Hanoi proposes two more urban railway projects

Hanoi People's Committee Chairman Nguyen Duc Chung proposed to build two more urban railway projects and some special policies for Hanoi during a National Assembly meeting on June 1.

Hanoi People's Committee Chairman Nguyen Duc Chung proposed to build two more urban railway projects and some special policies for Hanoi during a National Assembly meeting on June 1.

  

Hanoi People's Committee Chairman Nguyen Duc Chung (R)

Chung said Hanoi had about VND25trn (USD1bn) from the equitisation of enterprises. He proposed to let the city keep the money instead of contributing to the Committee for the Management of State Capital at Enterprises since this was the city's investments. All of the revenues from privatising state-owned firms and divesting from firms that have the city people's committee as the representative owner of state capital will go to the city budget.

According to the NA Committee on Finance and Budget, the privatising and investing process occurred before 2017 and many revenues are still managed by Hanoi People's Committee which can be used to improve the infrastructure. Chairwoman of the National Assembly Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan also approved of the proposal.

According to Chung the money will be used to build more urban railway projects. Two projects will be submitted to the government and National Assembly this October. The first one is Hanoi-Hoang Mai stations route that costs VND40trn (USD1.7bn) and the other is Van Cao-Hoa Lac route that costs VND66trn.

The money will come from city government bonds, the city's public investment for five years and equitized capital. Chung said Hanoi could totally complete the two projects on its own.

Minister of Finance Dinh Tien Dung said a new decree was being drafted about privatising and divesting from state-owned firms that have people's committees of cities, provinces as representatives.

Vice-Chairman of the National Assembly, Phung Quoc Hien said Hanoi can use the money based on the decision of the city people's council.

"If the project scale is larger than a national key project then it must be submitted to the NA," he said.