At the meeting on the evening of November 6, at the National Assembly House, chaired by National Assembly Chairman Tran Thanh Man, the National Assembly Standing Committee, after listening to the reports, agreed to submit to the National Assembly for consideration and decision on the investment policy for the North-South high-speed railway project and submit to the National Assembly for consideration and decision on adjusting the investment policy for the Long Thanh International Airport project at the 8th Session.
Project of unprecedented scale
On behalf of The Standing Committee of the National Assembly, in his concluding remarks on the North-South high-speed railway project report, Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Nguyen Duc Hai stated: This is a project of unprecedented scale in our country, with no precedent for implementation, affecting many aspects of socio-economic life, finance, and public debt. Therefore, the Government is requested to continue reviewing to calculate the total investment and design options to ensure savings and efficiency.
Another important requirement is to supplement the explanation of the comparison options to clarify the basis for choosing the route according to the Government's proposal; further assess the rice growing area, the forest area that must be converted and solutions to ensure the targets on rice growing land and forest cover ratio.
The National Assembly Standing Committee requested the Government to carefully assess the capital source for project implementation, given that the country is implementing many urgent and necessary infrastructure projects in the fields of transportation and energy, thereby finding solutions to control risks.
The National Assembly Standing Committee also agreed that it is necessary to have outstanding policies to implement the project, avoid loss, waste, and negativity, promote administrative procedure reform, and remove difficulties to complete the project sooner than expected.
After listening to the reports and giving his opinions at the meeting, National Assembly Chairman Tran Thanh Man emphasized: If this North-South high-speed railway line with an estimated investment capital of more than 67 billion USD can be built, the country will have the conditions to develop. According to calculations, the project is not to be done immediately, but to be completed in the period of 2025-2035, if it can be shortened sooner, the better.
The National Assembly Chairman also mentioned experience abroad where there are projects many times larger than this project that have been implemented in about 3 years.
This afternoon, the National Assembly Standing Committee also agreed to submit to the National Assembly for consideration and decision on adjusting the investment policy of the Long Thanh International Airport project at the 8th Session; requesting the Government to accept the opinions of the National Assembly Standing Committee, complete the dossier and submission, and clarify the causes and responsibilities for the delay in the progress of phase 1 of the project, and the need to adjust runway number 3 from phase 3 to phase 1.
The National Assembly Standing Committee requested the Government to ensure the quality of the project, ensure the capital source for implementation as proposed, and not allow any arising problems that lead to the need to carry out adjustment procedures that affect the progress.
The National Assembly Standing Committee requested to continue to have solutions to stabilize the lives and livelihoods of people whose land has been recovered as well as those in the project's affected area; continue to effectively implement other contents in the National Assembly's Resolution on the Long Thanh International Airport project.
Clarifying the calculation basis for project transportation demand forecasting
Presenting the Preliminary Review Report on the Investment Policy of the North-South High-Speed Railway Project, Chairman of the Economic Committee Vu Hong Thanh noted: Regarding the socio-economic and financial efficiency of the project, there were opinions suggesting clarifying the calculation bases for forecasting the project's transportation demand, when in fact, in the past, the forecast of transportation demand of many BOT transport projects had a large difference compared to reality, leading to inefficiency in financial plans and the need to adjust the project contract.
According to Chairman of the Economic Committee Vu Hong Thanh, the Standing Committee of the Economic Committee agrees with the necessity of investing in the project with the political and legal bases and reasons stated in the Government's Submission No. 685/TTr-CP.
Regarding the scope, scale of investment and preliminary design plan, the Chairman of the Economic Committee said: There are opinions suggesting to supplement and explain the comparison plans to clarify the basis for choosing the project route according to the Government's proposal, and at the same time clarify the route according to the principle of "straightest possible", especially the section passing through Nam Dinh, to ensure the effectiveness of the project.
The Chairman of the Economic Committee proposed clarifying the plan to connect the high-speed railway line with the national railway network, urban railway and other transport systems; and connecting with regional and international railway networks.
Noting the socio-economic and financial efficiency of the project, the Chairman of the Economic Committee suggested clarifying the calculation bases for forecasting the project's transportation demand, when in fact, in the past, the transportation demand forecast of many BOT transport projects had a large difference compared to reality, leading to ineffectiveness in financial plans and requiring adjustments to the project contract.
Citing the content of the State Appraisal Council's Appraisal Report, it is stated that the revenue forecast and revenue growth are high and contain many potential risks; the Chairman of the Economic Committee suggested a thorough review to properly assess the actual financial efficiency of the project and the possibility that the State budget will have to compensate for future losses in transport business activities.
The project's operation with advantages in terms of time, ticket price and other advantages that this mode of transport brings will greatly affect the efficiency of short-haul flights, thus affecting the investment and development of airports in the future; therefore, the Chairman of the Economic Committee proposed to clarify this content.
According to the Proposal, the existing railway line will continue to be renovated and upgraded to transport goods and short-distance tourists and will be implemented under a separate project. However, the effectiveness, timing, and duration of the upgrade of the existing railway line are unclear.
Regarding this content, the Chairman of the Economic Committee proposed considering an overall assessment of the investment in completing both railway systems to have a basis for appropriate investment decisions.
Presenting the Proposal for approval of the investment policy for the North-South high-speed railway project, Minister of Transport Nguyen Van Thang said: The high-speed railway line starts in Hanoi (Ngoc Hoi station) and ends in Ho Chi Minh City (Thu Thiem station), passing through 20 provinces and cities; the length of the line is about 1,541km.
Regarding the scale of investment, a new double-track railway line, 1,435mm gauge, electrification, design speed 350 km/h, load capacity 22.5 tons/axle; passenger transport, meeting dual-use requirements for national defense and security, and can transport goods when necessary.
The Minister said that the total preliminary investment of the project is about 1,713,548 billion VND (about 67.34 billion USD).
It is expected that the State budget capital will be allocated in the medium-term public investment plan to complete the project by 2035, with capital allocated for about 12 years, an average of about 5.6 billion USD per year, equivalent to about 1.3% of GDP in 2023, about 1% of GDP in 2027 (project commencement). The implementation process will mobilize diverse legal capital sources for investment.
Regarding the project implementation progress, Minister of Transport Nguyen Van Thang stated that the work of preparing and approving the Feasibility Study Report and design will be completed in 2025-2026; site clearance will be implemented and the project will be started in 2027; and the entire route will be basically completed in 2035.
Source
Comment (0)