces with domestic consultants to implement the project.

During the construction process, the construction supervisor requested the foreign side to transfer construction technology to the Vietnamese contractor.

Perspective of Ngoc Hoi passenger station on the North-South high-speed railway line.

Need a special credit package

Proposing a special financial mechanism, according to VACC, the project has very large value packages. To provide capital for businesses, the Prime Minister should consider and direct banks to arrange a special credit package to lend to project construction packages with preferential interest rates (possibly 5%/year); There should be a separate contract performance guarantee mechanism suitable for the capacity of domestic contractors (usually with small capital).

Regarding the issue of unit price standards, VACC pointed out that in reality, we still lack many specialized traffic standards, high-speed railway projects require very specific technical standards, and in particular, the time from now until the start of construction is only about 2 years, not enough to build a complete set of standards.

Therefore, the Association recommends not using the current detailed unit price system but using a separate project unit price system according to the method of total unit price or investment rate to build the package unit price; calculate a 5% discount if bidding is designated.

VACC also recommended that competent authorities consider using the FIDIC (International Federation of Consulting Engineers) contract model due to the involvement of foreign elements in the project.

In addition, VACC also proposed two other specific mechanisms on management, exploitation of material mines, and human resource development for implementation.

Specifically, competent authorities should consider and supplement regulations on compensation unit prices and material supply prices for the project; clarify how the mine will be managed and exploited after exploitation.

Regarding human resource development, it is necessary to develop a human resource project so that training institutions can train human resources for the railway construction industry from design, construction to operation to ensure sustainable and long-term development; Encourage organizations and contractors to grant scholarships and support students to study railway construction and mechanical engineering.

Source: https://www.baogiaothong.vn/de-xuat-loat-co-che-dac-thu-de-nha-thau-viet-sang-cua-vao-du-an-duong-sat-toc-do-cao-192241221205353889.htm