On the afternoon of February 15, the National Assembly discussed at the meeting hall the investment policy for the construction of the Lao Cai - Hanoi - Hai Phong railway line and the draft resolution on piloting a number of specific and special mechanisms and policies to develop the urban railway network system in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

Delegate Hoang Van Cuong (Hanoi delegation) said that the process of building the Lao Cai - Hanoi - Hai Phong railway and urban railway should prioritize ordering and assigning tasks to domestic enterprises to build roads, bridges and tunnels; produce rails and build train cars.

Hoang Van Cuong
Delegate Hoang Van Cuong. Photo: QH

According to him, domestic enterprises are now ready to produce rails and build train cars. In addition, such orders will help domestic growth.

Therefore, delegate Cuong proposed to include in the resolution the priority of ordering. The Government commits to domestic enterprises having market share to boldly and confidently invest, associated with the mandatory transfer to domestic enterprises.

Delegate Sung A Lenh (Lao Cai delegation) commented that the investment policy to build the Lao Cai - Hanoi - Hai Phong railway line is the right decision, in line with the people's wishes, and truly necessary.

“This is an important traffic route connecting economic trade between economic regions of Vietnam and internationally, opening up great opportunities to develop trade, tourism, services, save logistics costs, and effectively serve the cause of socio-economic development of the country."

With that in mind, the delegates proposed that the National Assembly consider passing a resolution on the investment policy for the Lao Cai - Hanoi - Hai Phong railway project at this session, as a basis for the Government, central ministries, branches and localities to soon direct the implementation of the project, ensuring the construction progress before December 10, 2025 according to the Government's proposed roadmap.

Receiving the opinions of the delegates, Minister of Transport Tran Hong Minh said that the Lao Cai - Hanoi - Hai Phong railway route was studied and selected based on the principle of the shortest and most direct route.

According to him, the total investment is 8.3 billion USD. "If we deduct the cost of site clearance and other costs, the investment level for this route is about 15.97 million USD/km," Mr. Minh said, adding that this is a "relatively reasonable" level compared to the region, area and domestic unit price.

Tran Hong Minh
Minister of Transport Tran Hong Minh.

According to the Minister, in practice, it takes 3-5 years to complete the investment policy for railway projects in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. Therefore, he believes that the Resolution of the Politburo requires Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City to build urban railway lines by 2035, which is impossible.

“This is a challenge, without specific mechanisms and policies to shorten it, it cannot be completed. Besides, investing in urban railway lines in the two cities is very necessary, the contents of the city's planning have enough conditions to determine the preliminary scale, route direction as well as basic parameters of the project and capital source,” Mr. Minh added.

Lao Cai - Hanoi - Hai Phong railway project creates about 90,000 jobs

Lao Cai - Hanoi - Hai Phong railway project creates about 90,000 jobs

Investment in the Lao Cai - Hanoi - Hai Phong railway project is estimated to create about 90,000 jobs during construction and about 2,500 long-term jobs during operation and exploitation.
Construction of the $8 billion Lao Cai - Hanoi - Hai Phong railway is expected to start at the end of the year.

Construction of the $8 billion Lao Cai - Hanoi - Hai Phong railway is expected to start at the end of the year.

According to the plan, the Lao Cai - Hanoi - Hai Phong railway project will be submitted to the National Assembly for consideration before February 10, and construction will begin at the end of this year.
Millions of passengers travel on Nhon - Hanoi station, Cat Linh - Ha Dong metro, traffic jams reduced?

Millions of passengers travel on Nhon - Hanoi station, Cat Linh - Ha Dong metro, traffic jams reduced?

After 3 months of commercial operation (from August to November 2024), the Nhon - Hanoi Railway Station urban railway has served more than 2 million passengers, contributing to reducing traffic congestion on the route from National Highway 32 - Xuan Thuy - Cau Giay.