Proposal to increase more than 86,000 billion VND for the Lao Cai - Hanoi - Hai Phong railway line

Implementing the program of the First Extraordinary Session, on the morning of August 6, under the direction of Member of the Party Central Committee, Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Nguyen Hong Dien, the National Assembly listened to the Submission and Appraisal Report on adjusting the investment policy of the Lao Cai - Hanoi - Hai Phong railway line construction investment project (referred to as the Project - PV).

Authorized by the Prime Minister, Member of the Party Central Committee, Minister of Construction Tran Hong Minh said that the adjustment of the Project to be consistent with the strategy, socio-economic development plan and related planning has been approved by competent authorities.

According to the content of the Submission, based on updating the scope, scale, volume, unit price, exchange rate and policy, the preliminary total investment of the Project is 289,339 billion VND, an increase of 86,108 billion VND compared to the preliminary total investment approved by the National Assembly.

In which, construction and equipment costs increased by 51,210 billion VND; Compensation, support, and resettlement costs increased by 34,849 billion VND; Project management costs, construction investment consulting costs, and other costs increased by about 163 billion VND; contingency costs decreased by 114 billion VND.

According to Minister Tran Hong Minh, the adjustment of the investment policy of the Project focuses on updating the scope, investment scale, type of pulling power, total investment and economic efficiency indicators to be consistent with the new plan and actual exploitation needs.

The content of the Submission clearly states that the investment scope is adjusted in the direction of adding 8.4km of the Yen Vien - Gia Lam section, and at the same time changing the location of the North passenger hub station from Yen Vien to Gia Lam. The adjustment is to ensure compliance with the Hanoi Capital Master Plan with a 100-year vision and the newly adjusted railway network plan.

Along with that, the project adjusts the name of the Nam Hai Phong - Lach Huyen section from the main line to a branch line to be consistent with the newly adjusted railway network plan and the transport operation organization plan; and at the same time adds 2 branches connecting the existing railway system to the stations of the Lao Cai - Hanoi - Hai Phong railway line.

The project proposes to adjust the scale of the section from Bac Hong station to Nam Hai Phong station from the phased investment plan for single roads to investing in completing double roads.

The updated forecast results show that if investment continues according to the phasing plan, investment preparation procedures must be carried out by 2038, upgrading to a double-track road must be implemented by 2041, and the double-track road must be put into operation by 2045.

According to the drafting agency, the phasing of investment is no longer appropriate because this section of the route is accompanied by a corridor with the expressway to Gia Binh International Airport and the Hanoi - Quang Ninh high-speed railway line that has just been decided on investment policy, making the expansion from single road to double road later technically unfeasible.

In addition, the section from Lac Dao station to Nam Hai Phong station passes through an area with thick weak soil. If invested in a phased manner, phase 2 construction may disrupt the foundation, cause subsidence and affect the operational safety of the first route.

According to calculations, investing in double roads immediately will reduce the demand for use of about 115ha of land, save 12,587 billion VND compared to the phased plan, shorten passenger travel time by about 14 minutes, bring economic benefits of about 50 billion VND per year, and at the same time eliminate risks arising during operation when building the second road.

Regarding the type of traction, the drafting agency proposed branch lines connecting seaports that do not use electric traction but use diesel locomotives that are already in the approved investment policy. It is expected that by 2045, they will switch to using clean energy locomotives.

Appraising the adjustment of the investment policy of the Project, the Economic and Financial Committee believes that investing in completing the double-track road right in the 2026 - 2030 period will significantly increase the demand for public investment capital.

At the same time, the thẩm tra agency noted that the preliminary adjusted total investment is very large compared to the policy decided by the National Assembly.

Therefore, the Committee proposed to continue reviewing the basis for determining the total investment; complete the forecast of transport demand, update the efficiency indicators after adjustment and assess the capital recovery capacity and exploitation efficiency to ensure the long-term investment efficiency of the project.

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