On November 27, the National Assembly discussed the amended capital law draft, expected to be ratified by the National Assembly at the mid-2024 sitting.

According to Minister of Justice Le Thanh Long, some National Assembly deputies proposed adding regulations on capital mobilization to create resources for the capital city. They also think that it is necessary to set a debt ceiling for the city, as well as allow Hanoi to issue international bonds.

Long said the regulation will help the city mobilize resources from loans to develop important projects. In the time to come, Hanoi needs VND1 quadrillion to develop an urban railway network.

Hoang Van Cuong, a National Assembly deputy from Hanoi, said he agreed with the Minister of Planning and Investment’s proposal on allowing Hanoi and HCM City to borrow $30 billion to develop urban railways.

With such a mechanism, Cuong hopes Vietnam will have a domestic railway industry, and the country won’t have to lease and buy foreign railway projects.

Duong Khac Mai, an National Assembly deputy from Dak Nong, agreed that Hanoi should be given more power in investments. The municipal authorities should be authorized to make decisions on developing projects capitalized at over VND10 trillion, and there should be no capital limit for urban railway projects.

To Ai Vang, a National Assembly deputy from Soc Trang, said urban railways will help ease traffic jams, thus helping Hanoians and businesses avoid a loss of $1 billion a year because of traffic jams.

In a report on the possible impact of the amended Capital Law, MOJ noted that there are 6.4 million vehicles, including 5.6 million motorbikes and 685,000 cars.

The unbalanced development between means of transport and infrastructure leads to traffic congestion at peak hours, resulting in high emissions and pollution.

One of the solutions to traffic congestion is public passenger transport, including nine urban railway routes with a total length of 417.8 kilometers and three monorail tramcar lines.

To develop the nine railway lines, Hanoi needs hundreds of trillions of dong of capital. To date, only one railway line (Cat Linh – Ha Dong) has been put into operation.

MOJ estimated that reducing traffic congestion will help save $1-1.2 billion a year.

Vu Diep