The North-South high-speed railway is the premise to turn Vietnam into a developed, high-income country.
Báo Tin Tức•01/10/2024
Pursuant to Conclusion No. 49-KL/TW dated February 28, 2023 of the Politburo on the orientation for the development of Vietnam's railway transport to 2030, with a vision to 2045, the Ministry of Transport is submitting to competent authorities the investment policy for the North-South high-speed railway line (Project).
According to Deputy Minister of Transport Nguyen Danh Huy, from October 2023 to present, the Ministry of Transport has consulted 24 central ministries, branches, and National Assembly Committees, most of which assessed that the project research preparation work is consistent with the Party's orientation on railway development. The Government has also agreed on the investment plan for the North-South high-speed railway line with a design speed of 350 km/h, in line with the development trend in the world in accordance with Conclusion No. 49-KL/TW of the Politburo.
Investing in the construction of the North-South high-speed railway is a premise to turn Vietnam into a developed, high-income country. Photo: VNA
On September 18, 2024, the Politburo issued a conclusion on the project investment policy, identifying: The high-speed railway is a symbolic project with strategic significance, especially important in terms of economy, politics, society, national defense, security and international integration; agreed on the investment policy for the North-South high-speed railway with the investment plan for the entire route in the form of public investment, designed speed of 350 km/h, transporting passengers, meeting the dual-use requirements for national defense and security, and being able to transport goods when necessary; agreed to have special mechanisms and policies to mobilize legal resources for implementation, shortening the implementation progress as much as possible. The 13th Central Executive Committee also issued Resolution No. 55-NQ/TW dated September 20, 2024 agreeing on the investment policy for the entire route of the North-South high-speed railway project (350 km/h). According to the review of the Ministry of Transport, currently, the demand for transportation on the North-South corridor is large, especially passenger transport, transportation costs are still high, travel time is long, inconvenient, affecting socio-economic development, reducing the competitiveness of the economy. Railway transport has the advantage of transporting large volumes, fast, safe, convenient, reasonable cost, reducing environmental pollution and traffic accidents, so priority should be given to investing in high-speed railways to create momentum for sustainable national development. In addition, the scale of the economy in 2023 will reach 430 billion USD, nearly 3 times higher than in 2010; public debt is low at about 37% of GDP; the expected time to implement project construction is in 2027, when the scale of the economy is estimated to reach 564 billion USD, so investment is no longer a major obstacle. Early investment in the North-South high-speed railway is necessary and urgent, aiming to realize the Party's policies and orientations, the Resolutions and Conclusions of the Politburo and implement plans, in which the key goal is to turn Vietnam into a developed country with high income. According to economic experts, the North-South economic corridor plays the most important role in the country, connecting 3/6 socio-economic regions, 20 provinces/cities, 2 special cities, 17 type I cities with a population of 500,000 people, about 54% of the country's urban population, 67% of coastal economic zones, about 63% of economic zones, 72% of type I and II large seaports, contributing over 51% of the country's GDP. The national master plan has identified the development of the North-South economic corridor as a driving force to connect the East-West economic corridors, growth poles, creating a spillover force to promote rapid, effective and sustainable socio-economic development of the whole country. Therefore, investing in the high-speed railway line from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City is necessary to cover the shortage of passenger transport capacity, serve economic and social development, ensure national defense and security, and contribute to restructuring the transport market in a reasonable and sustainable direction. Investing in the high-speed railway line creates a construction market worth about 33.5 billion USD; including the national railway system and urban railways, it will create a construction market of about 75.6 billion USD, vehicles and equipment of about 34.1 billion USD (locomotives and carriages of about 9.8 billion USD; signal information systems and other equipment of about 24.3 billion USD) and millions of jobs...
Based on the above effective economic indicators, the Ministry of Transport recommends selecting an investment project with a design speed of 350 km/h for the North-South high-speed railway to meet the criteria of being modern, synchronous, having a long-term vision, effective, suitable for the geo-economic conditions of our country and the world trend. During the project preparation process, the Ministry of Transport studied two investment options: the investment option for the entire route, basically completed in 2035 (the Hanoi - Vinh and Nha Trang - Ho Chi Minh City sections will start construction in 2027, the Vinh - Nha Trang section will start construction in 2028, and construction will be completed in 2035) and the investment option for two phases, basically completed in 2040 (the Hanoi - Vinh and Nha Trang - Ho Chi Minh City sections will start construction in 2027, and construction will be completed in 2032; the Vinh - Nha Trang section will start construction in 2033, and construction will be completed in 2040). Regarding the investment option for the project with a design speed of 350 km/h; length of about 1,541 km; double track, 1,435 mm gauge, electrification... with a total investment of about 67.34 billion USD. The investment rate of about 43.7 million USD/km is the average compared to some countries when converted to 2024 (the investment rate depends on terrain, geology, hydrology, localization capacity, etc.) Based on the ability to mobilize resources and the accompanying specific solutions and policies, the Ministry of Transport recommends investing in the entire route with the expected progress: Submitting to the National Assembly for approval of the investment policy at the 8th Session (October 2024); bidding to select international consultants, conducting surveys, preparing a feasibility study report in 2025-2026; implementing site clearance, bidding to select contractors and starting construction at the end of 2027; striving to complete construction of the entire route in 2035, 10 years earlier than Conclusion No. 49-KL/TW.
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