The contents related to the Lao Cai - Hanoi - Hai Phong Railway Construction Investment Project have just been clarified by the Government at the request of the National Assembly Standing Committee, as well as the review opinion of the National Assembly's Economic Committee.
Clarifying the investment plan for the $8.369 billion railway line
The contents related to the Lao Cai - Hanoi - Hai Phong Railway Construction Investment Project have just been clarified by the Government at the request of the National Assembly Standing Committee, as well as the review opinion of the National Assembly's Economic Committee.
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| The Government affirms that the Project's route has been studied and selected to ensure the shortest and straightest route possible and to meet the principles of conformity with the planning approved by competent authorities. |
Reasonable investment rate
On behalf of the Government, authorized by the Prime Minister, Minister of Transport Tran Hong Minh has just signed Report No. 86/BC-CP to the National Assembly, the National Assembly Standing Committee to receive and explain the opinions of the National Assembly Standing Committee, the inspection report of the National Assembly Economic Committee on the Lao Cai - Hanoi - Hai Phong Railway Construction Investment Project.
Previously, in Conclusion No. 1165/KL-UBTVQH15 dated February 12, 2025, the National Assembly Standing Committee requested the Government to accept and explain to the groups of issues on reviewing the total investment, preliminary design plan, route direction; assessing factors affecting implementation progress; assessing risks and risk control solutions, especially the risk of lack of capital; further explaining technology, technology transfer, technology mastery; specific and special mechanisms and policies to complete the Project's Pre-Feasibility Study Report.
“These are important contents that have a direct impact on the construction implementation process, as well as investment efficiency when this railway infrastructure project is put into operation and exploitation,” Mr. Nguyen Danh Huy, Deputy Minister of Transport, assessed.
Regarding the route of the Project and the connection with the railway network and other transport systems, in Report No. 86/BC-CP, the Government affirmed that the route was studied and selected to ensure the shortest and straightest possible route and to meet the principles of conformity with the planning approved by competent authorities; ensuring the technical requirements of the route; consistent with the natural conditions of the research area; limiting the passage through areas sensitive to the natural environment, society, and national defense land; limiting the volume of site clearance; ensuring convenient connection with urban centers, important functional areas, convenient connection with railway routes in the Hanoi hub area, and railways connecting China.
“In fact, the selected route plan has been basically agreed upon by 9/9 localities. In the Feasibility Study Report step, the route plan will continue to be reviewed and adjusted to ensure economic and technical efficiency,” said Minister Tran Hong Minh.
In Report No. 86/BC-CP, the Government affirmed that the preliminary total investment is calculated according to the provisions of the law on construction, specifically the preliminary total investment is determined on the basis of the volume calculated according to the preliminary design; the system of norms, construction unit prices, related regimes and policies; the announced investment rate and the investment rate of projects and works implemented in Vietnam; referring to the investment rates of similar projects that have been and are being implemented.
Referring to the investment rates of some similar routes in the region, the China - Laos railway: Vientiane - Boten, 418 km long, has an investment cost of 5.96 billion USD, the investment rate converted to 16.77 million USD/km; the Ngoc Khe - Mac Han route, 498 km long, has an investment cost of about 7.3 billion USD, the investment rate converted to 17.95 million USD/km...
Thus, the investment rate of the Lao Cai - Hanoi - Hai Phong railway line worth about 15.96 million USD/km is similar to the investment rate of some reference projects in the region. However, the comparison of investment rates between projects is only for reference because it depends on many factors such as implementation time, technology, terrain conditions, geology, hydrology, scale, technical standards, applied technology, and localization capacity.
Regarding the note of the National Assembly Standing Committee on technology and equipment invested in the Lao Cai - Hanoi - Hai Phong railway to avoid backwardness and obsolescence, the Government said that the Pre-Feasibility Study Report of the Project has studied the experience of developing railways for the common transport of passengers and goods of 8 countries in the world (China, Japan, Korea, France, Germany, Spain, India, Laos). The design speed of the Project is 160 km/h, ensuring similarity with the Chinese railway line directly connected to the Project, the Ngoc Khe - Ha Khau Bac line.
“The selection of technology for the Project ensures consistency, access to advanced technologies; facilitates reception and transfer; is suitable for operating conditions; is consistent with international connecting routes; proposes to select train technology using centralized power for passenger and freight trains; information and signal systems are equivalent to the systems currently in use on some railway lines transporting passengers and freight in the region”, Report No. 86/BC-CP said.
There is a technology transfer policy.
Regarding the proposal of the National Assembly Standing Committee on studying and ensuring the survey and construction design time is appropriate to Vietnam's capacity, the Government said that international experience shows that projects of similar scale to the Lao Cai - Hanoi - Hai Phong Railway Project often have a preparation time of 36 to 42 months to ensure thorough preparation of all conditions before implementing the project.
Therefore, the Government assesses that the project implementation progress is a challenge, requiring the drastic participation of the entire political system and the need for specific, special policies to shorten the time. During the implementation process, the Government will direct relevant units to research, conduct thorough survey and design work and shorten the construction time to ensure the completion time in 2030, but with more time for research.
Regarding the integration of promoting the transfer of locomotive and carriage manufacturing technology for national and urban railways, Report No. 86/BC-CP stated that in this project, the Government has proposed specific policies on industrial development and technology transfer. Specifically, the Project bidding documents must have conditions for the commitment of the general contractor and foreign contractors on technology transfer and human resource training for Vietnamese partners to master the management, operation, exploitation and maintenance; and gradually master the technology.
For this project, the vehicles and equipment are suitable for Vietnam to receive technology transfer, invest in machinery and equipment and produce locomotives and carriages for national railways with speeds of less than 200 km/h, and purchase designs and manufacture for urban railways.
Up to now, Vietnam Railways Corporation has negotiated with foreign and domestic partners, and signed a memorandum of understanding with Dalian Locomotive and Railway Car Company Limited. If the cooperation policy with China is agreed upon, capital is provided to invest in the factory and technology transfer is received, Vietnam Railways Corporation can produce locomotives and cars for national and urban railways; research to gradually produce spare parts or replacements for high-speed railways.
“This is an important content to ensure that during the implementation of the Project, the Vietnamese side must be trained and transferred technology to master the management, operation, exploitation and maintenance work; gradually master the technology,” the Government affirmed.
In Report No. 86/BC-CP, the Government also clarified the proposal of the National Assembly's Economic Committee on considering special policy No. 19 (exclusion, exemption or reduction of responsibility for heads of agencies, units, cadres, civil servants and public employees in developing and promulgating mechanisms and policies for the Project), because the Government has a policy on encouraging and protecting dynamic, creative cadres who dare to think, dare to do, dare to take responsibility for the common good (Decree No. 73/2023/ND-CP of the Government).
Regarding this content, the Government said that the new Decree No. 73/2023/ND-CP stipulates the scope of the Government at the decree level (subjects of legal normative development of the Government, Prime Minister, ministries, ministerial-level agencies, and localities), not at the law level.
Currently, the policy of encouraging and protecting dynamic and creative cadres for the common good in Conclusion No. 14-KL/TW dated September 22, 2021 has included the content of considering exemption or reduction of responsibility when cadres perform but do not achieve the goal or encounter risks.
At the same time, at the legal level, Point c, Clause 2, Article 68 of the Law on National Defense Industry, Security and Industrial Mobilization stipulates exemption from civil liability when performing scientific activities and the Draft Law on Promulgation of Legal Documents being submitted to the National Assembly (expected to be considered and approved at the 9th Extraordinary Session) stipulates exemption or reduction of liability in the work of formulating, promulgating and organizing the implementation of legal documents.
“Because the time for preparing for the project investment is very short and unprecedented, the development and promulgation of mechanisms and policies for the Project may not fully assess the negative impacts, which may cause negative behaviors, impacts, group interests, and waste during the implementation of the Project. The policy proposal is consistent with the direction of the Politburo and the provisions of the laws that have been and are being developed and promulgated, so it is recommended to apply this policy to the Project,” Minister Tran Hong Minh explained.
The total investment capital for the entire period of 2025-2032 is 194,900 billion VND, of which the cost of site clearance is 32,400 billion VND, the investment capital used in the assessment of the impact on GDP growth is 162,500 billion VND (excluding site clearance costs).
When implementing the Project, some industries with a fairly high average annual growth rate of added value in the period 2025-2032 are railway construction and railway construction services increasing by about 160.3 percentage points/year; production of ships and boats; locomotives, trams and wagons; aircraft, spacecraft and related machinery increasing by 3.8 percentage points/year; non-ferrous metal products, precious metals and metal casting services increasing by 0.97 percentage points/year... In the whole economy, when implementing investment capital for the Project, it will impact the average GDP growth rate increasing by about 0.16 percentage points/year in the period 2025-2032.
Each year, the impact of the Project on GDP growth depends on the amount of investment capital implemented in the year. Specifically, in the period 2025-2028, when the Project begins to be implemented, the average investment capital implemented is VND 14,200 billion/year, increasing the GDP growth rate by an average of about 0.12 percentage points/year. In the period 2029-2032, with a fairly large investment capital added to the economy, an average of VND 26,400 billion/year, the GDP growth rate increases significantly, increasing by an average of about 0.21 percentage points/year.
Source: Official dispatch No. 1002/BKHĐT-PTHTĐT dated February 11, 2025
Source: https://baodautu.vn/lam-ro-phuong-an-dau-tu-tuyen-duong-sat-tri-gia-8369-ty-usd-d246915.html
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