The construction scenario of the Ho Chi Minh City - Can Tho railway line is gradually becoming clearer.

2-phase divergence

After 4 months of being assigned the task by the Ministry of Construction , at the end of last week, the My Thuan Project Management Board issued Official Dispatch No. 2869/PMUMT-KHKT reporting to the Ministry of Construction the results of the pre-feasibility study of the Ho Chi Minh City - Can Tho Railway Project.

Although it still needs to go through many completions and edits, right now, with the recently submitted Pre-Feasibility Study Report, we can still initially visualize the scenario for building the Ho Chi Minh City - Can Tho railway line.

Specifically, the Ho Chi Minh City - Can Tho Railway Project will have its starting point at An Binh Station in Di An Ward, Ho Chi Minh City; its ending point at Can Tho Station in Hung Phu Ward, Can Tho City. With a total route length of 175.2 km, the Project will pass through 5 provinces/cities, including Ho Chi Minh City, Tay Ninh, Dong Thap , Vinh Long and Can Tho City.

Regarding the scale of investment, My Thuan Project Management Board proposed to invest in a new railway for the general transport of passengers and goods, with a gauge of 1,435 mm; electrification. The entire line will invest in 12 stations, 3 depots (An Binh, Tan Kien, Can Tho), 4 maintenance and vehicle inspection stations (Thanh Duc, Tam Hiep, Cai Lay, Binh Minh), and 3 infrastructure maintenance stations.

On the route, there are 3 large river crossings (Sai Gon River, Dong Vam Co River, Tay Vam Co River) and 2 especially large river crossings (Tien River and Hau River). Based on the results of transport demand forecast, to ensure investment efficiency, the Project proposes to divide the investment phase I into a single-track scale, meeting transport demand until 2055.

“The bridge is about 6.5 m wide, the special bridge crossing Tien and Hau rivers is 12 m wide, with a span length of 350 - 450 m. In the next step, we will conduct specific research, suitable to actual conditions and applied technology,” said Mr. Diep Bao Tuan, Deputy Director of My Thuan Project Management Board.

Because the Ho Chi Minh City - Can Tho railway line is more than 175 km long, the total land use demand of the entire Project is approximately 801.5 hectares, of which agricultural land is 479.13 hectares; the resettled population is 11,437 households.

With the above investment scale, the Project has a preliminary total investment (phase I) of about 173,643 billion VND, equivalent to 7.16 billion USD, of which the cost of compensation, support and resettlement according to the planning is about 45,675 billion VND (including volume contingency costs).

The My Thuan Project Management Board estimates that the total investment (phase II) is about 64,973 billion VND, equivalent to about 2.7 billion USD (excluding financial costs for the Project). In general, the preliminary total investment of the Project is about 238,616 billion VND, equivalent to 9.84 billion USD. The leaders of the My Thuan Project Management Board assess that the Project investment rate of about 16.97 million USD/km is the average level compared to some projects that have been implemented when converted to the year 2025.

Public investment orientation

In Official Dispatch No. 2869, My Thuan Project Management Board said that international experience of investment projects in the railway sector under the PPP method in the world shows that investment under the PPP method is not more effective than public investment.

Some countries invested in the PPP method but were unsuccessful, had to nationalize or had to raise the level of state support for PPP projects to a very high level, such as Taiwan (China). In addition, some projects, although applying the PPP method, but the investment scope is mainly commercial areas, central stations or investing in means of exploiting some effective routes.

Therefore, based on the scale of the economy, the ability to mobilize capital, and international experience, to ensure successful investment in the Ho Chi Minh City - Can Tho Railway Project, the My Thuan Project Management Board proposes that the investment form for this project is public investment.

After the State completes the construction process, Vietnam Railway Corporation will be the unit receiving management, maintaining infrastructure and organizing operation of the entire route; and will be assigned all means and equipment for operation.

Regarding the ability to balance capital, My Thuan Project Management Board said that in the medium-term period of 2021 - 2025, the capital demand for the Project has been balanced by the Government in the medium-term public investment plan of the Ministry of Transport (now the Ministry of Construction).

In the 2026 - 2030 period, the capital demand is about VND 98,070 billion and in the 2031 - 2035 period, the capital demand is about VND 79,989 billion. According to the provisions of the Law on Public Investment, the National Assembly currently considers and decides on investment policies based on the ability to balance capital, assess the impact on the state budget deficit and ensure public debt safety.

"Because this is a special priority project, the Government will consider submitting it to the National Assembly for decision in the medium-term public investment plan and the 5-year financial plan for each period on the principle of ensuring macroeconomic balance and national public debt safety," analyzed a representative of the My Thuan Project Management Board.nAnh Minh

The Ho Chi Minh City - Can Tho railway project is oriented to build a new electrified railway line, 1,435 mm gauge, 175.2 km long, serving both passenger and freight transport. The route will be implemented with public investment capital, with a designed speed for passenger trains of 160 km/h.

Source: https://baodautu.vn/ro-dan-kich-ban-xay-dung-tuyen-duong-sat-tphcm---can-tho-d398568.html