North-South high-speed railway project: Many localities have made positive moves in site clearance

(PLVN) - Speaking to PLVN Newspaper, Mr. Vu Hong Phuong - Director of the Railway Project Management Board (QLDA) said that the unit has completed the pre-feasibility study phase of the North-South high-speed railway project. After submitting to the Ministry of Construction and the Government for approval, the project documents have been handed over to the provinces and cities where the railway passes through to serve the site clearance work (GPMB) and resettlement support for construction in 2026.

Prioritize site clearance and resettlement support

According to Mr. Vu Hong Phuong, the project dossier currently includes: pre-feasibility study report, boundary dossier of the route, stations and coordinates of the route centerline have been submitted by the Ministry of Construction to the Government for approval and sent to 15 localities. This is an important basis for localities to preliminarily review resettlement needs, serving the implementation of site clearance work. Along with that, the Railway Project Management Board has sent staff to participate in the Steering Committee of site clearance of localities, in order to coordinate to speed up the progress.

The North-South high-speed railway project has a length of 1,541km, starting at Ngoc Hoi station ( Hanoi ), ending at Thu Thiem station (Ho Chi Minh City), passing through 20 provinces and cities. After the administrative unit arrangement, the remaining localities are 15. The scale of the project includes 23 stations, including 5 freight stations. The preliminary land use demand is about 10,827 hectares. It is expected that about 120,836 households will have to be resettled. The People's Committees of provinces and cities have assigned specific tasks and clearly identified the unit in charge of site clearance work in the locality.

Some localities have made positive moves, in which Ninh Binh province has established a Steering Committee for Land Acquisition and Support Group. In addition, Binh Thuan, Phu Yen , Ha Tinh, Thanh Hoa and Ninh Binh have completed the preliminary review of resettlement needs. Hue city is the first locality to make a plan to implement land acquisition and compensation.

According to the plan, the project will start in 2026. However, with a large amount of work, especially site clearance. With the current progress being very urgent, it requires provinces and cities to implement synchronously, parallel with the process of preparing a feasibility study report, Mr. Phuong informed.

The Railway Project Management Board has advised the Ministry of Construction to recommend the Prime Minister to direct the People's Committees of provinces and cities to: Urgently establish a Project Clearance Steering Committee in each locality, headed by the Provincial/City Party Secretary, to be completed before July 1, 2025. Thus, on the basis of the clearance boundary dossier (handed over in March 2025), localities need to immediately review and determine the needs, locations and number of resettlement areas. Strive to complete investment procedures for at least one resettlement area in each province and city in June 2025. Prepare sufficient conditions to start construction of resettlement from the beginning of August 2025.

Design appropriate bidding packages

Mr. Chu Van Tuan - Deputy Director of the Railway Project Management Board informed that during the process of preparing the feasibility study report, the Board directly worked with domestic contractors, coordinated with the Vietnam Contractors Association to evaluate capacity, experience and propose appropriate support mechanisms.

The guiding spirit throughout is to design a reasonable bidding package structure, allowing domestic enterprises to participate in a substantial way, from the construction and installation phase to the provision of technical services. However, Mr. Tuan noted that this is a project with very high requirements for technical synchronization and connectivity - not only in construction but also in operation and maintenance. Therefore, the division of bidding packages must ensure both openness to Vietnamese enterprises and compliance with international standards and legal regulations on bidding.

“In the request and bidding documents, we pay special attention to areas where domestic enterprises have strengths such as building foundations, bridges, tunnels, and auxiliary works... so that the private sector can participate, learn and improve its technological capacity in actual construction,” said Mr. Tuan.

From the business perspective, Mr. Nguyen Quoc Hiep - Chairman of the Vietnam Association of Construction Contractors - said that to develop the private economy according to Resolution 68-NQ/TW, currently only about 20 domestic enterprises are qualified to access large bidding packages of high-speed railways. The reason is that most Vietnamese enterprises are small in scale, with limited financial and technological capacity, and have not met the high technical requirements of the project. According to Mr. Hiep, it is impossible to expect small enterprises to grow on their own. The fundamental solution is to form a contractor ecosystem through links between large and small enterprises, to be able to meet the entire supply chain in the field of large-scale infrastructure construction such as high-speed railways.

Currently, there are a number of domestic investors registered to participate in high-speed railway projects such as Vingroup Corporation, Truong Hai Corporation...

At the meeting on site clearance and resettlement of the North-South high-speed railway project, Deputy Minister of Construction Bui Xuan Dung proposed and emphasized: Site clearance of the Project is a key political task in the direction and management in localities. It is necessary to thoroughly grasp the motto: "Only discuss work, not retreat", promote the spirit of initiative, creativity, dare to think, dare to do. At the same time, the leaders of the Ministry of Construction proposed to mobilize the participation of the entire political system, step up propaganda and mobilize the people, ensure that people are arranged new housing equal to or better than their old housing; Provide additional support for jobs and stable livelihoods. When necessary, have reasonable temporary housing solutions so as not to slow down the progress of the Project.

Gia Hong

Source: https://baophapluat.vn/du-an-duong-sat-toc-do-cao-bac-nam-nhieu-dia-phuong-da-chuyen-dong-tich-cuc-trong-giai-phong-mat-bang-post552258.html