The pre-feasibility report of the North-South high-speed railway submitted by the Ministry of Transport (MOT) to the government for submission to the National Assembly shows that the total investment capital is $67.34 billion which will come from the state budget, to be allocated in medium-term public investment plans. 

Expected to be completed by 2035, capital would be disbursed within 12 years, or $5.6 billion a year.

Deputy Minister of MOT Nguyen Danh Huy said his ministry is working with the Ministry of Finance to assess macro financial criteria based of the national economy’s scale and public debts.

MOT has also cooperated with the Ministry of Planning and Investment to assess the capital arrangement capability and other calculations. The conclusion is that arranging enough capital for the project would not be a big challenge in current conditions.

Other legal capital sources will also be considered. MOT has proposed specific mechanisms for the project. During project implementation, the Prime Minister can make decisions on using capital from government bonds, ODA (official development assistance), foreign preferential loans or domestic legal capital sources.

Deputy Minister of Finance Bui Van Khang said ministries and branches have come up with four solutions to mobilize resources.

The first solution is building a 5-year national finance plan for three periods until 2035 balancing resources to ensure the state budget’s expenditures in accordance with the Law on Budget.

The expenditures for investment and development will be a top priority, especially national and key transport projects. The high-speed railway will be developed with both the state and local budgets and the central budget will play the leading role.

Secondly, it will mobilize resources and issuing government bonds with terms and interest rates suitable to market conditions and the implementation pace of the project.

Thirdly, domestic investment sources will be sought and PPP (private public partnership) considered.

Fourthly, foreign sources with high preferences, reasonable negotiation conditions are needed.

Khang affirmed that everything is ready at the highest level to financially prepare for the high-speed railway project.

Hoang Van Cuong, a member of the National Assembly’s Committee for Finance and Budget, told VietNamNet the first goal is to have a mechanism to concentrate capital sources.

He said it is necessary to consider other capital mobilization solutions, including increasing public debts and issuing international bonds to seek international resources.

N. Huyen