Private enterprises building high-speed railways: Must 'compare chopsticks' to choose

Therefore, there must be a National Appraisal Council to fully evaluate the criteria of science and technology, experience, human resources and financial potential to carefully and objectively consider and evaluate whether or not a business can participate.

Many private enterprises have applied to participate in the North-South high-speed railway project. (Illustration photo)

Positive signal

Delegate Nguyen Quang Huan ( Binh Duong ), Vice President of the Vietnam Association of Private Entrepreneurs, highly appreciated the participation of Vietnamese private enterprises in registering to build the North-South high-speed railway.

“I support allowing private enterprises to participate in the construction of high-speed railways because if all the work is left to the State, it will be a burden, while we have many private enterprises with economic capacity and experience, capable of undertaking this key project. In addition, Decree 68 also supports private enterprises to participate in major State projects, such as the North-South high-speed railway,” said delegate Huan.

Delegate Pham Van Hoa (Dong Thap) also said that the fact that many private enterprises have proposed to participate in the implementation of the North-South high-speed railway project is a positive signal, proving that the private sector is ready to take on the country's great work. At the same time, this also proves the mettle, confidence and initiative of these enterprises in the era of national development.

Also expressing support for this policy, delegate Hoang Van Cuong (Hanoi) emphasized the core requirements when allowing private enterprises to implement an important national infrastructure project such as the North-South high-speed railway.

Mr. Cuong advised that since this is a key project, the "backbone" infrastructure of the country, even if the private sector invests money, it must still comply with the requirements and regulations of the State. " Important national projects, regardless of their form, are all based on the principles of State management ," said the delegate from Hanoi.

According to Mr. Cuong, the most important issue is to be a true domestic investor, not a domestic investor who imports foreign products and components and only assembles and processes them. “Thus, the goal is not achieved,” Mr. Cuong acknowledged.

“We need to pay attention to whether the investor commits to localization or not, and whether they have links with other domestic enterprises and investors to start producing components, accessories, and equipment based on foreign technology? This is the most important goal and condition when considering whether to accept domestic investors to implement or not?”, the delegate recommended.

Not all private businesses qualify.

Delegate Nguyen Quang Huan proposed that the selection of private enterprises to participate in the North-South high-speed railway must have certain standards and criteria and must be issued by the National Council. Because not all private enterprises are qualified to participate in this project. Therefore, if there are public criteria soon, it will limit the number of enterprises registering en masse, causing a waste of time for the enterprises themselves.

The selection of private enterprises to participate in the North-South high-speed railway must have certain standards and criteria and must be issued by the National Council. (Illustration photo)

Mr. Huan cited that according to international practice, if countries want to choose who will implement large projects, they will set out a number of criteria before bidding TOR (Terms of Reference - the necessary costs to prepare bidding documents, request documents and related work, carried out before the official bidding takes place). From there, the State will know and choose which contractor and what purpose it aims for.

Therefore, according to Mr. Huan, with the North-South high-speed railway project, the Government should also set out some specific criteria to easily select private enterprises to participate in the project.

Discussing this issue, delegate Pham Van Hoa said that in order to select private enterprises to implement projects, it is necessary to choose enterprises with sufficient potential and capacity in terms of human resources and finance.

“No matter who is chosen, they must be businesses with potential. We must consider and evaluate the financial scale of the business, the construction schedule, and their experience. These are extremely necessary conditions,” said delegate Hoa.

Economist Le Dang Doanh welcomes the mobilization of the private economy to participate in major national projects and should not rely solely on foreign investors as has been the case for a long time.

“ However, this is a very good signal but we also need to consider whether the capacity of that enterprise is suitable or not. We mobilize all domestic resources but need to have a highly specialized council to assess the capacity of these enterprises” , Mr. Doanh agreed.

Meanwhile, transport expert Nguyen Xuan Thuy affirmed that private enterprises are completely capable of implementing key projects such as the North-South high-speed railway. However, private enterprises may lack experience and technology. Therefore, to implement the project in the best way, participating private enterprises must be enterprises with capacity, not just any enterprise can do it.

“For example, VinSpeed of VinGroup Corporation, this is a name that has done enough big projects. They also have experience in scientific and technological research. Financially, they also have enough resources to access and buy foreign technologies. Therefore, I think this enterprise can completely do key projects.

I think that when private enterprises participate in projects, they will be very responsible with every penny they spend. However, it should be noted that private enterprises of any level will be suitable for projects of that level. With key national projects, it is necessary to assign them to the most prestigious enterprises, not just any enterprise," said expert Nguyen Xuan Thuy.

Pham Duy - Duc Thien

Source: https://vtcnews.vn/doanh-nghiep-tu-nhan-lam-duong-sat-toc-do-cao-phai-so-bo-dua-de-chon-ar945739.html