Lao Cai - Hanoi railway construction started

In a telegram sent to localities on April 30, the Prime Minister asked them to speed up the implementation of the Lao Cai - Hanoi - Hai Phong railway project.

Hanoi, Hai Phong and the provinces of Lao Cai, Yen Bai, Phu Tho, Vinh Phuc, Bac Ninh , and Hung Yen must soon establish a Steering Committee for site clearance of the project in the locality, headed by the Secretary of the Provincial and City Party Committees.

The units coordinate with the Ministry of Construction and the Railway Project Management Board to receive documents such as the coordinates of the centerline, the boundaries of land clearance for compensation, support, and resettlement. This work is carried out simultaneously with the process of the Ministry of Construction preparing the project feasibility study report. The land clearance must be completed in August for handover and construction.

"Project site clearance is an important political task in management and direction. We need to work together, only discuss action, not retreat," the Government leader requested.

Units must "have the highest determination, be proactive, creative, dare to think, dare to do, mobilize the participation of the entire political system, and propagate and mobilize people to speed up progress".

The new resettlement site must have the same or better quality than the old place of residence; at the same time, it must support jobs and livelihoods for local people. If necessary, the locality can consider temporary resettlement to stabilize people's lives and ensure project progress.

The Minister of Construction was assigned to work with localities to hand over the coordinates of the centerline and the land clearance boundary, as a basis for provinces and cities to compensate, support, resettle, and survey to prepare a feasibility study report. This work was completed in June.

The preparation, appraisal and approval of the feasibility study report, construction design after the basic design, bidding documents, request documents and other procedures of the project must be carried out simultaneously, avoiding "waiting for the latter to do the former". If necessary, the Ministry of Construction can mobilize human resources from the Hanoi urban railway project management board for support.

Previously, on April 14, Vietnam and China signed an exchange of letters on technical support for the feasibility study report of the Lao Cai - Hanoi - Hai Phong standard gauge railway.

Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha was assigned to directly direct and resolve difficulties for the project. The above tasks are to meet the schedule for the commencement of the Lao Cai - Hanoi - Hai Phong railway project on December 19.

In mid-February, the National Assembly passed a resolution on the investment policy for the Lao Cai - Hanoi - Hai Phong railway construction project, with a total capital of VND203,231 billion, equivalent to USD8.37 billion.

The project starts at the border rail connection point (Lao Cai province), ends at Lach Huyen station (Hai Phong), nearly 391 km long; branch line length is 27.9 km, passing through 9 provinces and cities: Lao Cai, Yen Bai, Phu Tho, Vinh Phuc, Hanoi, Bac Ninh, Hung Yen, Hai Duong and Hai Phong.

The railway line is newly invested with a single track, 1.435 m gauge, for general passenger and cargo transport; designed speed of 160 km/h for the main line from the new Lao Cai station to Nam Hai Phong station; designed speed of 120 km/h for the section through the Hanoi hub area; speed of 80 km/h for the remaining sections; striving to complete the project no later than 2030.