Vietnamese contractors expect special mechanism to participate in high-speed railway project

Many businesses believe that researching and issuing a special mechanism so that domestic construction contractors can participate in the construction market of more than 33 billion USD of the high-speed railway project is something that needs to be done soon.

Capable of participating in infrastructure components

This morning (November 30), at the headquarters of Truong Son Construction Corporation, the 4th "Construction Contractors Cafe" program took place. The program was organized by the Vietnam Association of Construction Contractors.

Overview of the meeting and discussion between authorities, VACC and domestic construction enterprises this morning (November 30).

What opportunities are there for Vietnamese construction enterprises in the high-speed railway (HSR) project on the North-South axis? This was one of the issues that was hotly discussed at the beginning of the program.

"The DSTDC project is expected to be implemented under the EPC and front-end engineering design (FEED) contract. How can Vietnamese contractors participate? What will be the regulations and criteria for the contractors' capacity?", Mr. Nguyen Quoc Hiep, Chairman of VACC suggested the issue.

According to Mr. Dao Ngoc Vinh, General Director of the Transport Design Consulting Corporation, the HSR is being implemented for the first time in Vietnam, an unprecedented project, ranked in the Top 10 in the world in terms of length (1,541km); The highest speed for the current type of railway running on rails (design speed 350km/h, maximum operating speed 320km/h).

"The project is designed to include the following construction items: infrastructure (roadbed, bridge, tunnel, station, depot, maintenance station); Train control structure (signal information system, central train control system); Vehicle system (locomotive, carriage); Power supply system for the entire system.

In which, the infrastructure component can be completely undertaken by Vietnamese consulting and construction contractors," said Mr. Vinh.

According to calculations, the North-South Expressway project brings to the construction market a value of more than 33 billion USD (Illustration photo).

Research on joint venture point adding mechanism, improving the position of domestic contractors

Proposing a mechanism for domestic contractors to participate in the project, according to TEDI leaders, in terms of capacity to carry out similar projects, Vietnamese construction enterprises do not have. The Association needs to recommend that competent authorities study a specific mechanism, which can be approved in the direction that domestic contractors only need experience in construction of projects and equivalent levels of construction (highways, cable-stayed bridges, special construction levels...) to participate in the project.

"Regarding financial capacity, if the sections are divided too large, the contractor's ability to meet the financial capacity criteria will be limited. It is necessary to study a mechanism that allows members of the consortium to receive financial points.

As for consulting contractors, according to regulations, consultants participating in FEED design will not be allowed to participate in the EPC general contractor, forcing the consultant to choose which step to take. The opportunity to access the project is narrowed," said Mr. Vinh.

Concerned about the ability of Vietnamese contractors to participate in international bidding, TEDI leaders said that in the draft Resolution submitted to the National Assembly, it requires general contractors and contractors to use domestically produced and supplied products and services when participating in projects.

In that spirit, VACC needs to propose to competent authorities to consider and propose a mechanism to add points to joint ventures with a large proportion of Vietnamese contractors participating in order to increase the attractiveness of domestic contractors compared to foreign contractors.

Recently, the process of giving opinions on amending relevant circulars, contractor capacity criteria, especially similar project criteria, has been a matter of concern to clarify. This is identified as an important factor when the DSTDC project is implemented. From a professional perspective, I think that it is necessary to study a specific mechanism, allowing large contractors with experience in constructing important national projects to participate in the DSTDC project.

Mr. Dam Duc Bien, Director of Construction Economics Department (Ministry of Construction)

From the experience of implementing the North-South Expressway in China, in the first phase, most domestic enterprises were assigned to participate if they ensured factors such as warranty period, financial potential, management capacity, and implementation organization. Mr. Pham Viet Khoa, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Fecon Joint Stock Company, said that the mechanism of appointing construction contractors is also needed in the North-South Expressway project.

Citing the Langmark81 project (HCMC), when Vincom trusted and selected Conteccons (a domestic enterprise) as the general contractor, Conteccons (a domestic enterprise) boldly hired foreign units/experts to participate in the construction process, completing the project on schedule. Chairman of VACC Nguyen Quoc Hiep said that for the North-South Expressway project, trusting and assigning work to domestic enterprises is completely possible.

Based on the opinions of enterprises, we will propose a specific mechanism to the Prime Minister and competent authorities on experience, financial capacity, and the application of joint ventures between Vietnamese contractors and foreign contractors and between Vietnamese contractors and domestic contractors.

"VACC will also continue to propose to the Government and competent authorities the scale of bidding packages that Vietnamese construction enterprises can undertake; Build a mechanism to enhance the position of Vietnamese contractors in construction contracts, increasing opportunities to participate in projects," said Mr. Hiep.

Large domestic construction enterprises expect to participate in the resettlement project through a special mechanism (Illustration photo).

Need a mechanism to support contractors

Discussing the solution to increase resources for domestic contractors participating in large projects such as the National Highway No. 1, according to Fecon Chairman Pham Viet Khoa, learning from the experiences of some countries, in Vietnam, there is a preferential credit interest rate regime for businesses participating in key national projects.

"For railway projects, the State also needs to support businesses with advanced technology," Mr. Khoa stated his opinion.

The solidarity of the contractor bloc is a concern of Major General Nguyen Huu Ngoc, Commander of the 12th Army Corps and General Director of Truong Son Construction Corporation.

According to Mr. Ngoc, in recent times, Vietnamese construction enterprises have developed in a fragmented manner, without a clear development direction, completely different from some countries such as China and Korea that have very large contractor associations.

In Vietnam, for jobs, competition between contractors in bidding is very fierce.

Assessing the huge workload in the railway sector in general and the construction sector in particular, Major General Nguyen Huu Ngoc said that building solutions to create solidarity and transparent competition in the construction business sector is an issue that needs attention.

Source: https://www.baogiaothong.vn/nha-thau-viet-trong-cho-co-che-dac-thu-tham-gia-du-an-duong-sat-toc-do-cao-192241130191453421.htm