Minister of Transport: If the railway is built, it will only take 1 hour to go from Ho Chi Minh City to Can Tho.

Minister of Transport Nguyen Van Thang – Photo: Quochoi.vn

At the discussion session on the socio-economic situation on the morning of October 26, Minister of Transport Nguyen Van Thang provided more information on investment in developing transport infrastructure.

Ho Chi Minh City connects the West in just one hour

According to Mr. Thang, the Government has reported to the National Assembly for consideration and approval of the North-South high-speed railway project (from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City). At the same time, there are currently three major railway projects being implemented, including the Lao Cai - Hanoi - Hai Phong, Lang Son - Hanoi, and Mong Cai - Ha Long - Hai Phong routes.

For the railway line belonging to the North-South railway system, Lang Son - Hanoi, it is proposed to operate standard gauge for both passengers and freight, with a speed of about 220km/h.

Regarding the Ho Chi Minh City – Can Tho route, the Ministry of Transport is preparing to complete a pre-feasibility report to submit to the Government and the National Assembly. This route will operate standard gauge railway with a speed of 190km/h for passengers and about 120km/h for goods.

The railway line is expected to be 174km long, with an investment capital of 9 billion USD. If completed, it is expected to help shorten the travel time from Ho Chi Minh City to the West to only one hour.

Regarding the upgrade of 2-lane highways, Mr. Thang said the Government has given very strong direction in this term. Therefore, the ministry is upgrading 2-lane routes to 4 lanes and some limited 4-lane routes to full and larger ones.

Mr. Thang shared that when he went on business trips abroad, like in Europe, many countries only had 2 lanes, or 4 lanes and no emergency lanes. However, traffic awareness was very good, so the minister thought that it was not necessary for highways to be big and wide.

Because statistics also show that more than 90% of traffic accidents are caused by the awareness of traffic participants. So the bigger the road and the lower the awareness, the more catastrophic the accident.

Sea sand will be widely announced as construction material later this year.

Regarding landfill materials, there is currently no shortage of reserves in the Mekong Delta. However, due to the simultaneous implementation of many expressways during this term, demand has increased dramatically, so sometimes following the procedures takes a lot of time.

Up to now, river sand has been licensed for about 40 million ^m3 , and about 32 million ^m3 are still being licensed by localities. With sea sand replacing the North-South expressways, Soc Trang has now made 5.5 million ^m3 for the Soc Trang-Can Tho expressway, which will significantly reduce the pressure on river sand.

With the reserves of sea sand of about 14 billion ^m3 in Soc Trang, the ministry has piloted the expansion of the highways in the North and Central regions. By the end of this year, sea sand will be widely announced as a construction material for the whole country.

In response to the proposal from many provinces in the West to build overpasses for some expressways, the minister affirmed that the ministry is very eager and is studying it vigorously. However, he said the biggest difficulty is the cost.

Because according to calculations, the price is 3.1 times higher than usual, even if we try to reduce it, it will still be 2.5 times higher. If we do it in the current difficult budget situation, it will not be possible.

At the same time, the characteristics of the West are vast and very beautiful. The overpass is only higher than the road surface, so the development space needs to be studied.

In fact, there are many countries that build elevated roads, but now there are problems with space, so careful research is needed to ensure sustainability.

Building traffic culture

Minister of Transport Nguyen Van Thang said that along with investment in transport infrastructure, there must be many solutions. It is the participation of the entire political system that can change traffic habits and culture.

“In Singapore, the roads are so clean that even throwing a piece of paper down feels awkward. Awareness is a process, and there must be a focused solution to build a traffic culture,” said Mr. Thang.

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/bo-truong-giao-thong-van-tai-lam-duoc-duong-sat-tu-tp-hcm-di-can-tho-chi-mat-1-gio-20241026133115772.htm