After 50 years, still not self-sufficient in science and technology
On the afternoon of June 16, the National Assembly discussed in groups the draft Law on Railways (amended).
Discussing at the meeting, Minister of Construction Tran Hong Minh said that railways in Vietnam have a very long history, dating back more than 140 years, bringing great efficiency to the country's development, especially during the war years and the subsidy period.
According to the minister, about 2-3 terms ago, the National Assembly discussed railway investment, especially the North-South axis. Recently, the railway system has undergone many changes, with the appearance of a number of urban railway lines in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.
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Minister of Construction Tran Hong Minh at the discussion session. Photo: Nhu Y. |
During the implementation process, projects still depend heavily on foreign factors, from investment, capital mobilization to technological lines. This leads to many consequences such as: Prolonged construction time, not ensuring progress; projects are over budget; on the other hand, the ability to supply and master technological lines is almost non-existent.
Not to mention, each project uses technology from a different country. This leads to a lack of synchronization, making it difficult to supply, replace, and repair because it depends on the countries.
According to Minister Tran Hong Minh, this situation shows the inadequacy of the current legal system. This is a major concern of the former Ministry of Transport and now the Ministry of Construction. After 50 years of national liberation, we still cannot be self-reliant in science and technology, and have not mastered this important field. Therefore, the proposal to comprehensively amend the Railway Law aims to remove legal bottlenecks.
Shorten time, save cost
Regarding the changes in the draft law compared to the current law, Mr. Minh said that the old law had 84 articles but the regulations were too detailed, many contents were not under the authority of the National Assembly but under the authority of the Government. Therefore, the revised draft law has removed 24 articles, leaving about 60 articles, focusing on core issues.
The main contents included in the draft revised law include: The State's preferential policies on railway development, which clearly stipulate specific criteria and conditions to attract investors.
Minister Tran Hong Minh emphasized that if only the State invests without encouraging the participation of private enterprises, it will be very difficult to implement. Therefore, the draft Law has added regulations on capital mobilization and private economic development.
According to him, there are currently 5 investors registered to participate in railway projects. Therefore, there should be mechanisms and policies to create conditions for them to invest effectively.
Another new content included in the draft law is the development of railways associated with the urban development model (TOD). This is an important solution, instead of just recovering capital from ticket sales (which can take hundreds of years), investors are allowed to exploit land funds at stations and urban areas to create resources for reinvestment. This not only helps the project to be economically effective, but also helps develop civilized and modern urban areas.
In addition, the draft law also reforms investment procedures and processes, allowing some steps to be combined, such as allowing the stage of preparing a pre-feasibility study report with technical design and construction drawings. “This can shorten investment preparation time as well as save costs for the state,” the Minister emphasized.
In particular, the Minister of Construction emphasized that the draft law also allows the separation of site clearance projects into independent projects, creating conditions for site clearance projects to be implemented first, helping the project have a clean site before construction, ensuring that implementation is not delayed.
Source: https://tienphong.vn/bo-truong-xay-dung-noi-ve-tran-tro-lon-post1751766.tpo
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