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, as part of his visit to China, at the Great Hall of the People, the Prime Minister met 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 Jiangjian, 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 we must frankly acknowledge the subjective causes. "Whatever the cause, as a general contractor, if you cause delays, you need to acknowledge your responsibility, especially when many private enterprises are very successful," he said. "The construction site is deserted, so organizing the construction like that is very difficult."

The Prime Minister requested that the Department 6 Company must overcome the 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 the contractors must be qualified when choosing them, otherwise the contractors must be replaced.

The Prime Minister also asked the Department 6 Company to 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, the basic construction will be completed,” reported the leader of Bureau 6 Company. In January 2017, the Depot area will be completed; in July 2017, the trial run will be conducted, and then, in September 2017, the trial exploitation will begin.

On this occasion, the Chairman of the Company 6 raised 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 Vietnamese localities 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