Prime Minister urges progress of Cat Linh-Ha Dong urban railway project

Receiving the leaders of China Railway 6th Bureau Company, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc asked the Company to speed up construction progress while ensuring quality and labor safety.

On September 13, within the framework of his visit to China, at the Great Hall of the People, the Prime Minister had meetings with leaders of large Chinese enterprises in the fields of banking, information technology and telecommunications, and infrastructure construction.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc received Mr. Ma Jiang Jian, General Director of China Railway 6th Group Company. Photo: VGP/Quang Hieu

Receiving Mr. Ma Jiang Jian, General Director of China Railway 6th Bureau Company, the Prime Minister immediately talked about the construction of the Cat Linh-Ha Dong railway, a project for which the Company is the EPC general contractor.

The Prime Minister said that there were many reasons for the project's delay, but he emphasized that subjective causes must be frankly acknowledged. "Whatever the cause, as a general contractor, if there is a delay, we need to acknowledge responsibility, especially when many private enterprises are very successful," he said. "The construction site is deserted, so organizing construction like that is very difficult."

The Prime Minister requested that the Department 6 Company must overcome shortcomings and problems, speed up the project's construction progress, and ensure the quality of the project and labor safety during construction. The Prime Minister noted that contractors must be selected with guaranteed capacity, otherwise the contractor must be replaced.

The Prime Minister also requested that the Department 6 Company proactively work specifically with Vietnamese authorities to handle issues arising in project implementation, especially when the two sides signed a framework agreement on an additional loan of 250.62 million USD for the Cat Linh-Ha Dong urban railway after the talks between the two countries' Prime Ministers yesterday, September 12.

Accepting the Prime Minister's opinion, Mr. Ma Giang Kiem pledged to make efforts to speed up the project's construction progress.

“We have finalized the project progress. By the end of December 2016, basic construction will be completed,” reported the leader of Bureau 6 Company. In January 2017, the Depot area will be completed; in July 2017, a trial run will be conducted, and then, in September 2017, trial exploitation will begin.

On this occasion, the Chairman of Company 6 made a number of recommendations, hoping that Vietnamese authorities would pay attention to resolving them to speed up the progress of this project.

* Also this morning, the Prime Minister received Mr. Trieu Hong Tinh, Deputy General Director of Hoa Ha Hanh Phuc Joint Stock Company, also an enterprise operating in the infrastructure sector.

The Prime Minister welcomed the cooperation between the Company and localities of Vietnam and wished the Company to invest effectively and make new progress in its operations in Vietnam.

The leader of Hoa Ha Hanh Phuc Company said that the Company is a provider of comprehensive solutions for socio-economic development in the form of PPP with Chinese cities, including the fields of infrastructure development, industrial parks, and high-speed railways.

“We believe in Vietnam’s potential and development prospects. Every month I visit Vietnam for a few days,” said Mr. Trieu Hong Tinh, expressing his desire to increase investment in the Vietnamese market.

According to Chinhphu.vn