Government proposes allowing private investment in North-South high-speed railway project

The report stated that this project had previously been approved by the Politburo for public investment.

At the time of submitting to the Politburo for approval of the investment policy for the North-South high-speed railway line in the form of public investment, no investors were interested in or proposed to invest in this railway line.

After the Politburo issued Resolution No. 68-NQ/TW on private economic development, a number of investors were interested in proposing private investment (direct investment).

The Government assesses that there is currently no form of public-private partnership (PPP), direct private investment or other form of investment regulated for high-speed railway projects. Meanwhile, both political, legal and practical bases have allowed for expanding private enterprise participation in important national projects.

According to the Government's report, world experience shows that most countries invest in railway infrastructure in the form of public investment, because although railway projects bring high socio-economic efficiency, the financial efficiency of the project itself is low, the total investment is large, and the payback period is long.

Based on current reality, the Government submits to the National Assembly and the National Assembly Standing Committee to include in the resolution of the session approval of additional investment forms (PPP investment, business investment...) for the high-speed railway project on the North-South axis in addition to the form of public investment; assigns the Government to organize the selection of investment forms and investors according to regulations; in case there are other mechanisms and policies beyond its authority, the Government shall report to the National Assembly.

Regarding this project, a number of private investors have recently proposed to participate. In particular, in a document sent to the Prime Minister on May 6, VinSpeed Company proposed to invest in the North-South high-speed railway in the form of direct investment, not through PPP or public investment. VinSpeed committed to self-arranging 20% of the capital (about 12.27 billion USD), the remaining 80% (about 49 billion USD) requested the State to lend interest-free for 35 years. The enterprise committed to repay the debt in full and on time.

Truong Hai Group (Thaco) also submitted a document proposing to invest in a high-speed railway line with a total investment of more than 1.5 million billion VND (about 61.35 billion USD), excluding compensation and resettlement costs - this part Thaco proposed to separate into a separate project to be implemented by the State...

LAM NGUYEN

Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/chinh-phu-de-xuat-cho-phep-dau-tu-tu-nhan-vao-du-an-duong-sat-toc-do-cao-bac-nam-post801077.html