Realizing the North-South high-speed railway: The big plan of the "big guys"
Người Lao Động•03/10/2024
Currently, there are at least two large Vietnamese enterprises that have confirmed their interest in the North-South high-speed railway project, namely Deo Ca Group and Hoa Phat Group.
The Government Standing Committee has just held a conference with large corporations and enterprises on solutions to contribute to the country's socio-economic development. At this conference, Mr. Tran Dinh Long, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Hoa Phat Group, gave many comments related to economic development solutions, including mobilizing private enterprises to participate in large projects, with attention paid to the North-South high-speed railway project. Large enterprises interested Emphasizing the importance of the North-South high-speed railway project, Mr. Tran Dinh Long hopes that Hoa Phat Group will participate in the bidding to supply steel for the project. "Hoa Phat has the capacity to produce steel for the high-speed railway project in Vietnam" - Mr. Long affirmed. Previously, at the 2024 annual general meeting of Hoa Phat Group held in April, Mr. Long shared his ambition to produce rails for high-speed railways in phase 2 of the Dung Quat 2 project. At that time, Mr. Long said that Dung Quat 2 had completed more than half of the journey with many important items gradually being completed. This was also the time when Hoa Phat began researching and producing the first rails to serve the North-South high-speed railway project. In addition to a series of road projects being implemented, Deo Ca Group has also officially entered the railway infrastructure sector. In December 2023, the Railway Management Board, Ministry of Transport (MOT) announced the Deo Ca Group Joint Stock Company - IL Sung Construction LLC Joint Stock Company as the contractor for Package XL01 to construct 2 railway tunnels of the Khe Net Pass Railway Improvement Project (Quang Binh) on the Hanoi - Ho Chi Minh City railway line with a winning bid price of more than 554 billion VND. To win the bid, the Deo Ca Group - IL Sung Construction Joint Stock Company surpassed 2 other Korean and Vietnamese contractor consortia. Notably, in October 2023, the Ministry of Transport issued an official dispatch approving the Deo Ca Group - Lao Petroleum Trading Company joint venture as the investor proposing the Vietnam - Laos railway project, section Vung Ang - Tan Ap - Mu Gia, to prepare a dossier proposing the investment policy and a pre-feasibility study report for the project under the PPP method. The Vietnam - Laos railway has a total length of 554.7 km, spanning the two countries of Laos and Vietnam. The project has a double track scale, 1,435 mm gauge, speed of 150 km/h, with a total investment of about 149,550 billion VND. This railway will connect Vientiane to Vung Ang port, connecting with the Laos - China railway, expected to create an extended freight transport route to Northern Laos and Southern China. It should be added that Deo Ca Group is not the first unit interested in accessing the Vientiane - Vung Ang railway. It can be seen that a number of large domestic corporations and enterprises are ready to invest in railway infrastructure, as well as have plans and necessary preparations to participate in the North - South high-speed railway project. This is also the basis, at the Government meeting to listen to the report on the implementation of the high-speed railway project on September 25, Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha assigned the Ministry of Transport, Vietnam Railway Authority, Vietnam Railway Corporation, Ministry of Industry and Trade to coordinate with a number of enterprises... to develop and implement a roadmap for receiving, transferring, mastering technology and developing the railway industry from equipment production, operation, management; ensuring synchronization and unity in technology, regulations and standards.
With the participation of large enterprises, it is expected that the North-South high-speed railway project will be implemented effectively and soon reach the finish line by 2035. Photo: Vietnam+
Mobilizing domestic resources Prof. Dr. Bui Xuan Phong, former Chairman of the Vietnam Railway Economics and Transport Association, said that the participation of Hoa Phat Group or any Vietnamese enterprise in the construction of high-speed railways is also worth supporting. "We have a policy of promoting localization and encouraging private enterprises to develop, there is no reason not to support it," said Mr. Phong. According to the Institute of Transport Strategy and Development (Ministry of Transport), human resources are one of the key factors determining the success of the investment process in construction, operation and exploitation of the North-South high-speed railway project. This human resource with the participation of private enterprises also ensures the ability to receive transfer and master maintenance and operation technology, aiming to increase the localization rate, and encourage industrial development to gradually master technology. World experience shows that countries that research and develop their own high-speed railway systems such as Japan, France, Germany, Italy, and even countries that receive technology transfer and move towards mastering it such as China, South Korea, and Spain all build national human resource development programs very early. This is done about 5-7 years before investing in construction. The Institute of Transport Strategy and Development calculates that the construction process of a high-speed railway project will require a labor force of about 263,700-332,300 people. Of which, the 2025-2030 period will require about 111,280-160,000 people; the 2030-2040 period will require about 152,420-186,280 people, most of whom must be highly skilled. The solution for this labor force is to recruit through domestic training, joint ventures, and overseas training. After completion, the project will need about 13,880 people to operate, of which direct labor is 11,050 people, engineers need about 2,349 people. However, the Institute of Transport Strategy and Development believes that the human resources for domestic capital construction investment can meet 80% of the demand for construction work such as foundations, works, etc.; the remaining 20% of human resources are mainly focused on specialized fields of high-speed railways such as rail systems, signal information, etc. and need to have a specialized training plan to meet job requirements. With such a large amount of money and demand for training labor resources, this agency proposed that the Ministry of Transport soon develop and complete a satisfactory remuneration policy for high-quality human resources; create a suitable mechanism to attract foreign capital to invest in human resource development. Mr. Uong Viet Dung - Chief of Office, Spokesperson of the Ministry of Transport - said that the North - South high-speed railway project has complex technical standards, technology, and especially large investment resources. This is an unprecedented project, implemented for the first time in Vietnam. To ensure the project's goals and requirements and to suit the actual conditions of Vietnam, the project proposes to mobilize maximum domestic human resources in combination with hiring foreign consultants and contractors to participate in the design, construction, management, and supervision of project implementation. Promoting domestic resources with the support of large corporations and enterprises with sufficient capacity in terms of capital scale, technology level, and corporate governance such as Hoa Phat and Deo Ca is expected to create iconic projects, including the North - South high-speed railway project, contributing to the development of the country.
Investing in the railway sector: A new direction Mr. Nguyen Quang Vinh, General Director of Deo Ca Group, said that investing in railway infrastructure is identified as a new direction for Deo Ca Group in the next 5-10 years. The Advisory Council of Deo Ca Group brings together scientists, experts, and politicians with experience in many fields such as engineering, security, auditing, finance, law, education, and railway experts... to accompany and advise the group's leaders with an independent, multi-dimensional perspective. To anticipate high-speed railway and urban railway projects, Deo Ca Group has cooperated with universities to recruit and train high-quality human resources in the railway industry. Accordingly, in January 2024, Deo Ca Research and Training Institute will open a specialized training program in railway - metro construction, opening a series of activities of Deo Ca Group to participate in human resource development for the transport industry, "anticipating" and meeting the urgent need for human resources, especially in the railway - metro sector. "Along with the urgent training of personnel in railway infrastructure construction, Deo Ca has cooperated with experienced international units... specializing in transport infrastructure construction equipment and railway consulting to learn technology, strengthen capacity, and improve high-quality resources" - Mr. Vinh shared.
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