Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc establishes Council to appraise North-South high-speed railway project

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc decided to establish a State Appraisal Council to appraise the pre-feasibility study report of the North-South high-speed railway project (the Council). Mr. Nguyen Chi Dung, Minister of Planning and Investment, is the Chairman of the Council.

Council members include leaders of the Ministries of Transport; Finance; Construction; Natural Resources and Environment; Industry and Trade... In addition, there are representatives of the State Bank; the State Capital Management Committee at Enterprises and leaders of 20 provinces and cities where the railway passes through.

The Council's responsibilities and powers are implemented according to Decree 131 of the Government guiding on important national projects; it has the right to request investors and consulting contractors to provide relevant documents during the appraisal process.

The council's conclusion on the appraisal of important national projects before submitting to the Government must be approved by at least 2/3 of the members.

The Council is allowed to hire domestic and foreign consultants to ensure independence and objectivity in project consulting; is allowed to use the seal and account of the Ministry of Planning and Investment and is dissolved after completing the work.

According to the procedure, the high-speed railway project must be submitted to the State Appraisal Council and competent authorities for consideration before the Government reports the project to the National Assembly. In 2010, the high-speed railway project worth 56 billion USD submitted by the Government was not approved by the National Assembly.

In early 2019, Minister of Transport Nguyen Van The reported to the Prime Minister on a pre-feasibility study of the high-speed railway project on the North-South axis.

According to the proposal, the 1,559 km North-South high-speed railway project will run along the North-South corridor, connecting Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. The train has a design speed of 350 km/h, and an operating speed of 320 km/h; it is built to operate exclusively for passenger trains. The train travel time from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City is 5 hours and 20 minutes (if not stopping at some stations) and 6 hours and 55 minutes if stopping at all stations. The project has a total investment of more than 1.3 quadrillion VND (58.7 billion USD).

However, recently, in a document sent to the Prime Minister, the Ministry of Planning and Investment proposed building a North-South high-speed railway with a total investment of only 26 billion USD; speed of 200 km/h.