North-South high-speed railway creates momentum for construction industry development

The North-South high-speed railway project will be an unbeatable opportunity for Vietnam's mechanical engineering industry and construction contractors to make a strong move in mastering technology.

A high-speed railway line in Europe. (Photo: PV/Vietnam+)

The high-speed railway project on the North-South axis, with a preliminary total investment of up to 67.34 billion USD at present, will open up opportunities for railway engineering enterprises and traffic construction contractors, gradually mastering the construction industry.

“Boost” for the railway industry

According to Deputy Minister of Transport Nguyen Danh Huy, the investment in high-speed railways will create a construction market worth about 33.5 billion USD. Including the national railway system, urban railways will create a construction market of about 75.6 billion USD; vehicles and equipment of about 34.1 billion USD (locomotives and carriages of about 9.8 billion USD; signal information systems and other equipment of about 24.3 billion USD) and millions of jobs. “In addition to grasping and mastering the entire operation and maintenance work and gradually producing some components and spare parts for high-speed railways and urban railways, the high-speed railway project will be an unbeatable opportunity for the Vietnamese mechanical industry to make a strong transformation,” Deputy Minister Nguyen Danh Huy emphasized. Based on the level and development orientation of industries and market size, the Ministry of Transport plans to propose binding conditions for technology transfer and develop a development orientation for the railway industry by 2045, which is to master the construction industry; domestic assembly and gradually localize vehicles for national railways and urban railways; domestic production and gradually localize hardware and software components for information, signals and power supply systems; master all operations and maintenance work and gradually produce some components and spare parts for high-speed railways. The pre-feasibility study report of the North-South high-speed railway project of the Ministry of Transport has proposed a number of necessary policy mechanisms to develop the railway industry such as: allowing the highest level of incentives and support for the development of the railway industry in terms of land, taxes, investment support mechanisms, imports, etc.; Add railway products and equipment to the list of key mechanical products; when implementing the project, require the general contractor to commit to technology transfer and make maximum use of domestically available goods and services; have a mechanism for placing orders for a number of domestic enterprises. Mr. Dang Sy Manh, Chairman of the Board of Members of Vietnam Railways Corporation (VNR), acknowledged that the development of the railway industry is a requirement to serve not only the high-speed railway investment project on the North-South axis, but also about 10 urban railway projects in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi that are being planned to be implemented from now until 2035.

The North-South high-speed railway project will be a lever to develop the railway industry. (Photo: Viet Hung/Vietnam+)

“ VNR assembles and manufactures about 70-80% of its own localization, but it must consider the market output of products and equipment components, so it cannot set up a factory that only sells a few products a year. Therefore, specialized products with long lifespans must be imported. The main issue is to master maintenance and repair, creating an ecosystem of industrial mechanics and supporting industries," said Mr. Manh. According to Mr. Manh, in recent times, VNR has actively worked with foreign partners from countries with the world's leading developed railway industry to learn about railway industry development. During the contact process, the partners were interested in establishing joint ventures with Vietnamese railway industry establishments to develop the railway industry. For the high-speed railway project, VNR recommends that the State have preferential mechanisms for loans, land taxes, and corporate taxes, and propose policies for ordering and consuming products, especially in the initial stage where the State places orders with VNR or lets VNR analyze the market and form joint ventures with domestic and foreign partners.

Vietnamese businesses ready to build high-speed railway infrastructure

Faced with the urgent need to invest in the North-South high-speed railway, domestic enterprises are also researching to participate in the construction of infrastructure for this project, taking the lead in investing, producing, and constructing works requiring high technology and techniques. In recent years, a number of large enterprises (corporations, general companies, etc.) have participated in the construction of large traffic projects and works (such as the North-South expressway in the 2017-2020 period, the 2021-2025 period, etc.) and invested in modern and synchronous machinery and construction equipment systems to serve the construction such as drilling equipment, tunneling equipment, large bridge construction equipment, etc. very effectively and creating construction products with high quality and aesthetics. “Our country has a team that can do everything related to transport infrastructure. A typical example is the cable-stayed bridge My Thuan 2, which has been able to complete 100% from design to construction. Leading enterprises such as Son Hai, Song Da, and Deo Ca have been fully self-sufficient in tunnel construction,” said Deputy Minister Nguyen Danh Huy.

Vietnamese enterprises have mastered the technology in constructing bridges and tunnels in transport projects. (Photo: Viet Hung/Vietnam+)

According to Mr. Ngo Truong Nam, General Director of Deo Ca Group, in recent times, many construction units of large packages of the North-South Expressway project in the 2021-2025 period are determined to complete 12 component projects by the end of 2025. After 2025, human resources, machinery and equipment of enterprises will be stagnant, therefore, Mr. Nam said that the Government needs to have a mechanism to create conditions for these enterprises to continue participating in the North-South high-speed railway project. Therefore, Deo Ca Group proposed that the implementation of the North-South high-speed railway project should be divided into two components: bridge, road and tunnel items should be assigned to domestic enterprises to implement similar to the recent expressway projects. Component 2 includes locomotives, signal information systems, etc. assigned to domestic enterprises in joint ventures with foreign enterprises.

Vietnamplus.vn

Source: https://www.vietnamplus.vn/duong-sat-toc-do-cao-bac-nam-tao-dong-luc-phat-trien-cong-nghiep-xay-dung-post982406.vnp