North-South high-speed railway: Review and propose specific policies

On the afternoon of November 20, the National Assembly discussed in the hall the investment policy for the high-speed railway project on the North-South axis. (Photo: DUY LINH)

Delegates unanimously appreciated the project prepared by the Government and the Ministry of Transport . Delegate Ta Van Ha (Quang Nam delegation) said that high-speed railway is a common development trend, and at the same time a preparation step, a strategic breakthrough for Vietnam to enter a new era, an era of development. Therefore, according to the delegate, the investment policy for the North-South high-speed railway project needs to be discussed in the spirit of doing, not backtracking.

High-speed railway will attract tourists and foreign investors

Meanwhile, delegate Tran Hoang Ngan (Ho Chi Minh City delegation) assessed that in the world, high-speed railways have been put into use in many countries, bringing about efficiency. The delegate said that he himself was lucky enough to experience this type of railway in Europe, so he "really desires" that Vietnam has high-speed railways.

The Ho Chi Minh City delegation also emphasized that 15 years ago, the high-speed railway project was discussed but could not be implemented due to insufficient resources.

"However, we can completely do it now, the macro economy is stable, public debt is low... When the high-speed railway comes into operation, it will attract tourists and foreign investors. It will exploit the potential and advantages of the localities that the railway passes through, especially the central provinces," said the delegate.

Agreeing with the policy of building a North-South high-speed railway, delegate Hoang Van Cuong (Hanoi delegation) said that our country has a long shape, large cargo traffic, high demand for connecting economic centers along the North-South economic corridor, many areas have potential for development but have not been able to do so due to the "bottleneck" of high logistics costs.

Furthermore, the economic scale is growing rapidly, the demand for transporting goods is increasing, we need to increase the amount of goods exported to the markets of Europe, the Middle East, North Asia, etc. to reduce the concentration on some markets.

Therefore, delegates suggested that it is necessary to develop a high-speed North-South railway to connect with the international network in the region to solve the "bottleneck" in logistics.

Many issues regarding capital and progress need to be clarified.

Speaking at the discussion, delegate Ma Thi Thuy (Tuyen Quang province delegation) expressed her concerns about the capital source as well as the project implementation time. Citing the Cat Linh-Ha Dong railway project in Hanoi, the delegate was concerned about the possibility of increased total investment as well as the project duration being extended. Therefore, the delegate suggested that these two factors should be clarified to more fully assess the capital capacity, capital arrangement, and calculate the contingency plan for capital allocation for each stage.

Agreeing with the above viewpoint, delegate Ta Van Ha (Quang Nam delegation) said that it is necessary to have a truly effective implementation and exploitation plan, from the stage of selecting technology to appropriate divergence. In particular, special attention should be paid to the implementation stage to avoid capital increase and capital compensation; not to make large investments but exploit ineffectively, having to spend money to compensate for losses.

Also concerned about the capital issue, delegate Duong Khac Mai (Dak Nong delegation) requested the Government to provide more information on the ability to arrange and balance capital needs for the project to assess the payment capacity of the State budget. The delegate said that the State budget still has many expenditures, in addition to development expenditures, there are also regular expenditures, annual expenditures according to the medium-term plan, and expenditures according to programs and projects.

Expressing his opinion on the above content, delegate Tran Hoang Ngan said that the capital for the project is large, so it is necessary to focus on mobilizing domestically, borrowing preferential foreign loans, and limiting ODA loans.

"Along with that, it is necessary to mobilize domestic enterprises with expertise to build the project. It is necessary to build an industry and human resources to support high-speed railways and urban railways," said Mr. Ngan.

The Ho Chi Minh City delegation said that during the project implementation, to reduce pressure on the state budget, it is necessary to pay attention to revenue from land auctions near the station and surrounding areas...

"In addition, public land is currently being wasted, so auctions should be held early. Next is capital in large state-owned enterprises but lacks breakthrough mechanisms. Localities with railways passing through them will have budget autonomy in the future, without the need for central government regulation," said Mr. Ngan.

Continue to review and propose special specific policies.

Delegate Nguyen Ngoc Son, Standing Member of the National Assembly's Committee on Science, Technology and Environment, fully agrees with the necessity of investing in the high-speed railway project on the North-South axis with the political and legal bases and reasons stated in the Government's Submission.

However, Mr. Son said that in reality, a number of important national projects after being approved by the National Assembly have encountered many problems, leading to the need to request adjustments to the policy. Therefore, in order for the North-South high-speed railway project to be feasible and meet the expectations of voters and people nationwide, the delegate suggested that the Government should pay attention to and consider a number of key issues.

Firstly, it is recommended that planning must ensure synchronous connectivity to facilitate the collection and clearance of goods, in order to promote effective connections between modes of transport, reduce travel costs and logistics costs.

Second, in terms of technology, the Government has proposed rail technology, distributed power train technology with passenger trains and freight trains applying centralized power technology, and signal information applied like some other countries.

"However, it is not clear which standard framework the technology follows? What is the localization rate? I suggest that there should be an orientation to choose modern technology but must ensure universality to enhance competitiveness in choosing partners to supply products and be ready to transfer technology to Vietnam. The industrial development project needs to develop a specific roadmap and resources to ensure the transfer and reception of technology in accordance with the project's progress," said Mr. Son.

Third, regarding the stations, according to the project documents, passenger stations in some localities are basically not located in the current urban center locations (Ngoc Hoi station, Thu Thiem station, Nam Dinh station...), while to ensure maximum efficiency of the Project, the station locations must be conveniently arranged to attract the most passengers.

"Therefore, I suggest that when preparing the Feasibility Study Report, it is necessary to clarify the reasons and basis for selecting the locations of the Project's stations and carefully evaluate them to ensure the attractiveness and convenience of the stations in passenger transport, with an orientation to develop additional potential stations according to the proposals of some localities with high-speed railway lines passing through," said Mr. Son.

Fourth, to ensure the project progress to basically complete the entire route by 2035, it is necessary to mobilize maximum domestic and foreign resources to implement the project.

"This is a difficult, new, unprecedented project, so special attention must be paid to hiring competent international consultants to support the investor in project management, selecting design consultants, and appraisal consultants with real capacity so that the project can achieve the fastest progress and highest quality. Continue to review and propose specific policies to remove other difficulties and obstacles in the implementation of the next steps," Mr. Son suggested.

SON BACH

(Photo: DUY LINH)

Source: http://namdinhtv.vn/chinh-tri-xa-hoi/duong-sat-toc-do-cao-truc-bac-nam-ra-soat-va-de-xuat-cac-chinh-sach-dac-thu