There must be a North-South high-speed railway to serve the people and develop the economy.

Preliminary design of the North-South high-speed railway project. (Photo: Doan Tan/VNA)

The National Assembly has just passed a Resolution of the 9th session, which clearly states that for the North-South high-speed railway project, in addition to public investment, two additional forms of investment will be added: investment under the public-private partnership (PPP) method and direct investment.

Responding to the press about this content, Politburo member, Permanent Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Hoa Binh said that the policy of investing in the North-South high-speed railway is supported and very exciting by the whole people. People are eagerly waiting and this should have been done a long time ago, because the country's economy has developed, but until now we still have to travel on the railway from decades ago, old and outdated.

According to the Deputy Prime Minister, the Politburo recently issued Resolution No. 68-NQ/TW on private economic development, in which it assessed that the private economy has been and is a leading force in innovation, application of science and technology, improving labor productivity and product quality, and is capable of carrying out important national tasks and projects. Therefore, the State needs to have a mechanism for private enterprises to participate in important projects.

“In fact, many important projects have been assigned to the private sector, such as highway projects, renewable energy projects, tunneling through mountains or large bridges... That shows that private enterprises can carry out large-scale projects," the Deputy Prime Minister emphasized.

The Deputy Prime Minister said that so far, many businesses have proposed to build the North-South high-speed railway project and there will certainly be more businesses participating. The Government calls for and welcomes businesses to submit applications for the high-speed railway project.

Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Hoa Binh emphasized that we must do it quickly, considering it as a boost for the economy and cannot delay any longer because we cannot continue on the current railway lines. The country is so vast that we need a new railway system.

In the context of the country's strong development as it is today, Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Hoa Binh affirmed that the North-South high-speed railway must be modern. We are behind but must approach international standards; at the same time, we must prevent waste, avoid price gouging, take advantage of and shorten the time, and quickly put the project into operation. In addition, we must prevent group interests, negativity, and backdoors when implementing the project.

With many enterprises proposing to do this project, the Government welcomes and highly appreciates private enterprises because this is also considered a commitment. The Government thanks the enterprises and requests that enterprises continue to propose to the Government to participate in the North-South high-speed railway project.

Emphasizing that recently, the implementation of a number of urban railway projects may have also left us with many valuable lessons to better implement the North-South high-speed railway project, Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Hoa Binh said that if in the near future we spend nearly 70 billion USD (total investment capital for the North-South high-speed railway) but only get projects like the urban railway line in two big cities, people will be excited, but it will still not be successful.

There must be a North-South high-speed railway to serve the people and develop the economy.

Permanent Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Hoa Binh. (Photo: Doan Tan/VNA)

According to Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Hoa Binh, the most important thing is to have a high-speed railway to serve the people and serve economic development. At the same time, there must be a railway industry with a team of skilled human resources and engineers to serve railway operations and develop new railway lines because the country's demand is still very large.

“If this project is implemented well, we will have a chain of urban areas from North to South associated with railway projects. Each station is an urban area, accompanied by an ecosystem including cultural centers, tourist areas, industrial parks and accompanying services," Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Hoa Binh emphasized.

To achieve these goals, Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Hoa Binh affirmed that there must be the right approach and steps. Currently, many businesses are interested in this, so the Government has proposed and the National Assembly has added and adjusted other forms of investment so that the private sector can participate. The National Assembly has approved this policy, which means that the legal corridor is available for us to choose from. Now the highest goal is to consider and evaluate whether public investment is good, public-private partnership is good, or private investment is good.

The requirement is that when building a railway, it must reach international standards. Thus, the design must meet international standards, supervision must be international, and evaluation must also be international, because we really do not have experience, so we must invite experts in.

"We invite the most modern country to evaluate. Our approach is to 'stand on the shoulders of giants'; if we don't know, we go and learn," Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Hoa Binh emphasized./.

According to VNA

Source: https://baothanhhoa.vn/phai-co-tuyen-duong-sat-toc-do-cao-bac-nam-de-phuc-vu-dan-va-phat-tien-kinh-te-253512.htm