Promoting railway projects connecting with China

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh requested to continue close coordination with the Chinese side, and discuss to unify cooperation contents.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh chaired a meeting on accelerating the implementation of railway projects connecting Vietnam and China. (Photo: Duong Giang/VNA)

On September 29, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh chaired a meeting of the Government Standing Committee to listen to a report on the results of the first session of the Vietnam-China Joint Railway Cooperation Committee and review the situation and progress of work implementation, continuing to promote the implementation of the Lao Cai - Hanoi - Hai Phong railway project according to the set requirements.

According to the Resolution of the National Assembly, the Lao Cai - Hanoi - Hai Phong railway project is about 419 km long with a total capital of more than 203 trillion VND, equivalent to 8.37 billion USD, starting construction in 2025 and striving to complete in 2030. The Prime Minister has requested to organize the groundbreaking of a number of construction items of the Lao Cai - Hanoi - Hai Phong railway project on December 19, 2025.

After listening to reports and discussions, concluding the meeting, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh highly appreciated the efforts of ministries and agencies in implementing assigned tasks. The inter-sectoral working delegation attended the first meeting of the Vietnam - China Railway Joint Cooperation Committee recently held in Beijing, China.

The Prime Minister requested relevant agencies to continue implementing high-level agreements as well as the contents reached at the first meeting of the Joint Committee, with the spirit of "high determination, great efforts, drastic actions, doing what needs to be done, finishing what needs to be done", ensuring synchronization and comprehensiveness, "what is said must be done, what is committed must be done, what is done must produce specific, measurable results", assigning "clear people, clear work, clear time, clear responsibility, clear authority, clear products".

Pointing out the need to be proactive, proactive, and do what can be done immediately, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh requested to continue to closely coordinate with the Chinese side, discuss to unify cooperation contents; ministries and branches must proactively deploy tasks according to their functions, tasks, and powers and cooperate synchronously and closely with each other. If encountering difficulties or problems beyond their authority, they must immediately propose to competent authorities to resolve.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh chaired a meeting on accelerating the implementation of railway projects connecting Vietnam and China. Photo: VNA

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh requested the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Construction to urgently develop, appraise, and promulgate standards and regulations for high-speed railways and the Lao Cai - Hanoi - Hai Phong railway in accordance with the processes, procedures, authority, and provisions of law and international regulations, to be completed by October 2025.

The Ministry of Education and Training and relevant agencies will immediately implement cooperation in human resource training. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will continue to promote high-level activities to facilitate the implementation of projects connecting with China.

The Ministry of Finance shall preside over and work with relevant agencies to review and calculate capital arrangement plans, including proactively mobilizing Vietnam's capital sources and studying and proposing the most effective loan plan; at the same time, continue to work specifically with the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank on the possibility of borrowing capital for the project; urgently report to the Government Standing Committee on specific plans in October 2025.

The Prime Minister requested to urgently increase human resources and improve the management boards of railway projects of the Ministry of Construction; the Lao Cai - Hanoi - Hai Phong Railway Project Management Board continues to promote project implementation as soon as possible with the spirit of learning while working, gaining experience, and being most proactive in implementing tasks, especially those that can be done by themselves.

The Prime Minister directed the Ministry of Construction and relevant agencies to develop a master plan on the critical path, site clearance, and component projects. In particular, for component project 1 (investment in infrastructure connecting stations on the line and station square, using domestic capital), the Prime Minister requested to complete and approve the feasibility study report in October 2025; complete the technical design of the items to be started before November 6; complete the selection of construction contractors and supervision consultants before December 5; complete site clearance and mine clearance within the construction area before December 19.

For component project 2 (investment in railway construction, using domestic capital and loans), the Prime Minister requested to urgently prepare a feasibility study report, to be completed by June 2026 at the latest, with the spirit of putting quality first and foremost; the appraisal and approval of the report must also be carried out urgently.

Instructing ministries and branches to work with Chinese partners so that the two sides can sign an agreement on connecting standard gauge railways between the two countries, the Prime Minister requested that documents and technical plans be agreed upon by September 2025.

Regarding cooperation in developing the railway industry, the Prime Minister emphasized the viewpoint of implementing from low to high, from small to large, from simple to complex, ensuring each step is done firmly.

The Prime Minister requested the Ministry of Construction to continue to do a good job of presiding over and coordinating cooperation with China, promoting the achieved results, building a roadmap, progress and specific working contents in the spirit of "6 clear", reporting periodically every month; along with the Lao Cai - Hanoi - Hai Phong railway project, it is necessary to continue promoting the Dong Dang - Hanoi and Mong Cai - Ha Long - Hai Phong railway projects connecting the two countries of Vietnam and China.

PV (synthesis)

Source: https://baohaiphong.vn/thuc-day-cac-du-an-duong-sat-ket-noi-voi-trung-quoc-522139.html