Are Vietnamese businesses capable of building high-speed railways?

The North-South high-speed railway project is expected to bring a huge amount of work to the infrastructure construction market. Whether Vietnamese transport enterprises have enough capacity to seize this opportunity or not is a matter of great concern.

Business ready

One afternoon in October, putting aside remote phone calls to direct and urge the construction progress of the packages the unit is undertaking in a series of expressway projects across the country, Mr. Nguyen Tuan Huynh, General Director of Cienco4 Group, welcomed reporters from Giao thong Newspaper with excitement when mentioning the "super project" of the North-South high-speed railway.

Cienco4 is confident with its capacity and experience having participated in the Ben Thanh - Suoi Tien, Cat Linh - Ha Dong metro projects and many other major transport projects, so it can participate in most high-speed railway projects. (In the photo: Cienco4 participating in the construction of the Ben Thanh - Suoi Tien metro project).

"This is a very large project, requiring contractors, consultants, and equipment suppliers with real capacity. Cienco4 is confident enough to participate in the project. With its capacity and experience, Cienco4 wishes to participate in most items from construction infrastructure to equipment," Mr. Huynh affirmed. According to him, the advantage of the enterprise is that it has participated in the Ben Thanh - Suoi Tien and Cat Linh - Ha Dong metro projects, so it already has a management system, thousands of engineers, and workers. A certain number of human resources are being sent for training. Cienco4 also has a number of foreign partners such as China, Japan, and South Korea ready to provide professional support when necessary. Mr. Pham Van Khoi, Chairman of the Board of Directors and General Director of Phuong Thanh Transport Investment and Construction Joint Stock Company (Phuong Thanh Tranconsin) said that from a technical perspective, high-speed railways also have overpasses, tunnels, and roadbeds like expressway projects. The main difference is in the stability of the bridge, the slope, some safety works require more strictness and precision. Thoroughly prepare resources Mr. Khoi said, with a staff of nearly 2,000 people, more than 60% are high-quality human resources who can master high technology and the ability to construct large bridges, complex techniques, if there is an opportunity to participate, the enterprise can completely meet the "task" given.

Our Party and State have clearly stated the policy of building high-speed railways using advanced technology but must ensure the simultaneous participation of domestic enterprises, moving towards mastering the technology. Participating in the project will be an opportunity for them to understand, move towards receiving, mastering and developing the technology in the future.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Tran Chung (Chairman of Vietnam Association of Road Traffic Construction Investors)

Phuong Thanh Tranconsin has proactively sent personnel for training in China, Japan, France, etc. The next step is to open a research institute and transfer technology, inviting experienced international "chief engineers" to exchange expertise to more clearly identify the work items that can be participated in, the technology that needs to be researched and mastered, and the equipment that needs investment. Identifying railway infrastructure investment as a new direction in the next 5-10 years, Deo Ca Group has also cooperated with universities to recruit and train high-quality human resources. The cooperation model includes ordering at the source and on-site training. "We organize practical research on the railway - metro training process of advanced countries through prestigious training institutions to select "imported" programs and experts," informed Mr. Nguyen Quang Vinh, General Director of Deo Ca Group. Proactively approaching the project, Trung Chinh Trading and Construction Company Limited has also listed about 40 construction engineers to attend the railway engineering class of Hanoi University of Transport; continuing to select engineers to study in some developed countries on high-speed railways. In the consulting field, Mr. Pham Huu Son, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Transport Design Consulting Corporation (TEDI) said that about 3 years ago, TEDI determined to build a team of railway engineers. TEDI has completed 2 classes with nearly 100 trained engineers. By the end of 2025, the unit will have trained 300 engineers. Should "choose the right person to entrust gold" From the experience of doing the North - South expressway project phase 2, leader Phuong Thanh Tranconsin said that, for the high-speed railway project to be fast and effective, the division of bidding packages must be "exactly" to create conditions for contractors to maximize their capacity. The bidding mechanism needs to be further considered and applied to be able to choose the right and successful enterprises with potential. From practical experience and learning from models in some European countries, China, and Japan, the leader of Cienco4 Group affirmed that most of the construction infrastructure (except equipment) and non-central stations, large domestic transport contractors are capable of implementing. "Authorities need to choose large, experienced contractors to represent large bidding packages. The bidding mechanism like in the North-South Expressway project is an open point that needs to be studied and implemented. Except for some main stations that need to integrate many technical infrastructures, consider choosing foreign enterprises with experience in technology, equipment, and operation as general contractors to ensure high accuracy," he said. According to the leader of Cienco4, the process of building criteria for selecting contractors and consulting units, if the requirement is "enterprises that have participated in a similar project", will be an obstacle for domestic enterprises, because in Vietnam there is no high-speed railway line. Can undertake most of the construction and installation work . The representative of Deo Ca Group said that many construction units of large packages of the North-South Expressway project, phase 2, are mobilizing a large source of human resources and equipment to bring the component projects to the finish line early. It is forecasted that after 2025, the amount of human resources, machinery and equipment of enterprises will be quite large, requiring "pillow work". With the high-speed railway project, there needs to be a mechanism to create conditions for these enterprises to participate. In which, the items can be studied to be divided into 2 components. Component 1 is the items from the under-rail section down, which are similar in nature to road works (bridges, roads, tunnels), and should be assigned to experienced domestic enterprises. Component 2 is the locomotives, signal information systems, etc., and should be considered for domestic enterprises to join forces with foreign enterprises to implement. Directly participating in the working group of the Ministry of Transport to learn from experience and "witness" many projects in many countries, Mr. Tran Thien Canh, Director of the Vietnam Railways Department, commented that with the North-South high-speed railway project, domestic contractors can undertake most of the construction and installation. "Like in China, in 2008, when starting to build the first line, their slogan was "Don't wait for modern machinery and equipment to build a high-speed railway". Their way of mobilizing domestic enterprises is also very simple, as long as the enterprises have enough capacity to meet the requirements of human resources and specialized equipment according to the "task" given", Mr. Canh shared.

According to the Ministry of Transport, investing in the high-speed railway will create a construction market worth more than 33 billion USD. Implementing the direction of the Government and the Prime Minister, the route is designed according to the following principles: Ensuring the straightest possible route, reducing operating costs; no level crossings to ensure design speed, safe operation; limiting impacts on the environment and the area the route passes through. On that basis, the Ministry of Transport proposes to use 3 main types of structures on the route, including: Bridge structure of about 60% of the route length, applied in cases where the route passes through urban areas, densely populated areas, rivers and intersections with other works; tunnel structure of about 10% of the route length applied when passing through mountainous areas; soil structure of about 30% of the route length, applied when the route passes through sparsely populated areas, does not intersect with other works, and has stable geological conditions.

Source: https://www.baogiaothong.vn/doanh-nghiep-viet-co-du-suc-lam-duong-sat-toc-do-cao-192241021231416866.htm