Minister of Transport Trần Hồng Minh presents the Government's proposal. — VNA/VNS Photo An Đăng

HÀ NỘI — The Government on Thursday afternoon submitted to the National Assembly (NA) the Lào Cai-Hà Nội-Hải Phòng railway construction project, as part of the ninth extraordinary session.

Authorised by the Prime Minister to present the Government's proposal, Minister of Transport Trần Hồng Minh said that the goal was to build a new, modern and synchronous railway line to meet domestic and international transportation needs between Việt Nam and China.

The project will create an important driving force for rapid and sustainable socio-economic development, promote advantages on the Lào Cai-Hà Nội-Hải Phòng economic corridor associated with ensuring national defence, security and international integration, environmental protection and response to climate change.

It will also enhance the country’s industrialisation and modernisation.

To successfully implement and soon complete the project according to the required schedule, the Government proposed to apply 19 specific mechanisms, of which 15 ones had been allowed by the NA to be applied to the high-speed railway project on the north-south axis in Resolution No 172/2024/QH15 and proposed to add four additional ones.

The main line length is about 390.9km, with three branch lines of about 27.9km.

The project will be conducted in nine provinces and cities including Lào Cai, Yên Bái, Phú Thọ, Vĩnh Phúc, Hà Nội, Bắc Ninh, Hưng Yên, Hải Dương and Hải Phòng.

The line is designed to take speeds on the main route of 160km per hour, on the section through Hà Nội at 120kph and along branch lines 80kph.

Total investment is about VNĐ203.231 trillion (US$8.3 billion) with capital coming from the State budget, other legal sources and foreign investment.

The aim is for the project to be essentially completed in 2030.

Review report

Presenting the review report, Chairman of the NA’s Economic Committee Vũ Hồng Thanh said that the committee agreed on the necessity of the project with political and legal bases and practical reasons stated in the Submission No 69/TTr-CP.

In addition, some representatives suggested to clarify the technology transfer, operation and exploitation of the project after completion to avoid dependence on technology and to build the project to meet defence and security requirements.

Regarding the route, to reduce the area of ​​land recovered, compensated, supported, resettled and limit the land between the railway and the expressway, the appraisal agency proposed that in the feasibility study step, the Government direct concerned agencies to carefully review and select the optimal route option.

The option must ensure the connection of the project with the national railway network, urban railway, other transport systems and minimise the negative impacts of land recovery for the project on enterprises and the people.

Regarding the project's effectiveness, according to the Government's report, it is expected that in the first five years of being operational, the expected revenue will only cover the costs of operation, maintenance and vehicles.

The State will need to provide preliminary support of about $109.36 million over five years for infrastructure maintenance costs from the economic career capital allocated to the railway system.

In addition, the north-south high-speed railway project is expected to incur a loss of about $778 million in the first four years of working.

“Thus, for these two projects alone, the State needs to provide preliminary support of about $887.36 million. Therefore, the committee recommends an overall assessment of the effectiveness of the railway projects planned for investment and a thorough assessment of the financial plan and impacts during the operation and exploitation of the projects to minimise future risks,” said Thanh.

The project has a very large scale, high technical requirements, is complicated and takes a long time, which will have potential risks as has happened to many key projects in the past such as investment preparation was not thorough, estimates were not close to reality, implementation plans lacked feasibility leading to time extension and increased total investment.

Therefore, the Economic Committee recommends careful study and solutions to ensure that similar situations will not occur with the project. — VNS