Finance Minister talks about important proposal for national railways

TPO - For national and local railways, investors are allowed to extend the project's operating period according to the provisions of the law on investment, according to the Government's proposal.

Large investment capital, long payback period, high risk

On the morning of November 11, Minister of Finance Nguyen Van Thang presented the draft Investment Law (amended). Regarding the railway sector, according to the Minister of Finance, on October 16, the Government submitted to the National Assembly additional content in the draft Investment Law (replacement) to amend a number of provisions of the Railway Law.

On that basis, the draft law proposes to amend and supplement a number of articles of the Railway Law No. 95/2025/QH15. Thereby, for national and local railways, investors are allowed to extend the project's operating period in accordance with the provisions of the law on investment.

In case the investor does not propose to extend the project's operating period, the investor shall transfer all assets formed from the project to the State after the project's operating period expires, and the State shall pay the investor according to the provisions of law.

Minister of Finance Nguyen Van Thang. Photo: Nhu Y.

The reason for the amendment and supplementation is to continue to remove difficulties and obstacles, perfect policy options for projects of special scale and nature, with regulations on operating time and feasible and effective capital recovery ability, ensuring compliance with the spirit of Resolution No. 68-NQ/TW and Resolution No. 198/2025/QH15.

The representative of the auditing agency, Chairman of the Economic and Financial Committee, said that the committee recognized that the Party and State have had policies on the need to issue appropriate mechanisms, policies, and solutions to remove obstacles and speed up the investment process of national and urban railway lines.

Along with that, there should be preferential policies to encourage the private economic sector to participate with the State in strategic fields, key and important national scientific research projects and tasks (such as high-speed railways, urban railways, etc.).

National railway and urban railway projects often have large investment rates, long payback periods, and high risks. Therefore, there needs to be strong enough mechanisms and policies to increase the attractiveness of investment projects, attract the private economic sector to invest in this important field, aiming at the goal of building national railway and urban railway infrastructure to create an important driving force for the country's socio-economic development.

Stop project activities that are not implemented properly

The draft supplements regulations on suspension of investment projects in case the investor fails to comply with the contents of the investment policy approval and investment registration certificate and has received a document from the investment registration agency regarding failure to comply with the contents of the investment policy approval and investment registration certificate.

In addition, this amendment also stipulates the termination of investment project activities in cases where the economic organization has been dissolved but does not terminate its operations, or does not transfer or transfer other ownership rights according to the law on investment projects...

According to the Minister of Finance, this amendment aims to ensure the legal basis for suspending and terminating investment projects, avoiding the situation where projects are delayed for too long and state agencies cannot terminate them.

Chairman of the Economic and Financial Committee Phan Van Mai proposed to continue reviewing and ensuring full institutionalization of the Party's policies and guidelines on innovation in thinking in law-making, private economic development, breakthroughs in science and technology development, international integration, foreign investment cooperation; cutting and simplifying procedures in investment and business, creating favorable conditions for people and businesses.

The review committee also noted the need to ensure policy consistency and unity with the draft laws being submitted to the National Assembly at the 10th Session.

Source: https://tienphong.vn/bo-truong-tai-chinh-noi-ve-de-xuat-quan-trong-voi-duong-sat-quoc-gia-post1795201.tpo