>> National Assembly debates North-South Express railway
The National Assembly has not yet given an in-principle approval to a hi-speed railway project, but the government has continued its feasibility study on it.
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| Deputy Duong Trung Quoc: Railway voted by the majority must be selected |
The Minister of Transport, Ho Nghia Dung, addressed the topic during a Q&A at the Nation Assembly (NA) on November 23.
Dung said the feasibility study is aimed to respond to questions raised by NA deputies at the 7th session, adding that the study will also serve the national transport development plan.
Regarding foundations for the study, Dung said that although the NA has not yet approved the project in principle, they did not ban the feasibility to be studied. He also cited a document which collected discussions from NA deputies about the railway project on June 19, 2010, to show no ban from the NA.
“Speeches by National Assembly leaders or the minutes from a meeting are not a legal document. I agree that the government has the right to study it, but the minister should not say that the NA has allowed the study,” a stern Deputy Nguyen Minh Thuyet from Lang Son Province said.
Answering a question from Deputy Duong Trung Quoc in Dong Nai Province, Minister Dung said it is unfeasible to upgrade the current North-South railway which was built 130 years ago. Besides, the upgrade will take several years, which will cause a deadlock for the national railway traffic.
“We should build a modern railway route. Many foreign countries build high-speed railways which permit trains to travel at between 300 - 400km/h and even 600 km/h, why should we not follow them?” Dung asked.
Deputy Quoc said he did not agree with the minister’s answer, noting that capital should be prioritised for other major projects when the country faces a serious capital shortage for infrastructure projects. Meanwhile, the world’s popular width of railway is just 1.435 metres.
After the intense questioning, Minister Dung concluded that the government would inform the NA of the project’s feasibility and only decide to carry out the project if the NA officially approves it.
| Many scientists and NA deputies rejected the express railway project, saying that it would add pressure to the national debt, which was equivalent to more than 47% of gross domestic product. It is a massive project with total investment of USD55.8 billion and it needed 30 years to build, which is why it was risky and difficult. The route would be 1,570 kilometres long and allows trains to run at speeds of about 300 kilometre an hour. In the government’s plan sent to the NA, Vietnam would rely mostly on official development assistance for the construction of the railway that would be similar to Japan\'s Shinkansen bullet-train system. |
