Land clearance for Vietnam's North-South high-speed railway project to start on December 19

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has requested localities to start land clearance en masse for the gigantic North-South high-speed railway project on December 19.

The order was issued at a regular cabinet meeting on Thursday.

The project, estimated to cost $67.34 billion, will have a designed speed of 350 km/hour. The 1,541 km electrified railway route will have 23 passenger and five cargo stations connected to key cargo hubs.

It will begin at the Ngoc Hoi station in Hanoi and pass through 20 provinces and cities before ending at the Thu Thiem station in Ho Chi Minh City.

Vietnam’s private conglomerates Thaco Group and Vingroup have recently proposed to invest in the project.

In a proposal submitted to Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, Thaco said that of the $61.35 billion in investment capital, 20% will come from its equity and the remaining from foreign and domestic loans. The cost does not include compensation and resettlement expenditures, which belong to a seperate project handled by the State.

Thaco proposed that the Government guarantee and pay all loan interest for 30 years. The loans are secured by project assets.

Meanwhile, VinSpeed High-Speed Rail Investment and Development JSC, a subsidiary of Vingroup, commits to mobilizing 20% of the total investment capital, equivalent to $12.27 billion.

For the remaining 80%, excluding costs related to compensation, relocation support, and resettlement for land clearance, the company proposed borrowing from the state budget, through zero-interest loans, repayable over a 35-year period from the disbursement date.

Most recently, an alliance between Mekolor, a relatively unknown Vietnamese company, and American entity Great USA showed an intention to participate in this national project.

The alliance said it will arrange and demonstrate sufficient cash resources to ensure the smooth implementation of the project with $100 billion from investment funds under the Great Core Fund and Mekolor Capital - part of the Mekolor-Great USA ecosystem./.