Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Le Van Thanh has signed a decision approving the railway system plan for 2021-2030, with a vision to 2050, which sets a target of building nine new railways by 2030.
They will have a total length of 2,362km.
Under the plan, the railway industry will renovate and upgrade existing railways, connect with international transport routes; prepare capital and resources to start construction on new routes, with priority given to North-South high-speed ones and those linking gateway seaports, international airports, and main railways in major cities.
Specifically, the sector will upgrade the seven existing routes with a total length of 2,440km.
The nine new railways include a 1,545km North-South high-speed route connecting Hanoi’s Ngoc Hoi station and Ho Chi Minh City’s (HCMC) Thu Thiem station, a 102km-long route connecting Hanoi and northern Hai Phong Port City, a 103km-long route connecting Vung Ang Port and the Mu Gia Pass along the Vietnam-Lao border, and a 84km-long route connecting Bien Hoa city of southern Dong Nai province and Ba Ria-Vung Tau province.
They also include a 174km-long route linking HCMC and the Mekong Delta’s Can Tho city, a 128km-long route linking HCMC and Loc Ninh district of southern Binh Phuoc province (from Di An railway station to the Hoa Lu border gate between Vietnam and Cambodia); and a 38km-long route from Thu Thiem Railway Station in HCMC to Long Thanh International Airport in southern Dong Nai province.
The total capital needed for both upgrading and building railways will be around 240 trillion dong ($10.5 billion).
By 2030, the volume of goods transported is expected to reach 11.8 million tonnes, accounting for about 0.27 per cent of the market share, and the number of transported passengers will reach 460 million, accounting for a market share of about 4.40 per cent.
In order to fulfil the targets, the decision also put forward key measures and policies, including building and issuing mechanisms to encourage, support and create favourable conditions for domestic and foreign individuals and organisations to invest in railway transport and transport logistics services.
Other measures include continuing to attract and effectively use official development assistance (ODA) capital sources and preferential loans of international donors in railway projects; socialise investment in railway services and logistics; mobilise all economic sectors, including foreign investors, to invest in means of public transports and construction of facilities supporting transport activities such as goods storage.
Still others include reducing environmental pollution caused by railway transport activities, particularly in treating wastewater and industrial waste; promoting human resources training; and expanding international cooperation to learn from other countries’ experience and science and technology in railway development.
VIET NAM NEWS/ASIA NEWS NETWORK
