The North-South high-speed railway must be a "symbolic project in the country's rising era"

VOV.VN - Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh stated that the policy of investing in the North-South high-speed railway is an objective requirement, a strategic choice to develop the country's infrastructure and a symbolic project in the country's rising era.

The preliminary total investment is over 67 billion USD, the route is "as straight as possible". The Ministry of Transport has just issued a document responding to the contents that the State Appraisal Council requested clarification in the pre-feasibility report of the North-South high-speed railway project.

Preliminary determination of total investment for the North-South high-speed railway project is about 67.34 billion USD. Illustrative photo Al.

In which, there are contents that the Ministry of Transport explains to reserve the selected plan; there are contents that the Ministry accepts the Council's opinions and promises to update details during the feasibility report stage.

The consultant preparing the pre-feasibility study report has preliminarily determined the total investment for the North-South high-speed railway project to be about 67.34 billion USD (about 1,713 trillion VND).

In recent days, the Ministry of Transport and the State Appraisal Council have urgently compiled and agreed on the contents of the Pre-Feasibility Report and the Verification Report of the North-South high-speed railway project. It is expected that the Pre-Feasibility Report of the project will be submitted by the Government to the National Assembly at the 8th session taking place from tomorrow (October 21) to November 30. Regarding the review of the high-speed railway route, the Ministry of Transport said that the route has been studied according to the principle of "straightest possible", all curves have been audited to ensure safety and convenience for passengers. In addition, the route also meets 5 principles, including: In accordance with national and local sector planning; shortest route length between stations; meeting technical requirements, creating convenience for passengers; suitable for the terrain; limiting passage through sensitive areas and relics; limiting the volume of site clearance; ensure the East-West corridor connection, railway lines connecting China, Laos, Cambodia. Accepting the proposal of Binh Thuan province, the Ministry of Transport agreed to move Muong Man station to a new location about 4km north of the old location (Phan Thiet station). In addition, in the Feasibility Report preparation step, the Ministry of Transport will consider the locations of potential stations to assign the locality to preside over calling for investment in the station under the PPP method. Regarding the location of the freight station in the Hanoi area, accepting the proposal of the Hanoi People's Committee, the Ministry of Transport will move the freight station in Ngoc Hoi area to Thuong Tin.

The North-South high-speed railway has a designed speed of 350km/h for passenger trains and 160km/h for freight trains.

In the Feasibility Report preparation step, the Ministry of Transport will direct the Consultant to continue to coordinate with localities to review and adjust the route direction and station locations (if any), especially locations with advantages in connecting with major traffic hubs and economic zones, including the section through Nam Dinh province.

Operate passenger trains 320km/h, freight trains 120km/h

In the Pre-Feasibility Report, the North-South high-speed railway has a design speed of 350km/h for passenger trains and 160km/h for freight trains. According to the Ministry of Transport, experience in countries with newly put into operation railways shows that the operating speed is about 90% of the design speed. Therefore, the Ministry determined that in the first phase, the maximum operating speed of passenger trains is 320km/h, and freight trains is 120km/h. During the operation, the increase in maximum operating speed will be summarized, evaluated and tested. Regarding station locations, the Ministry of Transport said that the entire North-South high-speed railway will have 23 passenger stations and 5 freight stations. The consultant used curve radii and super-elevation calculations according to European standards, thereby showing that the technical requirements of the route meet the conditions for safe operation. During the exploitation process, the increase in maximum exploitation speed will be summarized, evaluated and tested. In response to the opinions of the Appraisal Council, the Ministry of Transport will direct the Consultant to continue to calculate specifically to ensure safe exploitation operations in the feasibility report preparation step. Regarding the requirement to carefully review the total investment, the Ministry of Transport has directed the Consultant to review and update the preliminary total investment of the project based on the principles of correct calculation, completeness and compliance with legal regulations. The Ministry of Transport said that the project will be implemented for over 10 years, so the preliminary total investment may fluctuate due to objective factors (natural disasters, epidemics, environmental incidents...) or subjective factors (changes in planning, policies, price indexes, slow implementation of site clearance, inadequate capital allocation...).

The high-speed railway route on the North-South axis has been studied to be "as straight as possible".

During the Feasibility Report preparation phase after the detailed design is available, the Ministry of Transport will continue to review and calculate the total project investment to ensure accuracy, adequacy, and suitability with the technology and scale of the project. Regarding the arrangement of investment capital, the Project Consultant proposed to use the State budget in medium-term public investment periods. The investment period is 12 years, with an average of about 5.6 billion USD per year. Identifying this as a project that needs the highest priority in terms of capital arrangement, the Ministry of Transport said that in case of capital shortage, the Government will issue bonds or borrow ODA to compensate. In addition, the profits earned from exploiting land funds in the vicinity of the high-speed railway station (TOD model) of localities will contribute 50% to the Central budget to balance the State budget invested in the project (estimated at about 8.5 billion USD compared to the site clearance cost of about 6.5 billion USD).

Iconic works in the era of national development

At the National Conference on disseminating and implementing the Resolution of the 10th Central Conference of the 13th tenure, organized by the Politburo and the Secretariat on October 20, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh directly delivered a speech, including the content of the policy of investing in the high-speed railway on the North-South axis. According to the Prime Minister, the policy of investing in the North-South high-speed railway is an objective requirement, a strategic choice to develop the country's infrastructure. At the same time, it creates new development space, increased land value, convenient travel for people, and competition for goods... Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh stated that in the past, we were still facing difficulties, with GDP per capita just over 1,000 USD, GDP over 100 billion USD, so we could not invest in the North-South high-speed railway. Up to now, Vietnam's GDP has increased 3-4 times and there is room to invest in the North-South high-speed railway.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh stated that the investment policy for the North-South high-speed railway is a strategic choice to develop the country's infrastructure and the project is a symbol of the country's rise.

"Where are the resources? The resources include central resources, local resources, borrowed resources, bond issuance resources, public-private partnership resources. There are many, diversified to do and we have enough conditions to do," the Prime Minister stated and emphasized the need for determination. Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh cited the world developing very quickly and China currently has 47,000km of high-speed railway, each year they develop 3,000km of highway. With the North-South high-speed railway project, it is proposed to take 10 years and must be completed by 2035. Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh also pointed out that if the old way of doing things is "to be honest, it will take about 50 more years", there must be a new way of doing things, innovation in governance, management, resource mobilization, especially consulting, fighting negativity, corruption, and waste. "We have to have a new way of doing things to ensure this," he added, hoping for support because this is one of the "symbolic projects in the country's rising era." The Prime Minister informed that he is currently focusing on building the connecting routes with China, including the Lao Cai - Hanoi - Hai Phong route. He emphasized the view that "railways must be modern" and cannot be unmodern. Regarding the 2026-2030 socio-economic development strategy, the Prime Minister said that the Party Central Committee basically agrees with the goal. Such as striving to be a developing country with modern industry, high average income, and among the 30 economies with the world's leading GDP scale by 2030. Creating a solid foundation for our country to become a developed, high-income, rich, prosperous, civilized, and happy country by 2045... The 2026-2030 socio-economic development strategy also sets out key economic targets, with an average GDP growth rate of 7.5 - 8.5%/year; GDP per capita by 2030 reaching 7,400 - 7,600 USD...

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Source: https://vov.vn/xa-hoi/duong-sat-toc-do-cao-bac-nam-phai-la-cong-trinh-bieu-tuong-o-ky-nguyen-vuon-minh-cua-dat-nuoc-post1129689.vov