Proposing a special mechanism for site clearance for the North-South high-speed railway project

Ensuring harmony of interests of the state, businesses and people

Photo caption — Minister of Construction Tran Hong Minh. Photo: Doan Tan/VNA

Presenting the Report, Minister of Construction Tran Hong Minh said that at the time of submitting the proposal to the Politburo for approval of the investment policy for the high-speed railway line on the North-South axis in the form of public investment, no investors were interested in or proposed to invest in this railway line. After the Politburo issued Resolution No. 68-NQ/TW on private economic development, a number of investors were interested in and proposed to invest. Compared with Resolution No. 172/2024/QH15 of the National Assembly, there are no regulations related to investment forms other than public investment, so it is necessary to continue to review and study additional policy mechanisms as a basis for implementation if these investment forms are applied...

Currently, the Ministry of Construction is coordinating with localities and Vietnam Electricity Group to focus on implementing compensation, support and resettlement. This work must be carried out for all forms of investment. However, according to Resolution No. 172/2024/QH15, it is divided into independent component projects under the high-speed railway investment project on the North-South axis. Therefore, the Government will immediately propose specific policies for the Project related to site clearance. Other policies will continue to be reviewed, studied and reported to competent authorities for promulgation after being carefully studied, ensuring feasibility and harmonizing the interests of the State, businesses and people.

Implementing the Party's policy in Resolution No. 68-NQ/TW of the Politburo, Resolution No. 198/2025/QH15 of the National Assembly, the Government submitted to the National Assembly, the National Assembly Standing Committee included in the Joint Resolution of the 10th Session, the 15th National Assembly of the session with the following additional policy content: Separating the content of compensation, support, resettlement and relocation of power works with voltage of 110 kV or higher of the Project into independent projects, the capital source is arranged from the central and local budgets. Localities and Vietnam Electricity are the competent authorities to organize, decide on investment, and implement compensation, support, and resettlement projects in the area and the investment in items related to this content does not require the establishment of an investment policy. The central budget capital is allocated directly to localities and Vietnam Electricity for implementation. In case the central budget has not been allocated in time, localities can proactively balance their local budget sources to implement, the central budget will refund the local budget after balancing the capital. The Government is assigned to provide detailed instructions on this item.

During the period when the National Assembly is not in session, the National Assembly authorizes the National Assembly Standing Committee to consider and decide on additional and adjusted mechanisms and specific policies for investment methods (if any) to promptly implement the Project and report to the National Assembly at the nearest session.

Unlocking private resources for key infrastructure

Presenting the Review Report, Chairman of the National Assembly's Economic and Financial Committee Phan Van Mai basically agreed with the political, legal and practical bases stated in the Government's Report. The addition of mechanisms and policies for the Project is necessary, consistent with the Party's policy on mobilizing social resources for strategic projects, unleashing private resources for key infrastructure, innovating methods and diversifying investment forms, while strengthening decentralization and delegation of authority associated with responsibility.

However, some opinions said that the proposed policies in the Submission were not clear and did not address the urgent needs of the Project; it was suggested that the competent authority should be considered and given the policy for the proposed additional specific mechanisms and policies applicable to the Project.

Regarding the mechanisms and policies applied to the Project, the Economic and Financial Committee noted that the National Assembly's permission to separate the land acquisition, compensation, support and resettlement of a national important project into a component project has a precedent in Resolution No. 38/2017/QH14 on the Long Thanh International Airport Project. Therefore, the Government's proposal to separate the compensation, support, resettlement and relocation of 110 kV or higher power works of the North-South High-Speed Railway Project into a separate project is well-founded.

However, opinions suggested clarifying the concept of "independent project"; clearly defining the total investment, recovered land area, completion time of independent projects and the synchronization and unity of the entire Project; ensuring no difficulties or waste of resources when the route, scope, and implementation boundary have not been determined and the total investment of the Project is strictly controlled.

The Economic and Financial Committee noted that, in Clause 18, Article 3 of Resolution No. 172/2024/QH15 of the National Assembly on the investment policy of the Project, it is stipulated that: During the period when the National Assembly is not in session, the National Assembly authorizes the National Assembly Standing Committee to consider and decide to supplement and adjust specific and special mechanisms and policies for the Project. At the same time, in Clause 14 of the Resolution of the 9th Session of the 15th National Assembly, the National Assembly approved the addition of investment forms under the Investment Law in the form of public-private partnership and business investment under the Investment Law for the North-South high-speed railway project in addition to the form of public investment; assigning the Government to organize the selection of investment forms and investors according to regulations; in case there are other mechanisms and policies beyond the authority of the Government, report to the National Assembly for consideration and decision. Therefore, the above policy proposal is unnecessary.

Source: https://baotintuc.vn/thoi-su/de-xuat-co-che-dac-thu-cho-giai-phong-mat-bang-du-an-duong-sat-toc-do-cao-bac-nam-20251208151519498.htm